Hello everybody!

here you have a kind of step-by-step series of pics (long live digital cameras!) of the project I started last sunday.

They are two Belgian Congolese askaris on watchout during the war in East Afrika (WW1) on a boat on lake Tanganyika for shore-defence. Untill the beginning of 1916, the Belgian Congolese shore was frequently raided by German troops under the famous and extremely succesfull commander Von Lettow-Vorbeck.

The faces and hand(palm)s are hornet and the feet historex. The feet of the top guy of course still need a lot of work and will sit a little lower with some preasure (they "pop up" as long as they are not glued).

Any comments, ideas, suggestions and criticisms are very welcome, of course especially on the anatomy!

Best wishes,

Marijn

Well Marijn, I chuckled to myself when I saw the last pic! :lol:
I assume this arrangement is what you're planning? otherwise my comments are silly!

The lower guy's legs look as if he's supporting the weight of the other. However his shoulders don't look like they are bearing the weight. I'd imagine them more tensed (I know mine are when my 7 year old is on my shoulders!) and hunched. Also the head may move slightly forward.






other than that it's too early to tell

but looks good, my friend. Thanks for sharing

of course now I see your second post (that'll teasch me!) it makes much more sense.

Great idea!

Looks good Marijn.............I look forward to seeing this develop.

The Great War in Africa is one of my favs; I just wish someone would do a figure (a bust will do) of Lettow-Vorbeck. Your vignette as always is brilliant, I can't put my opinion of your pieces into words, other than to say keep them coming.

I believe Jurgen Sieland (I think that's the right name.) has already done a 90mm figure of Von Lettow-Vorbeck. I'll check on this tonight and give you a web site.

All the best,
Dan

Thanks Dan

Looks pretty intersting, Marjin.

I keep close.

Best wishes,
Markus

Very original and nice to see an African subject. Looking forward to seeing more.

Colin

Marijn - What a wicked strange and great idea for a very unique diorama! I like it!!

All the best,
Dan

Thanks guys!

Rob, thanks a lot for the comments and the pics! The inclusing of the pole makes a lot of difference indeed, as it gives the men something to balance themselves with. Once the balance is there, the most efficiënt way for the bottom guy will be to keep his back strait and his shoulders up.
Anyway, the basic idea comes from a photograph (I have to remember to post that one also), and they are standing more or less like this.

The feet of the top guy still need a lot of work, but I wanted to start from the historex items to give me at least the "size" of them.

Dan and Matthew, I am certainly also interested in doing a Von Lettow-Vorbeck, preferably on 1/35 in a diorama, together with some of his askaris and maybe some irregular scouts? But a bust would be nice study-material for sure!
The war of East-Afrika is so full of great stories, it is really inspiring! But as far as I know, nothing exists modelling-wise... Well, maybe that makes it to an excellent scratchbuilding-subject! :lol:

Cheers!

Marijn

Marijn, This is going to be really nice. I really like your choice of time period and subject. I can't wait to see more of this develope.~Gary

Thanks Gary!
I really like this period, since it has a great combination of "old" and "new": a real bridge between 19th and 20th century. The colonial conflicts were maybe the best examples of a lot of 19th century "feel", and they attract me also a lot because of the improvised nature of, well, about everything!
It is also a period in which almost nothing is commercially available, which I think is most interesting for scratch-building and conversion projects. Some accessory-sets would be nice though... :lol:

Here is the pic I mentioned. I am not trying to copy it as exactly as possible (as you can see from the details of the poses and facial expressions), just being very much inspired by it.

Best wishes,

Marijn

Well, you never stop to amaze the modelling world with your innovative ideas Marijn

Fantastic and original vignette

Ray

I'm just going to be seconding everyone else, but this is undoubtedly an original subject and presentation. I look forward to seeing this progress!

Francesca

Its so nice to see something u really like and have the ability and the skills to make it come true !!! Many Bravos Marijn for ur different ideas and for carrying them out so nicely !! waiting to see more on this one

,Marijn !!! Looking forward to the next step in the project. Cheers !
Kenneth :lol:

Thanks a lot, guys and girl! :lol:

I find it much more rewarding to work on a subject and story/idea that I find special myself, so for me it is only normal to do this kind of stuff and try something dfferent. I think it is not too hard to find good or special ideas to work on, it's just a matter of having no doubts about it and just going ahead with it.

What really made me start this one is how the dimensions of the finished piece on its base should look like: very tall and slim, which I hope to be quite aesthetic.

Best wishes!

Marijn

Marijn et. al. - Not meaning to take anything away from your great and very original idea and the 'tall' diorama - just wanted to be clear - I checked and Jurgen Sieland has done both Von Lettow-Vorbeck and one German Askari in 90mm metal. I bought the Askari and it's a well made kit, good castings and nice sculpting. The Askari is in a nice pose, but von Lettow-Vorbeck is just standing normally.

Here's a web site selling it - http://www.zinnfigur.com/.

All the best,
Dan