1/72 Crashed landing b-17 Diorama

[Pagey]

Evening

 

First diorama I have ever built.  Must say, I am really enjoying it .

 

The actual B-17 model is nearly complete.  Building log can be found below

 

 

Decided today to make a start on the dio base.

 

I took some MDF i had already had cut and mapped out where I wanted the different bits 

 

20191030_092808 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

I then masked off the area that I wanted to create a runway section and used Sculptamold (first time using this stuff - will not be the last) to create the grassed area base (some will be churned up later by the engines on one side of the b_17

 

20191030_115111 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

Runway section created using fine grade sandpaper to replicate the texture of concrete.  Stuck down with PVA Glue.  will be painted when dry.

 

20191030_164346 by Richard Page, on Flickr

[Badder]

Hi Pagey,

 

I tend to be very over-cautious about large expanses of plaster of paris or any other such mediums, and I'd be the same with sculptamold, despite its reputation. Whatever I use, I will always provide a key for the medium to grip to. MDF has a smooth flat surface, not the best for grip, so I'd score into it deeply in a criss-cross pattern using heavy duty blades, tearing up the surface and lifting 'flaps' every which way and making deep grooves etc. Hopefully your sculptamold will stand the test of time.

 

I look forward to seeing progress.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Pagey]

Thanks Badder, wish I had thought of that before.  The sculptamold took 3 days to fully dry in the end.  I painted it brown today (in preparation for the grass) and after a grey primer coat, i painted the runway with 2 shades of grey, black and brown.  I quite like it.

 

20191102_142953 by Richard Page, on Flickr

20191102_142953 by Richard Page, on Flickr

20191102_143348 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

a healthy dose of PVA Glue ready for the grass

 

20191102_143348 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

Grass scattered over.  I thought I would use at least two packs on this, to cover the whole area, I used less than half of one.  Will leave to dry over night and shake off the excess.  Hopefully will be good.  The grass is a variety of greens and yellows.

20191102_143652 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

Once Dry, the fun of tearing up the grass where the bomber has ploughed through it begins.

 

Had to see what the b-17 looks like on the base!

20191102_142945 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

[Badder]

Hi Pagey,

Looking good.

I work in 1/35th and tend to use static grass. However, I've also got a roll of grass matting which I used in small segments to create patches of short grass in my dio Carry On Regardless. (Which is available to view in the Diorama RFI section somewhere) If I worked in smaller scales I'd use it a lot more. A roll of the stuff is relatively cheap, no more than two bags of woodland scenics grass 'scatter'. Yes, the grass mat looks like a pristine lawn, but it can be improved with roughing-up, clumps/tufts of grass added, areas cropped, and colour variation created with washes, and airbrushing and dry brushing. If your grass doesn't turn out quite as you want it, I'd definitely give the grass matting a thought.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Ratch]

Your concrete appears to be very blue (maybe its the pictures) where I would expect grey with a hint of sandy brown. Just a suggestion.

[Pagey]

Thanks badders. Will be seeing shortly whether it worked or not. Will give the matting a try if it didn't

Ratch- I don't recall it looking so blue when I did it, I used tamiya primer, XF-63 German grey and light grey. Will check again when I go out to the shed. Hopefully it is just the photos

Edited November 3, 2019 by Pagey

[Pagey]

Perfect. Shook the excess off and what is left looks like a perfect lawn in later summer. Next job is to tear some up

[Pagey]

bit more progress.  I used the model as a guide on where to cut the grass to create furrows from the crashed landing.  used a screwdriver to tear lines.

 

20191103_145817 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

mixed up a bit more sculptamold to make earth pushed to the side by the passage of the engine nacelles (and damage by the breaking wing and engine ripping off

 

20191103_154234 by Richard Page, on Flickr

20191103_154514 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

following comments about the runway, I resprayed it with a lighter shade of grey and some brown/sand yellow.  first pick looks lighter blue than it does in reality.  I also added first spray of brown to the furrows to see how they look.  I think it is going to look good

 

20191103_162559 by Richard Page, on Flickr

20191103_162606 by Richard Page, on Flickr

20191103_162609 by Richard Page, on Flickr

20191103_162613 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

bit of painting and cleaning up to be done.  am happy with the progress so far

[Pagey]

 

Final update as dio is now completed

 

2 Jeeps completed.

20191117_124319 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

Groundwork mud painted and a dark wash added.  

20191116_142457 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

Playing with final positioning of the engine and decide to have one of the props broken off

 

20191116_142824 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

A few figures painted ready to be added to the base (went with 6 figures in the end)

20191117_115505 by Richard Page, on Flickr

20191117_115509 by Richard Page, on Flickr

20191117_115402 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

Drilled a hole in all the figures feeting add a bit of brass wire,  Holes drilled into the dio base so that it will be easy to add them and remove them

20191117_120235 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

Battered engine painted.  I used Mig Chipping fluid (first time using this product)  Sprayed engine silver first.  Sprayed chipping fluid, allowed that to dry (took 5-10 mins) and then sprayed the top colour. once this was dry (again about 10 mins as I use acrylics) I used a wet brush and a tooth pick to scratch and chip the engine nacelle.  Am happy with the result.  The warpage on the engine nacelle was created by heating it over a candle and using tweezers to twist and dent it.

20191117_104706 by Richard Page, on Flickr

20191117_104701 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

Debris added to base.  including bits of painted foil (off cuts when I neatened up the wing damage) The wheel has been muddied up and glued to the base

20191117_124522 by Richard Page, on Flickr

 

Over view of the completed dio.  Detailed pics will be added shortly to RFI

 

20191117_124301 by Richard Page, on Flickr

[spruecutter96]

This is a SUPERB diorama, my friend, I would make one small comment, however. The smaller elements (wing-section, jeeps, etc) have a slight appearance of having been placed to fill up empty space - and this very rarely occurs in reality. If you changed their locations to make them look more "random", I think it would enhance the diorama greatly. 

 

Please don't take this as as a big criticism - it's just some friendly advice. As previously stated, I think you've done an amazing job. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris.   

[Pagey]

Thanks Chris. I wasnt happy with where to put the jeeps. Will have to have a go at moving them. Wing needs to be in that area due to the damage to the grass, but will play with its location too

[Ratch]

Think of the story behind your diorama. As I see it some time has passed from the crash. The crew have been evacuated by rescue crews and these are investigators or looking to recover or remove the aircraft. Where would these guys park up and what would they be doing? I'll leave the rest to you.

[phildagreek]

This looks fantastic!

[Getting Old]

very nice work 

[Dermo245]

Great work and coming together very nicely.

Sharp painting on those figures too.

 

Der

[Pagey]

Thanks guys

[Richard E]

A very well executed diorama and model, one of those gems that you sometimes only stumble over by chance 

 

It looks like the Fortress has skidded off the runway after its starboard undercarriage has collapsed, I know that you have called this finished but my only suggestions would be: to help visually connect the two halves of the base would there also be any damage, debris or skid marks on the runway behind the areas of grass that have been dug out and, even if the crash occurred some time before the point you have depicted, whether there would be still be any traces of leaking fluids or fire suppressant. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by Richard E

[SafetyDad]

That's very well done indeed. Your creation of the torn up earth gouges is excellent. Reminds me of the old Shep Paine scene included with the original Monogram B-17G kit. I don't say that lightly as Shep Paine's work was of the highest quality.

 

 

SD

[James Venables]

On 5/15/2020 at 6:56 AM, Richard E said:

A very well executed diorama and model, one of those gems that you sometimes only stumble over by chance 

 

It looks like the Fortress has skidded off the runway after its starboard undercarriage has collapsed, I know that you have called this finished but my only suggestions would be: to help visually connect the two halves of the base would there also be any damage, debris or skid marks on the runway behind the areas of grass that have been dug out and, even if the crash occurred some time before the point you have depicted, whether there would be still be any traces of leaking fluids or fire suppressant. 

Nicely done so far but I agree with Richard's comment. Even with the gouges in the earth and the scattered debris, it all seems a bit too "clean" to my eye. For example, if the earth is soft enough to be gouged like that, then you'd probably expect to see some marks remaining from the vehicles. As Ratch commented, the "story" depicts the aircraft following the evacuation of the crew, so there had been emergency vehicles on the site prior to this, and probably others also. Lots of random tyre marks on the grass (with slight muddy residue on the runway where they drove away afterwards) would be appropriate. Also, some tyre scuff marks on the concrete would add realism.

 

Also, if the B-17 skidded off the runway due to a collapsed undercarriage, it seems unlikely to me that the wheel and leg would be on the ground beside the aircraft at its final resting place. Once again, come back to the story: there is no obvious battle damage around the inner starboard nacelle so the undercarriage collapse would most likely be due to hydraulic or minor mechanical failure and the gear would have simply retracted into its bay. There is no ditch or obstruction that would have ripped it out, so it should not really be there.

 

I love the way you have depicted the broken wing and the small debris trail behind it, but the broken section needs more attention. To my eye, the "story" says the break is the result of weakening by battle damage and the wingtip impacting the ground as the undercarriage collapsed. Consider: (a) there is no significant battle damage near the wing spars that could have caused that level of weakness, and (b) the wingtip would have impacted the ground in a location somewhere off the scene represented by the diorama. If it remained attached long enough to be dragged into the scene (or carried by its own momentum), consider the location and symmetry of its resting place. Perhaps give the broken section a little more damage by removing the aileron, or just have the aileron hanging loosely by one hinge?

As others have mentioned, I feel the concrete still needs more attention, though perhaps the bluish tinge is an artefact of the photo lighting...? But remember that concrete only stays grey when it is freshly laid. Have a look at a real expanse of concrete at an airport, hotel car park, school yard, etc. It doesn't take long for concrete to become a dirty, yellowish pale buff colour, unless it is meticulously maintained. Your mottled texture of the concrete is great but the colour (and weathering) still needs some attention, methinks.

 

Lastly, whilst your B-17 is beautifully painted and finished (I love the subtle weathering on this one), I couldn't help noticing the outer port nacelle. The subtle blackening suggests a small fire in that engine from battle damage but the battle damage is "clean", looking like it occurred after the fire.

 

Aside from these detail minutiae, this diorama looks great so far. I'm looking forward to seeing the final product!

[John_W]

Very nice, but the concrete is very "clean". I have spent a lot of time.as Bassingbourn, and the old runway there is a grey/buff colour with expansion joints stains and discoloration on it.

 

[fightersweep]

Lovely work. Pulling a diorama off is in my mind, one of the hardest things to do in modelling, and your dio looks great. I would certainly echo most of the feedback above, and add just a couple more if I may. If the crash has just happened, I would probably add one or two crash wagons. Those guys got on the scene fast. Don't have to be US vehicles either as the USAAF used a lot of British equipment too (I'm thinking of the Airfix Emergency set for instance). If the B-17 has been there for any length of time, then these scenes attracted a crowd. Any footage or photos always seems to show a crowd of curious personnel surrounding the aircraft. My main thing for the last 30 years has been researching the 401st Bomb Group. I used to write to Lt Don Currie, the pilot that had just pulled off this nicely done belly landing. B-17G 42-31034 SC-G "Bonnie Donnie" (Note one of the ground crew guys even bought his mess tin along!)

 

 

Another similar scene at Deenethorpe. B-17G 42-97636 IY-H (PFF ship) soon after the event, the crash crews have since left leaving the curious and those deciding on the best course of recovery (no doubt with many bicycles in tow!) 

 

 

Edit! I'll add another! 42-97938 SC-S "Twan-n-g-g-g" just after a crash landing. Note the hoses and debris;

 

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Steve

[John_W]

One from the family album (my father was a passenger) VW803 ran off the runway in Aden after a brake failure.

People wandering vaguely around. Cargo and baggage scattered at random and a fuel bowser emptying the tanks. A pair of random locals is probably not likely on a US airfield though.