1/72 scale.....Scratch building the Hospital, Rorke's Drift, circa 23rd January 1879.

[Guest]

Thank you young man, we older Nerds need help in these matters. :smirk:
453

[spanner570]

Thanks Dave. plenty of empty seats.
453 - So very, very true but we muddle along somehow, don't we?

I'll push this build on now.

Here are all the walls glued and the clay bricks painted.
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The inner walls are also completed.
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453 - See, I remembered this time..... :thumb2::upside:
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Thanks for looking.
Ron

[papa 695]

Very nice work as usual young Ron.

[Alun Wells]

Hi Ron,
One of my all time favourite films. Having checked that the parrot has disappeared, and that I am unlikely to get wet(unless the river is involved) will follow along. Good start
Cheers
Alun

[Guest]

Superb my friend and that thanks for tape photo .
Great scribing of the stone.
453

[Guest]

Really nice work Ron. Good to see that you've gone for the actual, rather than film building. I never understood why they included internal corridors in the film, when they still had Hook and Co. breaking through the walls (apparently because Zulus had got into the corridors!).

[Jim R]

Hi Ron
Hospital looking good. Scribing and paint are very realistic.
Jim

[minitnkr]

Some excellent masonry. PaulE

[spanner570]

Great posts gents. Thank you

Foul wet weather all day here, so I've pushed on very nicely with the build.

The Hospital roof caught fire very early in the Battle and lit up the scene for a fair old time during the early part of the night.
Just how much of the roof was actually destroyed I don't know, so keeping in tune with my usual model making creed, a right or wrong its my build nonsense, I'm playing safe and doing a partially burned out one. This offers me the bonus of a bit more fun varying the roof construction.

Here is the initial cardboard 'Underlay'. This will give me something solid to work the thatch on. The open space in the middle is obviously where the fire has done its damage.

All loose fitted for now.
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Sweaty sock time.... :disappointed:
I've just spent a goodly time fitting the roof of the little extension to the main roof. (bottom left) I found out an hour ago that this little roof at the time of the battle was a simple sloping one piece thatched one - no pitch, valleys or gable like wot I've made. Easy fix, but that messy bit has been all for nothing. Out with the scalpel. At least I haven't glued anything.

Hey ho......

[Mini Me]

And just like that, it was gone. oh well, I was liking it anyway. But rules is rules so out with the knife.
Cheers Rick H.

[Jim R]

Hi Ron
'twas looking good too. Hey-ho onwards and upwards with roof MK2.
Jim

[scottie3158]

Ron,

Great work the brick work is spot on.

[Guest]

Ron .
You know what I'd have done :smiling2: !!!!
That would have given a very realistic look .
453

[spanner570]

Thanks for the encouraging posts boys.
453 - It was a very close call, but I'm saving all my frustrated pyrotechnics for a bit later! :hungry:

The little extension roof I made initially was apparently a relatively recent add on.....:angry:
Back on track now.....
As I wrote earlier an easy fix and just annoyed I didn't spot my error earlier, as it was an awkward bit of roof to make.

This is what the little roof should look like....simple!
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I've also scribed the floorboards. To give you some idea of the floor size, the work is done on an A4 size board. I then slurried different shades of brown on to the scribed lines.
Note I have added some sun bleaching to the verandah boarding.
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To help answer Peter's observations re the film 'Zulu'. I thought it might be a good idea to show how Hook and company are supposed to have escaped from the hospital when it was overrun.
The Zulus initially entered into the center rooms forcing the defenders along the black line. There were no corridors and all the external doors had been well blocked off. I've modelled the two holes cut out of the dividing wall which the British hacked out and you can see the window which the survivors escaped through. I hope this is of some interest to you good people.
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Cheers.
Ron

[Mini Me]

Yes, it's all coming back to me now. Don't forget the bunk beds that were used to block the doors. Great progress! Cheers, Rick H.:thumb2: