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Road to Berlin 2

This diorama was made for the ‘From Russia with Love’ GB. It features three Tamiya 1/48 tanks (a T-34/76, an SU122 and a KV-1) plus Zvezda’s 1/48 Yak-3. I had decided I’d do something similar to my MTO GB build where I made a diorama with three German tanks and one aircraft. My original intention was to have the aircraft flying over the three Russian tanks (similar to my MTO GB project) but when I saw Zvezda had included a rather nicely detailed engine I changed my plans and decided to have it on the ground with the covers off. This meant I had to change my original spacing on the board so I opted to make this diorama as a kind of follow-up to my Vignette GB scene.

 

The three tanks are passing a temporary airfield which is slightly further back along the road from my original Road to Berlin Vignette. These tanks are just responding to the same situation in the fields to the south, spotted by the IS-2 crew up ahead. At the time the people on the edge of the airfield seem oblivious to what is happening on the road on the other side of the bank.

 

The base was made to fit the frame which I got from Wilkos but I ended up doing this one in a bit of a rush to make sure I finished before the deadline for the GB and ended up simpler than intended and with a few compromises. The base for the scene is made from 4mm MDF covered with a layer of Polyfiller which I painted with thinned Humbrol Dark Earth. Over this I used Woodland Scenics Blended turf and a variety of tufted grasses from Army Painter. The trees are also from Woodlands Scenics.

The figures around the aircraft are from ICM and the figures in the tank scene are all from Tamiya.

WIP for the whole project: Here

Yak-3 RFI: Here

3 tanks RFI: Here

 

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Finally - a big thank you must go to Peter (Basilisk), the hard working GB host, who supported us all throughout - and everyone who took the time to comment or offer advice in my GB thread.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Edited by PlaStix
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an epic diorama with plenty to study - really great work there and I love the attention to detail you have put into the foliage on the slightly raised mound - that must have taken a lot of time and hard work.

 

From Russia with Love, or perhaps Live and Let Die ! 

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Epically Beautiful work :thumbsup::thumbsup: ... and i cannot say that enough. I truly feel this is extraordinary work. 

     If i may pose a question or two ? First you have the soldier on the T-34/85 holding PPSH-41 as if he's firing. Two you have the soldier next to him crouching as if dodging bullets. The soldier on the KV-1 is also dodging bullets ? And the Third soldier crouching half run dragging the MG looks as if hes moving up to a firefight ? You also have the driver of the SU-85? 100? Acting scared and crouching behind his hatch ? 

     Now and here is my First question ? You have the ground crew and pilot acting as if nothing is wrong and not crouching ? Actually hes walking calmly towards his aircraft. If they're in that close proximity to the tanks and soldiers in a firefight. How come they don't seem concerned ? Im just curious because the two halves of your scene contradict each other. Please do not take this as criticism im just asking because its a bit confusing to the general observer.

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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Very nice! Everything is well assembled and painted, especially the armour, well done for that, quite 'spanish school' style which makes the plane rather bland in comparison? Not that there is anything wrong with it in isolation, it just doesn't 'match' the Afv's...

 

However as mentioned above the story it's telling doesn't make sense to me with the relaxed/action poses cause you wouldn't be that oblivious with firing that close. 

Lastly the tanks having a fag paper between them, although that's probably just down to space available and wanting to cram as much in to a diorama as possible...

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On 8/31/2017 at 08:48, Alpha Delta 210 said:

That is sensational! So much to look at. Beautiful photography too. Amazing. 

Thank you very much Alpha Delta - you are most kind! :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

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On 31/08/2017 at 13:23, Gimme Shelter said:

an epic diorama with plenty to study - really great work there and I love the attention to detail you have put into the foliage on the slightly raised mound - that must have taken a lot of time and hard work.

 

From Russia with Love, or perhaps Live and Let Die ! 

Hi Gimme Shelter and thank you very much for your very kind comments. To be honest the whole base and finish was done in a rush as, at the time, the GB hadn't been extended by a week. If I'd known about the extension I would have put more into it, but the overthinking it may not have resulted in anything better - perhaps the not thinking about it too much worked better.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

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That is just brilliant. Forgive me for one critique, maybe the figures could have been given a flat coat, but then again, it might just be the lighting for the photo shoot. Nevertheless, top marks from me. 

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On 31/08/2017 at 17:57, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Epically Beautiful work :thumbsup::thumbsup: ... and i cannot say that enough. I truly feel this is extraordinary work. 

     If i may pose a question or two ? First you have the soldier on the T-34/85 holding PPSH-41 as if he's firing. Two you have the soldier next to him crouching as if dodging bullets. The soldier on the KV-1 is also dodging bullets ? And the Third soldier crouching half run dragging the MG looks as if hes moving up to a firefight ? You also have the driver of the SU-85? 100? Acting scared and crouching behind his hatch ? 

     Now and here is my First question ? You have the ground crew and pilot acting as if nothing is wrong and not crouching ? Actually hes walking calmly towards his aircraft. If they're in that close proximity to the tanks and soldiers in a firefight. How come they don't seem concerned ? Im just curious because the two halves of your scene contradict each other. Please do not take this as criticism im just asking because its a bit confusing to the general observer.

Hi Corsairfoxforuncle and thank you very much. I do understand your question and the simple answer is that the project was done for a GB where there is a limited timescale. This results in me having to make compromises. In this case the base is smaller than perhaps required because, just before the build, I changed my plans - but already had the base. This compromised the scenery too - there's a lot less! My WIP explains more about this. The reason for the figures is that I originally planned to have the aircraft in flight but when I decided it was to be on the ground I only had these ICM figures available in my stash - they were bought for another build. In my way of thinking, as I said in my intro above, the tank column is passing a temporary airfield. There is a lot of noise from the tank's engines and the people around the plane are now used too it and ignore it. However, at this precise second in the scene, it is the exact moment where the tank crews first go on alert so the people on the airfield are not aware just yet. In the next second or so they are all diving for cover!

Kind regards,

Stix

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FANTASTIC.

Everything is fantastic. A real masterpiece.

 

I understand fully how time limits can curtail a diorama, and how time extensions can allow for changing only minor details or improving what's already been done, rather than completely changing certain larger aspects.

 

Still, I never questioned why your ground crew weren't diving for cover... clearly they are unaware that the enemy is engaging the tank crews. If I were the enemy I'd certainly open fire on the tanks first as the aircraft poses no threats whatsoever.

 

And I think someone is mistaking dry-brushed uniforms for a gloss sheen.

So hopefully they'll realise.

 

Again, fantastic work.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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On 9/1/2017 at 11:35, Bullbasket said:

Lovely job all round Stix. I especially like the Yak.

John.

Hi John. Thank you very much for your very kind comments. I was quite please with the Yak eventually - after I had a bit of a problem with the camo! It took a bit of work to fix but ended up looking okay.

Kind regards,

Stix

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On 9/1/2017 at 11:53, Tony Oliver said:

Very nice! Everything is well assembled and painted, especially the armour, well done for that, quite 'spanish school' style which makes the plane rather bland in comparison? Not that there is anything wrong with it in isolation, it just doesn't 'match' the Afv's...

However as mentioned above the story it's telling doesn't make sense to me with the relaxed/action poses cause you wouldn't be that oblivious with firing that close. 

Lastly the tanks having a fag paper between them, although that's probably just down to space available and wanting to cram as much in to a diorama as possible...

Hi Tony and thank you for your comments.

"You can't please everyone all of the time" as they say! ;)

Please see my reply to Corsairfoxfouruncle above.

Kind regards,

Stix

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On 01/09/2017 at 21:27, Jim Wasley said:

Enjoyed viewing the pics almost takes you into each scene so well done Cheers.

Hi Jim and thank you very much for your very kind comments. :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

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