What is a collection of battle ready R/C tanks and no place to fight them? Boring. Therefore I am posting a few pics of the DAK battlefield and our first buildings. Our first couple attempts at North African foliage and buildings have turned out very well. We broke ground on our field and are getting ready for a real Battleday on the 20th.

The structures are 1/2" foam board and various combinations of hot glue, elmers and liquid nails. I also use small nails to tack it together. Fist attempt at texture was latex paint mixed with sand but I used spray wall board popcorn material to great effect.

We will have a mixed European and African field eventually but for now baby pine trees will do for the forested areas.

Check out the DAK Battlefield on www.desertarmor.com for more pics.

Had an error, lets try the pics again.....

one more time.....

they are big so I can onlty get one at a time....

Very cool....has that desert feel.

Dennis

What size sherman is that.

How cool! Arizona - the perfect setting. Great job with the buildings.

Have you thought about bringing in some fine sand to avoid jamming the tracks? The smaller stones tend to get caught up in the idlers when turning.

Cheers...

Ethan, that is one nice North African battlefield!

I do have to ask this important question: Where is Rick's Cafe to be located?

DAK's website is one of the nicest I've seen. Very professional & well done!

Ethan,

You might want to check with David H regarding glues. I think he had trouble with Liquid Nails and heat.... and that was in California!

Otherwise everything looks great!

Kevin O'C
<S.C.A.T.>

That's Ethan's 1/16 FO Tamiya.

Ethan didn't post any pictures of the area after 3 hours of rake and shovel work We got the big rocks and a lot of the pea gravel cleaned up. We have more work to do, but then a battle field is always a work in progress.[sm=wink_smile.gif] Our first battle day is in a couple of weeks and I'm really looking forward to it.

Oh yeah, here is the picture of the raked out area, more work to do!!!

Looks like it's going to be amazing.
Keep the pictures coming as you progress.
Wish the weather was like that in england!

If you push a building over on your enemy does it count?

Next building in progress, El Alemain station. Anyone got some spare LGB track?

Kevin,
As we have discussed previously, like the original combatants in North Africa, the biggest challenge we are going to face is the desert elements, and more specifically the heat. That's one of the reasons we have held off on constructing our field until we could learn something from you guys at SCAT.

For this first round of buildings we should have 10-12 done by our first battle day on January 20th. We have built them using numerous types of adhesives, as well as several types of finishes, knowing full well that some will most likely just fall apart in their first summer. We're just hoping they all don't fall apart and we'll be able to learn which adhesives and finishes to use on the European buildings we're planning for the other end of the field. Just to give you an idea, so far we have already used standard hot glue, high strength hot glue, white craft glue, wood glue, contact cement, liquid nails, silicone, and super glue (CA) on different structures in an attempt to learn what's gonna hold up, now we just gotta wait and see what happens when the mercury rises to 110 degrees F. In the meantime, we have a lot more digging, shoveling, raking, and earth moving to do, oh yeah got to get cracking on some more palms as well. Attached is a screen shot from a computer game called Forgotten Hope 2, this is what we are loosely patterning our outpost to look like.

regards,

Craig

Ethan,

Don't forget to use sand bags / conc block for the hills. Makes it quicker, especially if you ever want to move them.


Kevin O'C
<S.C.A.T.>

Field almost ready for its first battle day. Added pine trees, hills, tranches, bridges, roads, and palms. We have nearly a dozen buildings, a bridge, and various 1/18 accessories to put together a reasonable field.

If you are interested in where we get some of our materials, Michaels is selling their baby pine trees for $.40 each. I bought 50 last friday with 3 sheets of 1/2 inch foam core and 4 plastic ferns for $45. The 1/2 inch foam core is very sturdy and easy to work with. I have been using liquid nails to hold them together with small brads and they are fairly robust. I spackle the edges and use spray on accoustic tile material for the exterior texture.

Our field hosted its first battle. Here are some shots of the action.

Very cool mate!

Was the Tiger deliberately detracked as part of the "fight" or was it a case of art imitating real life?

The Tiger was attempting an extreme verticle manuever and broke a track. Repairs were made but it ended the day with a broken gearbox as well. My Pershing lost a bogie wheel but repairs were simple as we actually had the spare parts necessary. A drawback to the spektrum DX6 radio is the poor battery life out of the box. I added an aftermarket battery and the radio ran all day.

Cool battlefield I wish we had something like this in England

Cheers Ian

I must say that I am very impressed from the first to the last picture.

to be honest i thought at pic 1 that it was a bit lame, but seeing the last few it looks to be pretty awesome!

Here are some pics of my latest building...needs some details...crates...misc stuff...but almost done.

Later,
Dennis