MSW crew-mate Mike McCabe (MikeM) shares a very special work with us, in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Operation Dynamo, I'm very proud and honored to present to you, Dunkirk East Pier.

Enjoy!

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
~Gunny

Excellent Mike!!!

Great display and composition, excellent conversions, massive figurine work (I like the soldiers with the wrapped riffles!), good depiction of the tragic event!

My only remark is that HMS Vivacious should be a little bit inside the layout (really on the edge/border of it)

BZ!!!!!
Cheers
Rui

Mike,

Very nice!!!
I think all the figures did wonders to give a real feel of urgency.

H.

Rui,
Sorry do you mean not far enough in or too far in?

You have a good eye for composition so worth knowing!

Mike

Mike,

No need to sorry! I (as usual) prefer to say my feelings, and don't be "around the bush"

The V&W should have been a little bit more inside the base... the aft is on the edge of the base - so it needed a little bit more of space for it to breathe a little, imho.

Again congratulations and I know... I am being picky
Cheers
Rui

Superb work on this with the whole scene coming together really well. I feel Rui is certainly right in you should let the subject breath. I think maybe if the said ship had been further in and closer to the angle of the pier it would work. Also just another small thing, very little wash from the ship departing. Whilst it would not look right with a wake, ships menouvering from a quay certainly swirl water around near the props.

That being said its a very minor point. I still think this is a superb piece and an inspiration for those entering the dynamo buildgroup. Fine work sir....

steve

Well my excuse is it was built to fit a certain size of case so I was trying to get the best arrangement. Actually the rather cramped nature was also intentional, too much space gives less impression of the chaotic nature of the event. That being said it's a difficult piece to photograph well.

Prop wash I'm not sure, given the proximity of so many other vessels I felt she would be moving off pretty cautiously, I did think of it but chose not to do it.

Mike

Agreed with so many troops on the pier the last thing the cdr of the boat needs is an accident with too hasty a departure. The prop wash was only a very minor suggestion based on what i see working on docks. In such a small scale its quite possible it would not be noticed anyway. With regards to the photography, looks mighty fine to me.

steve

A first class attempt of capturing a piece of history.

Mike
An impressive piece of modelling, the massed ranks of humanity fleeing death or capture, i think you have done an excellent job painting all those figures. I also like the back drop being quite abstract and giving the suggestion of depth rather than being to sharp & detailed.

You say that you are not sure if you captured the chaos, confusion and panic, one tiny and respectful suggestion to do so, might be to put more detritus in the composition, stuff floating in the water and abandoned equipment, clothing,packaging and soldiers sitting or lying down. I realise that in this scale it woud be challenging.

Thanks for sharing your model with us

Adam

A very impressive build - how did you keep your sanity placing all those figures ??? - I would have gone raving mad with the first 10 ....

Cheers/Jan

That is some brilliant work there Mike!
No doubt this has Telford-Gold written all over it!
Give it up, guys! Telford Gold Medal "Diorama, Ships" is spoken for!
Bravo Zulu!
Guido

Beatiful work!

I saw this diorama at the Cosford show and was stunned by the realistic atmosphere. The photos certainly do it justice.

Superb job Mike

Don

Wow, that's great! I could never, never, never ever do all those figures. NEVER!!!!!

That's quite a depiction, particularly with 1:700 figures! But, it's impossible to carry off a Dunkirk dio without the troops, no matter the scale. Beautiful work, Mike!

--Karl

Hi Mike,

Excellent work, those ships are well stocked with troops.

Enjoyed it a lot.

Al

Stunning work Mike. Certainly set the bar high for others to emulate in the 'Dunkirk' build.

BTW, Has anyone contacted Eduard about making 'soldier sets' in 1/700??!! - Looks like there could be a significant market if we all follow the example set by you.

Jim S

Beautiful Mike!

amazing work, echo all the sentiments already expressed, BZ!

Jim
That's an interesting thought.

Thanks to all for the kind words!

Mike

Mike,

Great diorama, really captures the feel, and tells the story.

How did you the figures that tightly packed? When I have tried, being clumsy I tend to end up up knocking more off that I put on after a while.

Si

I use just a tiny dab of super glue on the feet, they stay in place fairly well so you can gradually work around them all. Even so quite a lot fall of and have to be replaced, all a matter of doing it a bit at a time really

Mike

Fantastic work there Mike.....you really captured that moment in time very faithfully...
well done
Louis
Malta

A good start to our Dunkirk Campaign theme in the "Fleet manoeuvers" section, and some inspiration to be taken here.

I also thought about the number of soldiers used ,so, in the dio I am doing in the campaign, I have made the beach as short as possible although I will have to cut my soldiers in half etc as they line up in the sea. I was cautious about saying there was confusion, although there is always the "confusion of battle", as they all lined up down the beach - a British thing we do.

And then, the base - I am keeping mine as tight as possible to pack it with as much as possible to later include small boats and aircraft and then, explosions - something which I've alwyas wanted to do but never had the right subject.

Then, blood and limbs, this is war so do the shallows have a pink tinge? a dreadful thought.

A very good start, Mike, so what are you doing in the campaign?

Peter F