Diorama Content

Thanks for that! 🙂 TTFN Steve

That's very well done. Bravo!

Cheers AJ! TTFN Steve

Superb! Well done Sir!

Hi all, right Im calling the porch done, its placed now - just shown a couple of my figures with it. Erk.

I've been getting a bit grumpy with myself over this. I was starting to get fed up with the base; it's too big, it's unwieldy, I'll never get it finished and so on. So here's a reminder of what it's all about. That's feels better. It's making sense again. At least to me it is. Mojo restored. Onwards and Upwards!

More work on my porch - Erk.

Definitely getting there. I cut a couple of triangles of 1mm thick card and glued them onto the last bare corner of the base and then applied PVA and scenic scatter material as before. I made the scatter mix slightly darker this time to represent longer grass, further from the peri-track mown less frequently. That is the top left corner here. I think it works reasonably well for a first attempt. As usual the camera is high-lighting flaws that are not so obvious to the naked eye. I'll fix those on Friday. Thanks for looking in. Murray

A couple of photographs taken this morning using what passes for daylight in April round these parts.

The next morning in daylight that scenic material looked a lot less emerald, so I'm going to blame the lighting over the bench. So tonight I carried on with the strip on the opposite side of the peri-track. First diluted PVA coloured with a few millilitres of brown acrylic was brushed on. With 20/20 hindsight I should have done smaller areas at a time. The PVA was drying faster than I could sprinkle the scenic material mix on. That meant I had to go back and redo some patches two or three times, but I quite like the resulting texture, even if it is not a great scale representation of 6" grass. Finally I gave the whole area a generous dousing with cheap hairspray to fix the surface. I learned quickly to start spraying from at least 18" away and let the aerosol fall on to the surface and only move closer once the material was sufficiently wetted not to be blown away. I'm leaving it all to dry overnight. Onwards and Upwards, maties.

Outstanding work Stix! I really like the effects behind the rockets... adds realism to the whole scene. Keith 😁

excellent work

Wow! That's fantastic. That really is a great dio Stix. This was posted before I joined, hence I've not seen it before. Clever use of the trees to hide the Tiffy's support. John.

Just a brief update - without pics as my batt was flat, I have painted the inside and out several coats of White and and made and painted the base, next off will be some scribing of the gaps between the door planks and the roof tiles. Erk.

Hi Andy. Big thanks for your kindness on this one. Interesting that you mention You Tube. My eldest boy and son-in-law suggested the same thing some months ago. I passed on it at the time as I've been a contributor on Airfix Model World for eleven years and couldn't envisage how I'd learn a whole new skill set, alongside my familiarity with magazine reviews. After further thought I've gone ahead and created a channel 'The Stoic Modeller' @TheStoicModeller earlier today and posted an introductory video - even though I have a physical presence clearly much more suited to radio. I clearly have no regard for public sensibilities... Here it is: Content to follow - I'm going to start with a series I'm calling 'Plastic Post Mortem' in which I'll do a commentary on three projects I've finished in recent times, the 1/72 Airfix B-24H Liberator in the current AMW, the 1/32 Kõtare Spitfire Mk.1a and 'The Maid of Harlech'. I think a stand alone resin 'water' episode is an attractive prospect for when the channel is more established. The first end to end kit build will be the AZ Models issue of the Valom 1/72 HP Hampden with the revised clear bits that allegedly fit. TTFN Steve Hi AP. Cheers for that - very (very) much appreciated! TTFN Steve

WOW!!! absolutely amazing! and deserving of all the love and praise it has received so far. lovin' the "human level" shots as well, they really show off all the detail that can easily be missed in a "bird's eye view. Kudos Sir!

Steve, I've only just found this thread and what you've created is absolutely stunning. I'd love to learn how to make water like that. Have you thought of doing a tutorial on YouTube? You'd get loads of interest I'm certain. Again, congratulations on your masterpiece. I'm truly blown away and envious of your skills. Best regards Andy 🙂

The roof is complete - just needs painting and weathering. Erk.

a good Friend of mine , insisted to show this Thing on a Turntable......

Carrying on with my landscaping mode on my dio, it occurredto me that the farmhouse is missing a porch on the back of the farmhouse leading out into the garden - so I am scratch building one from some wood stock - card and paper here is where I am now - Erk.

A while back I saw a YouTube clip in which a chap used a stiff paint brush to flick paint onto a base to represent splatters of dirt on concrete. I liked the effect and gave it a go using an old toothbrush. It's not bad, but overscale. Some of those splatters would be puddles 6" across. But it would be great if this were 1/32 or bigger. After grumping over it for half an hour I came up with a plan to tone it down a bit. That is much better. I used a damp sponge pan cleaner with a circular scrubbing motion to remove most of the splats leaving more subtle staining. Buoyed up by that I decided to experiment with some scenic grass scatter materials that have been in a drawer since a stalled railway layout project for one of my sons about a decade ago. I started by mixing a few drops of brown acrylic paint with PVA glue and brushing that onto the corner that I wanted to cover. I made a blend of medium green Meadow Grass and a very dark, almost blue, Moorland Grass and sprinkled that onto the brown PVA. No spring flowers in Wyton in December! It's still a bit bright and summery looking. I will have a think about that, but not now. That's all for tonight folks!

Everything so well done. Each further look rewarded with something else to spot.

Great work so life like, mammoth effort put into this Dio. Cheers Jim

Very impressive, love it, and the photography and natural lighting makes it look very realistic with good shadows cast too.

The Kübelwagen is incredibly good ! Well done !