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Next up - something with a choo-choo...


modelman182

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Hi Guys

 

Having spent some time admiring many of the dioramas depicted here, I've finally decided to try and tackle something with a bit of complexity (and, coincidentally, something that covers most of the subject matters on this site).

 

I picked up the final part of the puzzle this morning:

109decals.jpg

 

And the above will be added to the following that I've already 'collected':

TrainProjectKits.jpg

 

The plan is to do a layout as follows:

ProposedLayout.jpg

 From L to R (top) - Railcar with Panzer; Pilot Car with 'dismantled' 109; Br.52 Tender with Jaboschrek mounted at rear; Br.52 Locomotive

From L to R (bottom) - SdKfz.7 with 88mm; Kubelwagen; BMW R-12

Also 19 figures (from various sets) labelled Tx  for Troopers, Ox  for Officers - plus a train driver (modified from an infantry figure)

 

Total size is anticipated to be 640mm by 180mm.

 

Using 'artistic license' this scene plans to represent a railyard somewhere between Germany and Russia circa late Summer/Autumn 1941.

 

Pics to follow over the weekend.

 

Kev

 

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Looks a good idea.  May I suggest that angling the railtrack a bit should give a more dynamic composition?

I look forward to seeing how the model progresses.

Cheers 

Will 

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5 hours ago, malpaso said:

Looks a good idea.  May I suggest that angling the railtrack a bit should give a more dynamic composition?

I look forward to seeing how the model progresses.

Cheers 

Will 

Thanks Will

 

The suggestion is a great one, but I'm trying to keep the depth of the diorama down to allow for shelf display in my LHS, hence the rather 'flat' presentation.

 

11 hours ago, Badder said:

Cor blimey!:wow:

 

Badder.

Hey Badder - surely nothing in this lot would phase you? Looking at your excellent (if never-ending - hee hee) work, I'm sure this lot would be a "walk in the yard" for your talents! :D

 

Cheers

 

Kev

Edited by modelman182
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2 hours ago, modelman182 said:

Hey Badder - surely nothing in this lot would phase you? Looking at your excellent (if never-ending - hee hee) work, I'm sure this lot would be a "walk in the yard" for your talents! :D

 

Cheers

 

Hi Kev,

It's the range of vehicles and figures that impresses me. I haven't ever tried aircraft so I'd find getting the correct finish on the Me109 a big challenge. I'm also pretty useless at figures. In fact,  at that scale I'd be useless at everything!

Nerve damage means that I find 1/35th just about achievable. I do have some PE challenges coming up, but I am fully expecting to drop, ping, lose and destroy every single piece and never get any onto the kit. :D So, you're 1/72nd scale IS beyond me!

 

Rearguards

Badder

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Well, Badder, I'm even more impressed with your work now. Your diorama is a work of art and (obviously) pure will.

 

I've just finished building the Jaboschrek (30mm Flak gun) and I must admit that even I'm beginning to question the decision to do this all in 72nd scale! I forgot just how small everything is, made somewhat worse by the beautiful detail rendering of the kit. To make the gunsight for the Flak Gun a separate item consisting of five distinct parts must have been some form of torturous humour on the part of the designer of this lovely little kit.;)

 

Will take some pics soon.

 

Kev

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This could only be improved by an RAF Typhoon approaching at low level with rockets firing :D Except of course its too early and too far East for a Typhoon :(

Edited by Kallisti
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Nice Idea, Kallisti. One should, of course, never let the facts get in the way of telling a good story... so the Typhoon idea could work - though personally I'd prefer a Mosquito or a Mustang (both equally improbable in that time frame, of course) to be doing the attacking.:D

 

Might keep that idea on the back burner, if you don't mind?

 

Cheers

 

Kev

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An update on the dio...

 

First thing that needs doing is separating the nice sleepers from the moulded ballast...

sleeper_cutout1.jpg

 

This is a multi-stage process. From Left to right (above) the original ballast banking with rails slid partially into position (just as an illustration) then the base with the sides separated (using the large razor saw at the top of the pic) to give a flat section containing 15 sleepers then the tortuous sawing out of each sleeper (pic below) which finally need sanding on all four sides to tidy them up.

sleeper_cutout2.jpg

 

The clamp holds everything nice and steady while I use the 'Anniversary Edition' of the JLC razor saw which, coincidentally, gives exactly the right width of cut when you use all its spacers. The piece of square plastic section (2.5mm, I think) keeps the clamp from damaging the delicate three prong rail guides.

 

The aim is to end up with about 80 separate sleepers which can then be lined up (jig already made, but I forgot to include it in the photo - will photo it later) and then ballast can be added as shown below.

sleepers_ballast.jpg

 

That'll keep me busy for a little while :D

 

In the meantime - I've built the Jaboschrek (30mm Flak Gun) and very nice it is too...

jaboschrek.jpg

 

...and here it is mounted on the partially constructed Tender of the Br52...

jabo_tender.jpg

 

Coal and Ballast are both from Javis Scenics (HO/OO scale).

 

Cheers

 

Kev

 

 

 

 

 

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Interesting - I am intrigued by a 1/72 loco & what gauge track it would sit on.  HO guage  is 1/87, but OO uses the same track but is 1/76.  All in all, cannibalising some model rail track may not work.  Thought for a minute you were going to build the lost gold train.

if you need reference shots there is a nice Kriegslok loco at Bressingham - should be plenty of pics on line.  

Had the Lima rail gun set as a kid.  Still have most of it in the loft

 

d22def90c6.jpg

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Hi bar side (a nickname that begs the question "which side of the bar are you on?")

 

Interesting point, so I got out the 1/72 scale track (as supplied with the loco, and also purchased separately) and got to work with the digital calipers.

 

It turns out that the track, which happily works with all the 72nd scale rolling stock and Locomotive, scales out to a true size of 1.5 metres (actually measuring 20.84mm between the rails at the contact inner edge). This is between the two possible track gauges I would have desired for this diorama. As far as I'm aware, German railways used the Standard track gauge of 1.435m and Russians used a slightly wider gauge of 1.524m. This means that my diorama is incorrect for both possible depictions, so 'artistic license' prevails.

 

HO for Std Gauge would be 16.494mm and 17.512mm for Russian, whereas OO would be 18.882mm and 20.053mm respectively. I wonder what HO/OO gauge is? Not sure how they compromise for that one, but it's unlikely to be any closer to 1/72.

 

Cheers

 

Kev

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Maybe now, but barside was the name of the stand I used to stand in to watch my home town football team.  They don’t even play at all that ground anymore, so it’s now just a left over from my younger days.  As to model rail scale vs gauge, it’s a true minefield.  Try these guys .  Excellent modellers all, but to a level of detail that requires real dedication.  OO, EM, P4, UK HO, take your pick!

 

https://www.scalefour.org/about/about.html

 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, bar side said:

By the way it’s all mr hornby’s fault.  He took euro 1/87 half O gauge (HO) track & put oversized 1/76 trains on it

Ahhh... I was never interested enough in that scale to find out before. N gauge is the scale for me :D though I have none of it left, these days.

 

Cheers

 

Kev

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Well, that's one tidy workspace. I took over the wife's coffee table back in 2016 and it hasn't seen light since! It has however seen lots of damage, paint and CA, all of which has been hidden beneath an old sheet and cutting mat. Luckily my father is a skilled carpenter and French polisher, so one day it will be rejuvenated. :whistle: 

 

I have to say that I don't envy you on all that gubbins about rail gauges and odd scales, but I wouldn't have known if the subject hadn't been raised. I would assume you just space the rails to match the loco though, so I really don't see a problem.

 

The razor saw looks just the ticket (pun intended) for the railway sleepers. I don't have one, but it certainly would have come in handy for cutting up brickwork/stonework for buildings and walls. I think I'll have to put one on my Christmas list!

 

Looking forward to seeing more photos of your tidy progress,

Rearguards,

Badder

 

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Thanks for that Badder - but the 'tidiness' is a deliberate act for the camera. If you saw the rest of the room, you'd see something much more familiar :D

 

I was saved too much trouble with the gauge because the loco came with tracks that fitted it. The lucky part was getting two railcars for the dio that ALSO fitted the tracks. It was just blind luck, though. I had no way of knowing whether it would all work until the models arrived (one from the UK and the other direct from Ukraine).

 

I'd highly recommend the JLC 'Anniversary' edition razor saw. That gives you the single blade saw PLUS the spacers, longer screws and second blade for the parallel blade setup. I also bought both the mitre blocks for the saw - all were sourced from Modelling Tools (aka Little Cars) whom I would also highly recommend.

 

Progress has been temporarily interrupted to do a quick build for someone at work. Hope to be back on the railway diorama after the weekend.

 

Cheers

 

Kev

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  • 9 months later...

Shockingly, it's been 9 months since my last update to this thread (though there are worse lapses by me on other forums).

 

Some commissions, health problems and equipment problems have slowed down my output to the almost unmeasurable crawl of a dormant glacier.

 

Getting back into the swing of things now, though health problems are frustrating me still.

 

Finished parts of the diorama are the R-12 motorcycle, the Jaboschrek anti-aircraft gun and (most recently) the Bf109.

 

jabo_rough1.jpg

 

jabo_rough2.jpg

 

jabo_sizer_rough1.jpg

 

r12_rough1.jpg

 

r12_rough2.jpg

 

Bf109E-4_Completed_1.jpg

Bf109E-4_Completed_2.jpg

Bf109E-4_Completed_3.jpg

Bf109E-4_Completed_4.jpg

 

I've now got the rail cars underway, the 9.2m open wagon for the 109 and a tank transporter wagon for the Panther.

 

Slow but sure...

 

Kev

Edited by modelman182
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Thanks Sarge

 

The more I do to this the more I'm enjoying it. Now looking to get started in on the locomotive. Railcars are coming along nicely. Once I have the cars, loco and tender done I can get the exact size for the baseboard.

 

All good fun.

 

Kev

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Sorry to hear you're having health issues.... join the club!.... but great to see this diorama is up and running again.

That's one fantastic little Me109 you've made there. Beautifully painted.

Hard to believe that's 1/72nd!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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15 hours ago, Badder said:

Sorry to hear you're having health issues.... join the club!.... but great to see this diorama is up and running again.

That's one fantastic little Me109 you've made there. Beautifully painted.

Hard to believe that's 1/72nd!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

Thanks Badder

 

72nd scale is great for all masochists (and purists, too - so I'm told - 😉) but for real torture there's always 144th (unless you're a shipbuilder in which case anything from 350th down to 1200th is available for your pain). 😄

 

I'm looking forward to getting started on the loco so that I can get on to doing the groundwork for the display. I would like some reasonably accurate measurements before I make the display base.

 

Cheers

 

Kev

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  • 2 weeks later...

Still not got to the loco yet, but the railcar and frames for the 109 are now completed. Just some decals and weathering on the railcar to do and that is a 'wrap'...

 

109_railcar_1.jpg

 

109_railcar_2.jpg

 

109_railcar_3.jpg

 

109_railcar_4.jpg

 

109_railcar_5.jpg

 

The Panther 38 t is built and primed, as is its railcar. Hopefully get the camo on those before the weekend.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Kev

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  • 2 weeks later...

Excellent work, although it's a shame to see that bird with its wings clipped! For some reason I thought it was going to be flying overhead!

 

Rearguards

Badder

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