1:35 Malá kabelová cívka

A cylinder among nothing but boxes

Most diorama accessories are squared: crates, drums with flat lids, walls, gates. The round shape of a drum therefore stands out at once in a scene, even though it is small. It is enough to lean it against the corner of a building or lay it flat beside a stack of crates and a contrast is created that offers the gaze somewhere to pause. The smaller size at the same time does not tempt the object into taking the leading role, so it works as a supplementary note, not as a landmark.

Communications as the subject of a scene

Field telephone lines were a common part of every position and laying them gave rise to scenes that tell themselves well: a pair of men unreeling cable along a ditch, one carrying the drum, the other laying the wire. Cable run off the drum across the base then works as a line that joins two otherwise unrelated parts of the scene. It is good to let the end of the wire disappear beyond the edge or in the grass, because an interrupted trace leads the eye further than what the picture really shows.

Three materials and what to do with them

The set is made up of laser cut wooden parts and of paper and resin sections. The wood forms the structure, the paper the fine layers and the resin the small fittings. The paper parts will not take water-based colors without a base, so it is a good idea to seal them first with thinned varnish. Do not look for the cable itself in the package as a finished element; usually a thin copper wire is wound on, which also holds its shape when bent over the terrain. A drum set down flat at the feet of a figure suggests a break in the work better than a carefully placed upright piece.