Day 1 of Construction

Sunday 18th September we started construction.

First the area was marked out

The boxes are made out of decking planks and are to make the gun emplacements and command centre for the Argentinians on the hill. It will become apparent how they will be used later.

Then digging out the top layer started. Here's ZULU-1 and Master Cappy doing the manual work (I was there purely to record the progress and supply copious cups of tea).

The turf was put to one side for use later.

The last bit of turf was just folded back so it can be refolded once the infill had been added.

Then a river and pool were dug. this will be lined with pond liner material before filling with water.

Infill was reclaimed from some of the other derelict buildings onsite, and used to build up the 'Hill'.

There was plenty of this but it soon got used up.

The boxes for the Mortar/MG/Command Post emplacements were put in place.

Extra rubble was then added around the boxes.

Soil was then added along with some cut down drainpipe to form foxholes.

Soil was damped down with water before more being added followed by the turf we kept from earlier.

The boxes now look as though they were dug into the hill. These will be lined and made to look like dugout entrenchments, they will house Mortars and MG's.

So this is as far as we have got today. The boards keeping everything in place are temporary as one of my fellow Museum members will be preparing proper finished boards to replace them.

Next scheduled date for continuing construction is Sunday 2nd October.

Initial Design

The original concept of how this would look was thought out and designed by fellow Forum Member Zulu-1 aka Tony.
Here is his initial drawing

This will be refined as we progress through the project.
We are using a large grassed area in front of the Museum Building so have quite a scope for a large diorama. However there will be two smaller dioramas depicting other events during the Falklands Conflict. We will come onto those later.
The idea is to use Vintage Action Man or 40th and keep everything close to Palitoy originals as possible, Therefore the uniforms of the Paras will not be accurate to the time period, but will be those produced by Palitoy. There will also be some vehicles that were not present during the actual conflict, but again the idea is to represent how a child would play with the men and equipment available to him.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog about the construction of a diorama of Goose Green battle during the Falklands Conflict. I am a collector of Action Man the iconic boys toy of the 60's, 70's and 80's.
I am also a volunteer member of the Suffolk Aviation Heritage Group. We have a museum located near Kesgrave in Suffolk.
I have already built two dioramas for the museum using Action Man figures. In 2010 it was to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. This year it is on the theme of the Blitz.
Next year sees the 30th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict.
The first two Dioramas have been indoors, however the one currently under construction is a bigger task as it is outside in the grounds of the museum.
I, along with fellow members of the AMHQ forum are embarking on the construction of a diorama depicting the attack on Goose Green.
It is not meant to be an accurate depiction but is how I would see a boy recreating the battle using his Action Men.
This blog will record the construction of this diorama and follow it through to the final product on the planned Museum Open Day in May 2012.
The idea may have been mine but the design and construction is a joint effort with fellow Action Man enthusiasts. So my grateful thanks to all who contribute to this project in whatever way they can.