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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Victory Column




























There is a monument in Berlin called the Victory Column. It is a monument to several 19th Century German victories. As part of my Battle of Berlin work, I have constructed one. It is quite tall, over two feet.

































I started with a mock up with a used post office package as the base, a Diet Coke can in the center. I cut some cardboard into a circle and placed cake decoration columns on the perimeter of the circle. A second cardboard circle went on top of the columns. An expanded foam column from Ian Weekly models went on top of that. Since it was still too short, I added more plastic spacers to make it taller. Originally I used a trophy top as the stature, which I eventually modified with a skirt and spear. In the "final" version at the top you can see that. After my trip to Berlin for my honeymoon with my dear wife Patricia, I got a model of the actual statue that tops the monument at the Victory Column gift shop!





























The cardboard box was replaced with sheet board and the cardboard discs were replaced with plastic sheeting. I constructed a small lookout station at the bottom of the statue. The real monument is hollow and you can go inside the base and climb a spiral staircase to the top of the column at the base of the statue. From there you can see much of Berlin. The big center column has the barrels from cannon captured in battle. I used a bunch of different barrels from Eagle Games and placed them around the circumference of the column. I painted them bronze. The entire project probably only costs about $10, not counting the statue topper.

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