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This project was made as part of the D-Day Group Build. This is my first ever diorama and it's made up with a lot of other firsts. First Typhoon, Panther and Tiger kits, first tank(s) for many, many years, first plane kit in flight, first use of a Prop Blur, first use of aftermarket decals (for the Typhoon) and first 1/72 figures. Nearly everyone who contributed to the WIP thread helped with ideas for the building of various elements of the project so a big thank you to them all - it wouldn't have been possible without the help of the BM team. Also it was seeing Kallisti's Typhoon base that got me thinking about doing a diorama - so thank you to Kallisti for the idea. Typhoon: Airfix 1/72 Mk.IB Typhoon (new tool version) - MN526/TP-V - No.198 Sqn., 123 Wing, 84 Group, 2 TAF B10/Plumetot, France - July 1944. Panther: Dragon 1/72 Ausf G with Zimmerit, no. 135 of 12 SS Pz, Tiger I: Dragon 1/72 Ausf E with Zimmerit, no. 131 of sSSPzAbt 101 German and British troops from Ceasar Miniatures Baseboard: Softwood, Sundela, MDF, filler and various leftover scenic materials from model railway projects made a long time ago. The WIP can be found here The RFI for the Typhoon can be found here The RFI for the two tanks can be found here Time: early evening, July 1944 - Location: somewhere northwest of Normandy This last photo shows the actual diorama and the background I used to give it depth. The background is actually the display shelf I made for my Spitfire builds but it seemed to work well as a backdrop - I thought it would look better than just a plain wall. Although this project is finished as far as the D-Day Group Build is concerned I've still got some ideas for developing this diorama further but I'm going to make a couple of Spitfires first! Thank you for looking. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Jerry Billing was born in Canada in 1921 and in his late teens he was determined to become a fighter pilot. Initially joining the RCAF as an air-gunner in 1941, his persistence eventually saw him active as a Hurricane pilot and then, from 1942, a Spitfire pilot when he joined 19 Squadron. While with 19 Squadron he flew many different types of sorties in Mk.V Spitfires. Following action in Malta and some training of other pilots in the art of dog fighting, Jerry was sent to 401 Squadron in 1944, where he was assigned a Mk.IX Spitfire. On D-Day itself Jerry was on patrol over Gold Beach in ML135, but there wasn't any sign of the Luftwaffe. However, on the 7th June 1944, he was back in action again and downed a Ju88 and damaged two Fw190s. More information about Jerry Billing can be found here This is my first Eduard kit and it was built as part of the D-Day Group Build. Self indulgent bit - please skip ahead to the photos if easily bored! I've been working towards this kit for a while. A few years ago, when I got back into model kit building, I was mostly building bits and pieces including lunar landing modules, a space shuttle, a Batmobile and a big fire engine! Then, while searching online for possible next kits, I came across this Eduard Mk.IXc Spitfire kit. Wow! I was blown away by the detail and I loved the idea of the extra PE parts and paint masks. The only thing was; I hadn't ever built a 1/48 kit before and the last time I had built a plane kit (other than an Angel Interceptor) was when I was a kid. Also £28 for an aircraft kit seemed quite expensive! With my lack of experience I felt I would need to practice a bit first by building some smaller 1/72 Spitfires so that I didn't make a complete mess of the Eduard one. I built two Airfix and one Italeri 1/72 Spits and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I then thought I ought to try my hand at a cheaper 1/48 Spitfire so I made the re-boxed ICM, Revell Mk.XVI, which turned out to be a fantastic project! And, as could be expected, even before building this kit, I was addicted to building Spitfires! So here we are! I used wanting to be part of the D-Day Group build as an excuse to finally buy the Eduard kit. I added a few scratch-built extras to the cockpit and it's all brush painted (hairy sticks!) with Humbrol and Revell paints. All-in-all a thoroughly enjoyable build. Mike's review of the kit itself can be found here The WIP for my build can be found here Finally (at last!) here are the photos - I'm afraid I took rather a lot and then couldn't decide which not to use! The next few were taken when it was almost finished but show some slightly different views to the ones above: Some photos of the cockpit before being buttoned up: I also learnt a lot from many people who contributed in the WIP and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who dropped by. Kind regards, Stix PS I think there's a couple more Spitfires calling out to be made! More soon...........

Panther: 135 of 12 SS Pz, Tiger: 131 of sSSPzAbt 101 These are the first tanks I've built since who knows when. I'm pretty certain I must have built one or more when I was young (but I can't remember) and there's been none since. If I did make any they wouldn't have been made or painted properly. Both these German tanks were made as part of a diorama for the D-Day Group build. I need to say a big thank you to Sgt.Squarehead, Shermaniac and Brews for their assistance with choosing suitable tanks. Both tanks have some additions to what's provided in the box - the Panther has a spare wheel (mounted on the turret) plus an improved shovel and the Tiger has track links (mounted on the turret) both kindly sent me by Sgt.Squarehead. The Tiger also has the longer towing cable mounted on the side of the hull, which I fabricated from bits of left over cable from both Dragon kits and ends from the Panther kit. Both kits were really enjoyable to make and everything is brush painted with Humbrol and Revell acrylics applied with hairy sticks. The WIP can be found here Photos of the diorama they form part of can be found here Panther: Tiger: A few photos of them together: And a few from the diorama: The RFI of the Typhoon in the diorama can be found here. Thank you for looking. My RFI for another D-Day build, of Jerry Billing's Mk.IX Spitfire, can be found here. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

This is my first ever Typhoon and it was built as part of a diorama for the D-Day Group Build. After the D-Day landings 198 Squadron, flying out from Thorney Island, Funtingdon and Hurn, were involved with ground attacks on tanks (suitable for my diorama) and enemy emplacements around Caen. In July 1944 they moved to Plumetot and then followed the advancing troops into the Netherlands. To commemorate the 70th Anniversary of D-Day Eurofighter Typhoon, ZK308, was painted to represent Hawker Typhoon MN526. It's a lovely kit with nice detail - in fact the 'in-flight' version doesn't make use of a lot of the detail included in the kit so, at some point, I'm planning on making a version of it on the ground. It's all brush painted with Humbrol and Revell acrylic paints applied with hairy sticks. I have used a Prop Blur (another first for me) to make it look like it's in flight. The Typhoon itself is mounted on a clear acrylic rod. The WIP can be found here More photos of the diorama can be found here And a few photos of it on the diorama: My other D-Day aircraft build can be found here. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix