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Ever evolvin dio. ft. 'THE INDESTRUCTIBLE TREE' as ft. on youtube.


Badder

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4 hours ago, Major_Error said:

It is good to read that also a fake Christmas tree can have a life after death!

 

I should have put aside the ones that fell off our tree. I will remember next year!

 

8-)

 

You could always visit your attic? and 'find some more that fell off for some reason'.;)

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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On ‎04‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 8:15 PM, RichO said:

We haven't heard from you in a while, Badder.  ' hope you're feel well.  Let us know "wazup".

 

On ‎04‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 11:51 PM, Ratch said:

Isn't the project continuing in the Sherman GB?

Hi chaps,

I am fine Rich, thanks for asking. I am currently concentrating on my 'winter' Sherman for the M3/M4 STGB. I'm at the weathering stage so expect to have the tank itself finished within the next few days.

Ratch, the Sherman will have its own diorama, a snow scene. I'll be using the first building I made in THIS WIP as part of the scenery for that. Waste not want not.

 

Btw, I am also in the process of replacing all the photos in this WIP as the image sharing site HostingPics is closing down. This is a long an tedious process which, together with  the work on the Sherman, has prevented me getting any more work done for this dio.

 

I am up to page 27 of 47, so have replaced roughly 250 photos, and probably have a similar amount yet to replace!

 

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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Bought these at the One Stop corner shop.

£1 for 32 emery boards of varying grades. Bargain!

0CuG1v6.jpg

Work will recommence on this diorama next week, in between building the diorama for my Sherman in the M3/M4 STGB.

 

TFL

Badder

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2 hours ago, Badder said:

Bought these at the One Stop corner shop.

 

£1 for 32 emery boards of varying grades. Bargain!

 

 

 

PCFOta7.jpg

 

Work will recommence on this diorama next week, in between building the diorama for my Sherman in the M3/M4 STGB.

 

TFL

Badder

 

A Female Santa for the Fake Christmas tree?

 

8-D

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Hi Major,

The 'woman' is actually long-deceased English comedian called 'Dick Emery' in drag. It was he who invented the 'sandpaper' non-slip finish on surf boards an so they called them 'Emery Boards'.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

With the M3/M4 STGB over and open to BM members for voting, I will soon be returning to this diorama. However, I am also going to make a diorama for my winter camo Sherman 'Easy Eight' (Available to view in both the STGB Gallery, and the AFV RFI forum)

 

The winter diorama will feature the first building which I made in THIS WIP. I had always intended to build (or should that be unbuild?) collapsed floors and roof for this building and that is still my intention. It will be a snowy scene, although on the verge of thaw, with mud and puddles as well as lying snow.

 

So, there'll be two dioramas on the go, as well as a bit more work on the Sherman which isn't quite finished, needing some more stowage and better figures.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

PLEASE VISIT THE  M3/M4 GROUP BUILD AND CAST YOUR VOTE FOR FAVOURITE MODEL.

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

What do you all think about me turning this into a winter diorama?

 

I ask because I have this M4A3E8 'FACE OFF' Sherman completed and was going to make a diorama for it, but it would mean leaving this one on the back burner for a while. And actually I as yet have no completed AFVs to furnish this diorama. But I have the Sherman and a Willys Jeep that COULD go in it instead.

It wouldnt be too hard to convert what I've done to fit a winter scene. The large tree could pass for an evergreen. The hedgerow, which I am no longer happy with, COULD be remade with leafless trees and bushes. The flowers would have to go, but the grass and ivy could remain. The stream could be iced over partly or fully or not at all....

 

Your thoughts on the subject?

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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I have never made a Winter-diorama. I have found it hard to make the snow and winter-looking hard to make. Well, in fact it is hard to make a summer, but winter is harder. 

 

As you write; you have made some essential parts for a summer-look. It will be a real challenge both to convert these essential parts, but also a challenge to make a general winter look.

 

Any way; if someone could handle these challenges, and make a nice dio out of this, it must be you!

 

8-)

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I know how gorgeous that tank build turned out to be. and it sure would be a shame to lose all the work put into this build.  How about starting a second dio build and keeping the summer dio.

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On 6/20/2018 at 8:35 PM, Major_Error said:

I have never made a Winter-diorama. I have found it hard to make the snow and winter-looking hard to make. Well, in fact it is hard to make a summer, but winter is harder. 

 

As you write; you have made some essential parts for a summer-look. It will be a real challenge both to convert these essential parts, but also a challenge to make a general winter look.

 

Any way; if someone could handle these challenges, and make a nice dio out of this, it must be you!

 

8-)

Hi Major,

I would have agreed with about the diffiulties of making realistic snow, until I watched the vids of 'Precision Ice and snow' and searched some of the dioramas on the net. That stuff is fantastic. Expensive, but well worth the money if you really want perfection.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

On 6/21/2018 at 1:49 PM, RichO said:

I know how gorgeous that tank build turned out to be. and it sure would be a shame to lose all the work put into this build.  How about starting a second dio build and keeping the summer dio.

Hi Rich,

The diorama has been sat on a cabinet in my bedroom for the past 6 months and I've looked at it every single night and morning. The herb foliage on the hedgerow has faded, losing its green and turning more yellowy-tan, and, although I could colour it I'm thinking that actually I'd rather rebuild a lot of it using other techniques. As it is, it's just not 'wild' enough. I need some more realistic trees/bushes and a lot more undergrowth. Converting it to a snow scene would have hidden a lot of sins and saved me all that work, so actually a conversion wouldn't have been too hard, but I HAVE decided against it.

I have actually stared a winter diorama for the Sherman and I will get back to this diorama once that one is finished.

 

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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12 minutes ago, Badder said:

I need some more realistic trees/bushes

I think the only way you could improve on your trees and shrubs is to move to Kyoto and start a bonsai apprenticeship. It'll take some time though...

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On 6/23/2018 at 10:08 AM, bhouse said:

I think the only way you could improve on your trees and shrubs is to move to Kyoto and start a bonsai apprenticeship. It'll take some time though...

Hi Brian,

My bro lives near Tokyo.  I don't think he's allowed to send live plants through the post though.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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  • 2 weeks later...

Whilst work on this diorama continues in its lack of continuation, I am always looking out for new materials and tools which might come in handy once it does continue.

Today I popped into Hobbycraft to get some more plaster of Paris and found this little gem of a paper punch!

nwPBXlC.jpg

As you can see, it's small but produces 3 leaves of a lovely size. This cost £!.50, a bargain when compared to the £9 quoted for some leaf punches.

 

The (Christmas) packaging says these are Holly leaves, but I will be using them for all kinds of plants/leaves. Creasing each leaf down the middle is always a good idea. I can obviously use individual leaves or snip off the central leaf to leave pairs of leaves for spacing out along twigs, creepers, etc, or I can group the bunches of three together to make undergrowth.

 

TFL

Badder

 

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Not so much an update as a far-in-advance warning!

 

At the beginning of this thread I built a MiniArt 'ruined village house' and then extended it by making latex moulds and casting new walls in plaster. Ultimately I decided not to use this building in this diorama. Instead, I purchased MiniArt's 'Ardennes Building' and extended that instead.

 

For those who don't know, I am in the process of making another diorama featuring the first building from THIS thread. I have chopped it up and have extended it even further.

During its construction I 'chanced' upon a 'new' effect: wet brushing the stonework with dilute plaster of Paris. This gets into the joints in the stonework and mimics mortar, but also gives a dry chalky texture to the stones themselves.  Washes over both can really enhance the realism of the stonework.

 

It will come as no surprise then that I look at the stonework at the front of my Ardennes building and am not at all happy with it.

When I return to this project, rest assured that this building will get the aforementioned treatment!

 

 

Rearguards to all,

Badder

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Having decided to give the building my plaster of paris treatment, I cannot now get that 'improvement' out of my head. So, I'm not going to wait 'who knows how long?' before I do it. I'm going to go for it tomorrow.

The building will definitely need a blow-clean with an airbrush first, and possibly a light rinse, as it is covered in dust!

 

TFL

Badder

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As promised, a brief return to work on the building......

 

 

Mission: To transform the walls from a rather boring and monotone 'brown'  to one with more colour variation, mainly through 'lichen' effects, and meanwhile highlighting the texture of the stonework.

 

Equipment and materials:

An old large soft brush.

A small soft brush.

Plaster of Paris.

Water.

Airbrush.

 

FIRST, a reminder of how the building looked:

wVlYw3V.jpg

 

zFolrA3.jpg

 

Cobwebs and dust were blown away with an airbrush. Stubborn dust was given a blast with water and/or a going over with a water-loaded brush.

 

My new H&S Evolution CRplus 2 in 1 airbrush fitted with the 0.2mm needle and larger cup. This will be used to 'chase' the washes around and also to dry the plaster of paris washes quickly.

Water tinted with Daler Rowney Antelope Brown.

A pile of Plaster of Paris. Way more than required by a factor of 20!

dzRcLLr.jpg

 

Water added to the plaster and a drop of Antelope Brown added and mixed in.

3WAHRbh.jpg

 

 

The large brush was dipped in water then used to pick up the 'dyed' plaster. This was applied to the walls quite liberally. At first it looks as if only water has been applied to the walls but a quick blast with air rapidly dries the plaster and exposes it as below:

Wr1xoZP.jpg

 

W2MI1xo.jpg

 

The greeness of the plaster isn't showing up so well in the photos.

 

Here, I added a dab of black ink and chased that around with blasts of water. Similar was done elsewhere.

XNcBlGW.jpg

 

Below: the walls after this preliminary treatment. At this stage it is still possible to wet the plaster and re-activate it in order to move it or remove it completely.

cbugxoD.jpg

 

4uPCHSy.jpg

 

qripgOJ.jpg

 

cp1812J.jpg

 

Again, the greeness isn't showing up too well in places.

 

I will continue with these processes on the other walls before moving onto the next stages.  First will be a coat of gloss varnish. This will fix the plaster and stop it moving about when new washes with plaster and inks are applied.

 

TFL

Badder.

 

ps I hope to have this all done by later today.

 

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