Cold War Entropy - The Fall of the Iron Curtain

[Bill1974]

6 hours ago, JeroenS said:

The upside is that nobody really knows what it should look like so it just has to look convincing, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

Thanks, it was a little frustrating to spend so much time searching for some info and coming up with the square root of f#%k all. 😆

 

5 hours ago, Mark Cassidy said:

This is awesome mate, are u going to make the oil barrels leaky?

 

One of the barrels was to be standing up and I was wondering about the other two, defiantly on their sides with leaky fuel all over the grass, not sure if it may have caught fire, I was wondering about some glass that had smashed when the barrels were tipped over (I have some scale bottles at hand) and the chance of intense sunlight setting the fuel alight through the glass???  Definitely some dead withered grass… well see at the time what I think I can ‘get’ away with. 🤞

[Graham Boak]

Model trams run around curves set into a road surface - sounds just like what you want.  The metal used for model railtracks is pretty supple so can be bent into curves of desired size - perhaps by enclosing it in a spring as you bend it to avoid kinking.

[Mark Cassidy]

1 hour ago, Bill1974 said:

 

Thanks, it was a little frustrating to spend so much time searching for some info and coming up with the square root of f#%k all. 😆

 

 

One of the barrels was to be standing up and I was wondering about the other two, defiantly on their sides with leaky fuel all over the grass, not sure if it may have caught fire, I was wondering about some glass that had smashed when the barrels were tipped over (I have some scale bottles at hand) and the chance of intense sunlight setting the fuel alight through the glass???  Definitely some dead withered grass… well see at the time what I think I can ‘get’ away with. 🤞

I can tell you how I did my glass shards if that helps ? I used clear printer resin, but ppl like Green Stuff World do bottles in standard paint bottle size,  get some clear like tamiya smoke, clear green ect ect, take a bit grease proof paper, stick it on somewhere flat,  put some resin on the paper, mix in the desired colour, spread it thin and then leave it on the window sill till hardened.  next just cut it to the shape you want. 

 

Ive done fuel spills before, I used 2 piece epoxy resin mixed with paint , then poured on and allowed to harden, next I got some metallic paints from Hobbycraft, I got a metallic blue acrylic, and purple one,(Pebelo Blue/Purple Pearl Acrylic)  , I then thinned it down, I mean really thinned it down and then dabbed it on the black resin, I let it mix a bit and it leaves a really thin layer over the resin, the last stage is to gloss varnish it, if you dont you end up with a really really matt oil stain on a shiny resin, it doesn't look right. I learned that from trying to leave the sheen on a dio with flood water, I should have put the metallic sheen down and then added a final layer of clear resin over the top (Still bugs me every time I look at it lol)

[Bill1974]

Original tree with finished branches…

 

 

New tree type with more branches….

 

[Bill1974]

I've spent today glueing the slabs and fixing things in place…

 

 

The overall slabs glued into place and adjusted height wise with a clay substrate and a good daubing of pva.

 

I nice uneven surface just like real concrete slabs that have been stressed and had weight applied unevenly and all the movement that would follow.

 

 

Close up of the slabs, lovely!

 

 

Close-up of the external slabs and the float finish to the internal slab, also lovely!

 

Dead pleased with all this, it's certainly taken some time but I've also really enjoyed every moment of it!

 

Comments and suggestions welcome 🤓

Edited August 15, 2023 by Bill1974

[Bill1974]

I have added the ground to the sides of the slabs and added the bunker and a few puddles.

 

I've filled in the joints and added a few bits of extra clau here and there. And then given the whole thing a good lick of pva.

 

Still need to add the joints to the concrete formwork marks and carefully cut out the recess for the steel track and of course the door.

 

Photos to follow once things are dried tomorrow or later the day after.

 

 

[Geo1966]

Those slabs look great Bill.

 

George

[Bill1974]

Warmer weather = a lot quicker drying!

 

[Bill1974]

I've been wanting dry weather so the clay would dry….

 

It's drying to quickly and is shrinking massively instead of stretching like it did before.

 

It's not the end of the world and I've lifted and added more pva to the underside and left my dumbbells on a trays over the top so that it dries flat and I will fill any gaps or cracks as they develop.

 

At least its drying. 🤪
 

I've added more clay to the HAS underside so it sits right and added the ak concrete, it's all good.
 

I've also added more detail to the formwork and hopefully I have messed it up, time will tell with a fresh look at it tomorrow.

 

Anywho I've made the doors out of expanded foam board and scored the steel panel faces and made two access panels to the front face of each and spent an age going through my spares box and found many doubles of parts to make a motor and wheels / flywheel / cylinder head / struts and supports etc etc.

 

 

Still have to figure out how to make the hinge for the doors.

 

There are zero photographic evidence of anything other than having huge metal hollow doors and a wheel mechanism on the inside face of each leaf.

 

I can't even copy something from a photo.  

 

There isn't a great deal of the actual door near the hinge side of the opening either as it's a half circle opening with a quarter for each door.

 

I'm hoping a large diameter piece of wire and a drill hole into the bottom of the doors will suffice.

 

I'm hoping the door wheel and motor jobby will be convincing and an interesting part of the door and dio generally as I've sorted through my spares and found plenty of nice, rather convincing bits. Yip yip!

 

I'll add some photos tomorrow with better light and hopefully not toouch more shrinkage! 🤓

Edited August 17, 2023 by Bill1974

[Bill1974]

Been very busy today preparing and cleaning my flat for my three girls who are staying for a week and a bit from tomorrow evening.  Busy busy busy.

 

Anywho after alot of washing up and cleaning and hovering I made some progress.

 

I've messed up on one of the doors, it didn't occur to me that tamiya filler would eat the foam like it did when I drilled a hole into the bottom of the door and added the filler and the plastic blank (one of those lower hull to upper hull connectors like a short scaffold pole) I checked the fit, hoping it had started to dry and it was clear it was a total loss and the foam had disappeared in a large area around the plastic hinge point, bum.

 

I'll just have to make another using the half I have as a template as surprisingly the 'opening' is regular and almost spherical.

 

I've sorted through my spares box and found some cover plates that I'm going to add to the doors as access panels and found a door blank and copied it from plastic sheet so that I have a front and rear access door.  I've added a pull handle to the exterior and a large turn handle on the inside door.  I've found some grilles that will sit in an opening near the top of each door and have cut up some plastic sheet to the front that will act as a covers with the grilles behind.

 

I think I've figured out how to hold the doors in place.

 

Hinge plate at bottom into ground with circular hole for thick metal wire that will fit into circular socket in the bottom of the door, then a hinged parts from a mine scooper I didn't fit on a tank glued to the upper door and fitted into another circular scaffold section glued onto the concrete behind the door, it will never be seen but will hold the door in place at the top and stop any wobbling or topling as it will fix it height wise and therefore anchor the metal wire rod from the bottom plate into the upper scaffold section fitted to the bottom of the door.

 

Photos to follow with a little more progress and after making the other new door blank. 🤓

[Bill1974]

I've not been able to make as much progress as I have my girlies staying with me, I have made some progress in-between spending time with my littles.

 

I've glued the clay gras areas down again again and added weights too bottle tops to maximise weight applied and air getting to the tons of pva added to the gaps.

 

This hot weather has made it shrink a great deal quicker than it has in recent weeks and the swiftness has cracked it rather than stretched it and has lift from the board and papermashe,  it's entirely recoverable once dried and gaps filled.

 

I've been scratch building the wheel and engine (that I've roughly modelled on a Honda engine as I could find drawings with sizes and all round elevations that will fit on

to the doors and have been filling the doors to make then really tidy and square like the photos.

 

I've made a sandbag area that will sit on top of the HAS out of clay.

 

I've not.made enough progress to post photos but when o have something to show and tell, I will 🤓

[Mark Cassidy]

cant wait to see the photos mate, the slabs look excellent, really like the poor quality ones you see on Ex Soviet airfields. 

[Bill1974]

Ugh, what a nightmare of a day, my ps vita broke and it took most of the day getting it apart and cleaning various parts, after watching many YouTube videos and other articles.

 

I have fixed it but wow that was an effort.

 

I have made some progress today on the doors and have recessed the vision blocks on each door and added the grilles and front blank covering the hole.  

 

I have also made some progress on the pass door in the main left door by filing down the opening to sqaure it up and added a card liner and some pva to the perimeter to close it up.

 

Getting there on the door and hopefully will be able to get the hinge together and figured out soon. 🤓

[Bill1974]

On 20/08/2023 at 22:43, Mark Cassidy said:

cant wait to see the photos mate, the slabs look excellent, really like the poor quality ones you see on Ex Soviet airfields. 

 

Thanks mate, I had tried to get them to look realistic and offer a non flat appearance.

 

Aircraft and associated vehicles are really heavy and large concrete slabs need attention and appropriate care to remain flat and level over time.  In European airports and airfields they are inspected regularly and lifted and adjusted with new aggregate / cement mixes to keep them in tolerance due to the damage and risk of accidents (dependant on where the concrete is and the speed of the vehicles travelling on them).

 

Besides it being a requirement that during construction great care is taken in the selection of aggregates and cement mixtures and the appropriate design of sub layers dependant on ground conditions / weight carrying ability of the substrate, compacting and great care in the variations of levels across under layers that make a massive difference in how concrete roads and such stay in decent shape.  

 

I very much doubt that all airfields and all aprons / run off / taxi ways were looked after the same way as European airports and airbases are / were.

 

I've seen too many idiots on building sites trying to pull the wool and making a really poor showing when using aggregates and admixtures to access roads / pavements / land and road drainage and fully appreciate how difficult it is to do right when decent levels of care and attention are taken let alone in circumstances where 'they pretend to pay us, we pretend to work' situations are in play.

 

Once a concrete slabs start rocking or settling unevenly it's downhill fast and after a while damage and warping / uneven wear and surface damage to crappy splitting / expanding under cold and wet concrete conditions and it's a swift downward spiral.  

 

I have no idea if a pilot could feel an aircraft suspension 'bottoming out' and things going crunch and deforming under extreme load.  From what I've read of some MIGs it would appear they had a hard enough time landing safely without moving over concrete slabs that have moved in opposite directions and are more like  steps than a flat runway?

 

Ouchy!

[Bill1974]

I have made some progress on the doors.

 

I've had to rip my previous engine attempt apart as it was just too big, I'm hoping this isn't too big either as I've glued it on!

 

 

Ventilation grille top corner inside with grille, outside with protective blank.

 

 

Vision and speaking block through the door.

 

 

 

Double pass door.

 

Still have some sanding to do...

 

 

Hinge at the bottom of the door, a wide piece of metal wire will sit in the hole 🤓

Edited August 22, 2023 by Bill1974

[The Spadgent]

Crikey!!!! This is brilliant. And just as huge as your other build in this GB. The attention to detail is fantastic. Loving the doors.  Actually loving everything but the doors especially. 🙌👏👏👏👏👏

 

 Johnny. 

[Bill1974]

11 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Crikey!!!! This is brilliant. And just as huge as your other build in this GB. The attention to detail is fantastic. Loving the doors.  Actually loving everything but the doors especially. 🙌👏👏👏👏👏

 

Thanks for your kind words, I've really been doubling down on finer details, it's great fun!

 

This is the HAS thus far, I've been mulling over chipping away at the bulges to the concrete as I think there a little big???

 

 

 

I've been adding more pva clay to the base as it had shrink quiet alot and dried out so quickly.

 

I've sanded and tidied the doors too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're ready for priming and painting, it think they will show a great texture and grubby look like the photos I have.

 

Beaten up metal panels covered in peeling paint and rust.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome 🤓

[Marklo]

Looking great.  I’m assuming that the main structure was poured concrete and that the lines where where the joins in the shuttering fell. 
 

Something like this, perhaps. If you look closely you can even see wood grain impressions.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Marklo

[Bill1974]

1 hour ago, Marklo said:

Something like this, perhaps. If you look closely you can even see wood grain impressions

 

More like these!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marklo]

Ah I see looks like huge concrete blocks with very rough mortar joints.

[Bill1974]

I have cut the bulges so they are more angular and smaller in width.

 

 

I don't know if it will pass the QA tomorrow.

 

I may have to sand of to reduce the height and continue to thin a few of the lines.

 

Some of them on the right now I'm looking after posting the photo still seem a little wide.

 

There is still alot more paint / pigments and other grot effects to add.  I have some moss and litchen effect and some streaking grime in my basket.

 

Hmmm... 🤓

 

I have also added a dark earth to the clay grass areas, didn't like it as it looked to dark and lightened it by adding a mix of my earth tone pastels.  It will mostly be covered in grasses of different lengths and colours so it probably didn't matter really.

 

 

I have also added some of the pastels to the concrete to add more depth.

 

It looks better to the eye (photos don't do it justice) and more varied than before.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Bill1974

[JeroenS]

Looks great Bill, those doors, man they're good! 

 

I guess I know what you mean about the bulges, I think you might want to tone them down a little and make them more uneven. 

[Bill1974]

After quiet a bit of umming and erring I've just bit the bullet and sanded it all down...

 

 

I actually think that it looks pretty close to the photos I posted now, chips and marks and all.

 

I may keep it like it is apart from some paint and stuff....

 

Comments and suggestions welcome 🤓

[Marklo]

Something you just have to bite the bullet. I know that if I think something isn’t right in a build and decide to leave it will end up driving me nuts over time  

[The Spadgent]

4 hours ago, Bill1974 said:

 

 

I was actually going to say that the bulges looked a little odd  and the mortar in the pics looked more indented. You seem to have come to the same conclusion.  This looks loads better. 🙌🙌🙌