Brad9826's WWI Memorial GB: Intro and chat.

[Steven]

Eennie meenie miney mo probably....

:tears-of-joy::smiling5:

[PaulTRose]

Hope you find something, would love to have you on board Paul.:smiling2:

well count me with a wingy thingy fokker.....bit out of the comfort zone and ive never tried rigging so this should be a laugh

[Guest]

I'm sure you'll make a great job of it Paul. Look forward to seeing the result. :thumb2:
I know what you mean about comfort zone, I've gone and got a pe set to add on my kit...never done that before either.:dizzy::fearful:

[colin m]

BOTH ! That would have to be a flippin' wet summer...................

Based on current weather conditions, it's going to be 1:48. I'm busy carrying water to all parts of the garden.

[Steven]

Hello fellow WWI builders
I would like to share some pics form a recent trip to Belgium which included a day long tour of the battlefields of the Ypres region. they might inspire if one is doing a land scene with the start date for the GB drawing nearer :-)

Hooge Crater Museum - the reconstructed german and british trench sections are at the behest the british army and serves to educate british troops - not accessible to the general public visiting the museum
Aside from the wood/wicker work used and the Cement sandbags all of the items displayed are found on the battlefield


British trench in the foreground - note the difference in the corrugated "elephant iron" used for cover - british in the front german in the back



British frontline trench A-frame and corrogated steel revetment and fire step


Preserved A -frame and duckboard - shows all the bits and bobs that felll through cracks and are found by archeologists today.


Reconstructed German front line trench with the wickerworks and firestep



German frontline trench with sniper slids


"No man's land"



Few shots from inside the museum:

Dog carrying messages

German? anti - tank rifle


various types of british trench pumps - i use the type on the right in my combo - dio



German field kitchen



British bunker at Hill 60




Lest we forget:
Tyne Cot British Commonwealth Cemetery


Grave for an unknown british soldier - loads of these - the result of lowgrade metal dog -tags and British ID badges made of leather causing both to deteriorate rapidly making a positive ID of the fallen impossible.


Langemark Cemetry for german troops - the only one maintained in the salient - cemeteries were generally constructed on the sight of battlefields - hence the bunkers.

[Steve Jones]

Just had a great read through Steven. Thanks for sharing

[Guest]

Steven, thanks also for sharing:thumb2:

Which brings me onto a gentle reminder that the GB begins in 12 days, so time to start your final preps., (best pull my finger out then....:surprised

[Guest]

A gentle reminder that the GB begins in 12 days, so time to start your final preps., :thumb2:

[Guest]

Thanks for sharing. Nice photos!!

[Steven]

Thanks gents :-)

"The Iron harvest"
Some 1.4 Billions shells fell during the Great War and Farmers in the Salient unearth some 20000 pieces of unexploded ordinance a year!!
Although farmers are supposed to call Belgian EOD when they find something, without touching it , they quite often run the risk of picking it up and bring it to a visible place at the side of the road where EOD will come and pick it up.
According to our tour guide this shell ( I am guessing british 7.5 cm?? )has been at the side of the road - for everyone (including children) to see and find, for a few days.
In passing by bus I saw another one - larger calibre lying in a drainage ditch half buried
One farmer had used one massive one Howitzer type (hopefully rendered harmless...) as a garden post.... sadly I was unable to take a picture as we were moving too fast




We were told not to touch it - prob some insurance thing....:smiling5:

[Andy Belsey]

Thanks for the photos Steven. I went to the salient last year and was very moved by it all. So, so many wasted lives! I didn't get to Hooge and went to a different German Graveyard in France. Many Jewish graves amongst the Christians - when you think of what was to follow! The Passchendaele Memorial Museum came out tops for my visit with their reconstructed trenches.
I was able to find several spots where my Grandfather's battery was positioned and re-read letters that he had sent from that spot 100 years on.
Andy

[Steven]

It was our second trip to the salient the first time around we were not part of an organized tour and had to rely on public transport, we saw in Flanders' Fields Museum and the Passchendaele Memorial Museum (sadly a rushed look - though) but I agree, PMM is the best of the Museums in the Salient.
Hooge Crater Museum is private and suffers from lack off funds, lots of artifacts but few info plaques to give context , also, artifacts very diverse uses and history are "bundled" in display areas.

[eddiesolo]

Superb pictures, very interesting, thank you for sharing Steven.

[Dave Ward]

I have my models ready in the pile, I think I'm going to have two projects, one almost straight away, then one in the Autumn. One is aerial, the other is strictly landbound...........................
Dave

[Guest]

Nice Dave, look forward to them appearing. :thumb2::smiling: