Late War German City

Very late war, Germany.

Could be Berlin.

Maybe Hamburg.

Perhaps Cologne.

By the end of the war the cities looked all about the same.
 

Red Square

Four years ago I began significant work on my National Capitals project.  My intention is to build Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, and Tokyo.  I am taking a Hollywood approach for most of them.  If you see a large city and the Eiffel Tower and Arch de Triumph are in the background, then you are in Paris.  None of the other buildings matter and so when the scene switches to the New York Street portion of the MGM backlot, since all the signs are in French and some men are wearing berets you still think you are in Paris.

In keeping with that plan I built Moscow represented by Red Square and Lenin's Tomb.  Most of it is paper stuck onto foamcore boards.  The Lenin's Tomb is mostly wood with some plastic.  It has a detailed interior.  My intention is to us this mostly for James Bond espionage games.  This set up is on one of my four side tables.  If more Moscow space is needed for a car chase or something, I can set up other more generic buildings on the main table.  Once the scene is set with this Red Square, then the other buildings just need a few Cyrillic alphabet signs and a poster of Stalin to continue the illusion.

The Saint Basil's Cathedral is a bird house with Christmas tree decorations for the domes.  My concept is that it does not have to be perfect, it has to be recognizable.

I printed out a computer generated Kremlin and GUM department stores that I found on line.  The posters are all from World War Two, or around that time.  Most feature Stalin, military vehicles or Red Square, or all three.

This tower is 3D cardboard with paper covering.  It creates a nice balcony for observers, security personnel, spies, or whatever.  The little trees are from Dollar Tree.  I also have the post WWII tombs on several famous Soviets behind Lenin's Tomb.  I started this project with the purchase of the bird house cathedral in about 1995.  I don't operate on a Five Year plan like the Soviet Union.
 

105mm Howitzer Upgrades and Backgrades

For the last several years I have been working on a long term project to repair, upgrade, convert much of my collection.  My Roco 105mm howitzers were greatly in need of attention.  Many were missing parts, many were broken, some had no wheels, few were painted, and some were just piles of parts.

This one had trails that were broken, the little taps the clip into the shied have a tendency to break off, some of them had no tabs at all.  I solved this problem by using clay to hold the shield in position while the trails were glued both to the shield and the other end to a bit of sheet plastic.

I am also back dating some of these to an older style tire.  This is the same type often found on the Interwar French 75s and several other medium guns.

I am removing the small front shield and cutting down the main shield.

Here is the small shield removed.  I try to retain these pieces in case I need them for the next gun!

The shield is cut down.

Here is what it looks like after trimming.  Starting in 1938 the US Army began a massive mechanization project to replace all the wagon wheels on their artillery with pneumatic tires.  They wanted to do it about a decade earlier but the Congress would not spend them money.  Even starting in 1938 by the end of 1941 only about half of the inventory was upgraded.
 

Rock and Roll Band

Continuing my work on the hotel project I have put together a rock and roll band.

Lead girl singer, two guitars, keyboard, drummer and three girl back up singers.

They are all on individual bases that are removable, apart from the three girl back up singers who are all one one base.

The gray over pink is the color these figures came in and while I will likely keep the color scheme but repaint them.  I plan on keeping the bases white.  I still have to paint details like the musical instruments.  The guitars were simply drawn on sheet plastic and then cut out and glued on.  I did some re-posing of the figures but not much.  Parr of the drumset is just lego type pins for drums and sheet plastic for cymbals.