Elastolin style trenches

 Following on from the previous post, here is a command post I made many years back in the style of the old Elastolin modular trench sections:

For many years (more like decades!) I had been bidding at various auctions on original Elastolin entrenchments but without any success.  It's not that they're rare, they come up all the time, it's just that they are desirable and always sell for silly money.  So I decided to make my own.

Based roughly on an original model from the 1930's the basic structure is formed from polystyrene packing, the whole thing then covered in papier mache and sprinkled with sawdust for texture.  The entrance posts and lintels were provided by the stick from a firework rocket and the steps just cardboard folded into a concertina shape.  The paint scheme follows the original, an overall wash of earth brown with a drybrush of grass green and the odd highlight of drybrushed yellow.

The only problem is storage, the figures are 7cm tall so it's a big old piece of kit and the only place I can find for it at the moment is balancing rather precariously on top on another glass display case!

Shell craters

 Feeling the need for some crafting therapy I cast around the projects I've started over the years but left unfinished, there were plenty to choose from.

Motivated by the recent acquisition of some rather neat First War tanks I opted to finish the shell craters I started before lockdown.

Several years ago I started making modular trench sections in the style of the old Elastolin accessories, (they've still yet to be completed) and these shell craters were to be  an addition to the project.

The wooden tanks are decorative items, artisan made, in a small workshop which I have been unable to track down.

The figures are mostly conversions of Armies in Plastic and various Cherilea bits, the explosion is a resin recast of an original Elastolin item. 

This is how they started life, various sized circular lids glued to cardboard and bulked out with polystyrene packing chips (this was as far as I got before getting bored first time around), an irregular shape built up with air drying clay, the outer walls given a coat of PVA glue then a mix of sawdust with scatter sprinkled over the top.  I gave the crater a coat of  burnt umber with a wash of black around the inner walls to simulate the heat of the explosion and dry brushed grass green over the sawdust on the outer slopes, the centre painted dark grey to represent pooled water.

Already feeling better for having achieved something.