Great War 75 mm cannon team

[Dan Morton]

Roger wanted me to post this for him and to explain that he has difficulty writing in English and posting pics on the web site. This is a large project involving seven 120mm horses, a 75mm cannon and ammo wagon, and all the (I believe) five artillerymen. All in 120mm, I believe. The first two photos show the road in a little gulch. The base was made from papier mache spread over polyester resin, reinforced with fiberglass and polyester resin. Then he put real earth on top and stuck it all down with waterproof wood glue.

The horse appears to be a partly a resin copy. To add mane he cuts a groove 3mm deep in the neck and inserts lead wire, pressing it firmly on the neck so that it curves and looks natural.

Next he cuts the mane to appropriate lengths.

Photos six and eight show how he works up harness using lead foil, putty and wire.

Photo seven - this is the one I don't quite understand. He says he paints the hair with a thick oil paint and models it, then brushes it dry. I assume this contributes to making the wire appear more hair like, but ? I'm sure Roger will clear it up in a later e-mail.

Enjoy!

All the best,
Dan Morton

 

[Sambaman]

Ambitious project to say the least! Keep us posted.

Jay H.
OKC

 

[Arminous]

Hi all!

Wow,this is gonna be big!I like what I see so far!Let us see more!

Btw,does any of the members know what is this green material with the white lines
forming squares?I'm talking about the plastic(I guess) leaf that covers the deskof the modeler.





Cool project!
-Kostas.

 

[Arminous]

Hi again!

In photo seven I guess I understand the sculptor's technique(btw,pretty cleaver!).He applies thick oil paint to the horse hair so that he fills the gaps between the wires.The paint is thick and covers fully the wires.Then he dry-brushes the hair,so that he removes the upper layer of the thick oil paint and let the wire edges appear.This way the horse hair looks richer and the wires look like many hairs gathered together.I think this is what he's trying to explain.We'll see...




Cheerz!
-Kostas.

 

[m@rp]

Hi Roger and Dan,
Ambitious project indeed.
It will be very impressive to see the Royal Field Artillery in action especially at that scale.
Keep up the good work Roger.
Pascal
My Website: Figurines-Histoire-Passion

 

[Anders Heintz]

Now this is pretty cool!!

Unfortunately I don think that pictures can fully justify the size of this dio, but I cant wait to see some more progress. The Mane looks great as well. Show us more!!

 

[Dan Morton]

OK - here I am again, acting as Roger's secretary.

First to answer the question. The green board is a cutting or design board. You can buy them through online art shops like Dick Blick. It's just thick green plastic sheet with a white grating overlaid.

Quoting Roger -

"The diorama is in 120mm scale (I don't work in an other scale): dim.: width: 43cm, lenght: 120cm, height (top): 58cm, (below): 18cm.

'Artillery in the rain' (worktitle). I'm looking for a good title like: 'Farmersons in the army'. ???? 'Muddy artillery', 'Flanders mud', ?????? [Anybody want to offer suggestions?]

There are 6 horses pulling the train (Irish Draught) and 1 for an officer who sits on it and runs beside the cannon, shouting orders. 8 men serve the cannon. Here on this large diorama there are 3 sitting on the train horses and 5 have to push the cannon up the muddy hill.

The horses are in made from resin parts from models I made before. They are reshaped with polyester paste and putty (milliput).

The thick oil paint is used as a cover over the lead wire to give the hair a more natural look. This has to be done in two layers. It's not dry brushed, the first layer just has to dry before painting (modelling) the second one. The colour is a 'natural' one, like yellow ochre or sienna. These 'earth colours' dry quite quick (3 - 4 days in this thickness). Using oil paint gives you the possibility to 'sculp' slowly and to reform very easy and whenever you like. In this case it is more filling up the clefts around the wire. For example, I use this method also for the veins on the horse or for fine details on uniforms like numbers etc.

The leadwire used for the horsehair is the same method I explained to you. Cutting thin strips from leadfoil, spiral it and roll them with sandpaper.

Greetings,
le petit belge"

 

[megroot]

GREAT GREAT GREAT

Awesome work Roger.
Keep us informed about how it is going further. REally apreciate more WIP pictures.

Marc

 

[petit belge]

Thanks to all of you and especially to Dan.

First let me tell you that it's the Belgian cavalry I'm making and of course it's Royal too.

Soon I will send some more pics and tricks.

Don't you think that Dan has a new job?

 

[petit belge]

How I make lead wire from lead foil

pic 1: little plank with rough sandpaper
pic 2: lead foil, lath and sharp x-acto knife
pic 3: how to hold the knife. Don't press to hard, bether cutting twice than to cut in one time.

pic 4: roll the strip into a spiral
pic 5: roll gently with the sandpaper over the spiral. Start in the middle and roll to the left and then to the right (ore vice versa).
pic 6: different thickness

Using fine sandpaper gives a smooth surface