'The Grand Old Duke of York'- Part 1, early Autumn 1944, the Baltic- My first dio and models-(1/72)

Muchmirth · April 10, 2021

This is my very first dio and models, I started around two and a half months ago. I wish I had done a wip in hind sight but will for my next one. As you may notice this says Part 1 and so yes I have a idea for a part two. I'm totally hooked on modelling now and slightly obsessed. I had no idea this world even existed around three months ago! This one contains a panzer IV, yak-3, hanomag and 34 figures (one sniper who is kinda hidden, one of my fav parts as its 3d where is wally.) I'd really appreciate the feedback and comments as very keen to improve (I have a lot of ideas for the future). I found the plane very, very difficult and not my fav part, I wasn't totally happy with the outcome. My most proud bit is the potato masher grenade used as a paperweight on the improv ammo box/swastika clad planning table complete with eastern front maps. I like to try and do things from scratch where I can, like making some decals (the flag, maps and Nordland div insignia), hand painting some logo's (ss lightening bolts and the tanks numbers), the anti tank obstacles (pencils), the ammo boxes and radio (foam), I used blue tack for the sandbags (I know you can buy them or use dass to make them but its what I had to hand and might have worked ok?), I aged the barbwire in salt and vinegar to rust and kinda worked. The smoke is from loft insulation (naturally yellowed from a damp loft). I messed up with the blood on the man and the plane as looks ridicules...Very Texas chain saw massacre. It was supposed to be subtle! Also I spent a lot of time butchering/converting the pilot which now can't be seen because of the stupid amount of paint and I used the wrong shade of red anyway (I changed the pilots arms from holding the instruments, to arms by his side, as if dead and head lolled to the side but no one will ever see this now). Also I screwed up on the epoxy resin (pound shop) as I tried to disurb it whilst curing and made it non transparent which meant you couldn't see the floating rifle or the man's severed leg. The camo netting is the net you get when you buy garlic from the supermarket. I cured trees and moss from my garden, rolled some twigs in pva and then flock to add green to the trees. The main thing I learned from the build was RESEARCH FIRST! At first I wanted to depict Kursk '43 but then thought this has been quite popular so would do the panther watton line. I bought a yak-3 as I like this plane and its quite small in real life so would fit ok. I started the build and then continued to read about each item of equipment and found that the yak wasn't mass produced for combat until the summer of 1944 so couldn't do the panther line. By this time I had also bought ss figures and so needed a new subject to crow bar all this into and settled on the 11th Nordland division in Estonia in '44. This is loosely based on the Tanneburg line/battle for narva involving the 11th inf div and 11th ss nordland div. When I started to paint the awful airfix german inf I had no idea you were supposed to even use a specialised model primer first before you paint them, so I hope you may see a difference between these (standard heer troops, some I also converted to make more poses) and the zvezda ss and mortar crew and the half track (which was done last)....Anyway here it is. (shout out to Mrs Murphys signage, thanks to her calligraphy in fraktur style.)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/192726894@N07/shares/8212VS

Muchmirth · April 10, 2021

Muchmirth · April 10, 2021

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVeqiDD

Ernst · April 11, 2021

Now that's an impressive entry in diorama building. Since I'm just lurking around in the diorama section I can't really advise you or give proper feedback on the content. I've only build some diorama's decades ago. Presentation wise, you might consider embedding more photo's like in the second post and comment on them individually or in small chunks for "digestibility". You sure have a lot of ideas, great work👍.

Cheers,

Ernst.