My Daughter's Airfix D-Day Battlefront Diorama - with Additions

[Army_Air_Force]

On the recovery from all our illnesses, we finally got back to the D-Day Battlefront diorama today. It's the school Easter Holidays, so what better way than some modelling to fill in the day.

We began with some painting on the diorama base. The road and pavements, while scattered with broken stone, were still looking very clean and fresh. To dirty them down and mottle the appearance, we used some of the Airfix starter set black and brown acrylics, painted onto a piece of scrap styrene as a pallet, then applied to the diorama with a sponge and stiff brush, dabbing on the paint in random patterns and different densities.

 

 

It worked well to tone down the road, but is only the first step. We also want to reproduce muddy marks and clods of mud from vehicles and tank tracks along the roads. That will probably involve a plaster/paint/PVA glue mix, possibly rolled on from a small wheel on a stick, but that's all for another day. After the dabbing and stippling, the base was put to one side and left to dry.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

Time to move on to the next stage. As mentioned previously, we've ditched the Tiger from the diorama in favour of a Willys MB. We got the kit at Christmas, in the Aldi sale. 

 

 

There's a lot of tiny parts in the Willys kit. Since she hasn't really done any small fiddly models, mostly aircraft with large parts and just a few small accessories, I suggested we start with the field gun and trailer first. If those got messed up, it wouldn't be a great loss to the overall diorama.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

So the field gun came first, with the chassis/tow frame being made from a number of small parts. Some of the joints needed a little extra opening up to fit correctly, but it was a good excuse to remind her about trial fitting components to check. Holding them together for assembly was fiddly, even for 9 year old fingers, so we resorted to Blu-Tac to hold the parts in the correct alignment while the liquid glue was brushed into the joints.

 

 

While parts of the field gun dried, we started to assemble the trailer, then hopped back and forwards from one to the other. Each one is made from several components.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

While certain parts of the gun and trailer were drying, the wheels were given a coat of black on the sprue. Some Easter card making was also interspersed amongst the various modelling tasks.

 

 

They could then be left to dry fully before they would have the centres painted green, be cut free, cleaned up and be ready to fit.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

Five parts in the trailer so far, eight pieces in the field gun. We also spent some of the drying time in the garden as it was the first nice warm day for a long time.

 

 

Before we knew it, it was after 4pm, so I suggested we carry on and get the last few trailer parts attached so that everything would be dry for the next session. So the axle, springs, wheel arches and front steady were cut out, cleaned and attached.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[bigfoot]

Looking good, diorama is coming along nicely. Good to see youngsters getting involved in the hobby.

[robw_uk]

great work...  I am looking for inspiration to start cutting & assembling again and this really has helped.... 

[Army_Air_Force]

A few days ago, I started an experiment with a camo net. I had one of my daughter's dance class hair nets, damaged a few months ago, to use as the practice net. A piece of 1/8 plywood was covered in parcel tape to stop any sticking. The net was then stretched over the wood.

Some of the Airfix starter kit acrylics were mixed with some PVA glue to thicken it and allow it to glue to the netting. Starting with the brown, and using a small brush, I painted square spirals onto the netting and tape covered board. I quickly ran into a problem. The hair net is woven out of micro fibres which actually resemble long link chains. Because of the thickness of the chains and the way they are woven together, the netting wouldn't lay flat on the wood. This made it difficult to form the spiral on the surface of the tape. The mesh was hovering slightly above the surface and so I was having to poke the brush down through the mesh and then let it partially cure before pressing the net down into the tacky surface to bond the mesh to the glue spiral. 

 

 

I did some green later and then let it all dry properly, before peeling the net off the board. It was lifted up to see the effect. Due to the problems applying the glue, I didn't closely pack the spirals, but the overall concept seemed to work fairly well. What I did need was a finer mesh. This would hopefully allow the mesh to lay flat on the board and the smaller weave would support the spirals better.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

I raided the scrap fabric box and found some black tights ( hosiery for American readers ) which had a fairly fine weave. I piece was cut out, approximately the size of a 20 feet square camo net. This was stretched out a little to open the weave and then taped down to the board. This time, it was much closer to the board and it was much easier to get a smaller, more in scale spiral to stick to the mesh. I started with the brown again, painting on the spirals and square cornered snakes, leaving spaces for the green. It does take quite a long time, but appeared to be making a fairly good representation.

 

 

After the brown was complete, I worked from the dry side, filling in the spaces in green. The brown didn't change colour much when drying, but the green was very light with the white glue mixed in, but darked quite a lot once cured.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

Here's the last of the green drying. Once that had dried, the glue would be hard enough to stop the mesh from shrinking back to its pre-stretched size. This allowed me to peel all the tape except the corner pieces. I then glued more patterns around the edge of the mesh.

 

 

After a further period of drying, the camo net was peeled away from the wood. I'm very pleased with the way this is looking.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

The netting is balanced on two metal rods over the end of the diorama for these photographs. It will probably be fitted in this location, or this approximate location, supported on some poles and with cotton guy ropes to tension it. The kit radio operator will probably be under here, along with a few other odds and ends. I'm feeling quite pleased with this little experiment, something to keep in mind for future projects.

 

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Ozzy]

Fantastic job on the cam net.

[robw_uk]

very interesting take on the cam net - very effective

[Army_Air_Force]

We had around an hour spare today so had a quick modelling session knowing we'd be having to leave bits to dry anyway. The field gun and trailer were painted first.

 

 

She didn't want to tackle the wheel hubs in case she got the green on the tyres, so I did those. I showed her how to build up several layers of dilute paint, allowing capillary action to draw the paint around the hub. A quick force dry in front of the heater, then another coat until a reasonable density was reached.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

Cutting and trimming the very fragile chassis and transmission parts took her a little while and lots of concentration; as did working out which way to assemble them. The springs, axles, prop shafts and transmission support are all one moulding. The spring ends didn't all want to sit on their spring hangers, so I bent some thin sheet lead to add a little wieght to hold them in place so she could apply the glue with a fine brush and then leave the whole thing to dry.

 

 

Later in the afternoon, after she'd gone out and the chassis had a while to dry, I took the weights off and compared the 1/72 chassis with the 1/35 version I'm working on.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Pete in Lincs]

Some great progress on this. Well done to both of you.

[spaddad]

53 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Some great progress on this. Well done to both of you.

wot he said

[Bandsaw Steve]

Ambitious & worthwhile project. Looking very promising. Really good job on the camouflage net in particular.

[Carius]

Excellent job indeed....your daughter has a lot of skill

[Army_Air_Force]

A change in the time table at school is sometimes leaving my daughter tired on a Wednesday, so progress may slow down a bit. Wednesday is the only day we have free for modelling.

Today we managed a little work. The trailer and field gun were given a second coat of paint, and put into the curing cabinet to bake. She then began to cut out the parts for the Jeep tub - sides and floor.

 

 

She was quite tired already, so I knew we weren't going to get much done, so focussed on getting the tub glued so it could harden for next time. The sprue joiners need trimming and sanding here.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

The first side is attached.....

 

 

.....and the second side. That was it for the day. Only a small step forwards, but at least it's some progress.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Gween Weeder]

You two are making this old armchair modeller, who, a hundred years ago, would spend every pre-teen month’s allowance on Airfix kits, want to burn his armchair behind him and actually sally forth and assemble and paint something.

 

Educational and inspirational.

 

What a thread.

[Army_Air_Force]

We managed to do a little more yesterday. The wheels that were painted on the sprue some time ago were cut free, trimmed and glued to the trailer and field gun. A little later in the afternoon, when the glue had a little while to cure, the black on the tyres was touched up where the wheels had been cut from the sprue.

 

 

Next was back to the Jeep, gluing in the rear body panel, which slotted in between the floor and rear body handles from below very neatly.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

Attaching the tub to the chassis came next and that's where I spotted a problem. I suggested we glue the chassis rear cross member to the bottom of the tub first and once the glue took hold, then pull the front of the chassis in line with the front fenders. That's when I spotted the bumper at an odd angle.

 

At first, I thought we may have glued a twist into the chassis when attaching the axles. However, closer inspection showed the cross member at the front of the fenders was parallel to the top of the fenders and the axle was also parallel to the chassis front cross member. The twist existed in the chassis moulding ahead of the grill position.

 

I decided my daughter could glue the chassis on regardless, as the majority of the chassis was straight and true. Once the glue was set, I would warm the front chassis leg with a soldering iron to soften it and then straighten the twist. I did that today.

 

 

Here's the tub and chassis as joined yesterday, prior to straightening the chassis today.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Army_Air_Force

[bazer]

On 4/10/2019 at 6:04 PM, Army_Air_Force said:

On the recovery from all our illnesses, we finally got back to the D-Day Battlefront diorama today. It's the school Easter Holidays, so what better way than some modelling to fill in the day.

We began with some painting on the diorama base. The road and pavements, while scattered with broken stone, were still looking very clean and fresh. To dirty them down and mottle the appearance, we used some of the Airfix starter set black and brown acrylics, painted onto a piece of scrap styrene as a pallet, then applied to the diorama with a sponge and stiff brush, dabbing on the paint in random patterns and different densities.

 

 

It worked well to tone down the road, but is only the first step. We also want to reproduce muddy marks and clods of mud from vehicles and tank tracks along the roads. That will probably involve a plaster/paint/PVA glue mix, possibly rolled on from a small wheel on a stick, but that's all for another day. After the dabbing and stippling, the base was put to one side and left to dry.

 

Great work , is a airbrush on her Christmas list.