"Firing into the Brown" #39 - Light boxes, dioramas, girders and stuff..

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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Bit of fun.. 

Whilst taking photo's of various bits and pieces for the blog recently I have struggled a bit with lighting - I'm not a fan of the flash as it gives a very artificial, over bright, light with significant shadows..  I like/prefer to use a tripod and rely on the stability that gives to take pictures without flash, but it still requires good light and in the winter, even with artificial lighting it's a bit gloomy..

Reading some of my fellow Bloggerati's musings however, and they mention the delights of a light box.. a peruse on the monolithic online shopping experience would indicate these are not much more than a box with either a lot of, or a single big, bulb(s) in the top - white surrounds to reflect and concentrate the light - so I decided to make my own...

This is phase one.. a simple box, taped along the edges and then lined with white foam board - to provide the light source (phase 2) I bought two metres of USB powered self adhesive LED ribbon coming - similar to the following:

Which I then stuck to the foam board in the top of the box

With space for USB cable to exit ..

...and here it is all lit up..  

Be interesting to see if this works - if it doesn't the LED ribbon will be used elsewhere - probably on the boat! 😁

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 Recently invested in an all features/exhibits ticket for the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - basically you buy the full ticket and it then gives you unlimited access and visits for 12 months. Only £44 which I consider to be astonishing value when you consider what it gives you access to for an entire year..  I shall be making good use of it!

First visit was the weekend just gone where for the first time ever, despite living in the city almost my entire life, I mainly (and finally!) went to see Mary Rose (HMS Driftwood as she's kindly known in some RN circles 😁), but having explored her*, I wandered through the separate Royal Navy Museum and happened to spot this - which is just glorious....

Fictional boat attack on a Mediterranean fishing village c. 1810

40 or 54mm scale I think, but modelling at its very finest... 

* standby for some pictures taken on the day - it was an awesome exhibition/display..

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The girder bridge is complete..  

Grey epoxy primer (won't do that again 😏) with a wash of inks - used the old Citadel Armour Wash, and then a diluted down Rowney black draughtsman's ink. 

Had to go back and give a fair chunk of it a coat of Vallejo Grey Black as the primer was not taking the ink washes well..  

.. a coat of Vallejo Smoke for the plank surface..

Then finally some Rowney Deller "Red Earth" ink for the rust 'splots' - which I am most liking..

Coat of PVA and either flock or sharp sand for the surface of the ramps, and the bases of the bridge..

The models are 12mm/N gauge Minifigs for scale - happy with that...

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Laters, as the young people are want to say...