Hello everyone....

Decided to try & recreate a little 'local history' for my newest project this time, as well as for the first time getting a purpose built display case to put it in. But first a brief history into what Hohlgangsanlage 8 actually is.......
The Channel Islands, 30km off the French coast, was the only part of the United Kingdom that was occupied by the Germans in World War 2 from 1940-45, & were amongst the most heavily fortified parts of the Atlantic Wall with over 16,000 forced labourers being sent from Occupied European countries to build its defenses. Hohlgangsanlage were a series of tunnels built underground to be used as bunkers, stores, accommodation etc...., & Hohlgangsanlage 8 was the name of this one. Originally built to store large weapons, it was converted in 1943 to be used as a hospital for the expected pending allied invasion to recapture the islands from German forces, which never happened. The islands were liberated in May 1945, after the German surrender in Europe, without a shot being fired.

Walking to the tunnels to get reference photos, between where I live, is a small wood where there's a number of remants of the past:- small shelters, earthwork where anti aircraft emplacements would have been etc...



Using images from old photos & present day ones I tried to recreate a scene from the war, using guards & forced labourers working on the tunnels. Unfortunately I haven't managed to find any war time photos, & afew elements have disappeared over the years to the entrance, such as the tall, ventilation type thing at the front, & some of the pipes/wires running along the walls.



To get the scale & size as close as possible, I took a photo with a guy standing directly underneath the entrance. I then measured the height of a 1/35 size figure, & resized the photo so the guy in the picture was the same height. The photo was printed, then obviously the height,width, measurments of the tunnel entrance was to scale to the size of a figure.
The entrance was made using card, plastic & cork. The scene will be a couple of guards (Masterbox) keeping a watchful eye on a couple of forced labourers (MK35) who will be painting the red cross & carting rubble & rock out to a lorry (ICM). It'll be set in late '43, so they'll be a ground frost to envisise the cold & wet conditions.











Sprayed everything grey to begin with, now to start work on the individual elements. Once the tunnel is painted & weathered, it'll be 'enclosed' within the rock face made from plaster& the groundwork made. Want to make it look like a busy place, not just a finished tunnel entrance, so will have some boxes & timber included to add detail to the scene. The tunnels, corridors, rooms etc...inside where all built out of solid rock from the hillside.

Thanks for reading, will add more progress pics soon....
Simon

great idea

Hi Simon

Looking really good already, & great concept – from what I know that Occupation (while paling in comparison to those on mainland Europe) was still a terrible experience for the population (and fatal for some) so hopefully you can somehow portray or imply that oppressive atmosphere – a preview of life in England had Operation Sea Lion come to pass. My parents honeymooned on Jersey in 1947 when recovery was far from complete.

To clarify - judging by the perspex case you’ve got a tight area to fill but you mention enlarging to get more rock-face - does that mean also expanding the ground area? If so that suggests loads of options – lorry unloading, civvies working under guard, some activity on the overhead ledge…clandestine photography perhaps? I’ve got a vague memory that some brave resisters sent tiny pictures to London via pigeon. Are you considering going vertically further with a cut-away of below-ground? ..diode lighting, like Stickframe’s amazing Not-Bladerunner dio?

Whatever it’s your baby & looking forward to seeing more, bon chance.

A very unique concept for a dio. I had an idea for something like this years ago but using the concrete tunnels on Corregidor instead with American paras liberating the place. This will be cool. I like how you surmised the scale of the opening. Clever.
J

Thanks for the comments guys.....

Tim - certainly plenty of food for thought there...! The size of the display case is 9.5" square, purpose built originally to display a football. I only resized the photograph to make it to scale, the actual size of the entrance is (almost pretty much) 1/35, so within the size of the case it unfortunately doesn't allow so much for the sides of rock face as I'd have liked. It gives me a little area above to work with too, but the main subject obviously is the entrance.
The area infront is all what can be seen in that final photo also, just big enough for the truck (even though I had to leave the cab off), 2 workers (still to add) & the 2 guards. Limited to the size by the display case again.
Doing a cut away(out of interest) below ground would be a waste, as the tunnel to start with goes back much further, before sprouting off in other directions, they'd be nothing to show underneath..... Thanks for the interest.

Jerry - the scaling part was easier than I thought it might be, doing it that way. Using the resized photo on paper also made a great template for the size of the entrance etc.... Just working on the concrete colour now, wanted to keep the base colour fairly light grey, with a little brown added, enabling the weathering to be more visible..

Thanks again!

Hmmm OK it's your call, but letting a display case intended for a soccer ball limit your skills & imagination reminds me of horses & carts. Your idea's so original and the execution thus far so assured, I hope you might reconsider because I think you could make this dio really exceptional. Dare I say "Think outside the box?" - sorry couldn't help myself.

Cheers, Tim

Very imaginative.

Hi Tim & Bill, thanks for the comments guys!

Tim, the idea for this originally was to build something that I could display in the lounge, dust free, unlike all the other dio's I've got which are kept in a large cabinet in another part of the house. Had looked at a number of display cases online, some that were purposely made for displaying models, and some of those were similar in appearance but with differing dimensions.
This one I got was as good as any of those, and the fact it was originally made to display a ball I think makes no difference. Didn't want anything too big really, and this size just about allowed for the dimensions of the entrance. It was supposed to be quite a 'simple' dio with not too much going on, the entrance was the main focus.
'Think outside the box'.....very good!!

Simon.

Hi Simon,

OK I’ll run up the white flag, go for it & I’ll look forward to more progress shots. Just promise you’ll finish it, the last time I got this interested in an evolving dio it was “The last Dornier Do335” – last heard of in this forum June 14, check it out if you haven’t already. I’m not sure why Greg’s gone dark, his last post mentioned his wife complaining about where he was going to display it – at least that’s an issue you’ve got covered absolutely!

Actually there’s a commonality between your's & Greg’s regarding limited depth dimension. How about using 2 or 3 lights/diodes of decreasing size in the roof or high on the side-walls of the tunnel to convey the illusion of recession into the darkness?

Cheers, Tim

Love it.

Hello again....abit of weekend progress!!
Thanks Tim & Paul for your comments.., Tim promise I'll 'definitely' get this one finished, no problem with that. Don't think I've once not finished a project, although the one previous is still only about 95% completed, started on this one, got abit absorbed, & haven't got back to finish it off yet... Good idea about the decreasing walls & light to try & add depth to the tunnel . Was happy however with the way the walls were finished & didn't fancy more work, but did have 3 degrees of shading of the grey concrete colour getting gradually darker on the walls as it receded, it's not that evident, but it's there.

Well the painting of the main building is completed, used a base grey for the concrete, the airbrushed various shades over that in differing areas. Gave it a wash with oil paints before finally adding some of AK Interactive's Slimey Grime Dark & Streaking Grime. Happy enough with the way it turned out, raised the building a little from the front section to allow for the groundwork to be level. The red cross is only partially completed as it's being painted at the time.









Came abit unstuck when it came to the floor, a narrow strip of wooden blocks runs along one side, & throughout the corridors themselves. Was unsure as to the use/reason for this, but was helped out by a local enthusiast who said they're actually a recess for pipework, with the wood there to stop anything falling in. So replicated that here, with afew blocks moved aside to reveal the pipe beneath, it'll have maybe a toolbox & tools alongside.





Put together the 2 figures from MK35 who'll be the forced laborers. The painter had his left arm replaced, and left leg surgically altered to allow him to stand on the ladder. The guy who'll be pushing the barrow had his head replaced with a Hornet Head, to look more miserable. The guys body was pretty big & stocky compared to the other 3 figures, with his little head, but looked ok. I made his barrow abit bigger using plastic card to allow for more rubble. Will have a couple of cans/buckets with the paint added too.



Ideally would've used clay to shape the surrounding hillside & rock face, but paper mache with tissue & watery glue was far more economical. It looks abit rough, but now the basic shape is done, once it's dried will give it a coat of plaster to start adding the detail, as well as the grass, sand, plants, shrubs etc...



Thanks as always for reading, any thoughts or ideas more than welcome...
Simon.

Hi Simon, great progress the concrete’s spot-on & the darkness in the photos suggests you don’t need any other “recession” tricks.
Those grilles – the arched section & gates showing in the modern pics – don’t appear to be original according to the late ‘40’s image you originally posted - but is that some kind of solid portcullis behind the couple exiting? Might there also have been a standard black/white/red striped sentry box + boom-gate?
Good luck with the shwubbewy
Cheers, Tim

Back again, afew update photos, busy with the surrounding rock face & hillside.
Thanks Tim for the continued interest .... Unfortunately having done a fair bit of research have not found a single wartime photo of the hospitals entrance at the time of the occupation, just 3 post war ones, but still undated. The grilles & gates you mentioned are the modern day entrance to the museum now, they weren't there at the time it was built. Potentially there could've been a sentry box I guess, but wanted to stick with what I knew for sure. Obviously the scene I'm going to recreate is a 'might of been', anyway. Here's the other 2 post war photos I've come across.....





As you can see, not too much given away there....
Looked through some YouTube videos about creating the rock face, the model railroad sections really useful. Thought I'd give the "tinfoil technique" a go, by plastering on some grey colored plaster, shaping it to suit on top of the hard paper mache, then covering that with some pre-scrunched tinfoil which helps shape the basic rock face with little grooves. Once hardened, peel the foil back & the result was pretty good I thought....





Ok, so it looks like a Christmas dinner..., but you get the idea As the plaster was drying, started adding the grass, roots & soil to the area above, the first picture above shows the large area above, consisting of alot of soil, sand, rock, grass & bushes. Liked the idea of the grass slightly overhanging the bare soil below, so condensed the scene a little to allow for the cover of the display case to fit. Once the plaster was dry, started scribing vertical & horizontal lines into the rock to improve it's appearance. It now needs the wash of acrylic paints, which will start bringing out the defining cracks & detail etc...







Pleased with how it's all going, the soil & grass will be airbrushed, with ferns, moss, shrubs, dead leaves & ivy all to add. The scene is set in the winter, so alot of it will be beige/brown, with a slight ground frost too.
Once the paintings done, will make a start on the groundwork, with more photos then.....
Thanks for looking..

Simon.

Hi Simon,
This is looking great ... nice going so far!

—mike

Looking excellent Simon– particularly the last low-down photo, as you’d know I’m all for 1/35-man’s viewpoint & hope you’ll take some moody daylight/dusk pics of the finished work. Can’t believe I’ve never come across the tin-foil technique before, perfect outcome. Even before final painting the concrete really does look embedded in the rock-face - a lesser craftsman could easily have left it looking like the rocks were stuck onto the concrete. I really like how convincingly solid it is. Bravo, Tim

very nice, goes to show what you can make from stuff around the house.

Cheers guys for the kind comments....

Well what a difference a week off work can make plenty of time to catch up & try to get this moving along...
Pretty pleased with how the rock turned out, applied a number of washes to it with thinned enamel paints. Some of them are still quite light, but I think give a good variation in colour. May go over them slightly with some oil wash later. Airbrushed the soil on top, & added some more static grass. Because of the display case this'll be going into, cant get anything of any height on the very top now, like bushes, trees etc...., only on the lower part, above the roof of the tunnel.









To try & add some more interest & detail to the piece, wanted it to look like a working enviroment (which of course it was), so uprooted some of the boards in the floor to show the pipe below, adding a tool box & tools. Used some of AK Productions 'Wet Effects Fluid' on the floor to try & make it look like a leak, but despite numerous applications, it still looks dull, not shiney. May need to try some clear varnish...? The wooden boxes are from Value Gear I think, with a spare spade, & a pick axe pinched off the lorry that'll be painting & adding next. Along with afew wooden boards & a piece of corrugated iron & it just looks abit more 'lived in'...





Not too happy with the way the dirt from the outside 'meets the entrance, think afew brushes of pigments towards the end will help the 2 merge better.
Still grass, small shrubs, dead leaves & ivy to add to the top of the building & the rock. Just a few shades of colour so far on the groundwork below, Still a lot of detail to be picked out later.







This ones for you Tim, know how you like them 1/35 scale angles.....



Thanks for reading, comments & advice always appreciated. Hoping to get some of the figures & even the truck done this week, will post some more pics soon....

Simon.

Sweet! That's really come together!

PS. I love the "1/35 view"

This is looking great.

Heyyyy Simon that’s dope man! (OK been watching way too much of Jason Derulo judging on SYTYCD)

Thanks for 1/35 shot (surely the best one!) it’s just going to sing as soon as you put the first figure in, looking forward to that. See what you mean about the entrance-merge but doesn’t look too difficult to fix. As you may know I’m a fan of powder-paint or pastel dust liberally sprinkled, that might work to unify the two areas – maybe also the vertical join between concrete & stone (looking at the 1/35 shot) although I can see an argument for not unifying them... but I’m thinking rain-water running down that join would have darkened it a bit? And dirtied the red-cross panel a tad - anyway, it’s a gem already.

Cheers, Tim

Hello everyone..,

Nick,Paul & Tim, thanks for the comments guys!
Tim, had my eye on that line down the sides you mentioned where the rock meets the concrete, that white line of plaster. Fixed that with a couple of oil washes which stained it nicely. Reason the white & red of the cross is 'clean' is because it's being freshly painted, hence the guy up the ladder.
Him & his friend below are MK35, adapted his stance so he'd stand on the ladder, & made the barrow larger to give him more of a load to push. Just started getting into highlighting & shadows on figures, pretty pleased with how they turned out, always room for improvement..







The lorry is ICM's German light truck 35401, but wanted to give the scene some local interest, so made it into a requisitioned farmers potato lorry, instead of the regular light grey standard German vehicle. Didn't want to include the cab for space reasons, something I've not done before with a dio, but I think once the display cover is put on it'll make more sense...?







Things starting to come to an end now on this...., still the 2 guards to paint & add, vegetation above the entrance & down the rock side, puddles & a light frost added to give it a chilly winters theme.

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome...,
Simon.

Hi Simon,

Yes indeedy looks excellent. Duh sorry of course the red cross should be pristine. Is the right hand rock face a bit uniformly random? – OK vegetation to come but maybe a teeny bit more colour variation in the rocks first? Love the final shot again thank you, best viewpoint and monochrome, parfait!

Cheers, Tim

Hi everyone.....,

Well another one ticked off the list, now can go back to finishing the last model I was working on before this one came along & jumped the queue..

Tim - I did go back over some of those rocks again, adding some more wash & green slime from AK. Broke up some of the monotony with some plants & ivy too. Here's the last few pics before the frost & guards came along....



Wanted to set this during a chilly wintry day, with a little frost, but no snow blizzards So using hairspray to fix it, sifted baking powder over a portion of the grass, & the ground at the front to see what it would look like. I had a tub of Woodland Scenics soft snow flakes, but these would've maybe been better for a heavier fall, the flakes were larger than the powder.







The ivy was from mininatur, really nice stuff to work with. Had dusted on some fine dried herbs onto seafoam for the bushes & airbrushed autumnal colours. Had some ferns to paint & add too, but may or may not add them now.
Last few pics of the final model to post later once they're sorted

Cheers
SIMON.

Hi Simon,

Exquisite is not a common word on this site but it’s the best adjective I can come up with. Along with Kurt’s “In the cold morning etc.” Ardennnes dio further down the page it’s in my top 5 dios seen on this site. Just brilliant.

Always a problem knowing when to stop, imho all you need to do is put the display case on it – oh and a couple more mono shots from ground level never go amiss!

So what’s next on the workbench?

PS did you know you’re earlier photos have gone AWOL?

Cheers, Tim