Diorama "Somewhere In Normandy"

Been a while since I posted anything so I thought I'd post this as I go along.

Some new territory for me here... I've never build much more than just a base for my models using cardboard and chip board. However, I've always wanted to take the plunge into building a proper diorama. Seeing another modeler on another forum post this incredible diorama inspired by the BOB series after just seeing a painting of La Roche I became inspired!

The question is... what do I want to build? I love it when people make a diorama from a picture. But, for me, part of the fun is coming up with a scene of your own. Maybe some of the historical facts may be bent. But, so what! It's much more fun when you're free to do as you please. So the questions are... How? What? Why? Blank page staring up at me... Start with a spark then go of on a tangent until a story appears. This is what I came up with......

I had been working on Tamiya's BMW R75 and their Panther Aus G so this was the perfect excuse to use them up.. all we needed now was some rangers.

The idea is that the BMW crew have stopped to ask directions with the panther commander while the rangers are hiding away in the barn. Simple and sweet for my first hand made dio. Trying to build a diorama that explains itself right? Anyway.. on with the build.

First was to shape the board itself. Foam insulation board from B&Q. Cheap and REALLY easy to mold into shape.

I work on a farm and just love how deep ruts and tracks can really go in mud. So I wanted to re-create this in my diorama. I set about digging the road out to give the impression of constant use.

In my experience the corners are never square and considering the size and maneuverability of these tanks I wanted to give the impression that the corner had indeed been cut!

With the road cut out it was time to focus on the barn. Now, my scratch building skills are none... literally. After trolling the net I came so many ideas my head was spinning. I just stuck with using more foam as I have tons of it and plan on coating with with clay anyway.

I decided that pinning would be a good idea to reinforce the foam as its rather soft and brittle.. I'm hoping that it'll hold the clay. I'm hopeful at least!

So here is the barn so far...

I decided to border the diorama in MDF. Fairly easy to do and it tied together nicely with a mitered butt joint.

Not the strongest bond as it's only stuck to the bottom of the dio. I had to add some PVA to the sides in order to "bulk" and strengthen it up a bit. The gaps at the side will disappear once the ground work has been laid. Here's a test run.. mock roof intact...

Next up was adding brick work to the barn and water trough. I,m completely new to all this and a book by David Wright called "Making Railway Buildings for Model Railways" came in handy massively. The book cover's EVERYTHING you will need to know on building making. Just up the scales to (in my case) 1/35 and you have an absolute gold mine of information! As the barn is meant to be run down and "Farmer John" style. I figured an older style of brick laying would be in order.

Now to add some detail to the piece. As it's meant to resemble some kind of field or farm a wooden fence was most definitely in order! This was a lot easier to replicate than I thought. As most "farm" fences I've seen are mostly bit of scrap, I estimated what width the planks should be. Using a 1/35 figure as a rough ruler, I started to cut the planks out and set it in place. A break in the fence here and there and hurrah! My first balsa wood experiment complete.

I really liked the idea of adding a road sign, there are lots of options online, however, I wanted unique and rustic...

Seeing as I was on a balsa roll, I was toying with the idea of making my own wagon wheel.. Risky as I'm new to this scratch building malarkey. But, perseverance paid off and with a little bit of weathering I think it'll look the part.

Added a few rocks here and there the piece has started to come together. I really don't want to over complicate the piece. After the ground work has been laid it'll down to the models to do all the talking. So far... so good.

Model Build - Eduard Weekend 1/48 F6F 3

Been slacking recently with blog post's and model uploads. I've still been building but not been able to find the time to upload anything. There are a few to upload but most of them will be "finished models" as opposed to actual builds. Will be uploading more progress builds as time goes on.

On to the latest aircraft. One I'm rather happy with. Eduard's F6F. Being only the weekend build, it misses out on the extra "goodies" that come as standard with the profi packs. This however, does not hamper the kit in any way. I found it an absolute joy to build. Went together really well, no hiccups and great instructions.

As for the paint job, my airbrush died at the last moment (luckily) but apart from that, went smoothly. I decided to go for my own blend of colors and the result is really pleasing. So much so that I'm going to use the scheme for my next 1/48th the F4U Corsair. First off the body was painted with alclad's semi mat aluminium ALC-116 and covered with AK's heavy chipping. Then came the job of adding colour..... The underside was a mixed blend of two colours XF2 and XF8 (the tiniest blob of XF8 to stop the white from being so stark) Then the mid tone XF18 and finally the top tone XF50. Each where then post shaded and rubbed with water to reveal the alclad. Giving the impression of chipped paint. Once the decals were applied the model was weathered slightly and sealed.

Overall I am happy with the end result and look forward to building another.... this time with blog posts!

Thanks for reading!

Cheers

Model Build - Tamiya 1/35 Tiger I Sd.kfz.181

Tiger I was a German heavy tank of World War II deployed from 1942 in Africa and Europe usually in independent heavy tank battalions. Its final designation was Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf. E often shortened to Tiger. The Tiger I gave the Wehrmacht its first armored fighting vehicle that mounted the KwK 36 88-mm gun (not to be confused with the 8.8 cm Flak 36). Only 1,347 were built between August 1942 and August 1944.

So, here we go.... straight into another build. Been putting this one off for a while as I wanted to do something a little more special than just go all guns blazing and see what happens. I wanted to plan this one a little more..... After much thought I decided to treat this kit to it's own diorama. Question is Summer? Winter? Town? Village? Kursk? At the time of deciding I had a flashback to a time earlier in December last year when I was sat watching a documentary on the Battle of the Bulge. An American Sherman crew (and tank) had lost it's group, was alone and desperate to return to their allied lines after the Germans pushed them back. There came a period when the Sherman came to a cross roads early in the morning and to it's immediate right was a Tiger and a couple Panthers. The crew though they were doomed but no one opened fire. presumably asleep? Infact, It was the Sherman who got a round off before they fled into the opposite direction. The shot (rather obviously) doing no harm to the Tiger. This is where inspiration hit. Imagine the fear installed upon these men as they clocked eyes on the sleeping Tiger. No movement, just stillness. That's what I wanted to re-create.

The kit in question is Tamiya's and I must say... Straight out of the box it's a dream to build. That's good as I will be adding no after market parts, You also have option to make either the Late or Final. I decided to go for the Final as the Bulge was near the end of the war.

First up was wheel and lower hull assembly.

The exhaust was tricky as each individual bar to hold the top had to be cut, smoothed and glued in place.

Lower hull with exhaust fitted.

Gun breach assembly

I usually like to add stones to the inside of my builds to give them some extra weight.

All parts assembled. Apart from the tools, tow links, tracks and spare tracks. They will all be painted and added later. I also started doing initial body damage here. Big dents, bullet holes, scratches etc..

After priming with Vallejo "Grey" the model is pre shaded with XF1. Focusing on the shadow areas and grills. Its then given its base coat XF63 paying attention to not over spray on the pre shaded areas. It's then sealed with Future and Decals applied.

Working on chipping with XF69 after sticking on the pre painted tools, tow ropes.. etc

So, we make a start on the white wash camo. There are a number of ways this can be applied. However, I went with the hairspray technique. It involves spraying the whole model with hairspray and then laying down your white wash. As hairspray is water soluble you then attack with with a brush, toothpick (finer details) revealing the basecoat underneath. giving the impression of ware..... that's the theory 

As it was near the end of the war and with late winter in mind I wanted the camo to look well worn with multiple layers of white wash applied. The Germans would have ideally thrown just the one wash on.. Sometimes they may get a second coat later on if the original is too worn. In order to achieve this I applied the first layer with a mix of XF 2 - XF 57 - XF 63. With the ratio 10:5:2. This went down as the first layer and was mostly washed away. I then re applied with just XF 2 and XF 63 2:1 to give the impression of a fresher wash. They grey is added help to model stand out more against the "blizzard" conditions I had in mind. Not ideal for war time. but, It's a model. It's fake!

Rust was added in pin washes with Humbrol enamel Rust wash. I carved the inner most edge with a tooth pick to releal the basecoat to give the illusion of depth for the rust.

Streaked added with artists oil paints. Giving the illusion of bare metal and melting snow.

Track assembly

Starting to paint the tracks. This is another topic of debate for the community. I was happy to settle with a rather rusted track as my tank is supposed to have been sat stationary for some time. for the colour of deep rust i used a mixture of rust enamel, earth pigments and oil paints. 

In order to enhance various areas on the model and create depth and shadow I modulate with some oil colors. You can use almost any color and they will all yield different results. Once applied you want to stub then with thinners until the desired effect is achieved.

The modulation gives the model a larger pallet of colors and sense of depth.

Pigments applied. With a custom mix of artist's chalks mixed down and dapped with PVA, Water and Matt varnish.

Before the application of "Precision Ice And Snow" It's a shame that most of the details on the left side and top will be covered with snow in order to fit with my diorama. Still, it was a great exercise in weathering and taught me a lot.

The whole project came together really well. I was very happy with the end result. 

"We came to a crossroads, to our left we saw a Tiger and for a few seconds it felt as if the world froze, luckily for us, the fritz were sleeping"

For details on the diorama check back on my blog. 

Thanks for reading!

Peace

Kirk

Coming up T34-85.... Sturmtiger.... Leopard....