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  1. As promised and inspired by @Model Mate scratch built Pierce-arrow aa truck I thought I'd have a crack as something far more basic and manageable (as first venture/attempt). I wanted to use brass but chickened out, as I don't have right tools for this. Instead I used Evergreen abs, a bit of a paper clip, bits of spare sprue, some string and stretched sprue and some off cuts from a brass PE section (ie- a load of old tat I had laying around!) Voila, here it is a ML-3 inch mortar. This will eventually feature in my next diorama, which will appear in the RFI diorama section, in the new year. It'll be call 'Rounds Complete' and be set in Arnhem with a single figure. It'll have many more scratch built items such as: Vintage pictures, a rocking horse, tables, chairs, ammo boxes, maybe a guitar/violin case, tarps, stowage, gas lamp, books etc etc. I might add a few pics here as things progress. Its a bit rough around the edges, far from perfect but I'm reasonably happy with it. Before paint: After a bit of additions and paint: Thanks for taking a look Paul
  2. Wooden Crates with Fruit (35628) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Fruit gets sold in boxes quite often, and you can choose which pieces you want from the box, pop them in a bag or place them on some scales and then pay for them by weight. It has been this way for as long as fruit has been sold, and although modern supermarkets would have you buying your produce in superfluous plastic bags or cartons that end up on the rubbish tip, the old ways are best in this instance, and they can’t hide rotten or bruised pieces from your view. This is why my SO doesn’t let me go shopping with her. The set arrives in a shrink-wrapped end-opening figure box, and inside are nine sprues in grey styrene. As is common with this type of set, the instructions and painting guide are on the rear of the box, showing what’s included and giving painting instructions linked to a colour chart at the bottom, giving colour swatches, Vallejo, Mr Color, AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya and colour names. Close-up of the 'nanas and melons Double height boxes are included for displaying the fruit that is included in the set, and there are a total of sixteen on the four sprues. The instructions also show what fruit is which and how to make the boxes up, starting with the moulded layers that fill up the bottom of the boxes. In addition, there are a substantial number of single pieces of fruit to add to the boxes to give them some individuality, and both types of melon are supplied in halves, with the interior moulded into them in case you wanted to show any of them cut in half for display, or for eating (by model figures, not humans!). You also get advice on which colours to use, just in case you’re not familiar with the colour of any of them. Here’s a list of all the boxes of produce you’ll find on the sprues: 2 x Pears 2 x Lemons 2 x Green Apples 1 x Oranges 2 x Kiwi Fruit 2 x Red Apples 1 x Pomegranate 2 x Peaches 4 x Individual Melon Halves 4 x Individual Watermelon Halves 10 x Double Bunches of Bananas 2 x Empty Boxes Conclusion There’s not a lot to say other than if you’re in the market (pun!) for some fruit in handsome wood-effect boxes, you need look no further. This set has boxes of fruit that shouldn’t give you the pip. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  3. Hi guys I’m new to this group I wanted to ask if anyone has built this Air Force hanger 1/72 or 1/144 scale? I wanted to ask how sturdy it is and if you have a video or more detailed instructions on how to build. I don’t mind what scale your hanger is but as long as it is the one in the link below because they have the same instructions but are not much detailed. Thank you. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274228779760
  4. (Yes, this one’s the 1/72 model too! 👇) Here's my attempt at ZA560, a late-model GR.4 in the special livery of 41 Sqn. Not up to the incredible standard of some builds on here, but looks convincing enough from a distance. (Especially in that first diorama shot, where it's partially in shadow!). Kit: Revell 1/72 GR.1 Tornado Paint: Hataka Red Line acrylics, mostly airbrushed but some brush painted bits. Mr Color gloss clear, then oil weathered, decals added, and a coat of Winsor & Newton matt varnish to seal. Decals: Xtradecal Tornado GR4 specials (plus some from the kit and some from Eduard's Tornado stencil sheet) Aftermarket mods: plenty! Wings with dropped flaps, wing gloves, replacement nose, Paveway IVs, BOL rails and the "Aircraft armed" sign decal all from Air-Graphic models. Aires resin cockpit set. The Sky Shadow, BOZ and Litening pods were Eduard Brassin. Eduard "Remove before flight" tags. Landing lights were some crystal gem-type decorative kids things from Hobbycraft, only because I dropped one of the kit ones on the carpet and never found it! These are a little bigger and better-looking anyway. Scratchbuilt various antenna from plasticard, and those intake covers from tissue paper and PVA glue - not perfect but they're removable! Thanks for looking.
  5. Vignettes MUD Acrylic Textured Pastes Light Earth (A.MIG-2152), Sand (A.MIG-2156) & Vietnam Earth (A.MIG-2159) AMMO of Mig Jiménez Creation of ground works have been revolutionised by the introduction of pre-prepared pastes from various manufacturers, and now we have this range of texturing products from AMMO in smaller 100ml pots with a white screw-down lid. Each pot provides a different colour and texture of paste to be used in specific circumstances, as per the name on the front of the label. The pots are pre-sealed by thin tear-off covers that come off when first opened, revealing the glutinous mass beneath, and here you need to be careful, as shaking the pots can introduce bubbles that aren’t easily dispersed in the thick liquid. If you put the pot down firmly, you may end up with a big “plop!” and small quantities of paste spattering you and your workplace. I can testify to this, as I have had to clean a little of the sand coloured paste off my keyboard and jacket in such circumstances just the other day. At this point, it’s worth mentioning that it is acrylic paste, which made it easier to get off my black jacket before it dried, using a wet-wipe and some kitchen roll. In order to get a feel for these pastes, I ladled out a quantity onto small plastic cards, spreading it reasonably thin and smooth on each one, then introducing a little texture to the layer either on purpose or by happy accident. Whether the shapes were retained by the drying material indicated that the slump of the paste was low, which should allow the modeller to create ruts and other shapes in the layer with confidence that it will remain in the dried paste. I used an artist’s palette-knife to apply the layers, cleaning it between colours, although you may wish to mix your own colours and textures if you’re making a diorama where that would be appropriate. I left the cards to dry overnight, as they were still a little soft by the end of the session. The next day they were all touch dry, but a little softness remained in the thicker areas, and that softness remained the following day or two, although slightly reduced each day. After taking the photographs for the review I flexed the cards to see if I could dislodge the paste, and it stayed in place tenaciously, despite having been applied to an unprepared and shiny plastic surface, although a few cracks did appear, which is only to be expected due to how much I flexed it. Larger clumps can be picked or scraped off with a suitable blade or tool, so corrections or flat-spots can be made later without needing to resort to tactical nukes to dislodge the paste. Incidentally, the paste dries with a slightly glossy or satin aspect, and although it’s likely you will lay some paint over the base coat to vary the tone, it will create a good base upon which to build, thereby saving some paint and time. It also gives an impression of wet ground thanks to its shiny surface, and the larger grained earth pots appear as if they were damp ground where the soils are reaching saturation point before water starts to pool on the surface. Conclusion Application was easy with the correct tools, and the palette knife is definitely the right tool for the job, as it would ruin any paint brush you used, and as to blowing it through an airbrush? Don’t be silly!!!! Allow plenty of time for the paste to dry, and you should end up with realistic base on which to build your diorama or vignette. Highly recommended. Light Earth Ground (A.MIG-2152) Sand Ground (A.MIG-2156) Vietnam Earth (A.MIG-2159) Review sample courtesy of
  6. Street Accessories with Lamps & Clocks (35639) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Until the post-war age, much of the western world’s street furniture was made from cast or wrought iron, as it was relatively cheap, long-lasting and strong. A lot of this metal was hoovered up in service of the war effort, particularly in the UK where it was more of a propaganda exercise so that the people would feel like they were contributing in some way. Street lamps, bollards, the frames of benches, and fencing were constructed in this way, and because watches were still luxury items to an extent, clocks were sometimes mounted prominently on brackets or posts for all to see. This set contains a selection of these type of items, and arrives in a small top-opening box which holds nine sprues in grey styrene, six in clear, a small decal sheet and a black & white instruction sheet with colour code chart at the bottom of the back page. From these sprues you can build three posts, one with three lamps on angle brackets, one with a solitary lamp, and another with a clock mounted at its top. Each post has ladder-rest arms at the top of a fluted stem, and a wider base that is made from two halves. The lamp enclosures are made from two clear halves with a styrene top and separate ferrule at its apex. There is also a bracket and floor at the bottom into which the clear bulb is placed for added realism. There are parts for four clocks, two of which can be made double-sided by gluing two faces back-to-back, with decals for all the faces, separate hands for them all, and large domed clear lenses to be fitted over the faces. A clock or a lamp can be mounted to a fancy right-angle bracket, so you can customise the appearance of the assemblies as you wish. Additional parts can be used to make up six large circular man-holes with separate lids that have waffle-textured surfaces, six rectangular grids with separate slatted covers, three benches with iron end-frames and two identical sets of slats for the seat and back. There are also six bollards made from two halves bearing a passing resemblance to a pawn from a chess set, plus six lengths of fancy iron fencing, which are linked together by two-part iron posts with either one or two lengths of fencing between each post. Markings The decals are printed by DecoGraph for MiniArt to their usual high standard, and there are six clock faces in three styles available for your use. The instructions have colour call-outs throughout, and these numbers refer to the chart on the back page that gives you codes for Vallejo, Mr Color (enamel C-range), AK RealColor, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, plus colour names, which should allow most modellers to track down some suitable colours. Conclusion A great set of accessories for your next diorama. Detail is excellent, and the clear parts are just what’s needed to give your model extra realism – a lamp with an LED hidden inside maybe? Add some every day grime and weathering to the painting as appropriate to the situation, and your model will be all the better for it. Highly recommended. This set is out of stock at time of writing, but should be back in stock soon Review sample courtesy of
  7. Another new diorama for me, although to be honest I have already almost finished it before getting round to doing a WIP for it. I wanted to do a diorama where you can't see everything that is going on in one glance, and have to look round the whole thing to see everyone and everything. The plan for this one was to have a narrow street approaching Arnhem (fictitious street not in any way related to an actual location), with high walls on both sides and a building, behind which a group(s) of German soldiers would be waiting to ambush the Para recce team on their way to the bridge. I started off using a 12" x 12" wooden panel from Hobbycraft that I have used before and make great bases. However I was unable to find a cobbled street base that fitted what I wanted, so decided (foolishly perhaps) to mould my own individual cobbles and lay the street out myself. Here is the base with some 5mm foam board on top and the start of the road way:. The crater at the end was done by drilling a hole in the base then building the crater up with foam board and modelling paste from W&N Galeria. The cobbles were moulded using plaster with varying amounts of grey ink added and some weathering powder sprinkled into the mould for contrasts. They were then individually fixed in place using white PVA wood glue. This is the base with the main basic road way finished: Once the first road was done it was a case of fitting in various walls to make the scene as restrictive looking and narrow as possible. The first wall was left over Tamiya wall pieces with a scratch built gate made from plasticard. The crater was built up more using modelling paste with some bricks thrown in for good measure. There are two broken sewer pipes in the bottom of the crater but these ended up barely visible unfortunately. Once all this was set I ordered some resin parts from Diodump in Holland, plus some grass matting and wooden floorboard. These arrived in good time but I got stung for VAT twice unfortunately (another hidden benefit of Brexit?) To be continued....................................
  8. Hi all, I picked this kit up off eBay last year at a good price, I will be building a diorama as a follow up to my previous build a few years back. This is a huge kit; shortly after buying it I found a pair of resin replacement heads, which look far more accurate than the kit offerings. I hope to have this build completed by the autumn. Included are some photos of my previous build and I have a video of it on my YouTube channel (Skyray Models) for anyone interested.
  9. Air Conditioners & Satellite Dishes (35638) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Even the best neighbourhoods have satellite dishes these days, and air-conditioning units are becoming more common too, thanks to global warming, whilst also contributing to the problem too, ironically. This set contains parts for you to create some of these must-have accessories for your next diorama. Inside the shrink-wrapped figure-sized box are three sprues, a Photo-Etch (PE) sheet in a card envelope, and a small decal sheet. From the box you can build two air-conditioning units with electric junction-boxes, plus two satellite dishes of different sizes. You’ll have to provide the wiring though, but a length of fly-tying lead wire from your local fishing shop will do that job. The instructions are on the rear of the box, and have you creating the satellite dishes from the wall bracket, either size of dish and the LNB on support arm, which can be installed with up to two extra LNBs on the same arm, using PE brackets to join them together. The two aircon units are well-detailed, having interior ribbing and three-bladed fan, plus two styles of PE vents on the front and side to differentiate and for enhanced realism. The two brackets attach to the wall to finish the unit off, and there is one large junction box and three smaller ones, one of which has three corrugated lengths of conduit leading from the ground up. Incidentally, my example was supplied with two satellite dish sprues and one air conditioner sprue, which is back to front according to the sprue map on the back of the box. Check yours before you start cutting parts off the sprue. Markings The small decal sheet has two lots of family friendly graffiti, one saying “Danger” in black, the other in two parts saying “Stay Wild” in red, white and green, giving it a rather Italian pizza feeling. The rest of the decals incorporate two Cooper & Hunter logos (they make Aircon units), a Viacom and Hisense satellite dish logo, plus ten electricity danger triangles, and another five with skull & crossbones. Decals are by MiniArt’s usual partners Decograph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The devil is in the detail when it comes to dioramas, and MiniArt have a large and growing range of this kind of sets to help you bring extra detail to your dioramas. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  10. Hi all, This one was a long time in the finishing, but I got there in the end! In 2018 I had the idea to pair the Eduard Mig_15bis with the Zil-157 fuel tanker/bowser from Omega. Some of the diorama inspiration came from the tanker box art (Link here). Since that time, other projects and two house moves bumped this build down the priority list. I picked up a very small bit of shaped MDF from Telford one year with this project in mind (the edges took a lot of sanding/varnish to make them smooth). The Eduard MiG-15bis kit was a straightforward build with nice details (including colour PE for the cockpit). The 'oversprayed' Korean war markings did not come out well, so I added them back in by hand in oils, which looked OK. The only aftermarket was the Eduard Brassin resin wheels. I opened up an engine access panel on the side of the aircraft and added some very basic internal detail. The tanker kit had nice details but poor fit, especially around the clear parts which took some coaxing to sit right. I posed the aircraft and tanker on printed hexagonal airfield texture from Scale Model Scenery. I bought some (expensive) scenic snow kit from Deluxe, mainly to support my local hobby shop, but the product was disappointing and the snowflakes would only suit 1/35 or larger scales. I ended up adding some good old baking powder to the base which looked better as wind-blown fine snow. I added PE ladders, maintenance gantry, chocks and intake and engine covers from Eduard Res-IM. I made a 'tarp' from foil, tissue and PVA, and added one mechanic figure with spanner in hand fiddling with the open access panel, and another figure climbing the fuel bowser. The figures were 'Frankenfigures' cobbled together from Preiser and Revell U-boat sets, and a fair bit of 'green stuff'! Additional PE tools and tool box came from Brengun. Hope you like the pics.
  11. Several years ago while airfix had enterd their discount to oblivion price war with them selfs i managed to bag their 1/24 Mosquito for around £40.00 and a few of their Bf 109e-4/e-1 kits for a little over £3.00 each from Airfixes own online shop. I probably got 4 of them to get to a free postage point but not sure . Rather than just building one of these kits with a whole lot of after market stuff to make it something different and have the remaining 3 kits sit on the shelf forever more ,i have decided to do a production line and build all four together and set them in a diorama . inspiration for the diorama comes from this picture I hope to get the 4 aircraft in various stages of take off . The first will have its main wheels still on the ground like this the second aircraft will have just left the ground The 3rd and 4th aircraft will be starting their climb 3rd aircraft with wheels starting to retract The 4th will have the wheels fully retracted . I have made a mock up to experiment with Obligatory pictures of unstarted lkits and contents . Only photographed one box content as they are all the same .(promise) Nice to find that Airfix have provided reasonable moulded pilots so that will keep costs down . I have orderd some decals With 4 schemes i will do them all . Thanks for looking Alastair
  12. Hi all, here are the final pictures for my Fantastic Voyage Proteus Diorama build. I wanted to depict the part of the movie where the sub had entered into the inner ear and the intake vents had got blocked up with as Donald Pleasence called them "particular fibres". This meant scratch building the 3 leg supports that were shown in the movie and I attached a diver to the front intake, who is attempting to remove the fibres. The guy with the laser rifle is a bit of artistic licence as that scene came later in the movie. The base was an old plastic sweet box [Quality Street or Candy for our US folks], which I sprayed black and added a 12v power socket and various coloured flashing LED lights. I covered that with some bubble wrap to give the impression of cell structures, bearing in mind that the sub has been miniaturised to the size of an atom. For the fibres I used a Tack cloth washed in lacquer thinners to remove the wax impregnated in it. Then I attached the shredded cloth to the sub with UV clear resin which I airbrushed clear blue, red and black smoke Tamiya paints over them. Many thanks to everyone for all the great comments and feedback for this build thread. I would like to build another Proteus kit in the future, but to keep it clean looking and sitting on the miniaturisation table. I hope you enjoy the 60's psychedelic dive into the human body!
  13. Hi all, calling this done, I added some scratch built high voltage capacitors with some colour changing SMD lighting. Maybe this will bring a bit of a spark to the monster's bride! Happy modelling! Just for fun I've uploaded a cheesy video!
  14. Hello all. This is the work in progress towards part 2 of my 'Grand old duke of York' diorama in 1/72 scale. I welcome all comments and feedback, please bear in mind this is my second dio. The idea for this piece is that its connected to the first diorama, of the same name, as a sort of before and after project. The Part 1 is in the RFI section: Part 1 is set during early autumn 1944 and the battle along the Tannenburg line ,in Estonia, is raging. The 3rd Germanic Panzer Corp, consisting of the 11th Nordland division and 11th infantry division, amongst others is fighting to defend against an entire soviet army. In reality the battle was at its height at the end of July and ended with German withdrawal in September. Part 2- is set on the same battlefield but the battle is now over, its early winter and the 2nd soviet shock army is clearing out the area, including engineers sweeping for mines, removing barbed wire, tanks pulling out obstacles and used almost as tractors hauling the wreckage away. Their are dead, wounded and surrendering troops scattered across the scene. The remaining Estonian SS are a hand full of stragglers, fighting more for their own country than for the Nazis. This is the idea where the title came from as Estonia was occupied first by the soviets and then by the nazis and then retaken by the soviets. On to the build itself: I have some left over parts from my first diorama which I will be using in this-First to start with is the large block of kingspan insulation, I savaged from a bit of waste land I was running past: Sorry for the blur! Then I drew out the outlines with a sharpie. I carved the block up into the shape I wanted. I then plastered the whole thing in my ground soloution: Polyfiller/pva/sand and paint: I used sandpaper for the road and rocks from the garden for guess what...Rocks! I have a bit of a mission on for this one as I have to try and replicate the original size and shape. After the initial covering I sanded it down and applied more of the same. I then made some of the items to go into the dio- the blue tac sand bags. I shape them, paint black, then a nasty yellow colour, This is a sort of shading. I then apply middlestone with a touch of brown. At this stage the colours don't really matter as all will be covered with snow. Below is are the cured vegetation from my garden, I wanted a alpine tree so used some of a shrub and hairspray to lacquer, for three days, hoping to keep some of it bright green colour. Next I started to paint, on mass, the tooth picks, carved pencils, skewers and cut up lollipop sticks which form my trench walls/fire step and anti tank obstacles: This is the result: I broke some of the trees on purpose and stuck them into place. I also crushed up brick and masonry from my yard to look like the remains of the farm house from the original which was burning down. I enjoyed busting out the trench wall and placing broken trench boards in places where it had been hit by a shell. Basically to be lazy and save time I put shell rounds into the areas I didn't want to have to replicate in their totality.... it is a battlefield after all. I chose the left over tufts of grass which were too garishly bright for the autumn scene to use in this one because it'll all be covered in snow and I still would like some colour to peek through from the foliage below. An IS-2 tank with riders and a Russian flag will run over the rubble section and a T34/85 will be burnt out and abandoned in the massive icy shell hole in the centre of the battlefield. From the opposite side another t34/85 will have a chain attached to pull out one of the anti tank obstacles. You'll see I used brown, grey and black on the ground for some harsh contrast of colour with the shell holes and recessesd areas. I have also added graves to this scene to tell part of the story, I will cover these up during the 'snow' process as want them to look freshly dug and not buried by snow flurry's. I have also got some left over airfix infantry from the original scene and will cut the helmets off them and place on top of the wooden match sticks to mark the graves. I may have some soviet solders standing/sitting on top of a grave, to show their contempt and hatred of the enemy. I'll see when I get that far. In the pic below you'll see the crater which I will try to portray as a denotation which the Germans left to blow up the road to slow the progress of the advance. They have left a few futile sand bags in this area, I will place a replica of the original half track burnt out and on its side in front of this crater as a barricade. From this area the 'stragglers' will be trying to protect their surrendering comrades (will make more sense once finished I hope).
  15. Hi, I've seen some really spot on title plinths/plaques (call them what you will) on here and was hoping some of you guys might have places of recommend for these? Many thanks, Paul
  16. Hi all, in 1966 this was the most expensive Sci-Fi film ever produced, costing 6 million dollars. The special effects cost 3 million dollars and were incredibly difficult to produce, but they looked amazing in the day when you consider they used no computer aided effects, it was all photo chemical film, every set had to be built and filmed through a camera. Today's CGI would give the director total control over the images, which makes it all the more remarkable how this film got made, a true 60's Sci-Fi classic. For this build I will be adding some lighting and all of the crew figures, which will be added into the diorama later in the build.
  17. Small Carts Collection (35621) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models MiniArt’s range of diorama accessories in 1:35 are legion, and it keeps getting more legion-y by the month. This set contains a variety of wheeled carts, and arrives in a shrink-wrapped figure box with five sprues in grey styrene, one for each of the items shown on the box top. The instructions on the back give a brief run-down of construction, and are accompanied by painting suggestions that relate to a table that gives small swatches, paint codes from Vallejo, Mr.Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, and the colour names in English. As these are just guides, the world is your oyster, and if you want to paint your cart in different colours then no-one* is going to stop you. * I do however advise you that someone is bound to be an expert on carts, so if they’re not well-adjusted socially and you’re unlucky enough to come across them, at least I warned you. From the box you can build what I refer to as a sack truck, often seen on the railways in the 50s and earlier being pushed around by Porters, with two small wheels and a metal bracket to take the weight of the object. A traditional open-sided wooden wheel-barrow with single wheel, wooden frame and load bed, plus another with a sloping, pressed steel load area are also included. A four-wheeled wooden trolley with an open framework load area and long pull-handle is really the first true cart, and the last is another wooden cart with large carriage-style wheels and two legs to enable the user to keep the load-bed flat, and two handles for the barrow-man to lift and push/pull his load. This one is typically used by street vendors to sell groceries, flowers and the like. Conclusion Detail is excellent throughout as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, and moulding is crisp and clean, showing off the wooden texture where appropriate, plus the slight irregularity that is inherent with ageing wooden equipment and lends itself perfectly to some paint weathering and chipping, as shown on the box art. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  18. Hi guys, I've finally finished my LOTR diorama and it's ready for inspection :) Also this time I've made a video tutorial on yt how to build such diorama. You can check it here. Also if you like this video and want to see more like these, please consider to support my new channel by subscribing to it, thank you. Finally here is one of the photos if someone won't see the full video ;)
  19. Whilst waiting on paints to arrive for my Chinook build, i started on the Hobby Boss Land Rover, which due to how easy it was to put together, it didn’t take long! Which meant i could get on with the diorama setting. Having seen these vehicles in Afghanistan for myself (though not with ATGM’s) i really wanted a patrol meeting scene. Also in this build was a 1/35 scale Modern UK Infantrymen, present day by Masterbox, and they make up all the figures of the scene. Even though i have finished this build, having a bit more experiance with paints ect. I will go over the vehicle and figures in a Matt Varnish to take off the shine from them. So this one being my 3rd build, i am extremely happy with how it turned out. Though thinking back on it, it would have looked a bit better with fabric rolled up on the front light grills(for blackout) and some kind of lash down for the spare Milan Rocket.....maybe ill look into it in the future.
  20. Hi guys, at long last my 1/144 resin Imperial Shuttle has a home in this converted freezer tray. This is my first attempt at a forced perspective diorama. In the opening scene from the Return of the Jedi, Vader's shuttle is seen leaving the Star Destroyer and flying to the hanger bay on the 2nd Death Star, although the Star Destroyer was not seen from the Death Star's hanger bay in the movie; I thought it would be a cool feature to add into my diorama. Keeping to the true spirit of Industrial Light and Magic's [ILM] model construction techniques, I kit bashed all of the details from old kit parts and bits and bobs hanging around the home. Cable zip ties, disposable shaving blades, pen tops, 1/25 car engine parts, 1/32 and 1/35 helicopter parts, tank tracks, etc all went into the build. I really enjoyed this build and plan on doing another Star Wars diorama in the future. Thank you for following along and enjoy the pictures. "The Force will be with you always". ttfn. Lee.
  21. Hi Folks, Verlinden had some "nice" Skulls and Bomes in their catalogue. Well suitable for large scale Dioramas (around 1/15 to 1/20). Unfortunately they seem to have stopped business and Verlinden Article 1473 is no longer available on the market. Does anybody have an idea, were to get a suitable replacement? Easy to find small scale Resin Skeletons on ebay but i could not find anything for 1/20 and larger....
  22. Medium Coarse Brass Chain (H1016) 1:35 & 1:48 CMK by Special Hobby Lots of vehicles have short chains hanging from them, and there are a myriad uses for it in dioramas, as well as on boats and ships. Getting chains in scale isn’t always that easy, so having ready access to a series of sizes in a handy pack is pretty useful. This set contains 30cm of brass chain with links that are 2mm wide and 2.5mm long, although you actually get a shade more than 30cm, which is nice. It comes in a flat CMK package with the chain held inside a ziplok bag to reduce tarnishing, so my sample came out of the bag nice and shiny. In use you can cut it to length with a pair of nippers, paint it and even use some patinating fluid to age the chain and make it blend in with your model. There’s not much more to say, other than it’s a useful tool to have in stock, as you never know when you’ll need it, even for something as simple as replacing moulded chain on your latest AFV model because the original isn’t very convincing. There are a few other sizes available and you can see them all below. Very highly recommended. Coarse 1:35 (H1013) Medium Coarse 1:35 & 1:48 (H1016) Medium 1:48 (H1014) Fine 1:72 (H1014) Review sample courtesy of
  23. Hello everyone, and a happy New Year to all fellow plastic-botherer's. Here's my Tamiya 1/48 P-38 for inspection. Lovely kit which is beautifully engineered and goes together without any drama. I added a basic Eduard set (cockpit details mostly) and seatbelts. I have to say I don't think it needs the internal extras - what's in the kit is pretty good, and the instrument panel can't be seen without an endoscope anyway. I also added a Brassin gunbay and ammo belt for a bit of extra interest/challenge. The kit comes with decals for the gun barrels which is novel, but I wasn't convinced and decided I needed to change the barrels at least. I know the wheels are wrong by the way; I foolishly used a (well recognised) restored aircraft for reference until I realised it was actually a different variant - Doh! Unfortunately Tamiya only give you three halves of the wheels, so I couldn't make up the correct ones as well as these spoked versions. I prefer the look of the spokes over the flat panels though so I'm happy. I painted it with Humbrol enamel on the underside and Tamiya Olive drab (lightened a bit) on the top, over hairspray and rub n' buff silver wax paste. Weathering is oils and pastels. Tamiya also provided the oil barrels and jerry cans (not in the P-38 kit - from their separate accessories set). Figures are from ICM's ground crew (including virtualliy free P-51!) and the Jeep is by 4D models from China - a bit basic and needed a bit of improvement, but for £2.65 unbeatable value! The diorama base is plaster filler and tile grout with 2mm static grass and a few bits of coffee stirrer and tea bag fabric soaked in PVA for the assorted junk. WIP can be found here.... Thanks for looking.
  24. Dioramas! Never made one but I've seen a couple of short videos on YouTube about them, and the seem quite involved to say the least. I'm going to be looking for a few, and specifically a circular RAF dispersal pan from WW2 for a Heavy Bomber in 1/72 and 1/48 scales. I was wondering, what is available out there, made and ready to go? I have seen the sort of flat rectangular cardboard types (not really a fan of these), but what do people know about others with texture, foliage and a little bit of undulation etc? I was also wondering if there are companies, or people on here that will commission and create dioramas to a clients request? What experience do people here have with either of these avenues and the cost implications? Would be great to see some images from anyone that has made or bought some of these dioramas!
  25. D-Day Operation Overlord Gift Set (A50162A) 1:72/1:76 Airfix Operation Overlord was over a year in planning, and resulted in the largest amphibious invasion ever staged, originally intended to take place earlier in June 1944, but was delayed until a brief lull in the bad weather permitted the gamble to be taken. Over 150,000 men and tanks were landed on the first day on five beaches in Normandy, France named Gold, Sword, Juno, Utah and Omaha, with varying levels of resistance encountered from light to extreme, the latter experienced by the Americans on Omaha. Despite heavy casualties all the beachheads held, and once sufficient armour had been landed, the slow progress inland began, taking almost a year to reach Berlin and end the war in Europe. Many hard battles had to be won during that progress, and the destruction of men, materials and civilians was severe. As is only correct, we still remember this day each year and the men and women that fought bravely, some making the ultimate sacrifice, in the hope that we never repeat such destructive behaviour. The Kit This is a huge gift set both in size and of many individual kits and play sets, brought together to remember the 6th June 1944, and it includes classic and more modern component parts as follows: 1:76 Sherman M4A2 Tank (1961) 1:76 Cromwell IV Tank (2011) 1:76 Bedford QLD Truck (2010) 1:72 Willys MB Jeep, Trailer and Howitzer (2004) 1:76 LCM Landing Craft (1966) 1:72 Higgins LCVP (2014) 1:72 WWII British Infantry – vinyl (2011) 1:72 WWII German Infantry – vinyl (1968) 1:72 Coastal Defence Fort (1971) 1:72 D-Day Diorama Base That’s quite a pile of plastic, and although they’re mixed between 1:72 and 1:76 scales, there’s so little difference between them that the two scales are often put on the same baseboard with no issues for the most part. While some of the kits are a little old, they are balanced out by some fairly recent toolings with the benefits that bestows upon them. A few of the older tools have been re-released so many times over the last 50-60 years that a little mould wear is evident, as can be seen on the Coastal Defence Fort, which I had as a kid with the working guns that fired pointed little shells. Some flash is also visible, most prominent on the German Infantry, so a little scalpel work will be required to make those go away. Flash is still preferable to short shot parts, though. As this is a gift set, it also includes a set of acrylic paints in small thumb-pots, plus two tubes of cement, and two brushes of size 0 and 4, both with protective tubes over their ferules and bristles. Some of the pots in my sample had weeped slight at some point during or after production, but as they were heat-sealed in a separate bag, just take care that there isn't wet paint in your pack before you empty them out on your best dining table or suede sofa. 1:76 Sherman M4A2 Tank (1961) This kit of the much-loved Sherman has been around since 1961. Although basic it captures the look of the tank quite well. Decals are supplied for one US Army Tank. 1:76 Cromwell IV Tank (2011) This one is quite recent, and captures the look of the flawed Cromwell, with plenty of parts, and tracks moulded as complete runs on each side. 1:72 Willys MB Jeep, Trailer and Howitzer (2004) This little kit is well-detailed with a number of high part count, plus a stubby howitzer in addition, with moulded tilt and clear parts for the windscreen. 1:76 LCM Landing Craft (1966) For its day, it was well-detailed, and has worn well with a little flash around the three figures who now have "snow-shoes" that can easily be removed, but in good shape otherwise. 1:72 Higgins LCVP (2014) Another landing craft, but of modern heritage that shows in good detail and crisp parts moulding. 1:72 WWII British Infantry – vinyl (2011) A rather recent set of vinyl figures with more modern sculpting and naturalistic poses. Plus, who doesn’t like a PIAT, with its silly but effective short-range spring-loaded projectiles! 1:72 WWII German Infantry – vinyl (1968)[/b] An old staple of the Airfix play figures range, and here the moulds have suffered a little, with plenty of flash to scrape or slice off. The classic poses will have many of you smiling to yourselves as you relive your youth. 1:72 Coastal Defence Fort (1971) As already mentioned, I had this set in my youth, and loved the working guns, shooting matchsticks at the "baddies" after I’d lost all those shells under the sofa. With modern concerns for kids losing eyes though, these have been omitted, although the shells are still there. Some of the paired holes used to clip the parts together are flashed over due to old age, and there is a fair amount of flash to be dealt with. I bought one last year as a trip down memory lane, and it’s doable. 1:72 D-Day Diorama Base (vacform) I couldn’t find much out about this one, but I’ll admit to not trying too hard. It’s a big 60cm x 32cm sheet with a little selvedge round the edges expanding it further. It is vacformed in grey styrene, and to modern eyes the texture of the sea isn’t all that realistic, but the rest looks good. It has a flat recess ready for the fort, and some decent shell-holes on the beach, so with some extra work, some flock for grass and adjustment of the sea texture, it could look great. Markings The various kits that have markings are detailed within the instructions by colour profiles, and the decal sheet is sectioned up into six segments, one for each of the vehicles. As is usual for Airfix, the decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion There’s a lot in the box, and a greater proportion than you’d originally think are of recent vintage. Whether it’s a boxing for us modellers, or more aimed at the younger folks is down for each individual to decide, but if you fancy it just for the kits, to play with, or for a trip down memory lane, no-one will judge you. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of
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