Renault Taxi de la Marne - "A la gloire c'est parti, le modèle est fini!"

[Bertie McBoatface]

More work on the base and im so very excited that im almost bursting i have succeeded beyond my wildest expectations in an illusion worthy of the great harry houdini himself and ...

 

But no, let's be calm and take a measured approach to this.

 

I said it was going to crack and warp, didn't I?

 

 

Well of course it did. I like how it cracked in realistic places as though the area was experiencing some slight subsidence. The warping is within the capacity of my photo frame to hold so that's ok too, giving the effect of slightly uneven ground.

 

In this close up you can clearly tell that my 'cobblestones' are actually hollow impressions. You may need to refer back to this photo in a moment.

 

 

Here's an even closer look. Rubbish really. No chance of that ever looking like cobbles.

 

 

I mixed up some pavementy colours for the paving stones and picked out some of the cobbles in grey tones of red, blue and green. It still looks awful though. The cobbles definitely go inwards. So then I drybrushed a dark grey over the road surface.

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O M G A (Oh my giddy Aunt!). I hope it's the same for you but I cannot make my eyes see the cobblestones as anything but RAISED above the dark mortar. The illusion is perfect even when I look at the clay surface itself instead of the photo.

 

 

I think even at this magnification, the illusion still holds? (Sorry to use such a large photograph for this, it was sort of necessary to prove the point.)

 

It's a bit like the following YouTube clip in the way that my mind refuses to see the 'incorrect reality' because it's so familiar with what real cobbles look like. I would be fascinated to know what a viewer from a country without cobblestone roads makes of this. Can a person who's never seen a cobbled street be fooled as easily as someone like me who walks on them every day?

 

 

It would appear (lol) that I'll be ready for the final reveal some time tomorrow, all being well. (I still have those final little jobs to do on the model)

 

 

EDIT: I'm just fitting it into the frame and when the light shifts and the illusion breaks, just like the masks video, it makes my eyes go funny and my stomach lurch! Fantastic!

[2996 Victor]

The cobbles look fantastic in the photos, Bertie, you've nailed the illusion and the colouring is totally convincing. Excellent!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

The cobbles look fantastic in the photos, Bertie, you've nailed the illusion and the colouring is totally convincing. Excellent!

 

Cheers,

Mark

 

Thanks Mark, I'm relieved that someone else can see it too. 

 

I've given the guys their weapons, miraculously without breaking off the bayonet, moulded to scale by ICM. I decided not to weather the taxi so that it contrast's with the grubby streets on the way out of Paris and into glory, so it's all finished apart from a daylight photography session in the morning. 

 

Can anyone tell me whether it is possible to embed an 80 second video on here?

[Bertie McBoatface]

Apparently not. You'll have to wait until tomorrow. 

 

'Night all.

[Old Man]

That looks perfect. I hadn't followed how you made the paving, I thought it was raised. It's really beautiful, beautiful work.

 

C'est du beau travail!

 

Magnifique!

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

Just now, Old Man said:

That looks perfect. I hadn't followed how you made the paving, I thought it was raised. It's really beautiful, beautiful work.

 

C'est du beau travail!

 

Magnifique!

 

 

Thank you.

 

The thing that astonishes me is the solidity of the illusion, even when it's in my hands, but the instant I touch it with a finger - all is revealed. C'est magique!

[2996 Victor]

An optical illusion of which M C Escher would have been proud!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

An optical illusion of which M C Escher would have been proud!

 

Cheers,

Mark

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

A la gloire c'est parti, le modèle est fini !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Fin.

[Andwil]

Tres bon!

 

They’ll soon have the boche on the run.

 

AW

[Bertie McBoatface]

Just now, Andwil said:

Tres bon!

 

They’ll soon have the boche on the run.

 

AW

 

Thanks Andy

 

I'm heaving a sigh of relief now that oh-so-fragile model is safely in the gallery and the display cabinet. Now I can go back to my BIG STRONG TANK that doesn't break when you look sideways at it.

[2996 Victor]

What can I say? Absolument magnifique! You've created a beautiful and also poignant model: the love of the subject and the craftsmanship shines through, yet it is so thought-provoking in what it portrays. Wonderful work, young man!

 

Kind regards,

Mark

[Bertie McBoatface]

3 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

What can I say? Absolument magnifique! You've created a beautiful and also poignant model: the love of the subject and the craftsmanship shines through, yet it is so thought-provoking in what it portrays. Wonderful work, young man!

 

Kind regards,

Mark

 

Well thank you, Mark. 

 

I'm intrigued that you picked up the 'love of the subject'. I bought this kit some time ago, on a whim and to make an order up to the 'free-postage' amount. I never built it because, well, I wasn't really interested in anything French. My appallingly nasty school French teacher put me off anything to do with the place when I was 13 and I never really recovered from him. Even when I saw the GB, my first thought was 'not interested in that one'. Then I saw the Taxi kit in my wardrobe and thought, why not, I might as well get it over with. But during the month of the build, I've been transformed and watching a documentary on the Notre Dame fire last night, I suddenly realised that I want to go there. I even want to speak French to French people! Using a little of the language in the build thread has brought a surprising amount of vocab to the surface of my mind. These little plastic people have grown on me, it seems.

 

It is a poignant tableau for sure. They took their coffee grinders with them to the great 'meat-grinder' of the Western Front. They went, happily in their red pyjama bottoms, to the grey green industrial killing machine. They went, without even helmets for protection. The helmets that I included as a deliberate anomaly weren't even designed until 1915. How could the armies of the Great Powers of Europe think that they would be re-fighting the wars of fifty years before? Hadn't they noticed the Maxim gun, which equipped all the armies, none of which had steel helmets in the beginning.

 

The Taxi legend was created to symbolise the cooperation between the Army and the Capital, as a sign of the French genius for improvisation and as a token of the morale of France, the urgency of all the soldiers to get to the front and do their bit. France needed the legend at the time, as Britain would need its Dunkirk legend the next time around. The story could equally well be held to signify the utter shambles of an army that couldn't organise a railway train, the profiteering of the civilians who insisted that their fares were paid and the desperate situation that was thought to require the presence of every soldier to stop the invader, miles and miles past the borders of the country. 

 

History. It's all stories. Stories, true or otherwise, make nations. I wonder what stories are we writing about our own slightly (by comparison) troubled times?

 

[2996 Victor]

Eloquently put, young man. You can almost hear those Poilus off to the Front, singing, going on an adventure and knowing not the horrors that awaited them. Hard to imagine in these far-off days.

 

I was never much good at French while at school, although an increasing use of Franglais at home, more in fun than anything else, has led to some of my "proper" vocab resurfacing. Bizarre, after 35 years!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Bertie McBoatface]

3 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

some of my "proper" vocab resurfacing. Bizarre, after 35 years!

 

It's the intervening fifty years since school that I can't remember.

[Bertie McBoatface]

21 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

So then I drybrushed a dark grey over the raised detail of the road surface.

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O M G A (Oh my giddy Aunt!). I hope it's the same for you but I cannot make my eyes see the sunken cobblestones as anything but raised above the ACTUALLY RAISED dark mortar. The illusion is perfect even when I look at the clay surface itself instead of the photo.

 

 

 

Would that work on raised panel lines? Dry brush them dark grey and they might look like engraved lines. I would try it if I owned anything with raised panel lines but if anyone out there wants to have a go, I'd love to see how it turns out.

[Pig of the Week]

3 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

Well thank you, Mark. 

 

I'm intrigued that you picked up the 'love of the subject'. I bought this kit some time ago, on a whim and to make an order up to the 'free-postage' amount. I never built it because, well, I wasn't really interested in anything French. My appallingly nasty school French teacher put me off anything to do with the place when I was 13 and I never really recovered from him. Even when I saw the GB, my first thought was 'not interested in that one'. Then I saw the Taxi kit in my wardrobe and thought, why not, I might as well get it over with. But during the month of the build, I've been transformed and watching a documentary on the Notre Dame fire last night, I suddenly realised that I want to go there. I even want to speak French to French people! Using a little of the language in the build thread has brought a surprising amount of vocab to the surface of my mind. These little plastic people have grown on me, it seems.

 

It is a poignant tableau for sure. They took their coffee grinders with them to the great 'meat-grinder' of the Western Front. They went, happily in their red pyjama bottoms, to the grey green industrial killing machine. They went, without even helmets for protection. The helmets that I included as a deliberate anomaly weren't even designed until 1915. How could the armies of the Great Powers of Europe think that they would be re-fighting the wars of fifty years before? Hadn't they noticed the Maxim gun, which equipped all the armies, none of which had steel helmets in the beginning.

 

The Taxi legend was created to symbolise the cooperation between the Army and the Capital, as a sign of the French genius for improvisation and as a token of the morale of France, the urgency of all the soldiers to get to the front and do their bit. France needed the legend at the time, as Britain would need its Dunkirk legend the next time around. The story could equally well be held to signify the utter shambles of an army that couldn't organise a railway train, the profiteering of the civilians who insisted that their fares were paid and the desperate situation that was thought to require the presence of every soldier to stop the invader, miles and miles past the borders of the country. 

 

History. It's all stories. Stories, true or otherwise, make nations. I wonder what stories are we writing about our own slightly (by comparison) troubled times?

 

I'd highly recommend  "Poilu the WW1 notebooks of corporal Louis Barthas"

An account of trench warfare from the French side, direct from a man who lived through it, and tells it from the perspective of an ordinary working man turned soldier.

It's available in English, a very good read imho...

[Colin W]

AN excellent model resulting from an interesting and stimulating build thread. Thanks also for sharing your thoughts on this as the model developed.

 

Great Stuff.

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

10 hours ago, Colin W said:

AN excellent model resulting from an interesting and stimulating build thread. Thanks also for sharing your thoughts on this as the model developed.

 

Great Stuff.

 

 

Thank you. I really enjoyed the writing and it’s very satisfying to know that you found it a good read. 
 

I’d like to pass on my thanks to the ICM guys who designed and made the kit which was a ready made vignette. Remember I built it pretty much OOB. If you haven’t already, their kits are well worth a try. 
 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

 

Remember that Goblin creature? Well he's got a Ready for Inspection topic of his own now. Please drop in for a look and stay and admire the other figure painters' work in that sometimes neglected section.

 

 

[Old Man]

This is a wonderful piece, Sir!

 

I particularly like the understated shading on the clothing. The wnder of the cobbles cannot be over-stressed. Pure magic.

 

A great subject, and I'm glad you took this one out of the cupboard.

 

One of the most enjoyable threads I've ever read through on this site.

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, Old Man said:

This is a wonderful piece, Sir!

 

I particularly like the understated shading on the clothing. The wnder of the cobbles cannot be over-stressed. Pure magic.

 

A great subject, and I'm glad you took this one out of the cupboard.

 

One of the most enjoyable threads I've ever read through on this site.

 

Thank you very much.

[Grandboof]

Thankyou for a magnificent modeling journey . The result speaks for itself . 

Martin H

[TonyOD]

Truly extraordinary bit of modelling that. So evocative. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, Grandboof said:

Thankyou for a magnificent modeling journey . The result speaks for itself . 

Martin H

Thanks Martin. I enjoyed it myself and I think that shows in the writing. It's not made me a fan of civil car moddelling but I can tick that one off the list now.