1:35 Vodní pumpy

Water for the radiators and for the cooks

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century a well with a pump was the place where the whole village met, and in a wartime scene it becomes a hub of activity. A truck drives up to the pump to top up its radiator, jerrycans are filled at it and the women from the farm come and go around it. This set lets you build such a hub out of practically nothing, because a pump is a recognizable enough object that the viewer supplies the story around it.

Resin complemented with metal

According to the manufacturer the package has 9 resin parts and, on top of that, a fret with metal parts. In a set like this the metal usually carries the rods, the levers and the brackets, that is, the parts meant to be thin and strong at the same time. The resin castings, by contrast, hold the bulky shapes of the body of the pump and of the concrete or wooden base.

• nine castings are enough for several separate positions
• the metal parts take bending, so the lever can be shown in the depressed position
• it pays to muddy up the area around the pump, a wet patch around it is a typical sign
• it suits a civilian scene just as well as a field camp
• the base under the pump takes a suggestion of stone, concrete or a plank grating

The best result comes from a combination of shades. The cast iron body in a dark gray with a hint of rust, the wood in a warm brown-gray tone and, around the foot, the sheen of standing water from a gloss varnish. Details like these turn a model into a setting in which it is easy to believe that somebody was drawing water there just a moment ago.