I have managed a reasonable amount of modelling time the past couple of weeks and have now completed upgrade 45 of 49. In fact number 46 is three parts done too. With so little left to do to bring the armies up to full strength I will soon be constructing the "production lists" for the new fourth army. I will share some figures from those lists when they are finished.
On another matter, my armies use what I call "house bodied" wagons and heavy trailers in a variety of configurations. These include office, medical, signals and workshop vehicles. I have always "imagined" some of these vehicles to be fitted with tent like awnings that can be "unrolled" so as to provide additional weatherproof working space. Over the years I have experimented with a number of structures to try to represent these awnings but nothing has been satisfactory....till now !!!!
When looking in my workshop drawers for some wall plugs recently, I came across some old plastic "rawlplug" strips. These are about 12 inches long (300mm) and can be cut to length for use with extra long screws. They come in different colour coded thicknesses. After a bit of thought I cut up a strip, filled the central screw pilot hole with filler and fitted the pieces to a couple of wagons. The result is below.
I used the "red" thickness. These strips are not often seen in shops nowadays but are readily available online and are not expensive. I hope the picture is clear enough to see the painted strips on the wagon roof. I think this is the best way of representing rolled up awnings that I have found yet. However, before undertaking the task of retro fitting a few hundred wagons, I would appreciate readers views on this idea, does it look right ????
As some of you will know Archduke Piccolo has been wargaming a campaign based on my Imagi-Nations series. The battle reports are really good and the next installment is due shortly. I encourage all to visit his blog.
They look OK to me. It's a case of you could do more, but then would it be in keeping with the rest of the army? I think less is more in this case.
ReplyDeleteAs for the campaign, it's brilliant isn't it?
Hi Steve. Yes I quite agree. The idea on all my vehicles is to give a representation only rather than a highly detailed model. The campaign is really good, so exciting. Not so sure I like how well the Chinese are doing however !!!!!! Regards.
DeleteTony - they work for me, but with one minor suggestion for improvement. From the picture, they appear to be exactly the same colour as the wagon body. I would paint them in a slightly different, preferably lighter shade. The same notional shade often comes out lighter on fabrics - just have a look at colour photographs of canvas-bodied trucks from WW1 or WW2 and you will see what I mean
ReplyDeleteHi Ian. Yes you are quite right, good idea. Although the same colour was used it has a slightly different actually darker shade on the actual vehicle simply because I used primer on the plastic "awning" whereas the wagon body is just unprimed balsa. I get a similar effect on GS wagons where the "canvas" cover is brown paper. The photos do not show this unfortunately. However your idea of having a lighter shade is a good one so I will do some experiments . Regards.
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