Hello Gents,

I didn't post something here since few months.
I manage to progress on a vignette I planned for french troops, mainly a goumier, a tirailleur and an airborn guy, all serving a MG.
Here are the pics. the vignette is not done yet, I have to add some touch up, add some leaves, etc... I enjoyed very much doing the firtree, made of asparagus.
Figs are also in progress. I've planned to put extra equipement like ammo, ammobelt etc all around the hole.
Comments and critics are welcomed !
Best to you guys
Ah and sorry for the blurry/crappy pictures...








Julien

wow to be honest i love it.
I like the positions on the figures.
overall mice dio mate.
BTW are the figures dragon.
also who did the leaves

hey julien
this look`s great
i like the figure painting of the oriental guy
@ afroman i think the leaves are birch tree seams
cheers

thanks guy for the nice comments ! very much appreciated.
Afroman : yes it's originally dragon figures. They have been heavily converted. I used the 101st bastogne kit mainly for torso and arms. For the oriental guys, and the rest of the other figures (legs) I used the US army support weapon team.
For the leaves, you are right Bastian : they are birch tree seads. But as they are rather hard to find in the center of Paris, I used the one made by Hudson and Allen. I recommend them ! (but pretty hard to find in retail store).
Best guys,
Julien

Bonjour Julien,
This looks really good. Your vegetation is very well done.
I am a lot in the forest , so i understand that it is possible to have leaves near a fir (in a mixed wood). But someone from the center of Paris for example , can rightly ask the question where the leaves are coming from?
The fir is really excellent, you say it's aspargus. But from the look it is not the Aspargus plumosus like others used already. Do you have the full latin name of it? I'm really interested , because yours looks better and i need to do a lot of firs.
Nice paint on the tirailleur also.
Cheers
Claude

Great work. Nice selection of figures.

Looking forward to see the final work.

Simon

Hi Julien,

Very nice!! I like it... in fact so much that despite it's early stage, I'm going to say this now already... when you're done send me 5-8 pics of the completed vignette... I'd like to feature it on HF

Rudi

Hi Julien,
I remember these figures from previous posts and you done a great job on the conversions.The scene is very well done and eye catching,really nice job so far.

Steve

The ground work is amazing.Great job
Pedro

Hello guys !
Thank you veru much for your comments, it's vey encouraging coming from you, wise modelers !
Claude, thanks for your comments. I guess you need fir trees for your majestic diorama on Clervaux castle. I don't know the latin name of this kind of asparagus. all I know is that there two sort of asparagus in the flower shop : already cut or in pot. I took the last one. The funniest is that in the pot, branches are different. The branches I choose were the taller. Sorry for not being more precise. I guess your florist will answer better than me. Just beware because when asparagus dry, it become nearly white. I can ask what type of asparagus it is when I'll pass next to my florist.
Rudi : I'm so proud you offer me this opportunity thanks a lot my friend ! I will do.

I'll keep you updated.

Best,
Julien

Hi Julien,

Nice groundwork....where did jou get the idea for this vignette? I like this stuff....small but what a great atmosfhere!
I follow Julien!

Greetz Bill

great work julien,
saw your figures on historicus forma some time ago and was allready impressed... this puts them in a great atmosphere!!

great work

koen

Hello my friends,
Regaring the atmosphere of the vignette, I try to recreate tension amo,ng those three guys. They all look in the same direction as thy might have heard something on their right...
The idea of depicting french troops came after seeing a french movie which were awarded at the Cannes festival last year called "Indigènes". The movie depict the story of the North African troops in the French army, starting to Italy and ending in Alsace in North-east of France. Whites Blacks and muslim fought under the same flag to free the France. That's why in my vignette you have a French airborn guy holding the MG , a goumier digging and a tirailleur watching at enemies.
The idea to fix them in a hole/trench came after seeing a men at arms on Free French troops. I could post the picture tonight if you want.
Best to all,
Julien

wow, terrific, i love it, you attention the groundwork is very realistic, and overall a good little project. well done

matt

Hi Julien,

I love this vignette, its very realistic. The leaves are the from plus model. The trea is this homemade, because the local flowershop have also asparagus, and i realy love that tree. Can you tell me how you made it. And i think the pictures are from a very good quality.

Sorry for my bad english writing,

Thanks for the explanation Julien,
So you took the aspargus from the pot. But didn't you need to dry or otherwise conserve them. Are you sure that they are staying green ?

Thank you
Claude
and i defintely need to make a trip to th florist

Hi,
Thanks for your comments guys !
Manuelke : hte leaves come from Hudson&Allen. Originally they are birch tree seeds, so you can pick them in the nature if you have the chance to have a birch tree next to your house. For for a reasonable price Hudson and Allen give a fair amount of natural or tinted leaves.
Plus models does PE colored leaves. But they are rather expensive for the number you have in the box..It would have cost me a lot if I choosed this kind of leaves...
And yes th tree is home made. I didn't took picture of the construction phasis, but basically you put togehther iron wire, cut them at the top and place each branch like when you peel a banana. put your putty all around and on the branch, make streaks to reproduce the trunk, paint it and after that glue nice piece of asparagus on each branch and that's it. My tree look odd at the top of it as I run out of asparagus at the end of the process. And don't worry, my english is not better than yours...

Claude : to dry or not to dry, that's the question ! I made a test, letting dry one branch of aparagus. You may find it on the second picture, far right of the tree, thin and less greenish than the rest. I let it dry, use hair spray to conserv it. The problem is that branch looks now stunted and dwarfed. i advise you to airbrush your branch just after cutting them. the acrylic will have the hairspray function. If your branch turn lighter, airbrush it again with a very thin "tête". At last, it's amazing all the small flowers you can find for modelling for reasonnable price.

Best,
Julien