UNIT Diorama - 1:35 "Chap with wings there..."

[Kallisti]

While I was doing the background write up for the Spectrum Angel Starfighter  I briefly mentioned UNIT and this lead my brain to have a spark of inspiration that I knew I had to build immediately.

 

It starts with a 1:35 Land Rover kit:

 

 

and then involves mixing and matching some figures - these should do it...

 

 

and maybe a brick wall...

 

 

to create an Iconic scene from a Jon Pertween episode of Dr Who... yes its that legendary command from the Brigadier:

 

"Jenkins! Chap with wings there, 5 rounds rapid!"

 

One of the best lines in all Science Fiction was uttered during an episode of the Daemons in 1971. Nicholas Courtney who played the Brigadier even titled his autobigraphy "Five Rounds Rapid" I will be taking some artistic liberties with the scene and depicted at the start of this clip:

 

 

For a start I'm ignoring Captain Yetes for now as I can't find a decent figure to represent him - as yet!

Secondly I'm replacing the UNIT saloon car with the more familiar UNIT Land Rover that was ubiquitous whenever UNIT came out to play. I think these are changes that don't drastically alter the evocation of the scene.

 

As reference, over the years I've collected a few sets of Dr Who action figures and one set in particular will be very useful:

 

 

This illustrates very well the Brig's outfut and also the animated gargoyle, Bok. This is the Brig:

 

 

and this is Bok:

 

 

 

 

This figure is goign to require quite a bit of scratch building. To start with I've got a set of legs with feet modified using milliput:

 

 

I need to give this a squidge of primer to see how it looks As you can see I've taken some legs from some of the figures and smoothed the trouser folds down and filled with more milliput. I've made the wings for the back from plastic card and rod:

 

 

I still need to work out the wiggly ribs on the other side. As for the Brig, I based him on this figure from the kits as he is an officer type

 

 

then modified the legs and removed the various lanyards and other bits on his torso with the aim of smoothing it down to create the jumper look of the brig:

 

 

Its only now, looking at this photo that I have realised the torso is too long! I've tried to build into the waitsline the cinching of the webbing belt you see on the action figure, but I think I'm going to have to revisit this whole figure again! The third figure in this scene is Jenkins. For him I picked up some of the old Airfix 1:32 polythene infantry figures

 

 

The standing firing figure originally had a steel helmet with camo webbing but this got chopped off and replaced with the beret of the furthest crouching figure. These were picked up off eBay second hadn hence why it has got some paint on already. This will be painted over once the figure has been washed in soap and water. The rifle isn't entirely accurate as its WWII vintage but to be honest, its close enough! I couldn't find a decent 1:35 scale modern-ish British solider figure so this is the closest I could come up with.

 

Next we will need some sort of base to display the components. This comes in the form of an offcut of MDF with some balsa and textured plastic card

 

 

The pavement was made from strips of balsa with plastic card inserts. I used this sheet that I've had in my stash for years to do this

 

 

There will be a back wall at the far right behind where Bok will be standing

 

 

Finally we get to what is the most strightforward part of the build, the Land Rover! This is the old Itlaeri kit which will have a set of home printed UNIT logos for the doors:

 

 

Here is the sprues from the box - there are parts missing as it was partially assembled by the time I got the camera out to start documenting the build

 

 

The chassis has ben assembled and waiting to get painted

 

 

and the wheels are ready, although I'm sure there are better replacement wheels out there, but accuracy isn't the main focus of this build, so I'm happy with these for now.

 

 

Thats where I've got to so far over the past weekend, watch this space for further development when we will attempt to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow...

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Kallisti

[Kallisti]

Further progress - some wall building...

 

 

You may also notice that the kerb stones have had breaks added to them. I finally got my hands on some magic sculpt epoxy putty and much prefer it to milliput and thats what was used to fill the slight gaps at the foot of the wall. I did dig out a narrow trench at the back of the pavement to slot the wall into but there were still a few gaps so used the putty to simulate the dirt that accumulates at the junction of most walls. Next, Bok has recieved some attention, including a torso and a tail!

 

 

I gave him a coat of mr surfacer 500 to check for imperfections - there are still a few so they will need some tidying up still

 

 

The feet are a bit of a mess though  I have been working on Bok's head but forgot to take a photo

 

The Brig is looking much better. I chopped 2mm out of the middle of his torso and tidied the joint up, then gave him a coat of Halfords Primer

 

 

The indentation around his waist will take a webbing belt later once his outfit has been painted up

 

 

For some reason whenever I see his pic I think "Cracking cheese Grommit" !! Finally for this update, the wall has had the beginnings of a lych gate added

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Looks like a fun project. I remeber this episode giving me the real creeps as a kid. Worried to watch it now aa it is probably a lot cheesier than I remember!

[pockets]

Deemed to be one of Jon Pertwee's best .

[Pete F]

6 hours ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Looks like a fun project. I remeber this episode giving me the real creeps as a kid. Worried to watch it now aa it is probably a lot cheesier than I remember!

Watched recently. Yes a little cheesy but lots of fun and still one of the best stories.

[John_W]

Nice project. This would cause me a dilemma. The Brigadier is wearing black gloves. As an officer he should be wearing brown gloves. Do you go with uniform or series accuracy?

[Pete F]

14 hours ago, John_W said:

Nice project. This would cause me a dilemma. The Brigadier is wearing black gloves. As an officer he should be wearing brown gloves. Do you go with uniform or series accuracy?

British Army protocol in the 1970s was for officers to wear black gloves when trapped in an energy force field and fighting space travelling Dæmons. I have a reference for this somewhere. I think the reasoning is that when they test the force field with their swagger stick the black colouring of the glove will reduce the heat transfer and therefore cause less damage to their hands.

[Kallisti]

Now, I just watched the video clip again and int he clip it loks liek the Brig might be wearing brown gloves and the action figure is wrong! Also noticed that Jenkins' beret is brown!

Things have progressed a bit since last weekend so I'll post some photos later.

[DalekCheese]

Lovely! Great serial, still holds up today!

[TheVoidDragon]

Sounds like a good idea. I've not seen much of classic Doctor Who, I quite like how no-one in that video has any sense of urgency about there being a living gargoyle! It's just handled so casually!

[John_W]

Jenkins cap badge is also in the middle of his forehead.  

[Pete F]

9 hours ago, TheVoidDragon said:

Sounds like a good idea. I've not seen much of classic Doctor Who, I quite like how no-one in that video has any sense of urgency about there being a living gargoyle! It's just handled so casually!

Thinking of the various creatures that UNIT had encountered up to that point, living gargoyles were pretty run of the mill. Off the top of my head they had fought cybermen, daleks, autons (living plastic dummies, twice), axons (which I was terrified of as a kid), and silurians (sort of reptile people). Not to mention the Master who was in nearly every episode at that time and was a bit of a git. And it was the 1970s - we had to deal with things like the Goodies the Clangers and the Bay City Rollers so people were generally much tougher.

[Kallisti]

Turns out I had taken a load of photos earlier last week but never got round to posting them

So pickup up from where I left off last time, here is the chassis painted up. Note the front bumper is attached but this will be painted aluminium later

 

 

The Land Rover body has been mostly assembled - here it is where I was trying to build it as a complete shell

 

 

Sadly the butt joint holding the front cab etc to the rear deck were never string enough to hold this so it eventually got separated. The fit of the doors leaves a lot of be desired, so in that aspect its quite true to the original!

 

 

The tilt has also been built 

 

 

Returning to the figures again, Bok has had his torso, arms and head attached. I used a combination of green stuff 2-part epoxy and magic sculpt 2 part epoxy to modify the head for Bok, giving him the distinctive horns, forehead ridge and poking tongue

 

 

The horns are a bit thick as are the legs to be honest, but I'm not a figure sculptor so this will do!

 

 

Next he will need to be properly painted up in mottled grey. Returning to the Land Rover, its had a coat of Bronze Green paint, aka Tamiya XF-13 and the various components mounted on the chassis

 

 

 

The flash is playing a few tricks with the green paint, it looks a lot more even than this to the eye, then again a bit of non-uniformity isn't a bad thing.

 

 

The seat backs will be invisible once the tilt is on so I'm not too worries about the obvious gap. If I were to leave the tilt off, this would need some work to fix however. The rear:

 

 

The rear number plate is mostly unpaintedwaiting for a decal. The Land Rover logo on the right is a black oval with raised writing detail in silver. I sort of looks okay - might need to put some dirt on it to hide any faults  The wheels had just been added when this pic was taken so the retaining bosses were still unpainted.

 

 

You can still see some traces of undried white glue around the windscreen here, that has since dried and become transparent. The front bumper has now been painted XF-56 metallic grey. I don't have a good pit of the front radiator. I originally painted this black over the base green colour and then lightly scraped the paint off the raised frame which gives it a lighter contrast, so looking like the original silvery frame. The tilt has alos been painted using khaki drab

 

 

I've painted over the window in the rear as UNIT is a secure force so won't want people peering into the back of the Landies!

 

 

What it looks like with the tilt dry fitted

 

 

Next, back to the base which has been painted up and I'm quite pleased with!

 

 

The pavings stones and kerb have turned out quite well, using a mix of artist acrylic paint, washes and a final brush of weathering pastels. The wall as well has had multiple stippled layers of various browns and sepia tones to get a mottled brick wall

 

 

Need to add some pastel dirt to the base of the wall where the pavement butts onto it. The wood of the lytch gate has also been ages and weathered using the Old Weatherd Wood MiG Ammo paint set.

 

 

The road surface has been painted with XF-69 and then dirtied up with shades of grey pastel chalk applied with a rough sponge, stroking it in the direction that road vehicles would have taken

 

 

Finally in this update, Jenkins has been primed. I had an accident with him during painting and his beret fell off!

 

 

Very clumsy so he got put on report!

 

Thats all for now until we reverse the polarity of the neutron flow again...

 

 

 

[Kallisti]

No, I hadn't forgotten about this build! I know I've got 3 on the go at the same time at present but this was was waiting for a delivery which duly arrived yesterday (or maybe Thursday... ) What was it I hear you ask? Well it was a box of Lifecolor paints for flesh tones...

 

 

I bought the David Parker book earlier in the year and he recommends the skin tones in the Lifecolor set so I've got them and using the technique explained in the book I've been very pleased with the head for The Brig that I've been able to paint

 

 

Sadly on closer inspection he looks more like Blakey from On the Buses that The Brig, but its a better face than I've been able to paint for some time, so I'm happy-ish  Also while doing other modelling tasks I've been gradually building up the stone colour/texture of Bok and now I'm very happy with his appearance

 

 

Much more like an animated lump of stone! Finally in this update Jenkins has been painted and looking much better, but still needs some more work. His face is particularly badly molded but I'm hoping the beret and positioning will avoid too much inspection

 

 

Now I just need to make some progress on the Thunderbird 6 Tiger Moth and I'll have the hat-trick of updates for today...

 

 

[Kallisti]

I think I can now call this complete! The last task was to print out some UNIT logos onto decal paper and attach them to the Land Rover and Jenkins cap. The Land Rover ones we 1cm in ciameter while Jenkins cap was 2mm. Then I was finally able to place the figures on the base and complete the composition:

 

 

Now I'm goign to be quite critical and say I don't think this diorama works. There just isn't enough interest or dynamic to the scene. Its far too 'static' and the relationship between the figures is too distant/remote. Each individual component is okay (well apart from the Brig looking like Blakey from on the Buses) but I don't feel the overall composition works. Maybe I need to compress the space a bit and move them closer...

 

From another angle:

 

 

 

 

So I'm sorry to say I'm not entirely pleased with the outcome.

 

One other thing that is blatantly obvious is the spare tyre on the bonnet of the Land Rover doesn't have a boss in the middle to lock it down. This is NOT in the kit! There should be something in the that hole in the middle of the wheel rim that bolts the wheel to the bonnet!

 

Looking at it again, it looks like the Brig is slouching - he's an officer by god, he wouldn't slouch!!!

 

Oh well I think this one comes down to good try, but not entirely successful.

[PZRGREN]

I like it, reminds me of those Pertwee days. Great work!  One observation...where is Sergeant Benton!

 

regards, Roger.

[Kallisti]

He wasn't in this scene, check the video clip in the first post. I have however, omitted Captain Yates as I didn't fancy trying to do someone in civvies as well as convert the other figures, maybe I should have, it'd make the scene a bit less spartan.

[Pete in Lincs]

It's a very nice result. It's taken a lot of good work to get here. I can see why you're questioning yourself. Maybe it's too open?

Weren't there houses behind the Brigadier? Perhaps a cardboard wall might enclose things and focus the eye on the figures?

Or, I know it's not in the scene, But a Tardis against the Church wall perhaps?