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Calvarie


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Whilst I am happily working away on my grand project, it has occured to me that its very proscriptive from a scenic point of view. I have also found that I like building figures. So I thought that I would try and do something a bit creative over christmas. When I got the dio base from Dio Dump, I also got their road side cross, known in France as a calvarie (hence the title of this). They are everywhere in France (certainly the bit I live in) so when I saw it, I had to buy it. I wanted to use the project to test out some popular building techniques and do some things that I have never tried before, like putting a water feature in.

 

So after a couple of online shopping trips and real life trips I ended up with a a picture frame, a sheet of insulation foam, a hot wire cutter, a bag of sculptamold, a static grass applicator and grass, a bottle of Vallejo still water, a tub of mod podge and a box of 1:35 Tamiya British Infantry on patrol.

 

49295970932_e1b553caab.jpg7B90E825-2285-4A63-B684-361809E50086 by nomisd2002, on Flickr

 

The laying out of the land - fields at the back with a bank down to road, a road and a stream. The cross will go in the gap in the bank

 

49295971417_953e00e608.jpg01D01AD7-4374-4E66-BD2F-81B8E6C9A6CB by nomisd2002, on Flickr

 

49295777521_7060041cd6.jpg07EED3F7-C5FE-4389-A2ED-DE31B07B6FC8 by nomisd2002, on Flickr

 

The sculptamold applied. The cross is destined for the square impression in the gap in the bank. 

 

49295777386_797140625f.jpgF60B62E6-F449-4264-92CC-1EB3BF222B48 by nomisd2002, on Flickr

 

49295777056_540246141a.jpg6EFC6495-84B9-49CC-9B9E-F066A1D9CA78 by nomisd2002, on Flickr

 

I have of course made the simple error of orientating the road directly across the scene rather than at an angle. Oh well, such is life.

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Hi Mr Repeater

 

All looks good to me. One idea leaps to mind and that is to add 2 long thin triangles of vegetation/grass, one at the front RH corner of the base and the other at the rear LH corner of the existing track. Or one could build the bank out futher (towards the viewer) in that corner. Whatever, the track can still be slanted. even if it does not all fit on the base. Yes it will be slightly narrower but there's plenty of room for the figures and even a vehicle or two.

Not sure where your water feature is going to be (along the front?) but absolutely make sure the ground is sealed and your 'dams' are completely water-tight cos that resion WILL escape.

 

BTW, that particular set of figures is one of the best Tamiya do, in my opinion.

 

Rearguards,

And wishing you a happier year than last year.

 

Badder

 

 

 

 

 

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One of the things that I have learned is that a thick application sculptamold will take a long, long time to dry. It took the best part of five days to dry to a point of being able to start painting. Either this or I added too much water. It has now dried and I have sorted out the minor error in the back right hand corner where if you look at the the photo above of the bare foam, there was a gap that for some reason I didn't even notice until after I had slapped the sculptamold on. This has now been remedied. I have slapped a first coat of paint on

 

49338381212_56445e0383.jpgD7BBB36D-3981-4AE2-9EBF-197DFEBE9209 by nomisd2002, on Flickr

 

and with the cross in its eventual location

 

49337702578_da7d471603.jpg47C5B404-D8EB-4855-A398-5265AA2D3289 by nomisd2002, on Flickr

 

@Badder Thanks for the suggestion on angling. I am sort of going to try that but we will see how it ends up! I am actually pleased at having hashed the road in with paint that its not actually straight across the board but more at about 7 degrees - I am sure that by judicious use of the ground cover I bring it round to 10 degrees! As far as the water feature - in my head it was a drain (or fosse as they are called in France) but it is looking more like a stream - here is a close up of the right hand side of it

 

49337702623_0ce4f97234.jpg90CBA48A-2C15-4078-87AB-74C101C255AE by nomisd2002, on Flickr

 

I am hoping that frame itself is going to act as the dam. However having looked at that photo in nasty high zoom, I can see that its going need to make sure its sealed properly as I can see there are holes in the base. I think the frame is going to contain the resin at the ends, the only problem I can envisage is a seeping through the joints which I will make an attempt to mask.

 

Thats its for a couple of weeks now. I too hope that this year will be better than last year. The next couple of weeks certainly are not going to be - I hate funerals and I hate getting up and giving speeches in front of rooms full of people, combining the two is going to be fun....

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Hi Mr Repeater,

I hope the 'send off' went well and everyone feels calmed.

 

Now that it's painted, the roadway looks much less straight and it should be easy to slant it that little bit more. As for your intended resin pour, I do think those frame joints and the frames themselves my leak. If there's even a pin-gentleman's parts of a hole in your sculptamold, or the corner joint, the resin will get through, seep to the bottom of the base and leak out of the sides or underneath. I doubt a mask would be sufficient. PVA applied neat and allowed to seep into any holes/cracks/joints would be my preferred option. If the PVA doesn't leak out, your resin won't.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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