discussion Reinforcing the Gustav Line, Italy 1944

[TIM FORSTER]

Ok, so anyone who has followed by last three projects not only has patience, but also knows that I am generally a slow worker… they usually take at least 3 years.



So I have resolved that this one is going to be much quicker! As part of the strategy I am only including one vehicle (although it is open-topped) plus an infantry cart. I am also going to avoid buildings altogether (unless you count a bridge and a roadside shrine). However, the figure count is probably not going to be any lower than my last one and, just to add a twist, two of them are going to be donkeys.

However, the dominating feature is here is going to be the mountainous terrain.

The general idea is to show the challenge facing the Germans as they sought to hold the Gustav line on the Italian front before, in May 1944, the Allies finally captured Monte Cassino and swept down the Liri valley towards Rome…

 

[rtfoe]

I already like where this is going Tim. The layers are the key to the composition and telling the story. Three years...okay made reservations to a nearby hotel and brought along a comfortable designer chair.

Cheers,
Wabble

 

[TIM FORSTER]

I already like where this is going Tim. The layers are the key to the composition and telling the story. Three years...okay made reservations to a nearby hotel and brought along a comfortable designer chair.

Cheers,
Wabble

Thanks Wabble... I hope you aren't holding your breath at the same time!

 

[John Race]

Hi Tim, count me in. Sleeping bag at the ready

 

[minitnkr]

You gotta love Italian masonry.

 

[TIM FORSTER]

Thanks guys, this may not be quite as exciting as my last project, but I hope that it has enough drama nonetheless.

The main inspiration for this project was the Tamiya Wespe that I bought a couple of years ago.



As you can see, I also went for a lot of extras - most of which I will end up not using.

Like the 250 that I put on my last dio, to my mind the Wespe qualifies as a ‘cute’ vehicle. It also manages to pack an awful lot into a relatively small space - I mean it is a 105 mm howitzer on a (stretched) Panzer II chassis after all…

As with all my projects I started out by working out the space needed by mocking up the scene using bits of card, sanding blocks and whatever came to hand. Since the Wespe was going to be the only vehicle I had already started putting it together.






The idea was to have the Wespe making its way up a relatively narrow road, passing in front of a cliff face and over a bridge, with a mule track running up above in the opposite direction. I needed to allow enough height and depth to incorporate several elements: the steep drop in front of the road, the road itself (still wide enough to take a Wespe), the lower cliff face, the mule track set into its face and the cliff rising above it…