Final reveal: Arco dei Fileni, Libya, 1941 on 1:35, Scratchbuild
This article is part of a series:
This is the final reveal of my crack at the Arco dei Fileni, an Italian colonial monument erected in 1937 in Libya and designed by the Italian architect Florestano di Fausto (1890-1965). The original was dynamited by the later Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 1974.
Most of the information on the build was summarized over a WiP thread starting some time last year:
https://imodeler.com/groups/military-vehicles-world-war-ii-and-before/forum/topic/arco-dei-fileni-lybia-1941-42-135-scale-schatchbuild-1/
This monument had a rich history over the years of the war in North Africa and for both sides, so this comic illustration shows:
This build took me about a year to bring from conception to finalization. I learned a lot over the course of it. Unfortunately, some of the WiP thread was lost "over the course of the war", but most of the information is referred to in the above link. Here are some of the build steps:
Scale: This is a semi-scale build, given I could not find more detailed plans and had only three main dimensions (height of the monument and Arc + width of the trespassing through it). Rest is by photographic inference.
Main materials were: Base and main structure: Hardwood. Covering and detailing: Balsa. Statues: Sculpted from Staedtler FIMO:
Bas-Reliefs: Molded plaster substrate and etching, Inscriptions: Decals and 3D printed. Painting was completed with Chalk paint and Acrylics.
The models are Dragon (DAK soldier) and Zvezda (BMW R-12 heavy motorcycle).
And here is the final model:
Hope you like it! Thanks for all my friends here to support me over the past 10 months!
Michel.