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Lewis Pruneau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

bob letterman

Master at Arms
Staff member
I was searching through my photo files for a friend and came across a shadowbox Lewis Pruneau built about 15 years ago. He brought it to Mastercon for display and I loved it! Back in 1985, I took Lewis to Europe and his want list included the Bridge at Remagen. Of course, it is no longer there, but the towers on both ends are there and they have made a memorial of them. It inspired Lewis to build this shadowbox! I think it is awesome! He built it so the viewer would be looking out from the train tunnel to the bridge as the Sherman tanks rolled across.

Lewis__Remagen_Bridge.JPG


Bob
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

Thanks for sharing Bob! "The Bridge at Remagen" is one of my favorite movies.
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

Thanks for sharing Bob! "The Bridge at Remagen" is one of my favorite movies.

Hey Paul!, The bridge at Remagen was one of mine as well! Lewis used three shermans, a 1/35th, a 1/48th and a 1/72nd scale for increasing the appearance of length of the bridge in perspective within the shadowbox. Very clever! He also reduced the height of the bridge accordingly to alter the perspective. The shadowbox is only about 24 inches in length but appears much longer when viewing it!
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

Very nice!

Remagen / Ludendorff Bridge towers were or still are for sale
https://www.vice.com/de/article/nekjj7/bruecke-von-remagen-das-wohl-kurioseste-immobilien-angebot-der-woche-kommt-aus-rheinland-pfalz
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

Hope someone buys it and keeps it up as a memorial.
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

That's some pretty cool work,Bob!

Now for the ones that have the time to watch it,about 45 minutes(!),check out the video by Laser Creation-World.

https://youtu.be/JiZ614wNT08
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

The skill's that Lewis and yourself have got blow me away Bob :notworthy
And I agree that this dio get's saved for posterity.
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

Holy smokes that is neat!

Beautiful color composition.
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

In our senior years,. Lewis calls me almost every day. He seems lonely and now we are 300 miles apart. Since 1985, I tried to get him on the Internet. He has a friend that went on the Internet about that time and his weight shot up to 400 pounds and he seldom leaves his computer except when he sleeps. Lewis believes that will happen to him as well. Today, if I mention it, he gets angry. I even gave him a computer and set it up for the Internet back in the 1990s. He never turned it on.

It's such a pity. I have told him how many fans he has on the Internet. Lewis no longer goes to shows. Way back in 1991, he entered a drag race diorama at an IPMS St. Louis National. It was incredible. Nearly a hundred figures. many scratch built, the stands, the track, cars, everything. It was amazing. Here is the only photo I have of it. A bad photo, but, believe me, it was awesome.

m3i03-1~0.jpg


I was there and saw the competition. It was really bad. Lewis didn't even place. Lewis is 6' 3" tall and back then, weighed 250 pounds. He was nobody to mess with and with a simmering temper. He stewed on his loss for a few months. Then he contacted the big shots, got the head judge's phone number and, against my advice, called him. He asked why he didn't place. The judge said he would give him three reasons. 1) That the flags on the bleachers were flying in one direction and the banner over the starting line, another. Lewis told him the starting line banner was moved by the cars screaming off the starting line. Then the judge said that 2) there was no smoke coming off the tires. Lewis responded with there was no way to make credible smoke. Then the judge said that 3) there were no license plates on the cars. Lewis told him all the cars in the diorama were professional drag race cars and didn't have license plates. They weren't driven on the street.

Then the judge got really nasty with him and told him to "Lump it". He stewed on that for a month, then used his talent to create a vignette of himself in 1/15th scale, standing erect, and another man on his knees with his face at Lewis midsection. Yes, you got the idea! It had a shirt with "head judge" on the back. He sent it to the judge. IPMS then bammed him from competition and it has never been lifted. True story.

Lewis is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He'd give you the shirt off his back, it's just that he will not take crap off anybody and I never blamed him for that! It's such a pity he won't even discuss getting on the Internet, you guys would love to see him work and build! He is one of my best friends in the world and has been for40 years.

BTW, I'm not knocking IPMS at all. It was a personal thing with some of that club members and him. Politics have no place in modeling!

Bob
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

You can always tell who is the head judge, he's the one with dirty knees. :silly:
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

I suffered some BS from poor judging back in the 80's and it pretty much killed the hobby for me for many years. Now I might enter a build once it is done, but never expect anything from it. I just do my builds for my own enjoyment and then they might get entered or not as I see fit.

Bob it is way too bad that Lewis refuses to even look at anything on the computer. I have found that it is an awesome tool. I use mine for reference and even doing patterns and design work for a build. Comunicating with this group has been a major plus and many of the books I have found online are in PDF format. I wouldn't have them and many of the reference photos if not for using my computer over the years.

Something I have thought of (again) is to have a group build online using Skype. Everyone that wants to join in logs in to the group on Skype while at their bench and we can all visit while building. I have seen this done by gaming groups with people from all over. I would probably use my tablet to do so or even a phone might work. Can be a lot of fun and get to know folks.
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

That is mind blowing that story. For a society to ban one of (and please correct me if I'm wrong) the pioneers of this hobby (along with Verlinden,Paine and Bob) is astonishing.Apart from the fact that I know my work is not show worthy it's the politic's that turn me away.I had to leave my local model club because the president's political view's towards our military involvement in a certain joint conflict.
It is a shame that Mr Pruneqau will not use the internet, he has so much to share and he has a magnatude of people that would love to say HI we love your work.

Kurt.
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

That is mind blowing that story. For a society to ban one of (and please correct me if I'm wrong) the pioneers of this hobby (along with Verlinden,Paine and Bob) is astonishing.Apart from the fact that I know my work is not show worthy it's the politic's that turn me away.I had to leave my local model club because the president's political view's towards our military involvement in a certain joint conflict.
It is a shame that Mr Pruneqau will not use the internet, he has so much to share and he has a magnatude of people that would love to say HI we love your work.

Kurt.

Thanks Kurt,

I pass along all the nice comments to him when I post his work. He appreciates it, but is too stubborn to get on the Internet. It's a senior thing I guess Here is the latest photograph I have of him in my driveway. He always brings up his latest diorama to show me. Lewis on the right and me on the left. Lewis is 73 now and I'm 78, two old fogies! :) That's a really cool Train Bridge dio he built. Sorry, I have no photos of that one. Lewis has really lost some weight. Tells you something about the man's character. about 15 years ago, he quit smoking and went on a diet at the same time. That takes some cajones!

Bob_Lewis_copy_2.JPG


Bob
 
Lewis Pruneqau's Remagan Bridge shadowbox.

I understand where Lewis is coming from. I hate the political aspect of the hobby. I think that living where I do, at least an hour from the closest club has insulated me from it, and that makes me happy. I go to very few shows anymore, and each time I do, the next one that I will attend is even further apart. Tell him hello from me, and tell him I have loved his stuff since I was a young whippersnapper! :good:
 
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