Borodino on the table. Figures and dioramas
Anatoly Shepelyuk. Mikhail Kutuzov during the battle of Borodino. 1952How difficult, how difficult
People of small stature!
We do not fit in accordance with GOST
In common size.
But we are all Napoleons!
There are millions of us in the world!
And in our country micron
Everyone is like Gulliver! ”
Anthem of the midgets. Evgenia Tkalich
People of small stature!
We do not fit in accordance with GOST
In common size.
But we are all Napoleons!
There are millions of us in the world!
And in our country micron
Everyone is like Gulliver! ”
Anthem of the midgets. Evgenia Tkalich
This reduced, reduced world. So, we continue to consider the reduced world of figures and models, but not just like that, for the sake of interest, but also with thoughts about how you can make money on it. We have already talked about the fact that today, at a scale of 1:35, whole “model complexes” are produced for the manufacture of desktop dioramas: fences, lamps, paving stones, bricks of all colors, ruins and whole houses, wall posters and figures of people, both military and and civilians, as well as cats, dogs, pigs ... And the same is being done on a scale of 1:72 and a relatively new scale, which the Japanese firm Tamiya is particularly persistently promoting today - 1:48.
“Theater in a box”: “Snow dream”! Outside, as you can see, winter, snow, icicles, a winter magic forest, and in a cozy cave by the fireplace at the table with a carrot two cute rabbits are sitting
All the time there are new items in the field of "creativity" and you need to meet the "challenges of the time", or rather, use them to your own advantage. Not so long ago, another homemade team appeared - a set of miniature parts from which Christmas dioramas are assembled in the form of small “gift boxes”.
The Snow Dream set includes a box with a lid and a lot of miniature painted parts, from which a small diorama is collected, illuminated by two LEDs powered by three miniature round batteries. One LED depicts the moon, and thanks to the simplest electronic circuit it fills the "sky" with green, then violet, or blue light. And the second light is on in the cave house of two tiny bunnies. The room has a bed with a blanket, a bookcase, a fireplace, while snow covers the ground outside, there are snow-covered Christmas trees, a bench and sledges. Nice, isn't it? And, of course, for a small child, and not a very small one, this is the real Christmas magic.
All the main details of the diorama are ready: a table, a fireplace, snowy Christmas trees. What does the one who bought the kit do? Glues the chairs, installs all small things on the mantelpiece and on the bookcase. Cut out the cave arch from polystyrene. Paste it in a box. He makes tree trunks of winter bare trees and glues them into a foam arch, sticks Christmas trees in it, decorates the sky and snow under the Christmas trees with stars and tinsel. In addition, he also collects the microcircuit, or rather, twists the wires according to the instructions and inserts the batteries into the power supply. The work seems to be for children, but the child can’t do this. Moreover, there is not enough skill - experience with the tool and materials. That is, he will have to buy three such sets, so that he, having ruined two, the third would do "as it should."
In ordinary light, you can clearly see how it all works. A power supply unit with a battery is located at the base, and the hole through which it can be removed and the lights turned on or off is covered with a cover with a name. The color of the upper diode may vary.
The opening of the power supply and the switch is closed by a cover with the inscription "Snow Dream"There is a set with the baby Christ, a manger, a cow and three magicians. That is, completely Christmas, and ... this and other such sets can be presented to those whom you are invited to visit on Christmas, because it is really very beautiful and somehow even a “magic souvenir”.
However, by analogy with these kits, we can very well arrange the production of mini-diorams on military storiesthat will be no worse. For example, the diorama “Kutuzov on the Borodin Field”. As a basis for which you can take one of the famous paintings, and your own vision of what was happening there. The box is located not only vertically, but horizontally. A hill is imitated, sprinkled with “grass”, and a color picture is pasted onto the back wall. Figures on a scale of 1:72 and 1: 100 (for the background) are pre-painted (it’s unlikely that they will be able to do this correctly for those who buy it!) And stick into the hill. It remains only to figure out where and how to place the batteries, the switch and mask the diode that illuminates your diorama.
Vasily Vereshchagin. Napoleon at the Borodino Heights. 1897 Famous painting, isn't it? And it can also serve as the basis for such a diorama
The diorama “Napoleon on the Borodin Field” can be arranged in a similar way, or even a whole series of such dioramas can be prepared: “Great generals of all times and peoples on the battlefields”. Well, actually there can be all sorts of ideas. For example, dioramas of the series "Sea Battle". One shows the deck of a warship in such a way that the gunner-gunner gunners stand with their backs to us. Behind this foreground is the background - with the image of an enemy ship, which is shrouded in smoke and flickers with flashes of shots (the electronic circuit and the placement of diodes will not be difficult). You can even imitate the sound of shots and it will be something at all! On the other diorama, the same plan, but the guns are different and the uniform is different: we are on the deck of a northerners ship in a battle with the battleship Southerners Alabama. The next diorama - we are in the tower of the battleship "Monitor", and the armored shutters of the embrasures can be made to move, and the guns - so that they could be put forward in these embrasures!
“The cavalry is jumping into the attack!” And behind everything is smoke ... Here, however, the figures are large, and also made of plasticine. But they can also be on a scale of 1:72. And the smoke from behind is effectively illuminated and then it will look just like real!
The attack of the "Scottish Grays" at the Battle of Waterloo - several riders jump on the viewer, and behind the "smoke" from synthetic wool; attack of the Polish winged hussars; the armored men of the ordonance companies attack the infantry at the Battle of Pavia - all these are excellent stories for such dioramas. The main thing here is to choose the optimal number of figures and think over the backlight, because a lot depends on it. However, you can simplify your business. Place the action in the premises of the castle or cathedral, where the diodes will shine on you as torches or candles, as well as illuminate the sky outside the windows - this is the solution! “The assassination of Thomas Becket”, “Feast in the feudal lord’s castle”, “D'Artagnan rescues Athos from the cellar”, “Captain Nemo with Professor Aronax in the Nautilus salon,” “Elk and Gusev meet with Aelita” (very “narrow” for today day plot, but you never know what ...) - these are excellent “chamber plots”, where there simply will not be open spaces.
A cave of primitive people can become a very good object for such a miniature modeling: one draws a moment on the wall, two sit by the fire, a woman breastfeeds a baby, and several more people are painted in the background. Or an Indian wigwam: the floors are wide open in the center of a fire burning, and around the Indians are sitting in sunny hats. It can also be a separate series: “People in Dwellings”, and of course one can’t do without the interior of any Baroque palace.
But this is just a ready-made plot for a diorama with Kutuzov on the Borodino field. Moreover, the LED just can be placed behind a wooden barn, in front of which Kutuzov stands with his adjutants.
You can turn famous battle paintings into such a plot for such chamber dioramas. Well, let's say, the same “Guardhouse” by David Teniers the Younger, or even “The Feat of the Young Kiev Citizen I. A. Ivanov. That is, there can be very, very many plots, which, by the way, is just fine, because today, for successful business, almost the main condition (after quality) is a wide range, a rich model range.
French marshals and especially Murat will look great in a souvenir pack that you can offer to the Army Museum in Paris
People like to be afraid. And this means that it is quite possible to make a series with ghosts, skeletons and hanged ones. For example, the ghost of Hamlet’s father stands on the blue wall illuminated from below, while Hamlet himself stretches his arms below him. Or a deserted room of a knight's castle, and in the window there is a skeleton, which, however, is only visible when behind it a simple timer turns on the light. Or here's another horror: the diorama "In the dungeons of the Inquisition." Oh, oh, it could be something out of the ordinary!
See how beautiful smoke spreads on the battlefield. With appropriate lighting, and even in a small box in which the effect of depth of space is created, it will look more realistic!
Of course, it’s more expensive to paint all these figures and interior details. It also increases the cost of the electronic unit. In addition, the batteries are purchased separately according to the instructions, as well as glue. And it is clear that different countries need a different assortment, because the British are interested in one thing, the French are different, and the Japanese and Chinese are interested in the third. But you can just play on this: “We produce our products for the most different countries of the world!” Well, then there’s an advertisement in the Japanese magazine Model Grafix, the American “Fine Scale Modeler”, and ... sales will not be slow in coming, because people all the time I want something new, interesting and ... glowing!
To be continued ...
- Vyacheslav Shpakovsky
- Military dolls from the Hermitage collection
Military dolls for adults
Figures of soldiers from the Army Museum in Paris
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