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Hello everyone. Since I’m not only a friend of warships but also a Star Wars fan from the very beginning. And when Bandai released this amazing Millennium Falcon model, I was blown away. This project will depict the famous falcon from Star Wars in a diorama. He should fly through a halved tube. This is based on some film scenes, where he flies through the interior of the not yet finished Death Star, for example. I’m really looking forward to the project because I’m going to build a ship that doesn’t plow through water but through space. And these are the ingredients. Bandai really went all out here. There has never been such an accurate and detailed model of the falcon. But as always, there is room for improvement Greenstrawberry offers some good etched part sets for science fiction. The Bandai figures in the kit are actually okay. Their drawback is that they are completely rigid. The company Falcon 3D Parts from the USA has four good sets for this. I took this one because I think Luke's pose is great. “It’s not a moon.” They also offer much better electronics. More on this later in the construction report. Since I started this kit at the beginning of the year, it's starting again in fast motion. First, the Mandibles. Everything in the kit fits really well. Here is the first time I had to putty. It’s amazing the level of detail Bandai has created here. Everything very delicate. With my 3D printer I created this black, inconspicuous part in the middle of the Falkon. This will be the later holder for the threaded rod that holds the model on the diorama. Well hidden in the lower weapon bay. Continue with the bottom side of the falcon. All gaps are excellently covered on the ramps. The lower part of the falcon is finished and looks very good. After priming and pre-shading, the first base coat is on. I chose Vallejo White Gray. Pure white would have been too cold for me. The first three panels are painted red. It was quite complicated because I hadn’t thought about installing the flap control later. Plate after plate it goes forward. A lot of masking work is required. The decals are still attached, and let’s start with the panel lining. A filter of khaki, blue, gray and green is now applied to the lower half. The wash consists of brown and dark gray. And secure with clear coat. Back to the mandies. They too have received a wash. The chipping and fading are still missing. Let's install it. Ok, having fun with chipping. I can experiment on the underside without fear of messing up the model. You don’t see much of that in the Dio anyway. But first a fundamental consideration from me. In chipping the falcon, I leave the template of the original for two reasons. First of all the color of the chipping spots. The different colored plates are supposed to give the impression in the film that Han and Chewi are repairing the falcon with all sorts of spare parts that they got from a junkyard. For example with a plate of a red or dark gray painted YT freighter. So far so good. However, if paint were to flake off the red replacement part, the original color of the falcon should not appear underneath, but rather the primer of the spaceship from which this plate originally came. Also, all the other panels painted in the original color of the falcon seem to have almost no scratch marks at all. So when are all the plates on gammelt? The next reason is that the chippings taken from the film and adopted by Bandai in the decals are way too coarse for this scale in my opinion. That fits more in 1:35. So I reinterpret my falcons and this is the first result. Although I still don’t know if I’m really satisfied. Lets go..... And then on to fading. On the underside the dirt runs inwards towards the middle, so think again. I use it very sparingly as it often quickly becomes too much. Let’s finish the subpage. The last streaks of dirt were still missing and I refined the chipping a little. This completes the underside of the falcon for now.

Hi all, I have been playing around with a few ideas for future diorama projects (I tend to work on 1/35th scale) and have mocked up a few sketches (I am far from an artist!!) which might help me with layout, composition and structure of architecture. However I cant decide which one I like best, so I have put the pictures below to see which one people liked most (I will probably work on all of them eventually but wondered which one people liked most). The options are one (tuscan hills), Two (north african souk) and three (Siegfried line bunker) One: Two: Three: Feedback and opinions welcome. Thanks Paul

Hi all Here is Tamiya’s 1/35 M41 “Walker Bulldog”, which I originally built 8 years ago (and recently made into a diorama) to represent a vehicle operated by the IV Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Armour School, Thu Duc, South Vietnam 1971. In 1964 the M41 light tank was selected to replace the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) M24 Chaffe light tank, which they had inherited from the French (who originally got them from the U.S.) The first M41A3s arrived in January 1965, equipping five ARVN squadrons by the end of the year. Apparently the M41 was an instant success with South Vietnamese armour crewmen, who found its interior to be just perfect for their stature, which had been a principal criticism by US crewmen who had been assigned to the vehicle. Scratch built items included: - Mantlet cover made from a piece of cloth - soaked in pva glue / water mix. - Ancillary generator exhaust system (brass tubing & card board) - Kit’s plastic grab handles replaced with wire - Tow cable made from string - Aerials made from round styrene rod - Jerry’s, water bottle and Ammo liners were from my spares box. It was painted with Italeri acrylics (O.D & Medium Green II) and weathered with oils and MIG pigment. Vehicle decals were from ‘Decalcomaniacs’ and .30 cal liner markings from ‘Arms Corps Models’ References Dunstan, Simon. Vietnam Tracks-Armor In Battle 1945–75. 1982 edition, Osprey Publications Various info I stumbled across on the net. Thanks for looking Greg

(Sci-Fi) Hangar Deck 04 (DP06) (No Scale) GreenStrawberry https://www.britmodeller.com/reviews/greenstrawberry/bases/dp04/boxtop.jpg Finding a display base for your latest creation can be a mite tricky, so it's often a case of building your own. No longer is that the case, as GreenStrawberry have come up with a new line of Display Pads that are available now, and able to be completed one of two ways, depending on how much effort you want to put into your base. The base arrives in a small black box with the usual GS styling, and a sticker featuring product details and a rendering of the finished article on the top. Inside is a section of thick plastic sheet, a glossy self-adhesive top surface that can be stuck to the base for a quick finish, a sheet of vinyl masking material and a clear sheet of transfer foil for those wanting to go the whole hog and paint up their own. The sheet measures 20cm x 13.5cm, and is just over 4.5mm thick, with a saw-cut texture to the edges that you might want to sand smooth before you begin peeling sticky things. It is white and really stiff, but as with all plastics, it can scratch quite easily, so keep it safe until you are ready to begin, as bad scratches might show through either paint or the stick-down cover. After handling it you may want to clean the top surface with some Isopropyl Alcohol before you start work to improve adhesion of whatever road you plan to travel toward its completion. All this is of course covered in the instruction sheet that accompanies the kit, as well as some inflated bags that hold everything safe for transport. The simplest method to complete the base involves the adhesive-backed paper, which has a glossy plastic cover on the surface to protect the printing. Lay it down carefully on the board and get rid of any bubbles or wrinkles before smoothing it down for the final time. Once it has adhered, cut the excess off with a new blade to prevent any stuttering or ripping. I'm going to try this method and overspray it with a coat of matt varnish to remove the sheen of the finish, as I prefer matt things. After taking the initial pictures I went ahead and put the sticker on the base, after first sanding away the saw-cut lines with a sheet of wet'n'dry taped to an old cutting mat, so that everything stayed square. A swipe with some IPA, and I began applying the sticker from the edge, removing one or two of the pre-cut sections of backing paper at a time. A quick tip here is ensure you don't end up creasing the paper, as it still shows through very slightly. Rubbing the sticker down as I went resulted in a good finish, which I burnished down after the initial adhesion, being careful not to ruck-up the edges. After that I flipped it over and sliced off the excess with a sharp blade, then burnished the edges down again. I think I'll leave the sides white, as they're a good counterpoint to the dark hangar bay. I'll report back after I've matt varnished the surface to let you know how that went. Meantime, here it is: The more time-consuming route involves the vinyl masks, which you use the clear transfer foil to move the relevant parts to your board, paint, remove, repeat as necessary until you are happy with it. You will have to make any of your own panels if you want to mimic the pre-printed finish, but you can also leave it bare, or increase the size of the panels at your whim to reduce or increase the perceived scale, so it offers plenty of freedom. Conclusion A neat and potentially quick Sci-Fi base that is suitable for smaller models, with the scope to add your own personalisations in between the masked areas. Review sample courtesy of

Norman Street 1:35 MiniArt A new release from their diorama range, this is a vacform and styrene multi-media kit that includes some rather colourful posters and shop headings into the bargain. The kit arrives in a large single-engined fighter kit-sized box, and has quite some weight in it. Inside are four large sheets of vacformed styrene and four more of injection moulded styrene, plus the instruction booklet, which has the posters and shop banners printed on the back page. If you're new to vacformed kits, or could do with some help, you will do well to visit John Adams (of Aeroclub fame) complete "how to" document here for enlightenment. The parts are all well-defined within the backing sheet, so scoring and cutting them accurately shouldn't be a problem, and once the excess styrene is sanded away, the parts will butt-fit together, which will be much improved if you add some alignment tabs from scrap styrene here and there. The kit builds up into two shop-fronts, based on a cobbled street, in the style of the architecture prevalent in Normandy in WWII. The kit includes the basic interiors, being double-skinned, so there is plenty of scope for decorating the insides of the building with furniture and personal effects. A full set of window frames and doors are included with the injection moulded sprues, but you'll be responsible for installing any glass that you would like present in the finished article. Shutters, guttering and even some wrought-iron railings are also included to allow some personalisation of the finished article, and when it comes to distressing the parts the world is your oyster. The base is predominantly block paved, with the pavement differentiated by a herring-bone pattern to the blocks, although it would benefit from being raised too, unless this isn't typical of the time. The buildings have tiled and wooden ground floors, with wooden upper floors to the two storeys above ground-level, and the whole thing is topped off by tiled and slated roofs, which have injection moulded end caps to finish them off. Installation of the guttering isn't documented in the instructions, and from looking at it, there probably wouldn't be sufficient to deck out the whole diorama, but it could find use in the rubble or debris if you choose to add some. The posters and shop fronts are well printed in full-colour on glossy paper, which should be thin enough for most purposes. They just need cutting out and gluing on the background, and would benefit from a coat of matt or satin varnish to tone down the gloss. There should be plenty of spares for future projects too, as there are ten posters in addition to the two shop-fronts, and four small signposts. Conclusion As with all of this excellent range of "boil-in-the-bag" dioramas, it will take a little work and some very careful painting, but the time saving over scratch building a similar diorama makes it a very worthwhile project. Inclusion of the fixtures and fittings adds further value, and as usual the moulding, both injection and vacuum, is of a high standard. Put aside your fear of vacforms and give one a whirl - you'll be surprised how easily they go together. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of