Outstanding research and groundwork so far. I'm really curious to see the end results.

Thank you kindly Bill, I’m curious too making most of it up as I go along! I guess it’s all about converting the ideal result in the imagination into reality, gruellingly enjoyable or enjoyably gruelling, as long as I can make at least some of it fun for me & you guys too

Glad you are okay... Are the fires far away from your place???

You certainly make progress my friend. Once this tedious job is over, you've had the worst part, I guess? At least as far as tediousness is concerned!

Gruellingly enjoyable or enjoyably gruelling .........

You're a good politician Tim ........

Yep Glenn that’s me, always answering questions that weren’t asked! Hi Erwin very lucky where I am so far (Bondi) the closest fires (Blue Mountains) about 100kms west – kinda under control today but the next high winds will probably flare it up again - 50 kms to my west they had 49° C a few days ago. I hope you’re right about the tedium, all I know now is that I was never, ever going to make it as a professional plasterer

Hm, 100km is not really far, considdering the area that is on fire...


I don't think that plasterers use tiny stamps to replicate cobbles

Tim, that shows a modeler's skill when you have to figure out how to represent a documented reality and not just look through the MiniArt catalogue for an "Operation Anthropoid" diorama kit. Kudos for out-of-the-box (literally) thinking.

And good luck with the fires. That's very scary and foreboding for us all.

Thanks Bill I appreciate the sentiment, although I hope we’d agree that there’s little correlation between skills and model-making materials. There are some pretty grim scratch-builds out there – not on this site of course, but plentiful on the ’net generally. And conversely there are many superbly crafted out-of-the-box builds (i.e. no extras or after-market additions) on this site and elsewhere. In fact there’s an argument that all I’m doing is trying to reproduce a scene just as…slavishly?...as building an oob kit, only the materials differ and it’s still all model-making. There’s not much difference in the amount of imagination required either - instead of following kit instructions I’m just following photo references.

Hmm, there is a big difference though – this project’s already cost over 20 times a standard AFV kit so who’s smarter?!

I’ll spare y’all yet more partial-cobbled photos, it’s about 67% done now,excluding the sidewalks. Which reminds me I must track down some drain covers

No this isn’t Heydrich being taken to hospital, I just kept hearing these opening lyrics in my head every time I sat down to putty another section…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPDl9yKSnDE













…so yeah it’s got to me real bad, they’ve released me from the Cobblers Anonymous Secure Facility (Mission statement: Leave no stone unturned) just long enough to post this update. All street surfaces now completed but not the sidewalks & islands yet, when they’re done the revised stats will be around 68,000 cobbles/2,500 stampings. All up nearly 4 kilos of filler, average 2 mm thick.

Alas the balsa’s lifted or rippled in places out on the right-hand side of the base, fortunately where it matters least & after applying weights for a few days it should be less noticeable especially when painted. There’s some uneven cobbling around too but a light sand before painting should even it all out generally.

I see Yenmodels does drains but I’ve yet to notice any actual evidence of manhole covers in the photo-refs – they’re easy enough to scratch anyway if I do find any. As for the rails, the world-wide search for stocks of Evergreen 292 by Mighty Ape continues, so far they’ve sent 8 of the 18 packs I need with the rest to come soon.

OK Nurse I’ll go quietly…

Being a closet carver of plaster myself from time to time I feel your pain brother I feel your pain.
That is a stupendous amount of work and very well done as well. It looks to me like the figs at the top are actually representing you being drug off for some rehab after all this.
J

Wow! The cobbles are really coming along! And that’s a great tune choice!
Now here’s something a little more out there for you...
‘Indiscipline’ —King Crimson 🎸🎸🎸 🥁🥁🥁 🎹 ... 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶

[Verse 1]
I do remember one thing
It took hours and hours but..
By the time I was done with it
I was so involved, I didn't know what to think
I carried it around with me for days and days..
Playing little games
Like not looking at it for a whole day
And then, looking at it
To see if I still liked it
I did

[Verse 2]
I repeat myself when under stress
I repeat myself when under stress
I repeat myself when under stress
I repeat myself when under stress
I repeat-
The more I look at it
The more I like it
Heh, I do think it's good
The fact is..
No matter how closely I study it
No matter how I take it apart
No matter how I'll break it down
It remains consistent
I wish you were here to see it!

—mike 🤪

One of the most beautiful songs. Being a veteran, it has a special meaning to me.

On the cobbles, mind that during the war attention to infrastructure was probably less than normal and that unevenness was in all probability quite common. Most impressive, the results you've cut created. Glad they left you out long enough to report to us.. 😜

Always gratifying to learn of another King Crimson fan.

Looks great Tim , ....... and you're not a drooling mess from all your labors !!

Hey Tim, PlusModels has some sewer hatches, if that helps
http://www.plusmodel.cz/view_en.php?id=166
Someone else makes some in brass, if I remember who, I’ll post

Thanks guys & count me in Jerry/Mike - one of the all-time great percussion performances (Michael Giles) right here…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7PJUg9EihM

Beyond awesome from 2.07 on. Mike you surely found The Model-maker’s Anthem - never heard that one before never heard that one before oops & Glenn, maybe not drooling but plumb puttied out. Agreed Erwin HAHHMB’s uber-special & yes although the photo refs show hardly any road damage this rendition hopefully looks plausible. Thanks Phil I missed those covers & they look even better, from the Czech Rep too.

So I was at large long enough to also snap these daylight shots which weren’t possible under Aldi-light...







…revealing all imperfections to be fixed up, but I’m more than happy the join’s going to be much easier to conceal than I’d feared

The overview pics really show the amount of work you had... and indeed the work that needs to be done yet. Such as removing the ridges...

Love it Tim - keep it up!

Brian

Thanks Erwin & Brian, to steal someone else’s simile that made me smile recently, this is like swimming the Channel with a refrigerator on my back. And it’s crunch-time again:

In order to cobble the sidewalks & islands the location of all street furniture needs marking up and holes drilled & temporarily plugged, because trying to do that after the filler’s dry would be too tricky – cracking etc. Each of the 14 power/light poles need a rock-solid housing underneath, because they’ll have to be both unbendingly vertical and removable - we’ll be moving home in the next few months & if the poles are cemented in place they’re bound to get bent or snapped off in transit. So, to make the 14 housings I finally found a use for that bag of balsa blocks…

















The Prague poles were a different design to MiniArt’s so I’m only using the latter for demo purposes - the bases will be 3D printed and telescoped brass tubing substituted. This in turn points to the next headache, the complex lattice of overhead tram power & support cables suspended from them. Options;

1) No cables at all. Not an option, that would be like spending a couple of years building HMS Victory without any rigging.

2) Full rigging. Not an option, on the grounds of preserving what’s left of my sanity/degree of difficulty/impossible fragility when the two halves of the base are in storage or transit, bearing in mind it would all be attached to the detachable poles.

3) Photoshop. Not an option, given there are going to be between 20 and 30 sequential images of the action, almost all with some view of overhead.

4) A single sheet of Perspex or stiff acetate over the entire base, either independently suspended and/or supported on top of the 14 poles, scribed with the cable latticework. Or maybe two interlocking pieces conforming to the two halves of the base instead of one big sheet, to reduce sagging. For extra support I could make Perspex “walls” along the sunken garden & top sides of the base. The camera’s going to be resting on the street for most shots anyway i.e. under the Perspex so it won’t be in the way. Problems may include reflections & the possibility the grenade explosion melts or clouds the Perspex & traps smoke, but some apertures cut in the Perspex directly overhead should reduce those risks.

I can’t think of a better solution but always open to suggestions

Hm.... I know model railroaders often have the same problems. Finding the balance between realism and practicality is a difficult issue. Specially since is must be portable.... I really can't give you an other advice than look at the model railroad market...

You didn't mention "incomplete rigging" as an option

Now on to a more serious suggestion: It seems your poles will be reasonably robust, which allows for some handling and physical stress. Why not use "removable" rigging. i.e. you place small rings/hooks on the poles so you can easily remove each cable. The cables,once installed, are all glued together in the right places, except for the attachment to the poles. When taking off the cables, you draw an accurate plan of the rigging, attributing numbers to each attachment point. You then glue a piece of tape with the number on it to each corresponding lose end of the rigging. For storage, you fold the "rigging net" into a box, separating the layers with sheet of paper.

Now, I believe the biggest problem with any rigging will be the tension. Otherwise it'll look like some spaghetti salad. I believe the supporting rigging between poles could be made out of thin steel rod (0,5 mm), which is very rigid and could help you establish a level field onto where you attach the longitudinal cables. Check out this product by Aber Model: http://www.aber.net.pl/detal,1249.html
I find it extremely useful.

For the longitudinal cables, you could use either the same, or something even lighter, such as evergreen.

Obviously, folding the "rigging net" only works if the material used for the cables is foldable, at least in the placesto be folded. I am not quite sure how to deal with that, but maybe little cord inserts instead of the rigid materials could be used.

The overall idea is to use materials that are stiff on their own and don't need crazy amounts of tension to keep straight, as this will make your poles bend. I hope you get the picture. If not, I'll try and come up with a sketch.

We all know your patience is limitless, so what's your excuse not to try it?

In any case, keep up the good work!

Hi Tim,

This is one amazing build, the level of detail is superb, .

Looking at the size of the diorama...a word that does little to describe your labour of love...I'm not surprised you're moving home...I'm presuming it's a mansion you're moving in to, .

When you move home will you be entrusting this build to the removal men? Based on my own experience of 'professional' removers, I would most certainly not recommend it, .

Your build is an inspiration.

Cheers, ,

G

As far as all the rigging goes have you heard of EZ line, not tried it myself but it seems to be the goto kit for railways and aeroplanes, just a thought !!!

Thanks Nicolas, the Aber link failed so I got onto their site but couldn’t immediately guess which product you were referring to so please re-send the corrected link. Anyhow I think I understand what you’re suggesting, basically a detachable lattice/net (in sections) rigid & light enough that it only needs the 14 poles to support it.

So that everyone’s clear what we’re talking about here’s the 1930’s tram-line cabling plan again from Prague Transport…



The red box is approximately my base with the division down the middle, two separate bases butted together. I’ve blue-circled the power poles but their position doesn’t always match the photo-references, for example the five across the top, and the five round the bend, appear much more evenly spaced than in the map. On the bottom side I’ve used licence to bring that pole inside the border by a couple of 1:1 metres. Also, there are a few places on the map where the lines don’t appear to be supported at all, or inadequately, and one of the poles on the bend seems to have no lines attached to it at all. So this map seems to be more schematic than physically accurate, but it’s the best I’ve got.

In most of the photos the lines are at best indistinct, these are probably the clearest…





The whole base is 1.35 metres square & the distance between the three poles down the right side of the base and their “answering” poles on the bend varies between 68 cms & 75 cms. I know the logic must follow that if they could rig this lattice in real life it should be equally possible at 1:35 scale, but I’m not convinced even 0.5mm wire (or EZ line) would be rigid enough to appear horizontal, unsupported over those distances and weighed down by the “ladders” of cabling they’re supporting, which follow above each pair of tramlines represented on the map by a single thick black line.

I also don’t think I’ve got the right brain-wiring to work out how to break the cabling matrix up into manageable sections as per your suggestion, given all the inter-connections. However if you do, you’re very welcome to send me a schematic. As Erwin observed the problem is always balancing realism & practicality, I guess the matrix could be simplified because there is an argument that if most of the cables are invisible in the 1942 photos, they probably will be in mine too.

Thanks Gareth yep our future residenz must have a dedicated south wing for this project…no wonder it’s taking so long to find it
I have a cautionary tale about Removalists, not for the faint-hearted:

The first diorama I built back in the mid-1990’s was a section of the Red October factory in Stalingrad – a cube measuring approx. 75cms, masses of bent girders & high broken walls & rubble all covered in snow, wrecked Stug on one side etc. Took me over a year, I only have film/prints of it & they’re in storage so I can’t show it now. Anyhow we moved house in ’99 and I carefully packed it into a big cardboard box, wedged & protected with foam blocks so it couldn’t move at all. But if you opened the flaps you could see what was inside & I wrote the room number it was to go into on all 4 sides. Light as a feather.

About 3 weeks after we’d unpacked it suddenly dawned on me – no Stalingrad. Then I remembered that as they were leaving on the day, one of the guys yelled from the van “Hey mate d’ya want us to chuck out all this spare packaging & crap? We can get rid of it ‘cos your bin’s already full.”

So yes, one half of this one will fit in the boot/trunk, the other on the back seat & the boxes containing the trams & limo on the floor of our car when we move. Having been traumatised before I usually destroy or re-cycle previous bases, so there’s only two others to ferry. But then there’s the display cases with the 85 models…

The full url has been trunkated somehow...
http://www.aber.net.pl/detal,1249.html
I understand what you're saying. At least, the web should be very light, but also ridig enough. a mix of materials could do the trick. What is the maximum distance that should be spanned?