1:35 Cirkulárka

A machine as the center of a working scene

A scene is easy to build around a circular saw, because the machine itself determines where people move. On one side lies the material ready for cutting, on the other the finished pieces, the operator stands facing the blade and cannot stand anywhere else. The diorama thereby gains a logic the viewer grasps without a single caption, and the figures stop seeming to be standing about at random. Sawdust blown to one side also suggests the direction the machine was running.

Working with wood behind the battlefield

Cutting beams and boards went with every construction of field shelters, bridge supports and roads across soft terrain, so a saw suits a rear area just as well as a civilian yard. It looks best under a shelter or by a wall, where posts partly cover it. The covering is an advantage here: the viewer sees only part of the machine and imagines the rest, which gives the whole scene the impression that it carries on beyond the edge of the base.

Fine parts and their assembly

Forty-two resin parts mean that the assembly has a frame, a table, a blade and small levers, and with them a photo-etched fret for the things that would come out too thick as a casting. The blade and the guards therefore look convincing only in photo-etched metal. Wash the resin sections before gluing and check the flatness of the table; a slight warp is straightened by dipping it in warm water. Prime the metal separately, otherwise the paint will not hold on the smooth surface. Around the machine it is then enough to scatter a little sanding dust instead of sawdust and the scene starts to look like work in progress.