1914 Belgium - UD 18/12 - news re German infantry paint scheme

[former user]

@von Lucky - yes, the brigade models belgians. Maybe I got a batch with too much sparation agent. they took the coating very weakly and peeled of easily on the raised surfaces. My fault probably, but I never experienced that on any other models before with the same treatment.


battle honours=kitney on the ebor site, but I am afraid for the moment it is only the WW2 range

[Plynkes]

Thanks Dylan, I believe Ebor miniatures now have the BH WW1 range.

Are you sure about that, Helen? I couldn't see the Battle Honors range mentioned on their website, and their French and Belgian figures don't appear to be the same as the BH ones on the Old Glory 15s site.




Edit:

battle honours=kitney on the ebor site, but I am afraid for the moment it is only the WW2 range

Ah right, thanks for clearing that up.

[Helen]

Are you sure about that, Helen? I couldn't see the Battle Honors range mentioned on their website, and their French and Belgian figures don't appear to be the same as the BH ones on the Old Glory 15s site.
Edit:
Ah right, thanks for clearing that up.

No probs Dylan and thanks former user for the clarification on name.

All the best,

Helen

[Elk101]

I have some Ebor French and a friend has a load of Ebor ns, they're nice figures.

[Silent Invader]

Thanks all, your help is most appreciated. 

I've made some decisions on the terrain, the town element of which will start with three 30cm sq tiles. For focal points I'm going to use a mix of Italeri 1/72 plastic kits and Airfix 1/72-1/76 resin casts and plastic kits.

As these are underscale they will need a bit of work done to them: Wills plasticard sheets to extend walls/roofs and lots of brick rubble from oven-bake FIMO. 

The Airfix casts/kits will need each floor level raised by 10mm. The following example is the European corner house and for demo purposes it is stood on 10mm of foamboard (which as its black blends out of sight d'oh!) that shows the effect at ground floor.  Other changes that I plan for this one include removing/blocking the side door and raising the height of the 'borrowed light' window above the corner door. I'll also be cutting off the plain side wall and adding infill so as to make the room wider.





The Italeri kits will probably only need a 5mm adjustment to the height of each floor.

More soon.

[pocoloco]

Interesting approach. I just recently sold bunch of those Airfix buildings, didn't even consider upscaling those.

[von Lucky]

It looks like more effort than scratch building!

[Silent Invader]

I shall have to time myself! 

[Silent Invader]

So I had a go at upscaling the Airfix European Corner House from 1/76 to 1/56 (approx).

To call it a house isn't quite correct as its only part of the house.  The rest of the building hasn't been included in this experiment and so will need scratch building from Wills plasticard and rubble though it'll be much simpler in appearance.

Starting with this, which cost £13:



I used a hacksaw blade to cut it into the key sections:



Hacksaw blade, knife and file were then used to widen the corner door (and raise the borrowed light window) and remove the moulding around the unwanted side door:





Time spent so far of 1 hour and 12 minutes, a lot longer than I thought it'd take.

Next stage was to reassemble by infilling with layers of plasticard sheet to raise the various ceiling heights so that 28mm minis could be accommodated. This took an additional 3 hours and 37 minutes (of which about 1/2 was probably spent supergluing individual matchsticks together!).







And with the Mutton Chop minis:









So with a total of 4 hours and 49 minutes expended so far, I still have quite a bit to do. For example, I still need to use greenstuff for gap filling and detailing.  I'll also be fitting this piece to a 30cm square board with maybe 2 other buildings that will all be wired with LEDs to replicate fire, add the plain back and side walls and incorporate stacks of rubble and other debris.  All, in all, I reckon the 3 tiles will take about 60 hours.  Fortunately the adjacent road, fields and copse will require a lot less effort.

 

[Eric the Shed]

This looks great Steve but wouldn't it have been faster to build this from foamcore ?

[Silent Invader]

This looks great Steve but wouldn't it have been faster to build this from foamcore ?

That is a very good question ...... (and ditto cork tiles and framing board)

IMO: yes but......

Yes with cheaper materials, faster cutting, more forgiving of errors, etc.

But the Mutton Chops minis are very finely proportioned, beautiful little works of art, and to set them off I want to achieve the same with the terrain. As you know, I used foamcore for my SSS buildings but they are chunkier and so to my mind and eye sit better in a more robust environment.  Without a lot of extra work, I'm not convinced that foamcore will give me something quite as 'sharp' as I hope these resin conversions will prove to be.  With any whole buildings I expect that I will use foamcore, as wall and thickness would be immaterial and bracing can be hidden.  For these wrecked buildings, with unsupported walls and floors are on display, the resin components enable a slighter, finer construction*. 



*Until i drop them...... my SSS buildings would survive being kicked around a room.... not so these conversions. 

[former user]

yes, I remember certain mountains that would survive the blitz 

[pocoloco]

Fine effort with the upscaling, I do think that it pays off in the end and you will have nice properly ruined part of the town for your gaming table.

[von Lucky]

Surely just buying resin mouldings, window frames, door frames, B-flaps, etc and attaching them to a foamcore 'frame' would be easier, cheaper and to your required proportons?

Looking good though - the floor boards are effective.

[former user]

and You could also use brick sheets of the right scale...

Anyway, Your conversion work is impressive, no question