While still fishing up all my vehicle models and decide with which one to start the build, I am looking forward to another set of dioramas regarding the Battle of the Bulge.
And since we are also speaking of displaying the infamous Siegfried Line I am preparing my own “Dragon Teeth” which when mixed with some other one commercially available, either in plaster, resin or styrene will form a formidable scenario of the real one Allies had to overcome.
I form them irregularly on purpose, with some edges smoothened by erosion or having been hit by ammunition. The trick is to insert into the mold some talcum prior to the pouring of plaster mixed with water. Once completely dried (approx. 3-4hrs.) I carefully cut along the edges of the mold and tap the bottom of it allowing the hardened item to slide out, and voila!
There were many different sizes and shapes of these obstacles, depending whether built prior to the war or even during the war, and of course also depending on the commissioned contractors. The only common material was armored concrete.
The Allied didn’t spend too much time blowing them up, which would have been quite risky, since these defensive lines had also some well hidden machine gun bunkers watching over them and many were also covered with dense stretches of barbed wire.
What the Allied Forces did was usually to send in a bulldozer and cover them with earth forming a compact ramp on which both their tanks and men could then easily cross.
These again are in 1/35 scale measured using the height of an average standing German figure.
