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Ever evolvin dio. ft. 'THE INDESTRUCTIBLE TREE' as ft. on youtube.


Badder

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Hi Badder. It's fascinating to see how your project is developing. The walls are looking great, as I knew they would, and I like the way you did the tea leaf wall foliage. I think a Jagdpanther (or something similar) would work well with the buildings but if you still wanted to use the Stug, but wanted to increase it's 'presence', what about having it cresting a pile of rubble piled up in front of the building? Just a thought.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

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I applied more tea leaves and tinted the using green weathering powder and thinners as a wash. Then I glossed the area and applied washes of very dark brown over the stonework, followed by a matt coat and a dusting of plaster powder.

I still haven't finished off the reverse, or the window and will probably snip the end off of this wall so as to be able to slant the building further back towards the rear.

KBTINXb.jpg

 

 

TFL

Badder

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23 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Badder. It's fascinating to see how your project is developing. The walls are looking great, as I knew they would, and I like the way you did the tea leaf wall foliage. I think a Jagdpanther (or something similar) would work well with the buildings but if you still wanted to use the Stug, but wanted to increase it's 'presence', what about having it cresting a pile of rubble piled up in front of the building? Just a thought.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

Hi Stix,

Unfortunately the StuG's wheels/tracks are set for the flat and having it drive over uneven surfaces wouldn't look right. But anyway, the problem is the size of the base as much as the size of the building, and of course, I'd have to do snow. I've decided against that full stop. (I want the work I've done to be visible, not buried)

 

I will finish this building then make my Churchill VII. If that turns out good I will plonk that in this dio and get a couple of Universal Carriers to go with it.

If in the meantime I purchase a Jagdpanther or something similar, then that might feature instead. And once I've made the choice I can finish off the dio to suit.

 

Rearguards

Badder

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I've spent hours this afternoon and evening making a new, larger base. I purchased a sheet of MDF and some strips of wood for making the borders. Now I'm afraid to say that I have no power tools at all, so I had to cut all the strips to length and mitre the joints with nothing more than a junior hacksaw. Then I had to screw the borders to the MDF, drilling all the holes with a pin vise, and counter-sinking with a scalpel.

Needless to say the mitres aren't perfect and the counter-sinking is 'rough' at best, but the job is now complete... unlike the palm of my hand which is missing a patch of blistered skin! 

I intend to veneer the borders, hiding the 'hatchet' job.

 

Here's a couple of plan views of the base with the building in two 'poses' for a sense of scale. As you can see my diorama base is now more than double the size with plenty of room for a second building if I fancy! 

16RLTXV.jpg

 

KC3tiu9.jpg

 

The camera setting have made the base look square, but it's roughly 80cm x 60cm.

 

TFL

Badder

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I personally think the 2 faces of the building will help to fill the area and will persuade the eye to look along its length which in turn  will run the eye over the entire scene. 

If there was just the one building you will look at the tank, might look kinda isolated, then the backdrop . . .   a bigger area to cover  . . .

 

Not knowing your ideas, they are just my thoughts you understand  . . .

Ian

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1 hour ago, FrancisGL said:

By what I see the project, it gets bigger and bigger ...:popcorn: when you finish it, it will be epic ...cheers Badder  :D

Yeah, I decided I may as well have a go at an 'Epic' now. Who knows how long I have left on this earth? I honestly doubt I'll make it into my 70's! :D

This dio, and the vehicles to go with it may very well take me two years. I hope you can stick around!

Rearguards,

Badder

46 minutes ago, Mancunian airman said:

I personally think the 2 faces of the building will help to fill the area and will persuade the eye to look along its length which in turn  will run the eye over the entire scene. 

If there was just the one building you will look at the tank, might look kinda isolated, then the backdrop . . .   a bigger area to cover  . . .

 

Not knowing your ideas, they are just my thoughts you understand  . . .

Ian

Hi Ian,

You are quite right. That's why I liked the idea of the long building layout, as you say making a good 'back drop' to a column of AFVs/troops, but the base was slightly too small and would make everything looked cramped. So I went for a bigger base. And the base is a fair bit bigger than I had intended. However, I can keep the 'long layout' of the building AND add a second building OR return to the short layout of the building, and add a second building. The second building is shown below, but that needs more built on the rear to get it looking right. (out of the box, the rear of the building is cut away neatly, making it look like a doll's house.)

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

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CHAPTER TWO

 

Here's the second building. This is the same building that features in the wonderful diorama 'Where's Joe', although I wasn't aware of that until after I purchased it. Mine though, will be extended at the rear to make it wholly realistic and not like a doll's house at the rear.

 

As you can see you get a lot of plastic for your money. After studying the catalogue, I thought this was the most economical kit of all, given that it will be easy to make latex moulds of its walls and replicate them both for extending the rear of the building and for future projects.

j74gBqt.jpg

 

 

Walls, steps and roof parts. The roof parts in particular will come in very handy for casting.

4q1Q1VW.jpg

 

CuXs2aO.jpg

 

,

Architectural details, doors, windows, guttering, etc. Many of these parts are 'bog standard' MiniArt mouldings and are supplied with their other kits. The extras here are the 'barn door' and railings 

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

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i may come late on this but if you want something for inspiration you can check, if you're not aware of the place ( and i'm pretty sure you know it ), at Oradour Sur Glane. 

the good thing is that you can find an awful lot of color and detailed pictures of it.

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1 hour ago, cambridge said:

i may come late on this but if you want something for inspiration you can check, if you're not aware of the place ( and i'm pretty sure you know it ), at Oradour Sur Glane. 

the good thing is that you can find an awful lot of color and detailed pictures of it.

Hi Cambridge,

Oh believe me I am very aware of the place. It's where the SS murdered hundreds of men women and children in cold blood.

Now I'm all for researching 'ruined buildings' and blown up tanks and things, but personally I wouldn't use a photo from that village as reference material. The place is a 'war memorial' and it wouldn't feel respectful. Those are just my feelings about it.

Instead I just google 'ruined farm building' or 'ruined town house 1945' etc. There's millions of photos out there with no emotional context.

 

Rearguards,

Badder.

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1 hour ago, FrancisGL said:

Please, i would like you to explain me better "bog standard" Miniart, because I have been seeing some of their products (dioramas catalogue... fault of yours ...:poke:), but I'm not sure if they are worth it ...:popcorn:

Cheers Badder :D

Ah, now, Francis.....

I happen to know the answer to this one! (thanks to an episode of Antiques Roadshow, many many years ago!)

 

We say 'BOG STANDARD'  to mean the 'ordinary, the usual, the normal'

However the phrase is a 'bastardisation' of the phrase 'BOX STANDARD' 

It's all thanks to Meccano, the childrens' construction set. their 'basic' or 'entry level' construction sets.had the phrase 'box, standard' printed on them, while the bigger more expensive sets had 'BOX DELUX'  printed on them. The commonest sets sold were obviously the 'BOX STANDARD' sets so there are more of those sets and parts about. Somehow, probably by mishearing, people started saying BOG standard instead and it stuck.

 

 

That's my history lesson for the day done!

Rearguards,

Badder.

 

PS other phrases meaning ordinary, lots of the same things, are 'churned out', 'run of the mill' and 'of the same stamp' :D

 

 

 

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Oh and btw Francis, some of the MiniArt buildings are definitely NOT worth the money! The one above is one of the better ones, I think, but even then the fits aren't easy. That's why I make moulds and casts. And I can churn out more for nothing.

 

Badder

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21 minutes ago, Mancunian airman said:

Badders

With the second building could you not make out that the back of the building has blown out rather than 'build' new sections ???

Hi Airman,

Long ago, near the beginning of this WIP, I referenced a farm building which was just out of sight somewhere beyond the edge of the diorama and that the ruined building in the dio was being renovated by the farmer.

If I go ahead with the Churchill VII idea, I'll have the farmer figure and will be tempted to show his current accommodation, whole and not blown out. I have the room for it, and a farmyard and probably a duck pond as well! Otherwise I think having two ruined buildings (whether they both be old ruins, or one old and the other freshly bombed) is probably a bit much. I don't want to do a flattened village diorama, rather a run-down overgrown farm building with lots of greenery. Maybe just slight damage on the new building then? 

Rearguards,

Badder

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Today I decided to finish off that blooming chimney. I have been looking for suitable materials for chimney pots and then thought I'd just make some out of plaster of paris.

Then while posting the pics of the new MiniArt building above, I realised I had chimney 'pots' ready made and all I had to do was make a copy. 

I removed the parts using the 'shaving method' described very much earlier.... only they weren't particularly well formed as it turns out. A couple of areas were 'dented', but actually this was the result of the manufacturer using damaged forms to produce the product.  But I joined the two halves of the chimney stack together and with a couple of gaps filled it will be used as a master for a mould. I'm going to make it a one-part mould, with a modelling clay core to form the central 'vent' The 'pot' itself is not a pot then. It's just a stack of bricks with a brickwork collar around the top. I'll make two of them to sit on top of my chimney stack.

So, while the chimney is not finished yet, I did finish off the window aperture on the latest section of wall, carving a window sill from spare plaster, fixing it in place with CA and filling in gaps with P of P. A bit more carving and paint and washes have finished off that section and so tomorrow it's back to the chimney.

 

TFL

Badder

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Nice looking kit there Badder, I've just been looking at mine I will have to do some casting myself. As I need a full wall for the Panther to next too.

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Thx by clarification teacher. :smartass:.lol, I imagined something like that, a play on words, but in the second post, I see that what Miniart offers, is not of good quality, at least as far as dioramas are concerned, on the contrary than the vehicles. I'll stay away ...:D

Cheers and keep up the good work

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Whilst the moulding and casting of the 'brickwork chimney pot' hasn't been a disaster, it hasn't been a complete success either. The difficulty comes during the casting, trying to set a column of modelling clay within the chimney to create a flue. It's not easy to centralize the clay and keep it precisely vertical. When you pour liquid plaster in the column moves in relation to the latex mould and it's hard to tell if the thing is vertical. The tolerance is only a millimetre or so, any more and the brickwork sides will be too thin and structurally weak. Trying to insert the column of clay after pouring displaces the plaster sideways and upwards, distorting the mould.... not a good idea. 

Anyway, I managed to make one 'okay' cast by omitting the central flue. I'm going to have to carve the flue out, but I can foresee some structural failures here too!

 

I've been thinking that the actual pots would be a lot less bother, so I'm scrapping the 'brickwork pot' idea.

 

Work will resume soon, but for now Wadworth's 6X is calling out my name.

Cheers,

TFL

Badder

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Badder,

 

  When I have casting work to do, and the core needs to be open, I use a small piece of wood (ie: tooth pic) to suspend the center core so the pour flows around the wood and keeps the clay centered.  Just jab a tooth pics into each side of the clay and the other ends into your mold.  This technique holds everything solid so things don't move during the pour.

 

RichO

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17 hours ago, RichO said:

Badder,

 

  When I have casting work to do, and the core needs to be open, I use a small piece of wood (ie: tooth pic) to suspend the center core so the pour flows around the wood and keeps the clay centered.  Just jab a tooth pics into each side of the clay and the other ends into your mold.  This technique holds everything solid so things don't move during the pour.

 

RichO

Hi Rich, I have to be honest and say I was being lazy and couldn't be bothered to think how best to do it, but yes, you're method is the one to use.  However, I've decided not to opt for the chimney from the MiniArt kit. I'm returning to my original plan of proper 'pots'.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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Only a bit of progress over the past few days. I've added a bit of wooden window sill to the window by the chimney (coffee stirrer) have painted up the window shutters, have done a bit more with washes over the walls and have added some more tea leaves on the gable wall.

I've also been messing about making a lean-to with the corrugated iron, propping the front edge up on posts. I'm not sure where I'm going to put it yet.

I still haven't finished the chimney. I'm going to go through my box of  'Crêpes'. (not the correct English spelling, but near enough) looking for some suitable tubing.

 

Earl Grey loose tea leaves applied to the wall and coffee stirrer window sill top left: The wall is looking a bit out of sorts here because I'd just given it a wash and it hadn't dried.

8NXuSuf.jpg

 

Window shutters from the Ruined Village House kit. There are identical sets of shutters with the 'Ardennes Building' as well. I used chipping fluid over a dark green, and applied Revell 'Hell Blau' overcoat, then chipped. It's worked out okay-ish.

sYeOAis.jpg

 

 

Close-up, now matted and with rusty hinges. (only dry-fitted)

xmeDi2A.jpg

 

TFL

Badder

 

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