Hi guys

Congratulations to Marijn Van Gils for his Best of Show at Euro, what a show this year, the quality and variety of models and figures was out of this world. The PF group photo was taken at lunchtime on the Saturday. I have to say it was brilliant to finally meet all those faces behind the names.

I obviously cant give all the names of the medal winners, I just wish I could, but there will be reports on the show in the next few days along with some other pictures, but for now, here is the best of show....

Dave

Wow....Hope to see many more pics of this stunning piece and the others from Euro.

John

Wow, WOW. WWOOOWWW!!!!!

Congrats to Marijn, that is the most awesome and inspiring model I have seen in years........., maybe ever!

Great subject choice, original idea and superb execution. What more can anybody want from a model?

For those who are not aviation nuts like myself, what is depicted is a the crew of a British observation balloon obviously leaving their lofty perch in a bit of a hurry! The observer with his field telephone still attached has leapt from the basket. He is wearing a parachute harness. His second looks a bit more worried and without a parachute, he has good cause to be!

Observation balloons were prime targets for fighter planes. However, they were generally heavily protected with machine gun nests on the ground and standing fighter patrols above. Any pilot who flew into this hornet's nest was a hearty soul indeed! But one has to pitty the unfortunate crews of the balloons. The balloons were generally filled with highly flammable gas which almost invariably went up in a ball of flames when they were destroyed and this inferno generally fell onto the winch truck and hapless crew and machine gun nests below.

What a dramatic subject and awesome execution! I vote for Marijn van Gils as the next World Master. He is a damn sight better than many of them!! My hat is off to a fantastic modeler and model......

Mike Good

Hello Dave,

it was great talking to you saturday. We (AMSS guys) where expecting this. This is awesome. For me, it was Mike Blank's entry or Marijns entry.
Both are tremendous. I am glad i was not in the jury.
Marijn, congratulations.

Marc

Congrets to Marijin !!!

I also hope to see more of this great piece!

Best regards,
Markus

Hi Marc

Great to meet you and the rest of the guys at Euro this weekend, to me it realy was the best Euro I have been too...

Dave

Congratulations to Marijn!

Quite a piece, how is it suspended?

I wish I had been there..............

Cheers

Congratulations Marijn!
I am without words (specially in english) for describe what wonderful scene you have made.
You are making a very refreshing job in figures.
I would like to know how is it suspended too.
I think there is another parachute on the other side of the basket.

That is just an awesome piece of miniature ART.~Gary

Hi Guys

Just thought I would add a couple more pics of this piece

Dave

...

...

Sorry, I was unable to articulate words for some time... I was speechless!

Awesome. Superb. Great idea and great creation.

:-O


Congratulations!

Dani

Well done Marijn. What a unique vignette. You never cease to amaze the modelling world. All the best, Paul.

breath taking.

Hi Marijn
congratulation once more
Roberto

again is fantastic, congratulations Marijn.
I hope to see you and the piece in aosta
cheers

Samuel.

Seems like it was a great show. That is a superb piece by Marijn. For once I certainly agree with the Euro judges on this one. Such creativity.

Ross

Congratulations again to Marijn!!
Great Euro Militaire this year!!

Andreas.

Hello guys!

first of all: please forgive me for my long absence here... Juli and august were the fieldwork-months for me this year, making it impossible to post from the office (during my brakes of course! ). And I am sorry to say I prefered to work on this vignette during my leisure-time instead of surfing the net...
So also sorry if I don't reply during the next week, as I will leave tomorrow for a short holliday.

and second: thanks a lot for all the nice words! It was a really wonderfull show, and I can only regret that time was so short! It was really great talking to all the people there, and I wish it could have lasted for a week! Besides the people and the atmosphere, the models wer amazing too. I feel very lucky to have won BOS, since many models certainly had my vote for it: Mike's fantastic diorama, Mig's diorama, Phil Stutcinskas' train locomotive, Diego Ruina's large-scale samurai, ...

about the vignette: I don't have to explain very much anymore, since Mike is apparently really knowledgable about the subject. Mybe naturally, after sculpting that wonderfull series of 1/48 pilot- and crew-figures some years ago...
Maybe one thing, that Diego already mentioned: the parachutes are indeed in the large bags on the sides of the basket, and not on the back of the observers. When jumping, they would pull the parachute out of the bag by their own weight, and were suspended by the ropes starting at belly height, going down completely steerless in a kind of sitting position, holding on to the ropes with their hands. Since the parachute packs are attached to the balloon, they would jump out at the first sign of an attacker (who tried to use surprise as their main tactique anyway, even sometimes shutting down their engines while approaching, to avoid the defences Mike described), before the ballon would catch fire and looze balance completely.
The top figure does have a parachute harness, but the most primitive type, consisting of nothing more than a rope wrapped around his body. No wonder he is slightly more worried...

Dave, thanks for posting the pics! The last one is already showing how it is suspended (many of the ropes are of course solid steel wire, painted to look like rope). I will add some pics I just took myself.

Hello Samuel,
I will go to Saint Vincent indeed (my first time!). Looking forward to meeting you again there !

Thanks again everybody, for the nice words and the great time in Folkestone!

Marijn