Battle of Verdun 1916, Dio. 1/35

Started by Paul Barber · 24 · 4 days ago
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    Paul Barber said 2 weeks, 2 days ago:

    I’m starting a dio/vignette to represent the longest running, and most attritional battle of WW1. I’m going to start with a base and make it a labour of love. I suspect I will add an artillery piece or two and some figures.

    The base is the Vallejo Scenics 1/35, country road with railway section. The German route into France and the cutting of the railway supply lines to Verdun were key to the battle, so I chose a section of track to tell that story.

    I have started by giving the whole thing a base coat of MRP brown red. Will add some highlights and shadows using airbrushing, and then hand paint details, and wash.

    The base will serve as something to keep me busy as other kits dry!

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    George R Blair Jr said 2 weeks, 2 days ago:

    Looking forward to this, Paul (@yellow10). I like doing dioramas, but I haven't done one in a while. This will be cool one, so I am excited to see this come together.

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    Louis Gardner said 2 weeks, 2 days ago:

    Paul Barber (@yellow10)
    I'm right there with our good friend George ! Sign me up for watching this one too ... I like what you have done already.

    Is this setting the stage for Mephisto ? Enquiring minds want to know... 😉

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 weeks, 2 days ago:

    Fantastic entry, my friend @yellow10!
    Looking forward to it!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 weeks, 2 days ago:

    A great base for a diorama, Paul @yellow10
    Looking forward to it.

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    Paul Barber said 2 weeks, 2 days ago:

    Cheers gents!

    No @lgardner , Louis. This will be the base for something else. Probably a ‘Morser’ and some figures.

    This battle was planned by the Germans to ‘bleed the French to death’ and weaken them by a long term process of attrition. It was a sustained hideous bombardment, among other things. The numbers of shells used was astronomical.

    This vignette will hopefully capture some of that!

    Love your story, Louis. Young men, indeed!

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    IAN Convey said 2 weeks, 2 days ago:

    I am curious to see how this goes, never contemplated a diorama so it will be interesting as to how you go about it Paul.

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    Paul Barber said 2 weeks, 1 day ago:

    @firelockg I’m interested to see where this goes too!

    I started adding bases to models and then figures a while back. Looking back I’ve done a few. I guess they are more vignettes than dios. This one may be the same.

    The adopted definition for modellers, as I’m sure most know, is that a dio shows some action or activity, whereas a vignette shows a moment captured in time.

    I think that’s a difficult distinction sometimes. A vignette will have meaning even though it may not have the depiction of motion. So in this case the railway tracks will ‘symbolise’ the struggle to establish and cut-off supply that was a significant part of the Verdun story. The artillery will reference the fact that the intensity of shelling that happened in WW1 was a change in warfare and was horrific. The base will represent the destruction and conditions I can see in photographs.

    I’m interested to hear the views of others, but I believe, unless the figures are actually ‘doing something’ or the howitzer is actually firing it will be a vignette not a dio!

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    Paul Barber said 2 weeks, 1 day ago:

    To start the base I am experimenting with some ‘paint pens’. Posca pens and AK ‘Real Colours’. Although they will be heavily washed, I am finding they go down really well. The AK gun metal on the rails will end up rusted in the main, but was way easier to use than a brush, or masking and airbrushing.

    The concrete parts are drying and are a base layer of brushed on paint.

    The artillery piece has also arrived!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 weeks, 1 day ago:

    Excellent so far, my friend @yellow10!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 weeks, 1 day ago:

    Progressing nicely, especially with those color pens, Paul @yellow10
    Looks like a great set of artillery, what is more inside, I noticed that 2 in 1 label.

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    Paul Barber said 2 weeks, 1 day ago:

    @johnb only the option to build one of two versions of the Morser. Different barrel length.

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    IAN Convey said 2 weeks, 1 day ago:

    That's one mean looking artillery piece.

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    George R Blair Jr said 2 weeks, 1 day ago:

    Base looks great, Paul (@yellow10). I just got some of the AK paint markers, but haven't tried them yet. It looks like they work really well. Those "tracked" wheels on the cannon have always fascinated me. Looking forward to seeing the build.

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    Louis Gardner said 1 week ago:

    Paul Barber (@yellow10)
    WOW ! You are not wasting any time with this one ... I'm really liking the paint pens you are using. I'll bet they are a lot nicer to use than a paint brush is.

    I rememebr watchin some WW1 short movie clips where they are firing these type of artillery pieces. Each time it recoils back, there is a gun crew member throwing fresh dirt under the wheels. I was very surprised by how much the entire gun recoiled and rolled every time it was fired.

    Another thing I noticed in the short movies: No ear plugs were worn by the crews... We don't need no steenking ear plugs ! Huh ? What did you say ?

    Just trying to be a bit funny here that's all. I can tell you about when I was exposed to extremely loud noises while serving as a tank crewman in the Army. This happened in more modern times.

    I can't wait to see what the next installment brings us. Keep it going my friend. I just can't get over how realistic the base looks... Incredible !