Covid projects

[Pine-Tree72]

Interesting to see this as a sub topic, a nice bit of diversity and inclusiveness if I may refer to current trends ..?? .. so I will dip my toes in the water and see what happens, I'm not a modeller as such, made many plastic kits as a kid as we all probably did but not into it all in a big way, however with Covid as it was and time on my hands I set myself up to do a couple of projects.

I started buying broken OO gauge trains and repairing them to sell on, while at the same time getting together a few of them I have seen in real life as a child to keep.
With my being a living history western hobbyist I bought the HO Gauge 'Jupiter' and after having it sat around for a while thought I would have a go at a western themed diorama, the train being as it is the classic 4-4-0 wood burner from the period.
I acquired a coach and caboose, painted and dirtied them up a little as I did the loco and proceeded then to put it on a baseboard, the size of that being somewhat dictated by the size of the picture I could get printed, 20 x 16 for those interested, although the '16' side ended up shorter for the purpose of fitting it all into a case.
The picture I used is one I had taken while in Arizona and driving across some desert scrubland and from there then attempted to recreate a desert foreground, the final result being what we see in the pictures, presented as can be seen in a purpose built case I bought online. I hope this fits the topic and it is of interest as if so then I do have another diorama I put together based on a WWII Home Guard and railway theme.

[Pine-Tree72]

As follow on from the previous post, here is the (attempted) WWII diorama I spoke about.

I got the initial idea for the theme from seeing a pillbox on an A road in Shropshire, it was on a small hillock on main road and near to a canal, which raised the questions what was it doing there ? Some light research though showed that in WWII there was a large military establishment close by with a railway feed to it so ultimately while now looking perhaps a little bit out of place there was a reason for its position there. I also asked about it further from members of a local HG group who explained to me that the HG did in fact use these pillboxes and guard strategic points such as this, which sort of cemented what I had in mind.
It more or less speaks for itself perhaps in looking at the pictures, a little point of interest being that the loco is in fact the LMS 4-6-0 Patriot Class No 5543 'Home Guard' and I have made the train up to be a supply one with an explosives coach and supplies of barbed wire, oil drums etc etc. I wanted the display to say 'WWII' but even with the military figures and pillbox and the 1940's type farm equipment it was lacking somewhat in getting that effect so I added the the Spitfire to it, which gave me a something of a dilemma as although it is the correct scale to compliment the OO gauge loco and figures it perhaps looks a little big, especially given I positioned it as doing a low flyby.

As I say I do not class myself as a modeller, as a social member of the HG group I mentioned, seeing and finding out about the the pill box and realising there was a 'Home Guard' named train it just fell into place and I have tried to put it together as a small tribute to the HG and an example of the duties they had in WWII.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I especially like the layout with the pillbox and Spitfire. That kind of thing would get lots of attention at a train show here in the U.S. Way to go!
You are certainly doing fine as a modeler. You caught my curiosity with "as a social member of the HG group I mentioned." Can you tell more? Is it an ongoing veterans' organization? A group of history buffs? Descendants of "Train" Home Guard members?

[Pine-Tree72]

Hi, thank you, I just tried to apply practical ideas and a sense of what I hoped would be realism to it all, attached are a close up of the pillbox area and also pics to show how I mounted the Spitfire, the initial idea being with a Hurricane but it was not to the correct scale.

I'm not sure if its for here but I will keep it brief, the HG group are a living history group based on 'C' Company WR28 Haworth Home Guard West Riding Wing, some of its members are people whose parents were in the HG itself and pre Covid we used to meet once a month in the Old White Lion pub in Haworth which was historically the meeting place of Haworth HG in WWII, and yes, that is the Haworth of the Bronte family .. The group gives lectures and does displays of 1940's drill and Bomb Disposal duties primarily with reference to the Butterfly Bomb, something that some units of the original HG were trained to do by the regular Army Royal Engineers in WWII.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Thank you for the explanation of the HG group. It seems somewhat similar to groups of reenactors here in the US. You photos above effectively hid the mounting for the Spitfire, much sturdier than the monofilament fishing line used to hang model aircraft from a ceiling.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

So the fellow in the helmet, walking adjacent to the tracks, must be an HG member.

[Pine-Tree72]

I'm sure the Spitfire mounting is not a new idea, but I did think it out myself rather than copy something I had seen as I wanted to make it look as realistic as possible

Yes the idea is that they are all HG, the man at the tracks is on guard duty there, close to the tunnel entrance, track access gate and trains when they pass of course.
It was a handy coincidence that the figure has his hand up so I placed him to be looking towards the pillbox, similarly with the Officer pointing as he is I placed him pointing down the hill towards the guard, ... the man on the hill walking down to give him a message perhaps .. the radio op is on standby, one man repairing the sandbag enclosure and the other coming out to help .. the train has clearance to enter the tunnel on the single track and the Spitfire giving a low flypast as a 'hello' .. hopefully a realistic looking scenario that makes sense as I feel that a diorama where it could should tell a story as well as being visually correct.

There is actually another civilian in it as well as the farmer, he is somewhat hidden though behind the railway trucks being as he is a railway worker and trackside walking towards a railway hut near the bridge .. I am still deciding whether or not to add a couple more farm workers ..??

[Will01Capri]

That is really good, i am going to show my son this later on with the Spitfire, he wants to decorate his railway with a WW2 airfield. Great inspiration right here

[Pine-Tree72]

Hi, thanks .. luck to your lad with the project, hope he get some ideas from my diorama ..

Re mounting the a/c, I also did a Hurricane and attach some close up picks of the way I came up with to do it, as I say, probably nothing new but out of my head and not copied from something I had seen elsewhere .... unlike the spinning prop attempt ... which I have to fess up was ..