20 Casualty Clearing Station, Boisleux Au Mont 1917

[chuffinghell]

Some fantastic modelling going on here! 

[SDJR7F88]

More amazing work mate! Really making me want to get started on another WW1 Project, but currently don't have the time or space. What did you use for the sheeting on the tanks?  

[PannierTanker14]

This layout is superb

its always good to see the behind-the-scenes workings of WW1 and at the stuff people don’t usually remember.

 

Plus, I’ve spotted that you have a train of Renault FT-17s, which is probably one of the best bits so far!

[Model Railway Noob]

19 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

Some fantastic modelling going on here! 

 

Thanks Chris. It's very nice of you to say.

[Model Railway Noob]

13 hours ago, SDJR7F88 said:

More amazing work mate! Really making me want to get started on another WW1 Project, but currently don't have the time or space. What did you use for the sheeting on the tanks?  

 

Hi Callum,

 

Thank you. That's nice to hear from an experienced WWI layout modeller

 

I bought cotton fabric initially to use for my tents but then saw a video of the Terrain Tutor where he made wire frame tents using 'wet ones' (baby wipes) for fabric. The wet ones are easier to shape than the cotton, so I went with those. I washed out a pack to remove the smelly stuff then dried them. To make the sheeting I soaked them in coloured, watered down PVA to they dry harder. I added some grey, then black wash. My brother had found rope coloured cotton so I used that for the ropes. From the photos I have, the sheeting was deployed in a whole rang of ways, so whatever you do will be historic.

[Model Railway Noob]

12 hours ago, PannierTanker14 said:

This layout is superb

its always good to see the behind-the-scenes workings of WW1 and at the stuff people don’t usually remember.

 

Plus, I’ve spotted that you have a train of Renault FT-17s, which is probably one of the best bits so far!

 

Thanks m8. I want to make the road very busy as they were 24 hours a day in the back areas. The hospital I am modelling had French, Belgian, American, British and German people at it. The Americans took over the light railway late summer 1917 and a US field ambulance came to this CCS for trauma experience when they were first in-country. I have some French troops to place around the Renault that is on it's own by the destroyed houses. The tanks on the Parrots have had their markings removed because the story is they are on their way to the Americans who used loads of them. In my research I read that there were more Renault FT 17 tanks made than all the British tanks marks put together, as well as being the first design in history that all modern tanks are developed from with the rotating turret etc.

 

[PannierTanker14]

FT-17s were also still in some use in WW2, however were already antiquated by then. The Americans made some weird variants of the tank too, like an Artillery version!

 

[jasp]

I have only just come across your layout.

A most interesting and unusual subject.

Your models are superb and, I am sure a great source of satisfaction.

Glad to hear you survived 35 years of the NHS - my own experiences varied between NHS, University, NHS, retirement on health grounds, NHS, University and lastly NHS - not so much a career, more a series of errors and/or omissions!
Keep up the good work and I hope you fine a permanent home

Best

Jim P

[Model Railway Noob]

10 hours ago, jasp said:

I have only just come across your layout.

A most interesting and unusual subject.

Your models are superb and, I am sure a great source of satisfaction.

Glad to hear you survived 35 years of the NHS - my own experiences varied between NHS, University, NHS, retirement on health grounds, NHS, University and lastly NHS - not so much a career, more a series of errors and/or omissions!
Keep up the good work and I hope you fine a permanent home

Best

Jim P

 

Thanks Jim. The 35 years flew by but didn't do my back or blood pressure much good. Both have improved since retiring although 'they' keep trying to get me to go back.

[Model Railway Noob]

Hi all,

 

Firstly thank you for the continued support.

 

My French Grey paint arrived for my ambulance train, so I plan to crack on with this over Christmas. I have everything but the decals sorted now. I was going to re-spray the six Bachmann ambulance coaches I have but that seemed a shame, plus I could now sell the original pack possibly. I have bought 16 other coaches to re-spray and will need to find a layout to photograph them on. Initially, I will just do the exterior but in time, I may have a crack at the respective interiors. They will all be numbered according to the War Office specification including the wording, red crosses and emblems. There were of course a number of colour schemes used in WWI: French all sorts early in the war, one all khaki train (with the same name), an all grey hospital train (the only hospital train) and the war office specification using French Grey and khaki, with yellow and red trim. The navy had some all grey ambulance trains for UK use. The trains shipped to warmer climates looked white or very light grey from the photos I have seen.

 

I am about to start work on some mobile artillery used for home defence and eventually in France. This is one of three special projects I mentioned along with the ambulance train and the armoured train. However, I am aware that these special projects are distracting me from working on this exhibition layout, so I should prioritise that really. Once it has people on it, I can consider showing it at some model railway exhibitions.

 

I have almost completed the remodel of the Bachmann Parrots. I went into the garden to find some wood suitable to make fascines for the tanks. In France you see photos of them on wagons with the fascines on top. However that was before they set off and realised they couldn't navigate the French railways with that sort of height, so they soon took them off. I will have mine on the Parrot but not on the tanks. I have also ordered more crates and fabric so will add this to the layout and the tank carriers. Once that is all on, I will weather the shiny grey paint and post a photo of the end result.

 

I have built a large new operating theatre of wood with a corrugated roof. I have added lighting and a smoking chimney. There is a sister looking out of the back window but it isn't clear from the first photo. I had previously posted a photo showing external chimneys for Nissen huts. I have added a smoking chimney to Matron's Nissen hut and fake chimneys to all the others for consistency. At some point, all of the buildings will have the appropriate signs, based on the naming of this actual CCS.

 

The smoke obviously looks better in motion, so I will post a Youtube video in the next week or so.

 

Finally I am preparing to do a Christmas special featuring snow and a Christmas tree. 'Christmas in France 1917' will be published just before Christmas all being well. I have everything I need including the snow, a tree, lights for it, Santa riding through the sky and of course carols  Let's hope I am not biting off more than I can chew!

 

 

[phil_sutters]

Malta not France - a hospital not a clearing station - but this is a WW1 Christmas scene from my great-uncle's time there recovering from frostbite acquired at Gallipoli. Keep up your enjoyable reports from the front!

[Model Railway Noob]

1 hour ago, phil_sutters said:

Malta not France - a hospital not a clearing station - but this is a WW1 Christmas scene from my great-uncle's time there recovering from frostbite acquired at Gallipoli. Keep up your enjoyable reports from the front!

 

Phil that's fab. I see some of them are in hospital blues so it looks like a base hospital. We used to make those paper chain Christmas decorations as children. It was fun too.

[Model Railway Noob]

Hi all,

 

I thought I'd share a purchase with you as some of you may be interested at some point. I think I test bought from this seller before but forgot. Anyway, I noticed that I didn't have any kind of formal way of connecting chains form vehicles to trains, so I wanted some of those plus more tools, canvas covered equipment and more in crates. This is for the trains and layout etc. I will post again when painted. There is even a few helmets I might plaace around the barbed wire

 

Although the packs are aimed at WWII modellers, they are suitable for other things and the scale is correct.. 

 

https://redog.uk/

 

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by Model Railway Noob

[sb67]

They look good, can see them being used in goods yards, on the back of lorry's or wagons 

[Model Railway Noob]

8 hours ago, sb67 said:

They look good, can see them being used in goods yards, on the back of lorry's or wagons 

 

My thoughts too. I have a lorry that needs a cargo, so I am hoping one of the tarp covered loads fits it.

[Ruston]

On 18/11/2019 at 01:13, Model Railway Noob said:

 

Hi Alister.

 

I understand what you mean but I had always planned the crashed aircraft and didn't have anywhere else to put it. I bought it before I started then felt it was too early for a flying aircraft so it needed to have crashed some time earlier. Of course to the left of the layout was a large flat field and it ended up in a hedge row which is why it went nose in where it is 

 

In reality, there is a field to the left of where I have modelled but a sunken road first.

But the devil's in the detail...

 

The Fokker E.III would have been obsolete and withdrawn from service on the Western Front by 1917. Enemy aircraft that crashed behind allied lines and were as intact as that one is wouldn't have been left there and would have been recovered by allied forces to be taken for inspection. It's also likely that if shot down then things such as the rudder and machine gun would have been taken as souvenirs and perhaps the fabric with the Cross Pattée cut out of the fuselage sides. As this one is in the colours of Leutnant der Reserve, Ernst Udet, who by January 1917 was already flying an Albatros it must have been there quite some time.

 

The Fokker D.VII that you have flying along with the red Dr.I didn't come into service until January 1918 and the particular one here is the mount of Hauptmann Rudolf Berthold, who, as leader of Jagdgeschwader II didn't get a D.VII until May 1918, by which time the pilot of the red Dreidecker was already dead.

 

The SPAD S.XIII appears to be of La Fayette escadrille (S.124) which was a unit of the French air corps but made up of volunteer pilots from the USA, before the USA entered the war. It wasn't absorbed into US forces until February 1918 and so wouldn't have flown with US cockades in 1917.

 

The Camel is fine though.

[Model Railway Noob]

8 hours ago, Ruston said:

But the devil's in the detail...

 

The Fokker E.III would have been obsolete and withdrawn from service on the Western Front by 1917. Enemy aircraft that crashed behind allied lines and were as intact as that one is wouldn't have been left there and would have been recovered by allied forces to be taken for inspection. It's also likely that if shot down then things such as the rudder and machine gun would have been taken as souvenirs and perhaps the fabric with the Cross Pattée cut out of the fuselage sides. As this one is in the colours of Leutnant der Reserve, Ernst Udet, who by January 1917 was already flying an Albatros it must have been there quite some time.

 

The Fokker D.VII that you have flying along with the red Dr.I didn't come into service until January 1918 and the particular one here is the mount of Hauptmann Rudolf Berthold, who, as leader of Jagdgeschwader II didn't get a D.VII until May 1918, by which time the pilot of the red Dreidecker was already dead.

 

The SPAD S.XIII appears to be of La Fayette escadrille (S.124) which was a unit of the French air corps but made up of volunteer pilots from the USA, before the USA entered the war. It wasn't absorbed into US forces until February 1918 and so wouldn't have flown with US cockades in 1917.

 

The Camel is fine though.

 

Thanks for posting. I am aware of the history of the aircraft and actually, everything else I include. I have a massive collection of WWI books and have read widely on the subject but as it is my layout and I liked these aircraft, I included them just as I do anything else. The Spad isn't on the layout now. This village was in German hands until a couple of months before the CCS arrived and the old Fokker was down in it's own lines and not allied lines as you had incorrectly assumed. As a much older aircraft it was left as it is. The CCS was in situ 1917-1918 but was well gone before the newer German aircraft came out. The paint schemes were as the model company intended and I wasn't interested enough to change them. It was more about putting engines into them. Whilst I am posting this, the Whippets were not in France until about May 1918 (from memory), the two P class locomotives weren't up to the job and were already back in England in 1916 and the tents aren't the correct type either. Unfortunately the people won't breath or talk and there isn't really a war on! 

 

In short I assume you are familiar with rule #1?

[Ruston]

Thank you, but there's really no need for the patronising comments about the people not being real.

 

You have made a nice layout and appear to have put a lot of work into all the other research but the aircraft being wrong is something that stands out to me as they are one of my interests, apart from railways. I thought you may find it useful and would help to make things more accurate. But, as you say, you're not interested enough to make them accurate to a chosen time period and you don't want paint and finish them in any other way than the model instructions say.  Fair enough, it's your layout and if that's how you feel about it I won't say anything more.

 

 

[Model Railway Noob]

14 minutes ago, Ruston said:

Thank you, but there's really no need for the patronising comments about the people not being real.

 

You have made a nice layout and appear to have put a lot of work into all the other research but the aircraft being wrong is something that stands out to me as they are one of my interests, apart from railways. I thought you may find it useful and would help to make things more accurate. But, as you say, you're not interested enough to make them accurate to a chosen time period and you don't want paint and finish them in any other way than the model instructions say.  Fair enough, it's your layout and if that's how you feel about it I won't say anything more.

 

 

 

An interesting perspective Dave as I thought that your comments were both patronising and if I dare say it, arrogant but as you had taken the time to offer your insight, I did not want to point that out. The comments about the people not being real were an attempt at humour and at worst perhaps a little sarcastic. 'Realism' on models can only go so far and one can always find fault if one is looking. I prefer positive reinforcement (that is my training and personality) and I do not dwell on where people could do better. After all, I would spend all my time being negative and I am not that person. Of course if someone is asking for errors and omissions that is different. I called myself 'noob' because I am new to modelling but I do it for enjoyment and to some extent relaxation. I do not do it for accuracy particularly as I don't yet have the skills and I am still at the bottom of a steep learning curve. However, I have chosen to model the layout based on some historical photos as I felt this made for some nice scenes. This is my second year of model railways.

 

The time period is right for the type of aircraft but the paint schemes as you will know varied considerably with the Germans between squadrons in WWI and I left them as suggested. It would have taken time to research the squadrons flying over that village at that time and I felt that was unnecessary.  I got the paints with the aircraft. The main emphasis is on the fact that it is to honour 20 CCS who served in that village, in that time frame and the very important work they carried out for both sides. The layout is for awareness just like the talks I give for historical societies and Royal British Legion on WWI and WWII. From my experience people want an overview and are not really interested in the minute detail.

[Ruston]

2 hours ago, Model Railway Noob said:

An interesting perspective Dave as I thought that your comments were both patronising and if I dare say it, arrogant

Not meant that way. Just one of  drawbacks of typed words on a screen.

[Model Railway Noob]

Hi all,

 

I decided to add fascines to the Bachmann Parrots. They aren't brilliant but they look ok. The original facines were supposed to have three pipes in the middle to allow water through. My first two did but I didn't have small enough pipes so I remade them without them. You will see photos of them on top of tanks where they look like they are being transported. However, these were taken at the railway station and they soon learned that they could not navigate the French railway system and had to take them off. I have taken them off too because they won't fit through my backscene otherwise!

 

I plan to start the Christmas adaptations this weekend.

 

PS Got this massive train set for a five year old. I can't wait to 'set it up for him' on Christmas Day  He of course, has a wooden set, two other battery sets and the Thomas layout I  made for him.

 

 

[Model Railway Noob]

A video showing the smoking chimneys and making the operating theatre and fascines. 

 

 

 

[Model Railway Noob]

Christmas is coming....

 

[Model Railway Noob]

When not paining figures and cleaning track, I started this ambulance. I have another to do.

 

PS if anyone has any tips on the best glue for metal, I'd love to see them. I attempted to do 2 of 6 casualties in wheelchairs today and gave up with one part-done. I have long standing disc issues from 35 years of nursing and my back is painful at the moment. They almost went into the bin!

[SDJR7F88]

13 hours ago, Model Railway Noob said:

When not paining figures and cleaning track, I started this ambulance. I have another to do.

 

PS if anyone has any tips on the best glue for metal, I'd love to see them. I attempted to do 2 of 6 casualties in wheelchairs today and gave up with one part-done. I have long standing disc issues from 35 years of nursing and my back is painful at the moment. They almost went into the bin!

Stunning work again mate! What kit is this one?