Hello from Belgium

[marijn van gils]

Hello everyone,

 

An introduction:

I turned 40 last year, but have about 34 years of modelling experience (with only a 2,5 year break when my children were born).

I completed Heller's Le Gladiateur 1/200 plastic kit when I was 11 (ittle did I know it is a ficticious vessel, but I enjoyed it a lot!), but have been on different modelling ways since.

I first got into armour diorama's in 1/35th scale.

My last one (completed in 2004):

Then I a series of mostly scratchbuilt figures, figure vignettes and boxed diorama's, mostly in 1/35 scale too.

An example of these (British balloon observers under attack during WWI):

But after my kids were born and I got back in the hobby, I turned to ship modelling.

But whatever the subject, I'm always a diorama modeller at heart. And since the subjects have been WWII aircraft carriers thus far, I have worked in plastic in 1/700.

 

So far, I have completed a diorama of USS Lexington being abandoned by her crew at the end of the battle of the Coral Sea:

And one pic for scale :

 

And I'm now about to complete a diorama showing the Japanese aircraft carrier Amagi in 1946, sunk at Kure harbour:

And a (veeery much enlarged!) close-up:

 

So I'm close to starting a new project. I chose the subject already a couple of years ago and have been doing some research since, so I am looking forward to it a lot.

It will be HMS Victory and Le Redoutable in close combat at Trafalgar. Something like this:

Although I have much admiration for wooden ship models and their builders, I will stick to my usual materials of plastic, resin, metal, etc. and I will work in the small scale of 1/300. Even though this will make the job much more manageable, two ships with crew and battle damage still make for a very ambitious project that will take a lot of time to complete.

 

I have been active at the Modelwarships forum for the last years, and will continue to do so. But since this forum is more dedicated to ships of the age of sail, I am really excited about interacting with you specialists here.

Research will be a challenge as always, especially for Redoutable, so I will certainly call for your help.

I will post a build log too, but it will probably take a couple of months before I can start it. First I have to get some visible modelling results to post...

 

In the meantime, many thanks for a great forum with many wonderful resources!

 

Cheers,

 

Marijn

[ccoyle]

Fantastic models!

[shihawk]

Welcome Marijn ,, brilliant work !!!1 Your pics take me back many years when Verlindin ," not sure now of the spelling " catalogs showing great figures and dioaramas where a must buy .. Although i have now moved to wood builds i can appreciate the skill and work u have put into your projects ,, I look forward to your log and although my knowledge is very limited there are many here who will be very helpfull in your research  . 

 

 

Boyd

[Baker]

Welkom op MSW Marijn

Fantastische modellen, knap gedaan !!

 

Welcome to MSW

Fantastic models, great work !!

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

Fantastic models Marijn.. I'm sure you will make a very valuable contribution to MSW.

[Fright]

Marijin - Welcome !!! You've got some mighty fine models and skills. Cheers!

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks for the warm welcome!!!

 

Aha, Verlinden...

Seeing his publications in the early 90ies is what got me hooked on building dioramas. Great stuff!

And another Belgian!

 

Cheers,

 

Marijn

[mtaylor]

Stunning work, Marijn.  I didn't realize how small they were until I saw the picture with your hand.