Resistance encampment

 An overview pic of the completed resistance encampment.

As stated elsewhere, this project was mainly conjecture - this is what I feel a partisan encampment could have looked like, and in my opinion it looks the part.

From left to right: HQ, shelter and ammo bunker.

Please check the individual posts for details of the structures.

Resistance HQ

 After building the first resistance shelter, I went on to do a second one, which I dubbed the HQ.

The construction went as usual: styrene on dead CD - yes, still got a pile of those - clad with coffee stirrers, which I do buy wholesale.

Chalk paint as a primer works in my opinion best with acrylic washes.

Floor dirtied.

Landscaping done. My usual mix of sand and diluted white wood glue, which dries rock hard.

Brown wash with diluted acrylic paint.

The "landschaping" painted.

(Clean) tissue canvas roof.

Canvas roof painted and camouflaged.

Again, an easy but functional wargames building, and a rather unique one.

Resistance hide-out

 I've painted quite a few partisans to be used for the Eastern Front, and I figured they needed somewhere to live.

Details of partisan encampments are sketchy to say the least, so I had to improvise. 

I decided to do a semi-dug in structure with a canvas roof, purely because it's something I would and could have built under the same circumstances.

I also decided to make it CD-based, since after all it wasn't just a building but also a bit of terrain.

I started off with a building method I feel comfortable with: styrene, clad with coffee stirrer planks. The roof beams thought they were going to be barbeque skewers.

Primed with chalk paint. The terrain built up with a mix of dried sand and diluted white wood glue, which gives in a rock hard result. 

Wash with diluted acrylic paint. Floor muddied.

The canvas roof originally was a tissue - a clean one, I must stress.

Canvas painted and given an improvised camo pattern.

Almost all the comforts of home deep in the forest.

Fifth and last Polish village house.

 After finishing the synagoge, I feared that the larger buildings were changing the rural and simple nature of the village, so I decided to add another simple village house.

It's in the same style as the first three, with different sizes and colours, for variety.

Having more buildings also means I have more options for setting up a village for a wargame, not necessarily using each and every structure each time.

Since the construction was familiar, I went with a styrene model from the start.

Coffee stirrer planks and matchstick windowframes added. The roof over the woodpile also got a few planks.

Main construction done, corners finished, roof thatched with strips of towel. 

Chimney painted, walls primed with chalk paint. The woodpile was donate by the plane tree the city was friendly enough to plant in front of our house.

Again for variety, I used different washes for walls and roof.

This must have been one of my easiest and fastest buildings, but it does the job, and that's what counts.

Polish synagogue

 I figured my 1939 model Polish village needed a focal point.

A church would be an obvious choice, but I don't do obvious, so I decided to go with a synagogue.

First obstacle: there are very, very few pics of pre-WWII Polish village synagogues.

Finally I found one that seems to have all the elements I noticed in other examples as well.

Next step: I did a simple paper model, to see if a model of this size was doable, and to get a feel of  the construction of the stairs to the wonen's entance.

Results: it was doable, I understood how things ought to go together, plus I noticed I made the roof too large, way too much overhang.

Side walls were done in the usual way: coffeestirrers on styrene, with matchstick windowframes.

The rear wall presented another conundrum: I didn't have a clue what it was supposed to look like, so I extrapolated, which is like guessing while pretending you know what you're doing.

By way of shortcut, I made a Star of David and two stairs on our 3D printer.

Front wall, with men's and women's entrances.

A sturdy attic floor to keep the walls straight. Also note I finished the corners.

Gables added, plus a roof over the women's entrance, and a central roof support.

Construction of the staircase to the women's entrance.

Roof sheets. I drew help lines to make sure I'd apply the roof planks straight(ish).

The reverse of the sheets got a few braces out of sturdy styrene to prevent warping.

The original seems to have had an overlapping planks roof, so even though it was a lot more wurruk, I used that for my model.

Basic construction done.

The 3D-printed Star of David temporarily added, plus a grill for the balcony.

Primed the whole thing with my usual chalk paint.

Washed, and the 3D details added permanently.

I'm rather happy for having constructed a unique wargames building based on an absolute minimum of info.

Fourth Polish House - a bit posher

After three rather modest houses for my 1939 model Polish village, it was time to add a bit posher one, for the big man in town.

I was inspired by a pic from a Polish museum village or open air museum - sorry, don't know which, my Polish is sadly lacking.

The end and rear walls were done in the usual way: coffee stirrers on styrene sheet, with matchstick window frames.

The front wall was provided with a boot room

The roof halves look nice like this, in reality I had to brace the rears to stop them from warping.

A moment of silence please for the hundreds of coffee stirrers who were sacrificed for this building.

A few supports added to stiffen the structure a bit.

Not one, but two chimneys! Styrene, obviously.

And everything put together.

Walls painted, roof primed with chalk paint.

Roof washed, chimneys painted.

Framing painted. Possibly attracted by the appropiate colours of the wall, a Soviet batallion command took possession of it already.