Dinner on the Front - Project Abandoned, photos lost.

[Bertie McBoatface]

11 hours ago, Davek72 said:

Happy Xmas Bertie love the workspace.

 

Thanks very much. It's as perfect as I can get it so I'll probably change everything soon. 😄 Well, it's cheaper than moving home. 

 

Despite my undoubtedly wise words about not modelling while drinking, I have to own up to doing some gluing on of arms last night. I neither photographed nor timed it but fitting the remaining seven limbs to my crew can't have taken more than an hour even in my happy state so that's what I'll log as soon as I can get out of bed. 

[JeroenS]

Come on old chap, you can do this! 🙂 

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, JeroenS said:

Come on old chap, you can do this! 🙂 

 

It's going to be a damnably close run thing.

[Bertie McBoatface]

It's been another day with other real people in it. I'm surprised that I got anything done at all.

 

 

I did though. First thing this morning I took my trusty light sabre and  turned one cheap wooden box into a diorama base, a vignette base and a tool tray (the top, not in the picture).

 

 

I have left overs from boat building to dress the stage. This was only half an hour's work but then the relatives turned up. 

 

 

After they left I got into some serious carpentry for an hour. I was leaving gaps on purpose between the planks which was an interesting reversal of my usual process. Slapping them in quickly produced results which are acceptable in a blitz, I think. Then It was time to go out to an afternoon tea party. No one was thrown into the harbour and I restarted when I arrived home. I finished the woodwork and gave the whole thing a coat of sanding sealer. I'll be weathering it tomorrow.

 

 

Then the real fun started as I worked out the exact positioning of the figures and adjusted them to fit their chairs, and in the case of the Commissar, his ammo box.

 

 

With dinner on the table I needed more working surface for weapons and kit etc so I made a very rough table. 

 

Dioramas are never finished; there's always something else that could be added. What happens is that the builders finally decide to stop. I've only got one day left so I'm going to stop quite soon, paint what I have and stick it all together.

 

 

That's the working log so far. I have ample hours but not really enough days! I'll do a little more tonight, at least getting my guys heads pointing in the right directions, and perhaps I'll be able to paint in the morning. The only way this is going to work is if I can paint six figures in a session of 3 hours - maximum.

 

 

 

  

 

[Bengalensis]

Real people can be a very difficult thing. It's easier in styrene or resin or something.

But now we´re talking real progress!

[Hockeyboy76]

Great stuff so far. Good luck for the rest of it. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

5 minutes ago, Bengalensis said:

Real people can be a very difficult thing. It's easier in styrene or resin or something.

But now we´re talking real progress!

 

Thanks Ben. I do find real people a bit of a strain but so far I'm enjoying the Christmas socialising. My daughter and her bf are always easy and fun but I've been partying with the neighbours too - me! Partying! That's not happened for years.

 

And the dio is looking good to me too. I'm determined to finish it because you haven't even met the mystery guest yet.

 

1 minute ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

Great stuff so far. Good luck for the rest of it. 

 

Thank you. I hope you do get to see the finish. The Christmas dinner story might have an ending that will surprise.

[Pete in Lincs]

Food,model and flat looking good, Bertie. All the best.

[psdavidson]

All that planking you were doing earlier in the year certainly paid off

It's taking shape nicely

[JeroenS]

That is one nice little room Bertie! Good to hear you had a nice day. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

53 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Food,model and flat looking good, Bertie. All the best.

 

Thanks Pete.

 

17 minutes ago, psdavidson said:

All that planking you were doing earlier in the year certainly paid off

It's taking shape nicely

 

Yeah, to be honest this is pretty much my default planking quality! 😁

 

13 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

That is one nice little room Bertie! Good to hear you had a nice day. 

 

Do you mean my living room or my diorama? Both are little. 😁

 

[Jinxman]

That looks tremendous - never seen anything like this in a Blitzbuild.

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 hours ago, Jinxman said:

That looks tremendous - never seen anything like this in a Blitzbuild.

 

Thank you Jinxman.

 

I originally decided to do a Blitzbuild because I was slightly concerned that I might be lonely and blue over Christmas. As things have turned out, I've had a great Christmastime, and have struggled to fit 24 hours of modelling in between all the ho ho hos and the other good stuff. 🤣

 

I decided to do this particular kit because it was something I'd had for ages and had little love for -  if it failed, I didn't care. As it has turned out, I'm delighted with it and don't want to mess it up by rushing. I like my li'l dudes now and want to paint them properly (which means an evening's work per bloke) and make them a dug-out to be proud of. In the case of the Soviet army of 1944, I believe that was pretty scruffy! There's a lot of potential for cluttering, muckying, applying a bit of ENTROPY to the situation.

 

So I'll be continuing with the build however long it takes and not rushing it anymore. I've taken nine hours to get this far and there's no possibility of finding  time or energy for the remaining 15 hours before midnight tonight (less than 15 hours away as I edit).

 

 

With the heads on, and even without paint, you can see how very good these MiniArt figures are, even with empty hands. Go Ukraine!

 

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

@Enzo the Magnificent,  would you be kind enough to move this thread to the Diorama WIP section when the GB is over?

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

Failed. Failed for the very good reason that my Christmas was too good to allow more than 9 hours of modelling time. I'll finish it properly in the New Year

[Mike]

On 28/12/2022 at 09:31, Bertie McBoatface said:

I'll finish it properly in the New Year

We'll hold you to that Moved

[Jinxman]

Now following along, and looking forward to seeing this progress at its own pace.

[Bertie McBoatface]

42 minutes ago, Mike said:

Moved

 

Well it is quite an emotional scene. 

 

Oh, I see what you mean. Thanks Mike.

[Bertie McBoatface]

I've been playing with my doll's house today.

 

 

But first, ergonomics. No matter how deep my desks/benches have been I always seem to wind up working on the front three inches. This is A BAD THING. When I drop things they inevitably fall to the floor, I hunch over and give myself back pain, I also get heartburn from compressing my stomach. I move the working place further from the edge but just creep back again.

 

 

Today I tried this and it seems to help. I kept the cutting and scraping over the smaller mat without even thinking about it and while it might be coincidence, worked for longer before I broke off for a cuppa and a stretch - two hours instead of my usual one hour and a quarter. I don't know whether it will work when I start painting though. It will depend on me finding some slightly different ways to hold the figures. I'll let you know.

 

 

Our Red Army crew have had a slap up Christmas dinner of bread, stew and fried sausages. Two of them are still eating and will be positioned close to their slices of Hovis. 

 

 

They have some heavy duty tools, the purpose of which will become apparent when I reveal the mystery guest.

 

 

The officer and the sniper are still eating. I was impressed by the MiniArt spoons though they were very tricky to handle. In fact impossible to handle, they had to be tweezered from the moment they left the sprue. The sniper (who is never parted from his rifle) had a hole drilled through his spoon hand and the spoon, cut in half, inserted from top and bottom. The officer's cutlery grip is more refined and was easier to arrange.

 

 

I've made these two into a rifleman and a sub-machine gunner. You can tell by the ammo pouches on the belts. I have two MGs and three rifles for the five of them, and a selection of pistols too. 

 

 

These are the remainder of the MiniArt 'Instant Diorama' bits and pieces. The bunker is quite large and will need a lot more dressing up so I'll be relying on my own imagination for anything else. I'm currently considering some bunk beds which will fill the space nicely while still leaving an open area in the centre for the story.

 

The figures are a bit rough and ready as I assembled them in a hurry, but I don't think that will matter once they are painted because their poses are so natural and interesting that no-one will notice the gaps and occasional parting lines.

 

[JeroenS]

That's a lot of bits and pieces. As per your signature, it was a very brave move to try this in a Blitzenbuild 🙂 

[Bertie McBoatface]

3 hours ago, JeroenS said:

That's a lot of bits and pieces. As per your signature, it was a very brave move to try this in a Blitzenbuild 🙂 

 

If I hadn't lost all of Christmas Day and half of Boxing Day to socialising with humans, I think it was just about possible to produce a result. It wouldn't have been a good result, but it could have been finished. 

 

As it's turned out, I'm quite happy to have unlimited time to play around and possibly produce something a bit special.

[Geo1966]

I am liking the look of this Bertie. I am sure you will produce something special, which will have been worth taking the extra time.

 

George

[Longbow]

Superb job so far, Bertie….

I love the way you think outside the box, for each project. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 1/1/2023 at 10:35 AM, Geo1966 said:

I am liking the look of this Bertie. I am sure you will produce something special, which will have been worth taking the extra time.

 

George

 

Thank you. I've decided that bunk beds are the next step. I haven't decided when.

 

1 hour ago, Longbow said:

Superb job so far, Bertie….

I love the way you think outside the box, for each project. 

 

Or in this case, inside a box. 😆 (Thank you for setting that feeble joke up for me, Longbow. I'm sure you did it on purpose.)

[Muchmirth]

Just seeing this… very cool idea!! Me likey a lot!

[Bertie McBoatface]

10 minutes ago, Muchmirth said:

Just seeing this… very cool idea!! Me likey a lot!

 

Be assured that it's not on the shelf of doom, merely the shelf of pausing. Somehow I have six models in progress at once, including this one, and there are only so many hours in the week!