"On the Wire"

[Dan Morton]

Greetings! I saw Roger Newsome's German stormtrooper model and thought I'd take a crack at posting this.

It's a diorama of the idea for which came from two sources. I was listening to Sting's CD from several years ago "Dream of Blue Turtles". He has a song on it called the Children's Crusade. I'd never listened to the lyrics before, but did this time. And I realized he was talking about British Tommies.

"Young men and soldiers, 1914;

Marching to countries they've never seen;

Virgins with rifles, game of charades;

All for our Children's Crusade;

Pawns in the game are not victims of chance;

Strewn on the fields of Belgium and France;

Poppies for young men, Death's bitter trade;

All for our Children's Crusade;

All of those young lives betrayed;

Chorus

The Children of England would never be slaves;

Trapped on the wire and dying in waves...."

The second source is story, perhaps a myth, that I've read in differing versions in various collections of memoirs. If it isn't true, it should be.

There's a very young lieutenant of Kitchener's army talking with a Yorkshire corporal, one of the few remaining members of the British pre-war professional Army. They're just passing the time and the corporal mentions what good riflemen were in his regiment before the war. The lieutenant quips, probably without thinking, "Well we could use them now. Wonder where they are, eh?" The corporal starts, and turns on the lieutenant, purple with rage and tears in his eyes, "I'll tell thee where they are! I’ll tell thee – shall I? They’re out there! They're hanging out there - out there on the bloody wire!"

The diorama consists of two figures - a British Guardsman and a German private.

I sculpted it using 2 part putty, resin parts, etc. The ground work is paper mache' covered with pumice paste. Kreston Peckham painted it in oils. The pose for the Guardsman was suggested by Kreston and the pose for the German comes from a well-published Great War photo.

All the best,

Dan Morton

[gporta]

A stunning piece of work! and eerie, too.

Gloria

[Owen D]

Stuff of nightmares.

The old song comes to mind.

If you want to find the old battalion,

I know where they are, I know where they are.

If you want to find the old battalion,

I know where they are,

They're hanging on the old barbed wire.

I've seen 'em, I've seen 'em,

Hanging on the old barbed wire,

I've seen 'em, I've seen 'em,

Hanging on the old barbed wire.

[marina]

Very striking, Dan. Well done.

Marina

[Dan Morton]

Thanks Owen and Marina!

All the best,

Dan

[marina]

You'll have to be entering MGWAT, Dan.

Marina

[shaymen]

Dan

That is awesome - great work

Glyn

[Dan Morton]

Many thanks, Glyn!

All the best,

Dan

[Landsturm]

Once again, very good work! You're a real professional

You'll have to be entering MGWAT, Dan.

Marina

Absolutely, just wait for a good title. I think these take more than one month (do they??)

[Dan Morton]

Trust me, Landsturm, I'm anything but a professional. I see so many mistakes in my stuff it makes me shudder! Glad you liked the diorama. It took about 4 - 5 months to make.

All the best,

Dan

[Landsturm]

I see so many mistakes in my stuff it makes me shudder!

I know exactly what you mean, and it's common among artists. You know the mistakes, you know what and where they are and they'll haunt you forever!!!

But the viewers... they don't see it that way. Of course if something really points out, it's noticed, but generally the viewer sees it in a different light...

[spike10764]

That is very good Dan, almost eerie in it's look. I like the touch of the well known photo "included". It almost tries to explain that photo, if you see what I mean?

I hope you can include one of your models in a future Monthly Great War Art topic, when a suitable title comes along...

[Old Chap]

Dan,

An excellent piece of work with great detail, well done.

Bill

[Soren]

asbove an excellent piece, reminds me of 'Death and the maiden' just fab!

[AndyHollinger]

This is a darn depressing thread. Great miniature work, though!

Kurt Vonnigut's work on Dresden called Slaughterhouse 5 is subtitled the Children's Crusade. How true.

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Dan

Thank for sharing your work. I wish I had such skills.

Dave

[jdajd]

Once more I shall make this request. A few years ago I found this great diorama site that had basically a WWI "comic book" done from dioramas. It starts at day break and follows a unit in an attack. The work was absolutely stunning from the backrounds to the digitally placed snow. For the life of me I have never been able to find the site again. I have asked on this forum and modelling forums to no avail. Help me Dan Morton you're my only hope

BTW yours is pretty amazing itself. I'll echo the sentiment that the famous photo was a nice touch, like a Frank Hurley piece.

Jon

[simon2]

Dan,

Fine work.

As a modeller myself I know the work that goes into dioramas especially larger scale ones. I take it the majority of the work was scratchbuilt. This in itself makes it even more remarkable.

I am so pleased to see WW1 subjects as I usually see and read about WW2 German Armour. There is not alot of material,kits etc for WW1 so I find scratchbuilding is the only way forward until the manufacturers realise there is a market.

Again great work.

Simon.

[Dan Morton]

I was in Chicago all week working during the week and attending a model figure convention on Saturday, so I just saw all the e-mails.

Many thanks to everyone for your kind words! My head has become so swollen it is with difficulty staying upright on my neck.

The convention was only my second one and the first one in which I've entered some of my figures. This diorama was one of the pieces entered. Didn't win anything for On the Wire, but the judges were very generous and gave me a Gold in the Open competition for a Russo-Japanese War Imperial Russian Navy seaman in landing uniform. I'll see if I can attach some photos of the figure. One of the forum regular contributors and my good mate, Roger Newsome, did his usually fabulous job painting it for me. He and I have been collaborators on other projects.

Of course, I'll be happy to show you future work as it is finished. If you have an interest in model figures generally, please try www.planetfigure.com. You can see most of my work in my vBench, there. Roger also regularly displays his painting skills there as well.

Jon - I'm afraid I've never seen anything like the web site you've mentioned. Hope somebody else can steer you there and if you find it, please let me know.

Soren - Many thanks for your comments. I'm a big fan of your stuff!!!

Again, thank you for your kind and encouraging comments!

All the best,

Dan