The scenic bases from Tommy’s War offer the modeller a great opportunity to display 1/32 model figures in the setting of the trenches in World War One.

Product TW32DIO2 is a typical British trench section from 1916-1918, and here we’ll discuss what comes in the kit and the options for building;

The kit comes in four parts;

1. Base section (footprint; 50mm x 50mm)
2. Side/trench wall (height from the trench floor to top of sandbags = 58mm)
3. Optional firing step
4. Optional crate

Through this blog I’m going to show you how to assemble and paint the scenic base.

The first step is to clean-up the base and assemble it. I began with a few simple tools; a resin saw, sharp blade (or hobby knife) and clippers (to easily remove any small pieces).

The base is cast in natural resin (the add a grey dye into the figures as customers prefer that colour, without this dye this yellow is the colour of the resin, but it’s the same resin used on all our products).

I began by removing the two largest casting blocks on the base and trench wall by carefully sawing through both ends until I was able to snap it off. At this point I do need to stress that when you’re working with resin it’s crucial to take care. Work outside when sanding resin, or if you need to be inside wear a mask and ventilate the room. In this case, I removed the casting blocks and sanded outdoors.

Once that had been safely completed, I glued the base and trench wall using cyanoacrylate glue (commonly known as ‘superglue’). There are many brands on the market and all will work. I prefer to work with a brand called Roket from Deluxe, that’s just my personal preference. It comes in different consistencies which dry at different speeds, so I can use whichever suits the project I’m working on.

A tip for working with superglue, is to lightly sand any surface you wish to adhere. Superglue works better when it the surfaces are a little rough.

You’ll note some gaps from the images, I’m not too worries about those at the moment, now I’ve got the sub-assemblies I’ll show the final versions in the next blog when I’ve added some filler and generally tidied-up the base!

So, we’ve got the base, so what are the options? Well, you can use it as it is shown above, or you can add the firestep;

Or, you can leave off the firing step and use the ammunition crate (particularly for figure TW32052);

Of course, you can always show the firing step and still include the ammunition crate;

That’s Stage One in a nutshell. My next steps will be shown in this blog over a short period of time where I’ll completely clean-up all the parts so that they fit much better and fill any gaps. Then I’ll prime and paint.

If I can get it right I’ll even include a figure

Look out for the next steps coming soon!