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The Somme 1916
AlanL
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Posted: Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 09:18 AM UTC
Hi Dick,

Thanks, and thanks for the link, I'll check that out later.

They are contnually digging up and finding mutions all along the battlefields.

I had thought of the mortar being in the final assembly stage, spanners, hammers etc as the pieces would have had to have been man handled into palce. This would be in keeping with the every day routine that I'm aiming for. I believe about 30 of these were deployed in the first battle, around August 1916 or so.

Once the tunnel is dry I'll get on with the timbering.

Cheers

Al

zontar
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Posted: Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 04:16 PM UTC
Alan: the mortar looks great. Don't forget the hammer!

Happy Modeling, -zon
AlanL
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Posted: Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 05:24 PM UTC
Hi Zon.

Thanks, it should make an interesting addition to the build when it's installed and completed.

Cheers

Al
AlanL
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Posted: Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 08:52 PM UTC
Hi folks,

Thanks to Matthew, I was able to get a couple of the Model Cellar British Infantry. They are very nice figures, some seems to be removed and small pour stubs but overall very fine figures.

'Stand to' in the British Army is normally sun rise and sun set after which it would be normal to leave a sentry or two on guard duty. These two figures fit that purpose well and will fill that roll in the dio.















Cheers

Al
AlanL
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Posted: Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 05:08 AM UTC
Hi folks,

A bit more work on some of the figures.



Cheers

Al
Murdo
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Posted: Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 12:29 PM UTC
Cracking work on the figgies Al.

"STAND TO!!!" Used to hate hearing that command. It was always bucketing down with rain at the time.

I'll always remember this rough quote I heard from an American Officer to his troops. We were going to be "Red Forces" on a "Friendly" excercise with them in Germany and "technically" me and The Boss shouldn't actually have been there to hear it. It went roughly like this but I've deleted some naughty words.

"...And lastly. Don't attack them near dawn or dusk. You might know where they are but they will be quietly lying there fully awake, hidden, dug in, armed to the teeth and looking forward to meeting you. That's if they haven't already come looking for you in the night... Which they will!

Do not trust them! If you think there's something out there that shouldn't be out there then I guarantee that it will be them, they love sneaking about in the dark.

Before the excercise starts, if you happen to catch them where they shouldn't be then corral them, contain them, then lock down and check your equipment. Brits found where they shouldn't be found are always bad news and they're up to no good".

Not sure I should be admitting this.




geogeezer
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Posted: Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 03:40 PM UTC
Hi Murdo,
On the subject of creeping about in the dark, in his memoir, "Sand, Wind & War," Ralph Bagnold, of LRDG fame, describes an incident when he was a hastily commissioned subaltern of engineers in the trenches on the Western Front of going forward through the wire with a bangalore torpedo to eliminate a troublesome machine gun position. He got close enough to see and hear the gunners and carefully shoved the torpedo ahead, but it stopped short. He crept closer to see what was obstructing it, and found it had lodged in a corpse. He freed it, extended it farther, then detonated the charge, taking out the gun. Didn't sound like a lot of fun, and his matter-of-fact account made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
Cheers,
Dick
AlanL
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Posted: Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 05:47 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Cracking work on the figgies Al.

"STAND TO!!!" Used to hate hearing that command. It was always bucketing down with rain at the time.

I'll always remember this rough quote I heard from an American Officer to his troops. We were going to be "Red Forces" on a "Friendly" excercise with them in Germany and "technically" me and The Boss shouldn't actually have been there to hear it. It went roughly like this but I've deleted some naughty words.

"...And lastly. Don't attack them near dawn or dusk. You might know where they are but they will be quietly lying there fully awake, hidden, dug in, armed to the teeth and looking forward to meeting you. That's if they haven't already come looking for you in the night... Which they will!

Do not trust them! If you think there's something out there that shouldn't be out there then I guarantee that it will be them, they love sneaking about in the dark.

Before the excercise starts, if you happen to catch them where they shouldn't be then corral them, contain them, then lock down and check your equipment. Brits found where they shouldn't be found are always bad news and they're up to no good".

Not sure I should be admitting this.






- How true.

Al
Karl187
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Posted: Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 10:10 PM UTC
Alan- really nice work on that mortar and those MC figures are really nice looking- they look fantastic all painted up. How many figures in total are you using for this dio?
jrutman
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Posted: Monday, May 14, 2012 - 02:14 AM UTC
Just keeps gettin better and better. Can't see enough Great War dios. Will there be rats and corpses?
Just saw last week a fantastic doc show on an excavation outside of Ypre on both the Brit and German trench system so this dio is right on time for me.
J
AlanL
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Posted: Monday, May 14, 2012 - 03:57 AM UTC
Hi Karl,

Thanks. Of the figures I've built so far two are destined for the RR when I get to it. That leaves 14 built or almost built so far for the dio. This is a big base though @ 23 x 13 inches. I want to do one or two for the tunnel, a couple for around the mortar and maybe two for the latrines/wash area.

A crashed plane would be great to have on top, but perhaps that's too far for now

The MC figures are pretty good, the facial detail on the chap with the helmet tilted forward is pretty weak though, so I may repalce his head.

Hi Jerry,


Rats I have but corpses I need to investigate. I saw some somewhere recently though.

Cheers

Al
AlanL
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Posted: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 03:29 AM UTC
Hi folks,

Here's how the tunnel currently stands.



I go some Miniart Germans for additional possible conversions.





(you can blame Darren for those)

Cheers

Al
AlanL
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Posted: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 10:38 PM UTC
Hi folks,

A bit more work on the tunnel:







Al
AlanL
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Posted: Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 04:17 AM UTC
Hi folks,

A bit more work on the caves and some of the figures.







Al
garthj
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Posted: Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 10:24 AM UTC
All around, great work, its coming together nicely.
I like the Model Cellar figures, I may give these a try.
Regards,
Garth
asmodeuss
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Posted: Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 10:51 AM UTC
Once in a while I come on this thread and i'm amazed... WWl is really a obvious minth for dioama subject. Thanks again for sharing this with us. Youv'e done an amazing work! congrats. Looking forward for further progress.

Phil.
AlanL
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Posted: Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 08:31 PM UTC
Hi Garth,

Thanks for looking in. It's coming along. Still more soil above the tunnel required and also some by the LHS of the Sap. I need some form of retaining wall on the outside edge of the bunker too and to open up the mouth of the cave into the tunnel a bit more. So lots of basic ground work yet.

Hi Phil.

Thanks for looking in and the comments. The potential for WW1 dios is vast. I did see an interesting Mk I tank in 1/35 scale c/w interior coming along in the Commanders Series.

http://ironshipwrights.com/armor/MkI.html

For me the issue was scale. Not a lot of quality around in 1/35 scale plastic for WW1. There is a good choice in 1/32 scale if you don't mind switching over, but I didn't really want to do that.

Glad you enjoyed the thread so far.

Cheers

Al
asmodeuss
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 12:12 AM UTC
Thanks for the link Alan I was looking for a good 1/35 mkl, i think you just found it for me .

model on!

Phil.
Murdo
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 08:51 AM UTC
Love the figgies Al!!!

Absolutely superb!

AlanL
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 05:33 PM UTC
Hi Phil,

Not sure when it's due out but it looks interesting.

Hi Murdo,

Many thanks, the 2 MC figs are currently OOP but I believe they may be re-released in the late summer. The chap with the rifle over his sholder has quite poor facial detail but otherwise both are fine figures. Conversions continue

Cheers

Al
AlanL
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Posted: Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 04:44 AM UTC
Hi folks,

A bit more work on the tunnel, opened up a proper door way, just wide enough to get a barrow in.





and a little more work around the mortar pit.



Cheers

Al
garthj
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Posted: Saturday, May 26, 2012 - 12:34 PM UTC
Hi Alan,
The mortar pit with firestep, sandbags and lots of mud is really looking convincing. Great work. Now that the paint is being laid down its really starting to come to life.

Excellent work.

Garth
AlanL
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Posted: Saturday, May 26, 2012 - 08:29 PM UTC
Hi Garth,

Thanks. I haven't gotten anything else done since the last post, busy week at work and at home. Hope to get a little done to day if I can claw back some modelling time from lifes other needs.

Cheers

Al
AlanL
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Posted: Saturday, June 02, 2012 - 01:20 AM UTC
Hi folks,

I did a bit more work on the ground work, added a few tree stumps and deployed a some figures to get an idea of how things might finally look. Also added some picket posts.

























Long way to go yet.

Cheers

Al









hofpig
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Posted: Saturday, June 02, 2012 - 01:53 AM UTC
Hi Al,

I just had a thought will you be adding any sort of gas defenses to the dug outs etc?

I seem to remember some sort of thick material impregnated with some chemicals being used (as a filter?)


Still looking goo though.

Paul
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