Howdy!
I’ve been chipping away at a US Kitchen truck scene. Posting a few shots in progress. There’s a lot of placeholders/not sure abouts in these shots. Comments welcome!!
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Great set up!
Looks fantastic allready 
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Looks like a great idea shaping up, can’t wait to see it finished!
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The untold story of army “slop jockies” … very clever and I really like it
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Fantastic. I even see an immersion heater in the background. You’ll definitely need several of those.
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Exactly what I was looking for too. Never saw a kitchen set up in the woods without immersion heaters.
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While my work doesn’t even deserve to be mentioned in a thread featuring work of this quality - I did do a diorama of a field kitchen for a Connelly Cup in Berlin. I scratchbuilt them in HO scale and placed them in small aluminum tubes placed on pallets, with very thin tubes sticking out. Tamiya German gas mask cannisters served as part of the heater. Dried Elmer’s glue in the “barrel” simulated boiling water. The judges like them more than anything else. I put tons of work into everything - correct bumper numbers on the vehicles, a scratchbuilt mess trailer - but they focused on the little heaters. Go figure.
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Man, I’ve never had anything in competition. I’m planning on this one being my first. Scratchbuilding has been a challenge and a joy. That Immersion heater is made from a drilled out piece of sprue, a 105mm ammo tube, and some funky round part I can’t Identify off a Dragon sherman sprue.
any pics of that scene you did? I’d love to see them!!
Still not satisfied with the GI trash cans, but not skilled enough to scratch them out of foil or pie pans.
I think my favorite bit so far is the Lyster bag.
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I’ve got at least two more to build! haha.
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Thank you!
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Thanks very much! I’ll definitely be posting more as I go for feedback.
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When I started researching it, it was jaw dropping how hard these joes worked. There’s a great army training film on field kitchen trucks on youtube that goes through their nightly routine. I’m hoping I can capture that controlled chaos feel in this diorama.
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That was in 1985 or so. I wish I had taken photos myself. One of the boxes they had to check was that it was near a source of fresh water. I took a pice of plexiglass of my friend’s desk while he was away on leave (it took along time for him to forgiver me) and made a portion of a lake out of it, complete with underwater vegetation and a sunken boat. Ihid the border where the turf matt met the shore with shrubbery. That’s the part I dug the most. LAst ime I was in Berlin in 2003 they were turning McNair Barracks into condos. It had been stored in one of the overhead crossovers between buildings. I like to think it made it into the little museum the former German employess started on their own.
I didn’t even try - just used cut tubing. In 1/35 there are these, but I can’t say if this was even a style in WWII. It’s what they used in Berlin though:
Still not satisfied with the GI trash cans, but not skilled enough to scratch them out of foil or pie pans.
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Those look good for the '80’s Army.
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And WWII apparently. You should be good to go!
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An army marching on its stomach – excellent idea/layout & you’ve already got the busy-ness nailed, making the eye circulate. If the jeep’s staying it looks like a comparatively large base required – where are you placing this in WW2 e.g. France, Belgium, Italy, none of the foregoing? Just imagining different types of foliage/trees.
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Thanks very much for the comment. Layout is still a bit in flux, but I’m hoping to keep the “Peep” in the scene.
Early August of '44, during the breakout and pursuit.
Planning on having a barn wall for the doughs to be sitting next to, and a stone wall along the backside. I doubt this one will be finished anytime soon! hahah
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I agree with what has already been said above. This is an excellent idea well-executed so far - and it looks like you are already well on your way.
I know this is early planning - and you have pretty much thrown everything at the wall here - but I would say that you probably don’t need quite that number of figures to tell the story just as well. Also, rather than have so many guys already chowing down you could have a couple queueing ready to be served.
I also think trhe idea of having a French farm building as a back drop will work really well.
Keep us posted!
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Thank you for some great advice! I’m sure several of the figures will come out below my expectations anyway. It’s hard to resist the temptation to put ALL your toys out at one time hahaha.
I’ve been looking for some guys in summer kit that are just milling about. It would be nice to have a few in line waiting for the chow.
This has become a real labor of love, and lesson in patience, scratchbuilding, and trying again after you fail.
I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.
also, attached pic of the scratchbuild Lyster bag that I’m very proud of!
J
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It is often those little details that catch the eye …
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