GRK

Yes I got a whole sheet. It comes with instructions but basically you cut out a section you need, dab diluted acrylic across it and rub it in. You then get an old combe and brush it to separate all the strands and to shape. You can then either cut the strands off the backing material and glue into place for clumps, or if you’re covering larger areas, glue the whole strip down still attached to the backing material. I didn’t try it but could use the airbrush at the end to top coat different tones. They were at the Bolton ipms show and he demonstrated a few things to me, one was if you cut the hair into very fine pieces, you can then just brush it into the groundwork around the edges of your grass and it really helps it transition smoothly. good luck with it, feel free to ask if you’ve got any questions and looking forward to seeing the result!

Thanks, glad you like it. Yes I've just used a deep photo frame and used a combination of insulation foam board and ready mixed filler to build up the groundwork. The soil was made from claycrete (an instant papier mache) which I find great for earth- add the paint in when you first mix it as its difficult to paint it after its dry- lots of cracks and fissures to get into.

Thank you very much Simon. I've saved the link and thanks for the helpful tips, especially about the smell! Thanks Darryl- the raw grass link is here https://www.treemendus-scenics.co.uk/scatters-etc/ it was my spelling of the treemendus that would have stopped your search from working

Thanks Simon, your diorama's are excellent and definitely something for me to work towards. I do have a plan to make a Panzer Mk III set fording a shallow river and was definitely thinking of resin- which brand did you use? I've seen plasmos KV2 and you're Dniester River crossing so would be keen on giving resin a go. Did you have a problem with the heat generated by the curing process?

Hi all. I've finished off my diorama for the Tamyia Panzer Mk II. I wanted to depict a battle in the Gembloux Gap in which the 35th fought as part of the 4th Panzer Division. There was a fierce action here when they were confronted by French S35 tanks which put a stop to the German advance before the French were forced to withdraw. More firsts for this diorama including water effects in the ditch, long grass and well an attempt at a telegraph pole! I had a few issues with the water-I used AK interactive still water, but despite applying it in thin layers couldn't stop it from cracking on the edges. I then thought i'd fill the holes with pva and then apply an even thinner layer of the still water. This was a bad idea as the pva then cracked and ruined the top layer- seems pva and still water don't mix! Might be good if you wanted to achieve that just frozen look but not suitable for May 1940! Anyway several more ultra thin layers of still water and I got a half decent finish on the water. I used Tremendous raw grass and I loved it, great product! I sprinkled more flock on top of this to simulate early flowers and give it some variation. I made the bull rushes in the ditch using stretched sprue with some air drying clay for the heads. The figures are from Dragons Barbarossa set and I was very happy with them-nice details and plenty of parts for options. Overall I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and a good step up from my Matilda diorama in terms of challenge-had a lot of fun doing it, particularly seeing the vegetation coming together.

Try using a thin brush and paint some of the base coat on the offending silvered areas.

Thanks both, if anyone has any tips or solutions for my decal problem, I’m all ears

really nice work, especially like the mud/dust effects at the front.

Hi all I've finished the new Tamiya kit of the Panzer Mk II and I've almost finished its diorama which i'll be posting up shortly. I enjoyed the build, the tracks were a nice intermediate step between going from rubber banks to the link by link that i'm currently working on my Bronco A13 Mk IV. Unfortunately I've got a lot of silvering on the decals and I'm not sure why. I'd gloss coated and used micro sol/set products as per normal and all seemed fine. I then applied a matt coat and started doing some oil weathering and then all of a sudden the decals started to silver really badly which has spoilt the model. It does look worse in the pictures and I think when the model is sat in the diorama the overall effect looks good and its only when you get up and close that you notice. I was struggling to get the decals on the turret to conform round the hatches and had applied several coats of micro sol but the Tamiya decals seemed very thick. This is also the first time I've tried to muddy up an AFV. I used some MIG pigments and washes with a soil/pva mixture and roughly based the amount of mud on this picture: Anyway, 2nd AFV complete and more lessons learnt to be applied to the A13:

Thanks for that

Great model and diorama. I’m building the mk IV atm was debating whether to do a knocked out version in France or one in Greece- seems every reference pic of the A13 is a knocked out version! Well done!

Hi, ha I thought when people talked about Stalingrad figures I thought it was a set made by Dragon or Tamiya! Now I've had a google I see what you mean! Can I ask where you normally buy your from-there don't seem to be too many options that I can find other than trawling through ebay

ok thanks all, I wasn't sure if it was just me! Dragon Barbarossa kit on order- not the right timeframe for the diorama in mind but the closest with the figure pose I wanted.

Does anyone know of a similar kit, so 1940 German in combat positions which has a better scale accuracy. This is seems to be a bit of a theme as I’ve got some Tamiya 8th army figures which are massive! Im basically trying to avoid spending more money and finding another kit is also too big! Has anyone bought the Tamiya German infantry French campaign set and got any feedback on the scale accuracy?

Hi all I'm currently working on a diorama for my Tamiya Panzer MkII that I've just completed (the new kit release). I'd bought the Master Box German Panzer Grenadiers (1939-1942) 1:35 to go in the diorama but now that I've assembled a figure next to the tank, the figure looks rather large. I know that the MkII wasn't a big tank but it looks like the figures more at 1:32 scale. They're far larger than the figures that were included in the Tamiya Matilda kit. Is this a well know problem with the Master Box figures that I wasn't aware of and can anyone recommend a similar figure kit that has a more accurate scale reproduction? Pictures now attached: Thanks