BMC Toys: WW2 Bunker Building Project Update
Posted by Jeff Imel on
We've made some good progress on the BMC Toys 1:32 scale WW2 German Bunker Building. The digital model is almost complete and should be ready for 3D printing a prototype soon. Here's the latest digital mockup of the project:
I've made some changes and additions based upon customer feedback of the original concept art. The center of each roof half now has a removable insert. These will be a light friction fit and can be removed so troops have access to the roof with ladders. There will be 2 ladders that can be used from inside the building through the center opening, or any exterior roof edge. The building will also include 4 signs that can be configured in a variety of different ways. The signs will be friction fit and reversible. I'll design a sticker sheet with both German and English signs for Headquarters, Hospital, and Armory. This will allow for use as a German defensive position, or as a base captured by the Allies just by flipping the signs around. Here's the 3D digital model of all the parts:
While researching German Bunkers of WW2, I was pleased to find some buildings that strongly resemble this project. They were part of the Maisy Battery constructed by the Wehrmacht near the French village of Grandcamp-Maisy in Normandy. Here's a photo from the jetsliketaxis.com blog:
This photo is from atlantikwall.org.uk:
I've made some changes and additions based upon customer feedback of the original concept art. The center of each roof half now has a removable insert. These will be a light friction fit and can be removed so troops have access to the roof with ladders. There will be 2 ladders that can be used from inside the building through the center opening, or any exterior roof edge. The building will also include 4 signs that can be configured in a variety of different ways. The signs will be friction fit and reversible. I'll design a sticker sheet with both German and English signs for Headquarters, Hospital, and Armory. This will allow for use as a German defensive position, or as a base captured by the Allies just by flipping the signs around. Here's the 3D digital model of all the parts:
While researching German Bunkers of WW2, I was pleased to find some buildings that strongly resemble this project. They were part of the Maisy Battery constructed by the Wehrmacht near the French village of Grandcamp-Maisy in Normandy. Here's a photo from the jetsliketaxis.com blog:
This photo is from atlantikwall.org.uk:
The Maisy Battery was buried and mostly forgotten until just a few years ago. It's been excavated, and is now open to tourists. http://www.maisybattery.com/
I'm hoping this new building can be part of the fall shipment, but it will depend upon how long it takes to have the mold made. Let me know what you think.
Tanks' for your help,
The concept is coming along nicely.
Would you consider doing plug-in doors and windows in the same way as your roof opening plug, to enable the building to look ‘locked up’ or ‘occupied’ maybe with a steel door/shutters appearance. This would enhance the ‘playability’ as it enables the user to have one or more sides fortified against the enemy.
Additionally if you had a door plug that resembles the stucco outer texture and colour, white, these could be used to help create a multi floor building as the open door ways spoil the look if creating a tall structure having door openings to no where.
A slight redesign of the ‘signage’ parts could be useful to add a balcony by turning the part round to plug into the roof at one point only and using the free point to plug a balcony base onto, the sign part then becomes a balcony support strut and if the balcony base was thick enough it should support itself. It could be refined to have a surrounding wall made of flat elements that could clip together ,about 30mm tall, enough for a figure to stand behind and still fire over.
Balconies are common on many North African and Middle Eastern buildings so this would expand the use of the Bunker concept to outside the European Theatre and other time periods.
If your concept is successful you might consider producing a flat long and flat short wall, that is without windows or doors, that will clip onto the existing Bunker walls to enable the collector to produce double aspect buildings which would enable streets to be laid out with alleys between the buildings.
Looking good; these will definitely add to our D-Day (or Tarawa with some imagination) scenarios. By the same token, when I was stationed in Europe (Belgium and Germany) I saw old German pillboxes scattered across the countryside in France and Germany. The French couldn’t destroy them so used them. Along the Channel Coast you’d see Beach Houses built on top of an old bunker that served as the basement and/or foundation. I have a picture somewhere of a pillbox in the middle of a pasture being used as a barn for a French farmer’s cattle. In short, bunkers would be useful for more than just D-Day.