I saw some Dapol (ex-Airfix, I think) figures in my local model shop, and had an idea. I wanted monuments which would pass for either fascist or communist 1930/40s, and these figures were suitable for the job. In that period, both the fascists and the communists were setting up monuments to their glorious regimes, which consisted largely of heroic workers toiling for the good of all, and staring with determination at the horizon of the future.
A block of wood has Milliput putty all around its edges, and into this are set the figures of railway workers. Some tools have been added to their hands with metal wire, and some things for them to shovel have been sculpted with Milliput. The base is three layers of thick card, glued together. The top has been scored with lines which suggest that the main part of the monument is made up of several blocks of stone, rather than one impossibly huge piece. The frieze of sculpted figures has been painted black and then dry-brushed with bronze paint. To be placed in the centre of a town, or perhaps in a walled cemetery.
Next to this, is an older statue of a local dignitary in a bowler hat. He has been painted black, and then dry-brushed with a couple of shades of green. A green patina forms on bronze statues after a while, so this statue is older than the main monument. A few tiny streaks of black and white, suggesting bird droppings, complete the paint job. His plinth is a short length of copper pipe, topped with the lid of a tube of pills (Tyrozets if memory serves).
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