How to Build a Military Diorama: weekend project PART 3 - FINISHED!

The weekend diorama project is finally done! Read on to see the tank and the soldiers finished and painted and the diorama created.

Last night when I posted Part 2, the tank was nearly built and the diorama base was almost complete. Today's first job was to finish the base, for which I decided to add some snow to create a wintry scene. Also, as I had spent minimal time on the grass and hedge, the snow would help cover up my rather basic approach to the foliage. The snow was easily created with a mixture of PVA glue, bicarbonate of soda and water. Only a tiny amount was needed, enough to fill a dessert spoon: the mixture was stirred to the consistency of yoghurt and dripped onto the base with a waste plastic strip.

 

 

With the 'snow' drying, it was time to get back to the tank and the soldiers. I put the wheels on the tank and painted it olive green, then gave the soldiers a coat each of a slightly lighter green, avoiding their faces and hands (I had already painted their faces and hands with flesh-colour last night). I then went out for a walk for about an hour and a half, and on my return I put the tracks on the tank, followed by the mudguards which partially cover them. The kit includes a 50-calibre machine gun to go on the turret roof, but I thought it looked to big and a bit over-scale, so I left it off. I also painted the soldiers' boots, weapons and various pouches and packs. With the tank complete, I put on the few markings (waterslide decals/transfers) and after a cup of tea to let them dry out, I applied some weathering. I started off using a thin oil paint wash, but it attacked the still-unhardened olive green paint so I left that and did the weathering with Tamiya weathering powders. A few dark and light streaks and smudges add a used look to the tank. I had also saved the remaining paint left over from painting the road yesterday, so I dry-brushed some onto the tank tracks and lower surfaces to represent road dirt and mud, and to help 'blend' the tank into the scene.

 

 

With the tank and soldiers ready for battle, it was time to fix them to the diorama base. In keeping with the quick and care-free approach to this project, I didn't do any research at all into realistic WW2 US patrol formations or tactics: instead, I just placed the tank and figures how I thought would look interesting. With that done, the project was finished, just 48 hours after I began!

 

My idea for this scene is that a US infantry unit is advancing into Germany in the first few weeks of 1945, with snow still thawing as they go. This unit, supported by an M-24 Chaffee light tank, has spotted an enemy post dug in half a mile ahead. While the rest of the unit, including the CO with his pistol, provide flanking cover on both sides of the road, a section of three men runs forward to take a look and identify the extent of the threat ahead. When they return with the information, the tank will attempt to destroy the enemy position with its main gun, and the patrol will move forward.

 

Enough words - here are the pictures. Don't forget, you can click on the images to see them enlarged. Thanks very much for coming to take a look.

 

 



 

How to Build a Military Diorama: weekend project PART 2

Read Part 1 here

The weekend diorama project has moved on significantly in the last 24 hours, though we’re not finished yet!

Yesterday, I got as far as making a basic base for the diorama from a polystyrene pizza base and a skim of household wall filler. Today’s first job was to give the base a coat of paint to form a basis for the scenery: because I want the diorama to be a muddy European scene from WW2, I used a mixture of dark brown, beige and black acrylic artists paint to create a grey-brown muddy colour. I watered it down a little and gave the base a couple of light coats.

 

The ambient temperature is pretty low here at the moment, so the paint was taking ages to dry. I heated my oven to 50C and popped the base in for 10 minutes to speed the drying. After that, I got out some scenic materials to add grass to the banks and roadsides. I used a couple of different shades of green scatter material made specially for models and model railways, and added a low hedge with some synthetic material again intended for model railways. All this was applied over a thin diluted coat of PVA glue, then a very diluted mix of PVA was dripped over the ‘grass’ using an old contact lens solution bottle.

 

While the base dried out between painting and adding the grass, it was time to make a start on the tank and the figures. All parts were given a coat of Humbrol primer from an aerosol can, to provide a decent base for paint when the time comes. In this photo, you can see the two pieces that make up the small base that is included with the tank model: I decided not to use it, as I am (obviously) making my own base.

The primer dried out while I worked on the diorama base (see above), so in the afternoon I was able to begin building the M24 Chaffee tank. This was a fairly quick job in modelling terms, taking a couple of hours from start to the 80% complete build you see below. This is a Revell kit which was actually designed and originally sold by Matchbox back in the early 1980s, and it really is a great little kit. The parts are moulded crisply and fit together very well, and the detail is really not bad at all for the tiny size. You can see how little the tank is compared with the standard Humbrol paint tin in the photo. You can see that I have pre-painted the lower hull sides, and the backs of the wheels, so they will not require painting when the tank is fully assembled - otherwise they would be practically impossible to paint.

Sweet!

I think it’s going to build up to be a very nice model, I just hope the diorama base matches up to the same standard!

Come back tomorrow to see the project completed.

How to Build a Military Diorama: weekend project

I love building dioramas: this weekend I am going to build a simple military diorama from scratch and keep a photo diary. Hopefully you will pick up a few ideas along the way, and on Sunday night we should have a finished model to display!

Like most modellers I have many unbuilt kits in storage awaiting their time on the workbench. I have some quite complex and ambitious plans for some of them, meaning I won't start building without a lot of preparation and planning. However, sometimes it's nice to leave those valued kits where they are and crack on with something quickly without worrying too much about how it turns out.

 

Today I bought two small military kits in 1/76 scale: Revell's WW2 US infantry and M24 Chaffee tank, for £5.99 each. I also bought a tube of Polyfilla to help make a scenic base. I am going to build a small WW2 diorama over the weekend.

The first job was to create the diorama base. In line with the low-budget approach to this project, I am using a polystyrene base from a fresh pizza, onto which I will add scenic details. I wanted my model to fit onto a small round plinth, so the first job was to cut the polystyrene base to size. I simply drew around a plate with a Sharpie marker to get the size, and cut it out with scissors.

 Next job was to create some basic 'forms' as a basis for terrain features: I used offcuts of the polystyrene pizza base to create shallow banks with a flat road bed between them, to recreate a typical European back road. These were fixed in place with polystyrene cement (normal model glue).

I had time for a cup of tea while the glue dried, after which I opened the Polyfilla and applied a thin coating of filler, to blend in the road bed and banks and create a decent base for the scenery.



It is not really clear in the photo, but the banks either side of the road will work out between 2 feet and 6 feet tall in 1/76 scale, just right for earth banks either side of a European country road. Top tip: keep a bowl of warm water on hand when you're applying filler to make groundwork. You can use it to wet your fingers to smooth the surface of the filler, and to keep your hands clean!

Tune in tomorrow to see the next update!