WW2 Monastery Scene – stretcher with statues
In this series of articles, I will follow the creation of a diorama of a monastery set at the end of the Second World War when the Americans had already invaded Germany, which shows a company in the middle of a rest. These articles do not actually follow the chronological creation, but are arranged according to some thematic units.
If you look at the picture above, a soldier in a Jeep is taking away the statues. Given that the model of the Jeep that I will actually put on the dioramas (this one is just a placeholder with another dioramas) is an ambulatory one - so it comes with a scalameri for an ambulatory stretcher, I imagined that I would place the statues on those stretchers. This caused several problems that needed to be addressed. First, the number of statues should be increased. I had three statues (from the RT Diorama set). Another problem is that it would deform under the weight of the stretcher (at least the fabric part). How to solve problems? Let's start with the first one:
I needed to copy the statues. By the way, if you follow my articles and/or works, you will know that I love working with Siligum. This time I didn't have it at hand, so Kruno jumped in and lent me Blue Stuff – a thermoplastic compound used to make moulds. It is necessary to heat the water (to boiling) and immerse the mixture for a few minutes.
When it warms up, it is mixed to model. I pushed the mould over the statues and hoped for a good outcome.
It turned out relatively well. The statues were easily pulled out of the new mold and, most importantly, no part broke in the process.
To make casts, I will use modeling plaster. Considering the fine details, I mixed it a little watery to make it easier to fill the mold. That way I sacrificed a bit of hardness in exchange for better reproduction.
After about an hour of drying per batch (normally it dries for about 30 minutes, but due to the increased water content, extra time was needed), I took the castings out of the mold. And I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled. Compared to molds made of Siligum, here the "resolution" of the mold is significantly lower. The time for forming the mold is very short (as soon as the temperature drops a little, it becomes very rubbery and somewhat elastic, which is not good at all for flat parts, such as statues). With that alone, another problem arises, the lower part of the mold (when it is turned) I could not straighten at all (which when I use Siligum is not a problem to do). This in turn causes problems when pouring plaster (which is watery, if you remember) so it is quite fiddly to get the mold to be horizontal. Actually the only positive side of Blue Stuff is the fact that if you reheat it, you can mold something else. If you need that mold for several projects - then any advantage over Siligum is lost. After removing from the mold, it was necessary to remove excess material. Since the plaster was quite watery, this was no problem.
And now we come to the solution of the second problem - the sagging of the fabric. I have to thank the Crown for the great solution! How would you carry a bunch of heavy statues on a stretcher without risking the fabric tearing? Simply put a couple of boards over the stretcher so that the statues stand on the boards! The best solutions are the most common and the simplest.
And finally, I fixed the statues in motion with the ropes that I described in the last article, on one of the stretchers. I used a chain for the second stretcher.
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