One of the first things I have ever learned to do in terms modelling my own accessories is how to make my own bedrolls from scratch. I learned this from the book
"How to Build Dioramas"by Sheperd Paine. If you are ever going to buy only 1 book on modeling in your lifetime then this is the book I would recommend bar none!
So for my
Trex Mech project, I wanted to load it up with a bunch of accessories to give it a lived in look. And bedrolls is our first stop. It's a very simple thing really. I take a piece of wet towel, the kind you get from restaurants, and cut this to twice the width of my bedrolls and long enough to give it some bulk when rolled up. I fold in the sides to make it look thicker and then roll it up. I use a bit of white glue at the end. I then tied it up with some thick dental floss cause I couldnt find any string at home. The larger of the 2 bedrolls had some synthetic foam filler rolled inside to bulk it up.
When the dry, they were painted with acrylic paints. In hind site, I could have sealed it with some white glue or primer before painting to get a smoother paint surface. In the picture you can see some resin buckles I've cast for the straps that will secure the bedrolls to the mech. I really like how they turned out and will one more bigger and longer tarp to hang onto the side of the mech.
It's a scratchbuilt 1:72 scale Maxim MG08. Used by Germany during WW1. Built from bits and pieces of plastic sheet, plastic rod and metal foil.
The machine gun itself is about 2 cm long.
When finished, it will be part of a ww1 diorama where a FT-17 is attacking a German trench.
The whole thing is built up from 3 main components. It is still missing the muzzle, handles and a mechanical bit on the gun mount. I'll also probably need to build an ammo box, ammo belt and the water can that cools the barrel. Stay tuned.
