discussion My WW1 all encompassing dio

[Peter Gillson]

i'm just gathering stuff for the project after my WAAF bust; a return to WW1.

what do you think of when thinking of WW1? I think of:

• death and waste
• trenches
• sandbags
• mud
• Britian
• Germany
• France
• gas
• poppies
• machine guns

the chellenge I set myself it how to get all of these into one small dio.

the plan is based on this photo:



All of the above list will be included:

• trenches = the main part of the base
• sandbags =. added to the top of the trench
• mud = everywhere!
• Britian = change the tank for a british tank
• Germany. = paint the tank as being captured and in German service
• France. = the set of ICM french figures
• gas = the set has the French figures wearing gas masks
• poppies = one or two discretely growing as part of the ground work
• machine guns = one soemwhere in the abandoned trench.
• death and waste = I don't like including dead figures so the wrecked tank (sort of) represents these.

not sure how I will chop up the tank, but since i only have half a set of Tacom tracks left I have to lose half of it!


Peter

View attachment 395356View attachment 395357

 

[Jason Crausby]

I’m in!

 

[monica]

I will pull up a chair as well,

 

[Guest]

Me too.

 

[Guest]

A great idea Peter.

 

[boatman]

AN IM IN TOOO Peter
chris

 

[Richard48]

Count me in at the back.
Rich.

 

[Guest]

not sure how I will chop up the tank, but since i only have half a set of Tacom tracks left I have to lose half of it!

Sink it into the ground like the A7V in your photo, and you don’t need any at the bottom. Then show the tank as having broken tracks and curve them like you see in photos of the era, which hides the fact that the tracks are much shorter than they need to be. Alternatively/in addition, have one or both of the broken tracks run off the edge of the base, cutting them to fit so it looks like they go on beyond it.

 

[stillp]

what do you think of when thinking of WW1?

I'm a bit different - my paternal grandfather was badly wounded at Gallipoli, just after his 17th birthday, so I think of heat, thirst, flies...
Watching this with interest though.
Pete

 

[grumpa]

I like WW1 !!

View attachment 395609

Jim

 

[Steve Jones]

what do you think of when thinking of WW1?

Andy Belsey :smiling2: :thumb2:

This is an epic idea Peter. Really looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I wish you all the best

 

[JayCee]

This is going to be Epic. Looking forward to it.
John.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I am IN

 

[rtfoe]

I'm in too.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
Looking forward to this great idea coming to fruition. The only thing I'd add to your list is barbed wire.
Jim

 

[Peter Gillson]

Hi Guys

welcome aboard one and all. Glad to have so many of you along.

jakko - nice idea, it would be nice to keep the whole tank, it depends on whether it would be too domineering for the scene. Hopefully I will start buildin thd tank by the weekend, then get a better idea of the layout and whether to chop or not to chop.

Peter - you are right about Gallipolli - I shoud have specified the Western Front.

Jim - absolutely, how could I forget the barbed wire! Yes there will be barbed wire.


Peter

 

[Guest]

Just to be clear: I didn’t mean to suggest cutting up the whole tank, but that you could have the track partly off the tank, and the track running off the base, which would probably save you links. Cutting the track to conform to the edge of the base then suggests there is actually more track outside of it, while a whole track link at the edge gives the impression that’s also the end of the track.

 

[Defiant911]

Like the sound of this. I made the tank as one of my first few builds this year but the dio sounds a great idea. My other thought to your list was ‘barbed wire’
carl

 

[stillp]

Peter - you are right about Gallipolli - I shoud have specified the Western Front.

Gallipoli is often forgotten, since it didn't really affect the overall war very much. Many people think it was only the Anzacs that fought there, although they were only about a quarter of the Allied troops, but suffered a third of the losses.
Grandad had signed up at 16, badly wounded within three weeks of landing at Suvla bay. Spent 18 months in hospital/convalescence, then invalided out just before his 18th birthday. They wouldn't give him a pension in spite of having lost the use of his arm, because he was too young to serve! However, he'd signed up "to serve His Majesty for the duration" so he was still the Army's property so they posted him to an ammunition factory as a checker. I can't complain, that's where he met my grandmother so I wouldn't exist otherwise!
Pete

 

[Peter Gillson]

Jakko - I get you point, good idea.
Carl - barbed wire has been added, how I missed it off the original list, I do not know.
Peter - great family story, but bad how some soldiers were treated.

here is an addition to the kits, more French figures:

View attachment 395907
it is basically the same figures as the set above but these are not wearing gas masks. The only figure which is different is the officer shouting, which I will change to adding a gas mask. It may seem a bit extravagant to buy the set to use one figure, but I prefer to have an odd number of figures in a dio, and with the size of the tank Only using 3 would not be enough. I may play about at converting a couple of the others to slightly different poses - looking into the tank perhaps. No fixed ideas yet, hopefully I will get some inspiration when I start to work with the figures.

Now I'm looking forward to starting the tank.

Peter