1:144 D-Day Spitfire diorama

[Sabre_days]

This one will be on the back burner for the next couple weeks as I try to finish my last minute builds in time for the P-51 Mustang STGB, but once the GB is done I plan to get started on it. The idea's been floating around for a couple years (according to my order history at Hannants, the Spitfires and accompanying photoetch were ordered in February 2015, with the Gundam figure set that gave me the idea for this diorama probably having been bought shortly before that).

 

The concept for the scene is pretty straightforward...Normandy, 1944: two RCAF Spitfires fly low over the French countryside while a young woman on the ground waves to the pilots.

 

Ingredients:

-Eduard 1:144 Spitfire IXc dual combo

-Eduard 1:144 Spitfire photoetch set x 2

-One pair of OzMods 1:144 generic modern pilots (in this scale, "modern" can be interpreted quite liberally...)

-One of the two identical sprues from a 1:144 Gundam figure set

-Basswood base from the local Michaels

-Diorama grass and scenery supplies to be procured at a later date...

 

Upon review of the figure set, the waving female figure will probably need a little work: Her hairstyle is a shoulder length bob that works quite well for the World War II era, but that dress would be scandalously short by 1940s standards. A bit of thick CA or putty should work to extend it down to knee length...

 

For scenery I plan to keep it simple, the original plan was to put the waving woman on a stonework bridge over a stream, but I'll just go with a country lane instead. No buildings or trees, on the premise that the more open the terrain the more plausible it is for the Spitfires to be flying that low.

 

Edited January 7, 2017 by Sabre_days

[Badder]

Nice to see a wing'ed thingy being the main subject for a dio. The scale is way too small for my liking, but hey-ho!

 

Good luck,

Rearguards,

Badder

[Sabre_days]

Thanks! Aside from the occasional challenge of building a really tiny model, or a quick build to turn out a simple model in minimum time, 1:144 is normally too small for my liking as well (at least for anything smaller than a B-17 or a DC-3 / Dakota / C-47 / Li-2 / L2D / R4D / CC-129 / whatever you care to call it...for anything bigger than a B-29, i.e. postwar airliners, bombers, etc., it's pretty much my default scale). However, trying to do a scene like this in 1:72 would either take up too much space or have the aircraft flying wingtip to wingtip at 30' AGL. As it stands they'll already be flying low enough and close enough together that their CO might have something to say about it (that is, assuming he's not the one in the lead fighter), but not so much so as to strain plausibility for a literal interpretation of the spacing.