Hey,
Have an idea of a dio: The Finnish winter war, a single soldier in a pothole, focused, waiting for the russians show up.
I thought of going 1/35 with it. I already know where to get the armory, the Suomi SMG and have nice pics of molotov coctails as used by the Finns. The real challenge will be the deep snow and spruce branches. The food soda technique sounds great for the snow, but what would be the best way of making spruce tree in that scale? Also I haven´t found a figure in Finnish uniform or a guy in the right kind of white snow wear. As the actual gear will not be visible under the snow wear, my second question is: What is the best way to make clothing from scratch, what materials to use to get the draperia and thickness of canvas right?

Has anyone made a dio dealing with the winter war?

Toni

Toni,
For the spruce tree you might check stores (maybe online) selling christmas items. Somebody must produce a fairly realistic minitature christmas tree in a variety similiar to spruces in Finland.

Just a thought. Good luck with the project!

Jim

I was reading another forum and came upon this tree looks good got it off of this site

http://www.bragdonent.com/finescal.htm

One of Ol' Jack's recipies:

Use one part Milliput superfine white to one part Duro, mix together and knead for an elastic mix that is souple enough to create folds, and yet maintain them after application.

Chef Jack

Toni,

Have you seen the movie "Winter War"? Its about the finnish fighting russians during WWII, its a great movie and really inspired me to do alot of models!!

As for clothing, I use Magic Sculpt and cover the area that needs clothing, and press and oush the putty around to get the folds. Incase you want to "drape" them with thin pieces of putty, take a clear plastic bag, grease the inside of it with vaseline, pam cookin spray or whatever, as long as it will keep the putty from sticking to the bag, then place the blob of putty inside the bag, you might have to cut one side of the bag so its easier to get the putty out after you done rolling it out. anyways, place the blob of putty in the bah and roll it out with a paintbrush handle or something make it to your desired thikness and let it dry for15-20 minutes, and then cut out what you need and make your folds! I hope I was clear in describing the process. If not ask away!!
Oh btw!! PERKELE!! :-)

Good job on the omaha diorama, it really seems real. Keep it up and write some more articles!!

Hola,
I was just looking through a Military Modeling Magazine and saw an ad about Finnish Uniforms form WW2, and I thought about you.

Asepuku M/36, Petteri Leino.
Wiking Divisioona Oy, Elontie 97
B, 00660 Helsinki, Finland
ISBN # 951-957506-1-4 at the price of 160 FIM

Hope this might help!

Wow. Thanks for suggestions!
I will most certainly use some putty to make the additional drapery..we´ll see, as I haven´t even bought the basic kit yet!
I´ve seen most of the Finnish war movies, and actually Tuntematon Sotilas (Unknown Soldier) would be Finland´s national film, if one was chosen. Also in my all-time top ten. I´ve seen my Talvisota as well.
In fact the project just turned interesting. Just read an article about Simo "White Death" Häyhä, the Finnish sniper with over 500 confirmed kills (without a scope!). So maybe I´ll replace the Suomi SMG with SAKO "Pystykorva", the rifle used by Häyhä. In fact, I just wanted a chance to try make some snowy Finnish terrain. Finished the complete sketch today, now the only problem is to find the figure!

I´ll be back..

Toni

Damn. No Mosin-Nagant "Pystykorva" available. And also no Finnish soldiers in snow costume. Think I´ll use Italeri German ski troops instead and fix what needs to be fixed with milliput. They´re not too different. And it seems the German rifle needs just some modification to work as Mosin-Nagant. Funny thing was that I found some Warrior resin heads, in winter gear that actually looked like Häyhä! Maybe that would be worth the money..
All the spruce trees I could find were unusable for this purpose. Maybe they work for Warhammer or railway scenery, but I´ll need all detail I can get. Maybe a brief excursion to the back yard would be in order...

Toni

Here we go!


Toni

Hey Toni
The picture didn't work on this end

Oh. Sorry bout that. How can you put a pic in there? Or in the signature? I tried to follow the instructions about the bbcode, but for some reason it doesn´t work.
Toni

A few weeks ago, I read an article about modelling sruce trees.
If my memory's right, you should find it on www.military-kits.com.
It's a french-speaking site, so I'll just post an explanation :

You need a balsa "baguette" that you shape cone-form for the trunc.
Then you make small holes in it to introuce the branches. These holes shouldn't be
horizontal but rather slightly turned upward. You should be able to shape the biggest
branches in balsa, and use zeeschium for the rest.
I haven't tried it yet but it sounds great ! :-)

penpen

That might work...
I found some really nice material out there in the forest, though. And I only need a couple of branches covered with snow. But with a full-lenght tree, that sounds worth trying

Toni

Trying to display a couple of pics...
Sketch for "White Death"


Layout on base


Sniper in place


And spruce tree, executed:


Dragon´s german ski troops suit well for this, though I had to use pieces from every one of the four guys to make a right kind of pose...
An article will follow...

Toni

Wow, that looks nice !
I can't wait to read your article.

penpen

Prod shots: sniper built, sculpted snow costume with Milliput and a coctail stick.





Toni