ACW 18th July 1863, assault on Battery Wagner Diorama 1/72 scale. скачать в хорошем качестве

ACW 18th July 1863, assault on Battery Wagner Diorama 1/72 scale.

THE DIORAMA: It was made in the years 1990-1994 in 1/72 scale and represents the assault of July 18, 1863 on Fort Wagner by the leading Unionist regiment, the 54th Massachusetts colored infantry, which was then rejected as reported in various reports. The Diorama took more than three years between design and execution; the portion of the fort affected by the attack (east bastion) measures 40x60 cm and was designed on a small image found in a book (fortunately today the possibilities are different). It is made of overlapping and suitably cut polystyrene panels, covered with DAS moistened and beaten with a hard brush to recreate the graininess of the ground. The sandbags are from Milliput placed in place with the finger covered with a fine cloth, to recreate the texture of the bag. I then used sprigs of pine which in that scale resemble palmetto trunks (a typical plant of the region), plus various wooden strips for the artillery positions. The artillery, two pieces, represent an 8"naval cannon on a standard coast carriage and a 32lbs carronade for the string shooting and were built entirely by hand with wooden strips, plasticard, nails, etc because I could not find anything of satisfactory on the market. Only the barrel of the carronade was purchased (naval modeling); I turned the cannon one by hand using an old drill. It took me many hours to make the complete cannon and since this was a hobby for me it took me a month. The water in the moat is transparent resin for railway models (at the time there was not much to choose from), spread in three layers. First I inserted the painted figures then, gradually layer by layer, I beat the last fresh layer with a brush handle to create the movement; needless to say that if I had made a mistake at this stage I would have had to throw everything away ... However, considering that it is a moat, all in all the effect is good, or so they said at the time. The smoke from rifle and artillery discharges is made with simple cotton wool suitably adapted. For the 1/72 scale figures, I used various brands of toy soldiers, almost all of which were modified. However, they all have the bayonet made with a thin copper wire; in fact most of the figures did not have them and, moreover, I did not like the original ones that were too thick. The heads (the Confederates had hats of various shapes) are often changed; but also for the unionists: since it is a black regiment, I used boxes and boxes of Zulu to replace the head with a lot of kepi ... taken from the original head. But the biggest effort was to put the figures in position, especially the attackers because recreating the scene with the momentum of the attack then blocked by the fire of the defenders was not easy and took a long time. The only flaw lies in the painting of the sketches which was very poor, in practice only the drafting of the basic colors; with a simple "sepia" wash I could have achieved much better results in a short time. But it was the first (and only) work of that kind and what interested me was the ensemble scene which is still impressive. The diorama focuses on the attack by Union forces on the city of Charleston (SC), an important Confederate port. Due to the marshy land around the city there were few points where the Unionists could have placed heavy siege guns to bomb the city so the goal was to take Morris Island, a coastal strip south of the city, to be able to place the artillery on the northern tip. But to do that, the Unionists would have had to take two forts, Battery Wagner and Battery Gregg on Cummning Point. The fortifications, which in cooperation with the artificial island of Fort Sumter in the center of the bay and other forts and batteries on the opposite side, made actions from the sea impossible. These forts were built with sand, sandbags, gabions and palmetto trunks which frustrated Union bombing both from the sea and from land. The Confederate batteries were as usual made up of a mixture of calibers, but they were still good artillery and, above all I think, excellent gunners. Wagner's commander was William Booth Taliaferro, from an Italian family who moved to England in the 16th century and then moved to America in 18th.