Thanks so much Frenchy – I’ve taken a real shine to that Ppolish Fiat van, by far the best candidate (it’s the one that took Heydrich to hospital sprawled in the back) & the Bronco is probably OK for the bread van that refused to take him. I imagine both must have been covered delivery vehicles so big and/or open trucks no good. Yes I always liked Preiser figures, depends on the couture though.
The story so far – continuing experiments with the half-scale mock-up (v2), and using Macdonald’s account for a more informed reconstruction with the dio…I had to start all over again and correct several errors (including two minor ones Macdonald made because they were physically impossible) so I think I’m as close as it’s possible to get to the actual sequence of events. I’m past caring after all this research what the various movies show, because either they agree with me or they’re wrong. Me, arrogant?
But first - the contours issue was bugging me so I spent some time studying it from the 1936/1942 photos plus current topography via Google Earth & stills – the road system’s substantially altered but it helped a little. First draft…
The measurements (in cms. at Big One’s dimensions) are more useful than the lines in this sketch & there’ll doubtless be some adjustments required but this is approximately right. The road over the underpass in the northwest corner will be the highest point at 8cms/3 ins. I’ll probably use balsa for the supports & many sheets of it to lay the basic surface, on top of which will go the cobbles jigsaw leaving gaps for the tramlines…sigh. Through this exercise I’ve realized that (a) the semi-circular sunken parkland can be a separate drop-in (b) deciding where to make the cut (so that the base is in 2 more manageable halves approx 150 x 75 cms each) is highly problematic because no matter how accurately I join them the gap is bound to show especially in close-ups of the action. I could photoshop it out but I’d rather find another way – perhaps a zig-zag east/west median line taking advantage of as many tramline gaps as possible, with surgical-quality cuts in between.
Meanwhile here’s a piece of card worth about US$60 if it saves me building that 2nd trailer coming down the hill on an even larger base. For the Big One I’ll try using a photo (of the trailer) if the angle’s right…
…and a clearer look at the perspective backdrop, an early view in the sequence with Valcik in the distance flashing (his mirror) and Heydrich’s car approaching Tram 14 as it comes down to the tramstop. At this point Gabcik is at the camera’s viewpoint before running across the road into position…which might come as a surprise to some:
Almost right…except I didn’t allow for the centre of the camera lens having to be about 2 cms higher than my eye on the sidewalk when I sketched it. This is how we learn, and I’ve already averted or identified some other potential cock-ups I’d have otherwise made on the Big One. Overall I think it’s do-able, the biggest challenge I haven’t really faced yet is the overhead powerlines but I’ll let the sub-conscious continue to work on that one.
Next time I’ll wrap up this stuff with a few more sample shots and then finally start on the Merc
