The Day That Shook The World

[btavis]

Originally posted by John Long@May 30 2004, 09:52 PM
Bob, it's nice to see another step. Did you make the cobblestone street the same way as in the "Taxi DeLaMarne" dio?

Basically, the same type of cobbles. Except in this case I stressed the cobbles more with a wire brush and left them a grayish color instead of brick red. I didn't want the street color to compete with the red of the car. I gave the recesses between bricks a wash of sepia oils and dusted the surface with pastels.

 

[btavis]

Just as a point of history, the corner where this takes place is at Franz Joseph Street and Apel Quay, They have just turned into Franz Joseph Street realizing they should have gone straight on Apel Quay. The driver is trying to back up when Gavrillo took his shots. There were many Austrian soldiers there for security as well as Bosnian policemen but as you can see they could not stop the fanatical nineteen year old Gavrillo.

While there are many similarities in composition to the taxi piece it is somewhat fitting as this is the second in a trilogy of WWI pieces I am doing. The last will be a Belgian Minerva armored car chasing down a couple of German Uhlans. I think I am done with WWI after that (famous last words).

All of the pieces I have planned over the next year involve automobiles as they played such an important part in modern times. After the Minerva piece I plan on doing one on Pershing's expeditionary force pursuing Pancho Villa. Pershing organized the largest mechanized force (about 600 cars) as part of his cavalry. It is roughly the same time period (circa 1914).

 

[garyjd]

Bob, That is just fantastic! Combining two scenes into one cannot be an easy task. My hat's off to your creativity.~Gary

 

[LCoote]

Gee Bob, you're really going to have your work cut out for the next year or so. I'm really interested as to how you're going to incorporate tne trench scene into the shadow box

 

[yeo_64]

Looks AWESOME,Bob :lol: !! Looking forward to the next step in the diorama ! Cheers.
Kenneth.

 

[btavis]

I have not been idle.

The building is 90% finished and here are some pictures with a mock-up of the shadow box portion.

The figures are temporary old Airfix guys until I sculpt the real ones (I am awaiting some accessories from good ole Scale Link).

There are two versions of the lighting - one is with a natural sky background and the other is with a red filter to give it more of a Hellish feeling. The lights are three six inch flourescents but I am going to use cold cathode for the finished version as it gives off more light and the bulbs last something like 30,000 hours plus there is no heat.

The actual background picture is just something run off the laser printer on vellum. The real background will be a film positive with much richer colors. There will be four or five figures, barbed wire and some other lighting effects. Maybe another month left to go on it.

 

[btavis]

The building took about thirty hours to construct and I would have taken SBS pictures of its construction but I loaned my camera to a "friend" who totally screwed up the lens zoom mechanism. So I got a new camera but too late for this phase of the project.The bulding is basically made of bass plywood and styrene and coated with Liquitex ceramic stucco to give it a rough, stone patina. The arches over the windows were made with Apoxie sculpt inside a styrene pattern and then sanded flat.

There will be mirrors in the windows which adds another nice reflective dimension to the piece. There will be flags hanging off the building, street lamps and a banner going across the street which welcomes the Archduke to Sarajevo and will be in Bosnian (I found a translator!).

 

[John Long]

That is excellent Bob! Very dramatic. The shadowbox is going to play very well.

 

[Guy]

Beautiful work Bob.......Love the shadow box within the scene

 

[Jason W.]

Thats looking great Bob! All those hours really paid off! Can't wait to see the finished piece.

 

[btavis]

Thanks gents. The use of a small shadow box has given me some other ideas since I especially like the fact that the effect can be pulled off without having to have a large cumbersome box to house it in.

 

[yeo_64]

Bob,AWESOME,AWESOME WORK there !!! I especially like the "hellish" red lighting that you'd used in one of mock-up pics-it gives the scene a real "surreal" feel ! Looking forward to the next step in the project.Cheers !
Kenneth.

 

[Anders Heintz]

Hey Bob!!

Great progress, it is really looking cool. The building really turned out nice. Looking forward to see this one come together!

 

[Roc]

Hey Bob, it is looking great.

I find your step by step most inspiring,
Keep up the great work.

Roc.

 

[btavis]

Thanks fellas. I sincerely appreciate the comments. I have learned a great deal from this project.

 

[Automata]

Bob,

At first, I was sceptical that the shadowbox portion of your diorama would work. But, after seeing the mockups- especially the one with the red filter, I like the feel of it a lot. This is a very creative piece and it's shaping up nicely. Good work!

Barry

 

[btavis]

Thanks Barry. I agree on the red filter approach and it is the way I will go with the finished piece.

 

[btavis]

I finished the groundwork for the shadow box portion and sculpted a dead Brit with the base colors blocked in. Three more figures to go in this portion.

Here are two angles of the piece so far.

 

[John Long]

I think it's just what you need Bob. A couple of small things. The head needs to hang more and perhaps the helmet on the ground. The pack looks a little large. I can't wait to see this thing finished.

 

[Anders Heintz]

Hey Bob,

Nice progress buddy!! I like the scene, very WWI-ish. Gonna look so cool once it is all put together.