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Somewhere in Italy - 1943 1/35 scale


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This is a project that was started early last year or perhaps late in 2017, I don't remember exactly, but has languished since last March due to a somewhat turbulent 2018.  With life settling down, hopefully, I am able to get back to some modelling.

 

This is a relatively small diorama set, as the title says, in Italy in 1943.  The vehicle will be a Sdkfz 10/5 with some figures around, a street with a low wall and a partial building.  I had started and gotten reasonably far, on a base but realized it was just going to be too small, so, over the last few days I have been getting a new base underway.  The base will be made primarily of insulation foam with a couple of different kinds in use.  The main bulk of the structure will the pink foam that can be found here in the US with the detail pieces done with styrodur that can't be found here. (At least as far as I know.)  Reading other threads online I have seen comments that the two are the same thing and while they are similar, they are not the same, the styrodur takes and holds detail much better.  I would use it entirely, but, to get it here means having it shipped from Europe which gets expensive real fast.  Anyway, enough rambling.  

 

The first thing I did was cut out a piece for the base (Big enough this time hopefully.:rolleyes:)  then I added the raised groundwork portion that will be behind the wall that the building will sit on. (It'll make sense in the pictures.)  Once that was complete I traced and cut out a thin piece of styrodur for the road bed.  This was detailed by first making shallow cuts where the cobbles will go.  Those cuts were then widened by going over them with an awl.  Here is the roadbed prior to the initial cuts being widened:

 

P1130254.jpg

 

Here is the same piece with the above cuts widened:

 

P1130256-1.jpg

 

This will get a layer of very watery plaster that will fill in the gaps and tie it all together.

 

I have also finished the wall, here it is with just the initial cuts:

 

P1130263-1.jpg

 

And here it is after the cuts have been widened and details have been added.  This actually shows very well what you can do with syrodur but not with the pink foam here, the texture of the block has been added by pressing sandpaper into the foam, the styrodur will hold the detail, while pink foam does not.

 

 P1130265-2.jpg

 

Here it is together with the base structure with one of the figures to give a sense of size:

 

P1130269-5.jpg

 

Thanks for looking in and comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

 

Matt

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have made some pretty good progress with this since my last post.  The base and building have been the primary focus. 

 

Not wanting to include an interior on this I built up the base with more foam to provide the structure for the building.  By doing it this way I am hoping to make the process of giving the base a nice finish much easier. 

 

The building was constructed/carved as well and then some windows were built.

 

Here is where things stand right now:

 

 P1270272.jpg

 

Roughly carved foam in upper window will be hidden by a curtain hanging across the window.

 

The rear of the base:

 

P1270275.jpg

 

The front of the building from a little closer:

 

P1270278.jpg

 

There are two matching window frames that will go over what is here with a sheet of clear styrene sandwich between for the window glazing.

 

Thanks for looking in and as ever thoughts, comments, criticisms, and questions are more then welcome.

 

Matt

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Derek, the exposed brick was done by indenting the foam with the end of the handle of a file.  The one I used was pretty much flat with lightly rounded edges so by pressing numerous times over an area it pushed it down pretty level.  The "brick" were then carved into the indented area with the same method I used for the low wall.

 

Matt

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Hi Matt

Some Frerik influence going on hereB)  Good to see some MA style work, dios don't seem to feature so high here.  Love the texturing and it all looks very precise

Great to see you posting - I shall be following!

Cheers

Rob

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Good to have you along Rob.  Yeah, Frerik's work has certainly had an impact on mine.  Styrodur is really nice with many of the advantages of balsa foam without some of the disadvantages.  It lags behind balsa foam on the carving and shaping front, but, it is much stronger, significantly easier to join together, and MUCH less messy.  

 

Matt 

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  • 2 months later...

So, this project is back on the front burner after having finished the other dio I was working on, seen here, and I have made some pretty good progress, not all of which got photographed.  

 

Since my last post the only real change to the base is the addition of the cap blocks on the wall along the street.  After that, much of the recent effort went to getting the sides of the base complete. 

 

First step was to clad them in balsa as seen here:

 

P3230306.jpg

 

and here:

 

P3230307.jpg

 

Also, a thin slurry was added to the road to fill in between the cobbles, as you can see here:

 

P3230308.jpg

 

After that the balsa was stained and varnished and once dry, masked so painting could begin.  Here it is all masked up to keep the sides clean:

 

P3310340.jpg

 

Then, after all of the needed airbrushing was complete (hopefully) I removed the masking to see if it had done its job and to see how things were looking.  There are some minor problem areas, but nothing too bad and here is how it sits now:

 

P4070344.jpg

 

P4070345.jpg

 

P4070347.jpg

 

 

Lots still to do obviously, but, it is starting to get to the point where I can see the finish line:

 

As ever, comments, criticisms, questions are all welcome.

 

Matt

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Great to see someone else having a go at making their own building/street scene and doing a good job of it. I really like the cobbled street, the cracked render with exposed brickwork and the roof tiles (what did you make those from BTW?)

I wish I'd found this thread earlier because I'd have recommended making latex moulds of what you've done so you can cast duplicates for future dios. I have a 'library' of moulds taken from buildings I've made, and they come in very handy. Possibly you could still do that. Latex shouldn't damage the paint you've put on so far  and should come off without causing damage - but then some damage may actually add realism (depending where it is)

 

Rearguards

Badder

 

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Badder, thanks for the thoughts.  The roof tiles are actually a resin piece from Royal Model that was cut to fit then the bottom edge was carved/filed/sanded to get the proper edge and finally I made some tiles out of DAS airdry clay that went underneath to have something a little closer to how the edge actually looks. (I think.)

 

As far as making molds, that is something I should look at for the future for detail type pieces but for this, I'd worry too much about damaging what I have so far.  As I said, the finish line is in sight so I don't want to risk that.

 

Rob, thanks, but I think you got all three of those descriptors wrong! 😛

 

Matt

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