Custom German Pillbox

macvsog · Post by **macvsog** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:13 pm

So, I'm having a slow summer and am hopefully about to get busy... hopefully... so I threw this together the other day.

It's the top of a cement German Pillbox. It has a top gunners hatch, a back view hatch and three side view slits. It's painted in custom camo and has been dressed by its crew in foliage camo.

It's to perfect 1:18 scale and made to exact specifications of a pillbox that I saw in a book I have. I think it's called, "German fortifications of Europe" or something like that. It's a great book with exact diagrams and measurements, etc.

I know the pictures are in a bit of a weird setting, but I live in the desert and a garden is all I have to substitute for Europe.

Just something I thought I would put up just because.

Follow the link, go to the album at the bottom called, "German Pillbox."

http://community.webshots.com/user/macvsog101st

Hope everyone is having a good summer,

lsc1002 · Post by **lsc1002** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:27 pm

That pillbox is the bad ass! I wish 21c would put something out like that.

macvsog · Post by **macvsog** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:47 pm

Thanks, I appreciate it. It didn't come out like I had hoped originally, but I figured I would put it up anyway just because.

I really liked the barn and all that, that 21st put out way back when. Well, I didn't like them because they didn't feel real enough to me, but I really liked their concept.

Thanks again,

mediump · Post by **mediump** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:02 pm

That looks great, good job, exellent camo and texture, well done

KAMIKAZE · Post by **KAMIKAZE** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:30 pm

Nice job! Way to do your homework.

Mark

Post by **aferguson** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 4:57 pm

really good.......how did you make it?

kevrut · Post by **kevrut** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 5:31 pm

Very nice! I like the original ideas I see on this forum.

macvsog · Post by **macvsog** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 8:34 pm

Skipper,

Just the extra thick foamcore glued together in layers and then carved and sanded to shape. Covered with tile grout, sanded a bit, primed, and painted in a three color coat technique to create a cement look, then painted in camo and weathered.

The hatches and and view slits and such are left over from a Tiger Tank that I had. Just carved them a space and placed, etc.

RED · Post by **RED** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:42 am

Great job!!!I liked how you used the hatches and slits from your Tiger tank!!!!---RED---

dfoos · Post by **dfoos** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:08 pm

OMG!!! That stuff looks great. I love your barn and buildings. Is the key the tile grout? I have used various textures including spackle, bondo, orange peel texture and stuff, but none of it has ever lookes as realistic as yours. Also, what did you use for barbed wire, it looks so good. I want some.

macvsog · Post by **macvsog** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:30 pm

Hey dfoos,

The secret to the cement is two parts:

First, title grout, which gives the texture of cement, but not the "look" of cement.

To get the look of cement the painting order is as follows (I use delta acrylics for this type of stuff):

1 part charcoal to 1 part burnt umber - paint the entire piece (whatever you want to be cement) with this and make sure all nicks and crannies are filled with it.

Let dry.

Then DRY BRUSH mudstone.

Let dry.

Dry brush sandstone with a touch of wedgewood green.

It takes a bit of getting used to, to know how much you should dry brush with this... you want to do enough to look like cement, but not too much so that you lose all definition of the darker base below. I would test a piece first. I dry brush very little with the sandstone and green, it is just to give it a bit of a patina. Like I said, test it first because if it isn’t dry enough with the mudstone it will ruin it, if it is too dry it won’t look like cement. It’s easy once you do it right once.

Then lots of water with blacks and browns to weather the piece as you desire.

If you want smoother cement, sand the grout before you paint it, if you want more broken down cement let it dry a bit as you apply it.

Barbed wire is just two different gauges of wire. Just hand-made really quick with pliers... I have no secret on this one. I was going to replace that soon with better stuff actually.

The tile grout is my own thing, the cement painting technique is some old modelers thing I read somewhere a long time ago.

Hope this helps, I would be happy to answer any other question you have,

macvsog · Post by **macvsog** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:37 pm

oh, one more thing. The stone walls and little bit of "drywall" are NOT tile grout.

They are this doll house sand that you add water to. You get it off the internet, it's my big cheat, but it's impossible to make okay stone in a reasonable amount of time. The rest of those pieces are still tile grout, just the stone it self is a mix.

And the stone is still painted in the same way.

But yeah... most of my stuff is tile grout... i'm movign into iron work now though.

Best Regards,

MG-42 · Post by **MG-42** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:45 pm

"Neat little nest".

MajorHoover · Post by **MajorHoover** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:58 am

That is great! I love the detail, it is hard to tell that it is a model.

Major Hoover

steelbonnet · Post by **steelbonnet** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:01 am

Excellent work on that Pillbox mate. That is spot on & beautifully done & dressed up too.

Ja
Steel bonnet

Small Scale Military Headquarters

Custom German Pillbox

Custom German Pillbox

xd

MG nest !