The Bell (Die Glocke)

The Bell (Die Glocke) is the supposed anti-gravity Nazi war machine. It has been written about for a few years now and has appeared many times in pop culture - everything from Doctor Who novels to Computer games and movies.

It has been mentioned in a few documentaries concerning Nazi UFO's but the validity of its existence is still very much in doubt. Some clips of these documentaries can be found here on YouTube.

The Bell is believed by some to be a superweapon, an anti gravity machine, a new source of power, a time machine and some sort of Occult object.

It was supposedly built in an underground research laboratory near the Wenceslaus mine which is also near a structure called The Henge where The Bell was tested.

If you do a Image Search of Die Glocke you will find that it has been depicted many times in various forms like an otherworldly Sci Fi pod or a simple plain streamlined object. For my version I decided to read the description that was written by the Polish author Igor Witkowski and focused on making it look like a real 1940's machine. As well as adding panels, air intakes and exhausts I also added elements derived from V1 and V2 rockets as well as aircraft to help give it a 'real world' feel.

The Bell kits have been on sale for a while now on my Yeoman Models ebay page, but they are now on Shapeways at 1:144, 1:100 (suitable for Flames of War) and 28mm/32mm scales.

The ones on sale on eBay are resin garage kits and are in two parts. The lower ring and the upper bell shaped hull. The Shapeways model is a little different. It's the full Bell but the grill on the bottom has to be separated from a sprue and glued inside the hole in the base.

A few months back I was commissioned to paint a 1:100 and a 28mm/32mm Glocke. The 1:100 in a copper colour and the larger 28mm/32mm one is steel. Below are two GIFs sowing the 360 rotation of the final pieces.

I added some rust to the steel one with the use of some textured paint and a dry rust pigment. Plenty of verdigris was added to the copper one by use of the verdigris paint from Games Workshop. Dark Dry pigment were also added to the three exhausts. Some of my Horten Ho 229 decals were added to the model for extra detail.

Remember to check out my blog and shop at yeomanmodels.com!

Liubo – The Forgotten game

I first read about the game of Liubo on this webpage that I saw back in November 2015.

I thought the look of the 14 sided die that archaeologist found in a 2,300 year old Chinese tomb looked rather cool. And the fact that it was used for the mysterious game of Liubo who’s rules have been long since lost for over a thousand years intrigued me no end.

Only a few days after after reading the article I decided to make a 3D model of the die and put it up here on Shapeways. Sort of instant archaeology!

I’m interested in maybe making other Liubo game pieces to go with this die even though no one can play it!

Read more about the game on this website that has some great images or on it’s Wikipedia page!

Remember you can also read my blogs at yeomanmodels.com

Recreate the Battle of Hampton Roads at 1:1200 scale with these models of the Ironcalds USS Monitor & CSS Virginia (USS Merrimack)

The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia were the first and most famous ironclads, and their unique designs changed the warship forever.
The USS Monitor was a wholly new ship with revolutionary design and rotating turret. She launched on the 30th of January, 1862. The CSS Virginia was the wooden ship USS Merrimack that was burnt down to the waterline in 1861. The Confederate army raised the remains of the hull and converted it into an ironclad.

Both ironclads fought at the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 8, 1862 but neither ship could get the upper hand in the battle. Both ships sustained damage and in the confusion of war, both ships believed they won the day!

After the Battle of Hampton Roads the CSS Virginia retreated and unable to manoeuvre further up the James River, the captain scuttled the ship and destroyed it.

The USS Monitor sank in high seas off Cape Hatteras on December 31st, 1862 - only 11 months after her launch.

The Turret of the USS Monitor can be seen at the The Mariners’ Museum in Virginia, USA at the USS Monitor Centre.

The image above are ones that I painted from unpainted resin casts that can be bought from yeomanmodels.com or my ebay page, but they are now available on Shapeways!

Happy New Year everyone!

Remember to check out my new webiste and blog at www.yeomanmodels.com

 To start the new year here is a little blog post about some models that are now on sale. The Victorian Cabbies shelters.
 
I was asked to make scale models of a Victorian Cabbies Shelter by a customer who just couldn't find these for his model train layout. I had never seen or heard of them before but found some great info on this Wikipedia page and also a little video about them from the BBC! These links are well worth a look and give some history to these little London buildings!

A quick Google search brings up many pages like this one about the Cabbies shelters as well as many photos of surviving ones and drawings and plans of ones long gone!

As many shelters had a unique design details of their own, I decided when making my Cabbies shelter miniature that I would take individual elements from numerous shelters and make a sort of Chimera Cabbies shelter!

So taken was I by the look of these buildings that I decided to make them in 4 scales! N Gauge, TT Gauge, HO/OO Gauge and 28/32mm scale. Each model is slightly different to get the most detail and retain the character of the building at its specific scale.

You can see more about the models and buy them below!

 N Gauge - Yeoman Models - ebay - Shapeways

   
TT Gauge - ebay - Shapeways

HO/OO Gauge - ebay - Shapeways

       
 28mm/32mm Scale - ebay
            I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!