Hello,

this is my current project on the workbench.
I decided to go on with what originally started as an experimental shell crater base.
The scene was inspired by several publications about the heavy fighting in the suburbs of Stalingrad (and later the main railway station) in Sep/Oct 1942.

DML figures with minor conversions, hornet heads and one Masterbox item (guess what... ;-).



Let me know what you think so far.
Constructive comments very welcome.


Michael

Very nice bomb crater. Maybe spatter the fence with some more little holes from thrown debris etc. Looking good.

A clever scene, especially incorporating the blown rail road right of way.

Nicely done so far.

Steve

Yo Michael,

Very nice setting so far, good build up. For more detail and drama you could ad the rest of the pieces from the telephone pole with the cables on it and maybe a little bush on that corner also, will give a nice contrast of the color later in you're work.

Also you can put a abandoned Russian mortar in the crater, that will give more content to the setting.

I follow!

Greetz Nico

Hi Michael

Nice little diorama, love the detail etc. so far.

My only worry is the composition of the figures. I like the way they are done but I wonder about the way they are posed. The kneeling figure implies he is keeping low to avoid enemy fire but the remainder are standing, clearly in the sights of a potential enemy. Maybe work them the other way, with him at the top of the hill looking through the broken fence whilst the others can stand safe within and making their way up through the bomb crater.

Just a thought.

Alan

Servus Michael,

And welcome to Armorama.

I really like your crater, the damaged railway line and the way this one's shaping up in general. Look forward to seeing it finished.

Alan makes a good point about the positioning of the kneeling figure - thouugh I must confess that I probably wouldn't have thought of that myself if he hadn't mentioned it .

- Steve

I like your vignette. I think the different levels work. My reading of it is that they are going to set up an MG position in the crater and the NCO with the binoculars is crouching to check his field of fire. Otherwise why go down into the crater at all? My experience of carrying machine guns on manouvre is that if theres a way round a crater or ditch then you walk around

Thank you very much guys for your thoughts and comments.

Nico, I was thinking myself of something which could add a little more to the whole scene. Your idea with the top of the broken telephone pole and some wires in/around the crater is really a first option. I´ll definitely try to work that in.

I was not really happy with the arangement of the figures as well.
But after all and shifting them around hundreds of times, It was ok for me to have a situation, where an MG section moves to a new position, while they watch the artillery barrage or Stuka attacks in the distance which keeps enemy fire down.
The NCO in front is kneeling maybe for checking out fields of fire or just for personal convenience, or just because it is the way the DML figure is


Pat, you´re right, and I know it from my personal experience... Carrying around a 10kg Machinegun, you keep things straight and easy.

I tried to grab as much feeling from pictures like these, where you cant go around all the craters or where a crater is the best firing position you can get





Once again, thank you for your interest and your really constructive comments so far.


Mike

hi Michael,
what a great scene, the crater and damaged track are top nouch

as for the poses of your figures they are great, very natural and tense, the only thing i could see that that didnt really fit in, was the forth figure, the chap just about set into the crater seems a little 'stiff' id recommend having a lattle hunch backed or crouching

only a suggestion

great work all round

shane

Hello and Welcome Michael,
Well, I missed that one.
Excellent setting, great composition and good "eye" for the bomb crater.
I like it, as the way you've placed the figures.
I follow it for sure.

Cheers,
Alexandre.

Hey guys,

I tried to incorporate some of the input I got from you recently.

Thats what came out for now:








optically, I would say it works for me.
The only thing is, I´m really not sure if a telephone pole would fall like this after a bomb/shell had exploded nearby...


anyway,
thanks for your interest and your opinions.

Mike

I suppose balistics experts are likely to say it could or could not happen that way. I reckon it looks good and maybe you could argue that the cables have dragged the pole down to its final place of rest .

IMHO it looks good as a backdrop and I like the way you had the troops slowly scrambling down the slope in a controlled manner.

Not every position would be occupied in a mad dash especially well prepared defence lines.

Nige

Hi Michael,

Willkommen zu Armorama

Lovely work thus far. I'm afraid I have no constructive comments to give, only questions: what did you use for your groundwork? What size I-beam (or H-beam) are you using for your tracks? I really like the telegraph pole, and am looking to do something similar in a piece I'm working on. Could you tell me a bit more about the components you used?

As I said, only questions Sorry about that

Rudi

Rudi,

the base is a basic sand/white glue mixture with mother nature´s stones
pressed in.
The fence is made out of wooden sticks, which are widely available in the "big M" restaurants, as are the chopsticks from chinese restaurants, which are used for the telgraph pole.
But I´m afraid I can´t tell you much about the railway tracks. They were made from a piece of model railway tracks "borrowed" from my nephew. I´m not into railroad modelling, so it´s hard for me to tell the exact size standard, but I think its pretty much one of the biggest available.

I hope I could answer your questions and I wish you a lot of fun and good luck with your ongoing project.

Regards,

Mike

Hi Michael
Looks very nice. I think you've captured the looks of total devestation very well. I look forward to see more.
Jacob

Just a thought. Make the wires to the right hand side slope upwards like they are still attatched to the next pole, hence, keeping the pole from blowing away completly in the blast. Nice dio by the way, really like it.