Hello Planeteers,
while awaiting for the base for the national guard and the regular army officer I decided to continue with many of my unfinished figures and try to give it a little meaning to their rol in a for of small vignettes.
This is probably one of a great challenge since I am trying to portray these brave guards at the moment the palace was attacked by a Parisian mob, fueled by extremist jacobins during the French revolution which precipitated the fall of the monarchy.
This is my way of honoring this brave guards which were overrun , massacred and quartered by the mob.
on this scenette, I will include 3 guardsmen, one about to shoot a Jacobin that is slaying an officer on the ground, and the third guard will be next to the gate laying dead on the ground.
I am still figuring out the final scene and size of the base, I may have to make it a slightly bigger to not have everything so compressed.
The stone wall is made for a 1/35 scale, so it is slightly small in height, but already added some magic sculpt and I will add a little bit more height which will be cover at the bottom by green clusters and flowers.
Once this vignette is done , it will bear the title ' Chaos at the Tuilleries"
The gate is not final, I may buy another one I saw, so still working on all these details.
cheers

Following and Good Luck with this new project!
A interesting history

Regards
Pedro

Daniel, I was working on some bases for the figures I will paint this fall, as it turns out, while you are trying to stage your next scene. Here's a few thoughts on bases, which you may heed or not as you see fit!
First, the drama of your scene will, in my opinion, be greatly enhanced with a thicker base. There seems to be, for many figure artists, a relationship between the "size" of the scene, or the figure (if only one), and the height of the base. I would not put this on anything less than a 2-inch thick base, and might go thicker. Stick a thick book under the scene, and see if you like the look.
I'm guessing that the base in the pic might just be something you're using to plan the scene. I have often set my scene up on a piece of paper, outlining where the components look best, and then determine my base from there. Kind of making the base fit the scene, rather than the other way 'round. Don't feel you are confined to a rectangular base, either - if an odd-shaped layout will eliminate "dead space", and tell a better story, then make the base fit your vision.
In his classic book on dioramas, Shep Paine points out that structures which are NOT parallel to a side of the base have a much greater visual appeal. I've followed that advice for many years, and am convinced that it works. Changing the alignment of the wall and gate just a bit might help you frame the scene for a little more impact.
Lastly, and I don't remember whether I heard this, or just observed it, but I always try to avoid having any "flat" ground. Unless the scene is on a dead flat parade ground, almost any place you can think of has some variation, or "shape" to the ground. A street has a crown in the middle, so rainwater will run towards the gutters. Even "level" ground might be a couple inches higher at one end, even if it looks flat. In your scene, the focus will be on the guardsmen - they should be on elevated ground (even a very minor elevation), with the mob charging "up" towards them (especially as we're only going to see their backs). I use either Celluclay (a paper-mache type product you mix with water) or one of the epoxy putties (presently using MagicSculpt) for the groundwork on my bases. I add stones, branches, fine dirt or sand, whatever I can find to fit the scene. I'll use balsa wood, corrugated cardboard (from boxes) or pieces of styrofoam to build up the ground, and cover that with my groundwork mix.
Actually, I don't know why I'm telling you this - I've seen your scenery boards for your 40mm figures, and they follow most/all of these ideas anyway!
As always, thanks for sharing your process! I'm looking forward to see how this one will turn out! All the best, Don

Thanks Nap, I will post progress pics.
Thanks for passing by

obrigado Pedro! , I will need lots of patience and luck on this one.

Hi Don, thank you for your feedback and suggestions, always a great help here.
The base I have on the pic is just for display purpose and not the final one.
Already saw one on ebay yesterday and I 'll give it a try, it is rectangular, the wood base is already finished and the cobblestone street is already painted, knowing me, I will add a slightly different shades of colors in some of the stones and add more groundworks.
I think that this rectangular base will fit my idea of the scene and I am not planning to set up the stone wall straight but rather to an angle, so I could probably add one more figure behind the gate, maybe a dead Jacobin .
This is certainly going to be a challenge but I am looking forward to display this little scene that it is for me the moment that the last remaining thread of the monarchy was lost until the restoration.
Thanks again for helping out and already got in touch with John for the other base, he says hi and that you are a great guy.
Best regards

Here is the one I bought....

You should be able to make this base fit your scene. You could even, if you wanted to, put something under the base to raise it up a bit. Either way, it's what's on the base that counts, and you're well on your way in that department!

Thanks for your kind words Don, i will continue this thread when i get all the pieces together, at least i've got it started.
Regards