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"Nice town, isn't it?" - Jagdpanther in Normandy


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Hi All,

 

As I mentioned in my completed Jagdpanther topic (link below) I'm building a small/medium diorama for it, depicting "314" before it was wrecked awaiting their next encounter/orders.

 

 

It's been quite a while since I last built a diorama, and I was never really that happy with my early ones, so this gives me a chance tor try out a lot of new techniques I've read about. So, here's what's happened so far:

qmcZB9e.jpgOhB7XVq.jpg

 

I've used styrofoam sheets to build up the height of the base, and the cobblestones were carved into a layer of Fimo air drying clay. First time using this stuff and it worked really well. It dries quickly, with minimal shrinkage, bonded well to the foam and was very easy to carve. I even used it as render for the building below. The base was pre cut before the clay was applied for the buildings I planned to build.

 

qkibNX1.jpgpx798cH.jpg

 

The manhole cover and drain are laser cut MDF items from Yen Models. Again, I carved out spaces for them in the clay to make sure they fit precisely. Here you can see the start of the pavement, made up of foamboard with a layer of paper peeled away. However, this didn't take to paint very well at all so it was all removed and a layer of clay added instead which was carved (in a different pattern) once dry.

 

dI2OpOy.jpgv2RHQIU.jpg

 

The main building here is made from foamboard, with Fimo clay as the render, cork for the stone details and basswood for the roof and floor. The gutter and drainpipe are made from styrene and brass.

 

Skipping ahead quite a bit here (no pictures sadly as I forgot!), the base also has some paint on it:

KnyUN4k.jpgTeWZfO0.jpg

 

I airbrushed a base grey colour first and then mixed up various different acrylic tones and picked out individual stones - this was very tedious, and it looks very stark here, but hopefully some weathering and rubble will blend everything in. I've also placed the main building to get an idea of how it would look, and added the small wall section in front of it. The idea with the wall is to give the impression of a gated compound (note the different coloured cobbles in line with the wall where the gate would go) that has been destroyed - hopefully this will make more sense with later updates.

 

hnXanun.jpg

 

And, here's how it looks with the Jagdpanther in place - still a while to go! :D 

And finally, here is a progress shot of the 2nd, much more ruined building, and some window details:

mGJeAh5.jpgSttjDlf.jpg

 

Thanks for looking, and I'd love to hear any suggestions from anyone!

 

Cheers

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A little bit of progress on the second building & some info on how they're built. Both buildings are clearly foamboard, but not the common white (polystyrene?) foamboard usually available. On the recommendation of this superb blog from David Neat I bought polyurethane foamboard which is stiffer than the regular stuff and takes paint and glue better. That stiffness obviously gives good rigidity, but also means the foam is sculptable which means I can peel away the paper/card layer to reveal the foam and scribe the brick pattern for the ruined building.

 

lpsSfW2.jpgzWO90A7.jpg

 

Quite a lot has changed so I'll give a quick outline:

1. I've exposed the foal in some areas on the walls and scribed in a brick pattern. Then I've blended the untouched card layer with the brick using the Fimo clay to represent crumbling/exposed plaster. This has been don the back wall and the attic to represent plaster loosened by the bombing of the house which has crumbled away to expose the brick.

2. On the ruined edge of the building I've used cork pieces cut to the size of bricks and the Fimo clay to make an exposed brick wall. The clay was also used to represent the outside render and has been picked away as if it has crumbled realistically. Hopefully with a bit of paint I can differentiate between plaster, brick, mortar and render.

3. I've also used basswood and very thin strips of a wood called Obeche to represent the floors and floor boards. The ground floor is largely unscathed but the upper two have been cut/torn and broken to represent a bomb going through them, and then the weight of the collapsing house as well.

 

So that's what the 2nd house looks like now - next step once the clay ahs set completely will be the first coat of paint for both buildings before they are glued together and detail work can begin. Thanks for looking & liking!

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Hi,

That's a stunning Jagdpanther, and it's already looking to be a stunning diorama/vignette.

The finished thing is going to look.....er.... stunning.

 

One tip, colouring individual cobbles would have been far less tedious had you used some cobble-sized stencils, with an AB, or brush. And whilst on the subject of cobbles, if this were my dio, I'd polish them up, if not all of them, those which would have been polished up over the decades/centuries by shod horses, carts, hobnail boots, and more recently, Jagdpanthers.

 

Your choice of materials looks to be very wise, and I can offer no advice there. If I may suggest one thing, and that's to be observant of the laws of physics and building construction. I know some very odd things can happen during explosions and building collapses etc, but if too many 'odd' things happen, it can look..... er..... odd. I am being fussy, but the half-collapsed 1st floor window on the right doesn't look right to me. There'd be a stone lintel over the window which would probably have fallen out in one piece, rather than snap in half with one half still embedded in the wall, and so there'd be nothing structural left overhanging the window aperture at all. And on that note, there doesn't appear to be any lintel at all over the adjacent window, just bricks. If neither window had a lintel this would explain why they collapsed as they have, but then the builder should have been shot for incompetence. (not you, the 'fictional builder', he should know better) LOL.

 

Aside from that, it's all looking good.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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Thanks for the kind words Badder!

 

Yes, a stencil would have made painting them stones a lot easier and I wish I'd posted this earlier - you would've saved me a lot of time! :D As for polishing them up, I'm torn here because I will need to add some rubble from both houses, which obviously will come with lots brick/stone dust etc so I think I will play around with the amount and position of the rubble, the placing of the Jagdpanther and then work out which areas would be dusty or not.

 

You're right about the lintels though - I think on the main building I will see what I can do cut back the foamboard and add a lintel from cork, and as for the second building, I think I've used a very undersized cork piece there so I will see what I can do with that one as well -good thing no one needs to live in the houses I build otherwise I would've definitely been sued :D 

 

Cheers,

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8 hours ago, Badder said:

There'd be a stone lintel over the window which would probably have fallen out in one piece, rather than snap in half with one half still embedded in the wall,

 

Well, strange things do happen - last Boxing Day morning the missus came in from out the back and said - 'have you got any cement'? Wondering what on earth she was on about I went and had a look - 'no way am I cementing that' says I - the concrete in the lintel over our combined back door/kitchen window had disintegrated over a third of it's length  with the debris lying on the door step and patio! About the only thing left of it was the rebar! Got a brickie in as soon as I could and they replaced it with one of double thickness as he reckoned the original hadn't really been of sufficient strength - but the house was built over 50 years ago so I guess it was thought to be sufficient then. But if the rebar had also rotted through...... 

 

The  buildings look great to me, and I really like your use of the different materials and the different textures they bring to the models.

 

Keith

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5 minutes ago, theaa2000 said:

As for polishing them up, I'm torn here because I will need to add some rubble from both houses, which obviously will come with lots brick/stone dust etc so I think I will play around with the amount and position of the rubble, the placing of the Jagdpanther and then work out which areas would be dusty or not.

 

In real life they'd have been polished before getting dusty, might it be good to replicate that on your model? Polish them all first then add the dust and rubble? Just a thought as I've never got anywhere close to making a dio this ambitious!

 

Keith

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25 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

Well, strange things do happen - last Boxing Day morning the missus came in from out the back and said - 'have you got any cement'? Wondering what on earth she was on about I went and had a look - 'no way am I cementing that' says I - the concrete in the lintel over our combined back door/kitchen window had disintegrated over a third of it's length  with the debris lying on the door step and patio! About the only thing left of it was the rebar! Got a brickie in as soon as I could and they replaced it with one of double thickness as he reckoned the original hadn't really been of sufficient strength - but the house was built over 50 years ago so I guess it was thought to be sufficient then. But if the rebar had also rotted through...... 

 

The  buildings look great to me, and I really like your use of the different materials and the different textures they bring to the models.

 

Keith

 

22 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

In real life they'd have been polished before getting dusty, might it be good to replicate that on your model? Polish them all first then add the dust and rubble? Just a thought as I've never got anywhere close to making a dio this ambitious!

 

Keith

 

Hi Keith

Thanks, glad you like it - it's certainly the most ambitious one I've started to date, especially in terms of detail. I think that I will probably change the right hand building a bit and remove more the wall above the window as @Badder was right and it does look a little weird. As for the main building, on second thought, having the central wooden piece of the window frame still in place also looks odd - why would that survive when the wall has been blown away so I will remove that too.

For the cobbles, I need to seal the clay with a wash of white glue + water to stop it absorbing all the weathering washes and give it some strength to prevent chipping, so this will probably give the stones a shine anyway, and like you suggested I'll build the dust and rubble over that and see how it looks.

 

Cheers

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2 hours ago, theaa2000 said:

on second thought, having the central wooden piece of the window frame still in place also looks odd - why would that survive when the wall has been blown away so I will remove that too.

Hi.

Funnily enough, I don't think the 'central piece of the window frame' needs to be removed. If the lintel and the roof above it fell at the same time, it COULD have all fallen inwards, or outwards, missing the window completely. Or perhaps the roof collapsed first, leaving the lintel in place, protecting the window. Then later, in wind, or whatever, the lintel fell, exposing the window, and wind took off the windows, leaving the central piece? As I said, odd things DO happen. I once saw a documentary about WWII bombs, where they had a real terraced street and set off explosives equivalent to the different bombs used by the Nazis. They set off explosions of from incendiary bombs, up through HE bombs, up to 500lb bombs and then even the equivalent of a V2. From the beginning, there were some milk bottles on a doorstep of one of the houses, and one survived all the smaller bombs and didn't shatter until the 500lb bomb went off.

 

I am in the middle of making a ruined farmhouse, and I will definitely be leaving a few 'odd-looking' bits, so long as the odd bits can be explained by physics.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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31 minutes ago, Badder said:

Hi.

Funnily enough, I don't think the 'central piece of the window frame' needs to be removed. If the lintel and the roof above it fell at the same time, it COULD have all fallen inwards, or outwards, missing the window completely. Or perhaps the roof collapsed first, leaving the lintel in place, protecting the window. Then later, in wind, or whatever, the lintel fell, exposing the window, and wind took off the windows, leaving the central piece? As I said, odd things DO happen. I once saw a documentary about WWII bombs, where they had a real terraced street and set off explosives equivalent to the different bombs used by the Nazis. They set off explosions of from incendiary bombs, up through HE bombs, up to 500lb bombs and then even the equivalent of a V2. From the beginning, there were some milk bottles on a doorstep of one of the houses, and one survived all the smaller bombs and didn't shatter until the 500lb bomb went off.

 

I am in the middle of making a ruined farmhouse, and I will definitely be leaving a few 'odd-looking' bits, so long as the odd bits can be explained by physics.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

28 minutes ago, Badder said:

Have a look at this. They set off explosives in a 'street'.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0v2Uq8z7aI

 

 

That's a great series! Can't believe I've never seen it before but it's full of good references for my build. I'll have a better look at real photos to work out how thick an appropriate lintel should be and try to modify the right hand (smaller) building. For the main building I'll have a think and try out a few options.

 

In the meantime, I've started work on the figures - they're a mix of Alpine, Ultracast and Panzer Art from these sets:

35101b.jpg35101f.jpg

https://www.alpineminiatures.com/imagepages/35101.html

 

ULT35057-2T.jpgULT35057-4T.jpg

https://www.ultracast.ca/product-p/ult35057.htm

 

60460839_406192593444672_242633900389774

https://panzerart.pl/product/fi35-076-german-tanker-telling-a-joke-no-2/

 

The figures all look really good - good sculpting detail and solid casting so should be a joy to paint - hopefully I can do them justice.

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20 minutes ago, theaa2000 said:

 

That's a great series! Can't believe I've never seen it before but it's full of good references for my build. I'll have a better look at real photos to work out how thick an appropriate lintel should be and try to modify the right hand (smaller) building. For the main building I'll have a think and try out a few options.

 

In the meantime, I've started work on the figures - they're a mix of Alpine, Ultracast and Panzer Art from these sets:

35101b.jpg35101f.jpg

https://www.alpineminiatures.com/imagepages/35101.html

 

ULT35057-2T.jpgULT35057-4T.jpg

https://www.ultracast.ca/product-p/ult35057.htm

 

60460839_406192593444672_242633900389774

https://panzerart.pl/product/fi35-076-german-tanker-telling-a-joke-no-2/

 

The figures all look really good - good sculpting detail and solid casting so should be a joy to paint - hopefully I can do them justice.

Your choice of figures is very good and I am sure that you will have a lot of fun painting them.
I have already built several Panzerart figures and can confirm the very good quality.
At the moment I am working with them for my Grant vignette.
BTW: your whole work so far like the ruin and the tank are really very well done 👍
Keep on having fun!
MD

 

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B&W priming is finished

 

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both figures got a hornet head

 

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my latest project

 

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See you!

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1 hour ago, THEscaleSHOW said:

Your choice of figures is very good and I am sure that you will have a lot of fun painting them.
I have already built several Panzerart figures and can confirm the very good quality.
At the moment I am working with them for my Grant vignette.
BTW: your whole work so far like the ruin and the tank are really very well done 👍
Keep on having fun!
MD

Dankeschön MD!

I am looking forward to painting 1/35 figures again as it's been a while since my last ones. The Panzer Art crewman looks pretty good so far. I had only seen the CAD pictures before buying it but the casting is great. It seems like it is a 3D printed figure? Or maybe just a CAD design? Eitherway, it's as good as the Alpine stuff which for me is probably the best in 1/35

Yours look excellent - I love the splatters of mud and dirt on the second one. They really tie him into the base and make him feel part of the scene. Top work!

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On 03/06/2021 at 16:28, theaa2000 said:

Dankeschön MD!

I am looking forward to painting 1/35 figures again as it's been a while since my last ones. The Panzer Art crewman looks pretty good so far. I had only seen the CAD pictures before buying it but the casting is great. It seems like it is a 3D printed figure? Or maybe just a CAD design? Eitherway, it's as good as the Alpine stuff which for me is probably the best in 1/35

Yours look excellent - I love the splatters of mud and dirt on the second one. They really tie him into the base and make him feel part of the scene. Top work!

Vielen Dank!! 🙂

 

I think the photos are from CAD model, the figure itself seems to be cast.
I have discovered after the primer still small casting seams - they would not be seen in a print.
Either way top quality.

MD

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On 6/6/2021 at 5:20 PM, THEscaleSHOW said:

Vielen Dank!! 🙂

 

I think the photos are from CAD model, the figure itself seems to be cast.
I have discovered after the primer still small casting seams - they would not be seen in a print.
Either way top quality.

MD

 

You're right, the casting is very good - I know this because figure work has started :D I primed all the figures, checked for seams/casting imperfections etc and sprayed the base colours - Vallejo Nato black for the uniforms (lightened with Panzer DK grey) and Vallejo Flat Flesh for the hands/faces. I've been working on the highlights/shadows on the figures but there is still more work to do.

The heads on the other hand are a bit more advanced - here I used oils for the shadows/highlights, eyes and lips - still work to do I think

q5too7E.jpgBWWXJiO.jpg

 

I have also started work on making the base a bit more presentable since bare styrofoam doesn't go with anything else in my house :D Despite timber prices, I got a decent piece of walnut, routed a slot for a plywood base and started making a box:

G7p3uWU.jpg

And, lot and lot of sanding later:

yuBewz3.jpgIZ7m9cM.jpg

Shiny! Before I oil and finish it, I have to cut out a corner for the crater, which is a nerve-wracking thing to do when the finish is this nice.

jxcCTV1.jpg

All done with hand tools so far - now just waiting on more Dremel bits for some precision shaping and sanding.

 

Cheers

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An update - the buildings have paint!

 

I stupidly didn't take any in progress photos, so here are some photos of where the buildings are at the moment with some annotations/notes:

HtTui7a.jpg

1. The walls have been base coated in Vallejo White Grey - it's a nice base for further colours and unifies the base materials.

2. The bricks have been painted a mix of Vallejo Red Brown, Nato Brown and Light Red - they were just hand mixed to various appropriate brick shades and the individual cork bricks on the broken wall and the exposed bricks on the wall were picked out with the different mixed shades. The mortar is again Vallejo - this time a mix of Light Brown and Sand (Ivory).

3. The exposed wood has been inked with diluted Vallejo Modelling washes - Dark Brown and Grey. This isn't the final product, but just something to give it a more appropriate tone and age it somewhat. I will weather it further as I progress.

4. Finally the lintel and window sill were picked out with a concrete colour from a mix of Vallejo grey and white grey - I know I sound like I'm sponsored by Vallejo but I'm not :D They're just a very easy paint for brush work.

 

In the background you can see that the other building also looks different, because it too has received paint, but again I have no photos. 🙄 I'm not good at this blog thing. What I did do between the above photo and the next ones is to align the two buildings as they would appear on the base and glue them together so I can detail and weather them jointly. Then I started work on the slate roof tiles:

mNkyQz0.jpg

 

I based the dimensions (50 x 50 cm) on some modern roof tiles from a builders warehouse here in the UK so maybe not appropriate for 1940s France but not that big of a problem really. The Chopper came in very handy to make many equally sized tiles. These were then basecoated in black an painted in a dark slate grey mixed from....you guessed it Vallejo paints! How do they look on the main roof, well not too bad:

eFjVJIA.jpg

Nice clean tiles...too clean to be real so weathering is required. This started with airbrushing various shades of the base colour which had been lightened and darkened by eye. Then I used some water colour pencils to add even more variety, add some streaks and weather the edges:

1kRms47.jpg

Much more like it! The same process was used for the smaller building, this time with some differently shaped tiles to imply the buildings were built at different times.

hh5LlnH.jpg6KDmZFX.jpg

In this photo, you can also see a few more changes. The concrete lintels have been weathered somewhat, lead flashing has been added and the main roof frame has been finished off with a weather piece of wood.

Lots of changes, so here's a summary:

 

6GDrCkm.jpg

1. Main building painted in Vallejo light brown + Sand

2. Concrete/stonework details picked out.

3. Window/door frames picked out in white - some reference photo seem to indicate some paintwork like this so that's what I tried to replicate

4. 2nd building painted in Light brown with sand patches to indicate fading plaster - not happy with this at all as it looks very unnatural so I need to rethink this one.

5. Slate roof tiles in some (50?) shades of grey :D 

6. Lead foil flashing

7. Drainpipe and gutter painted in MRP Red brown (lacquers seemed to stick to the metal better), a layer of hairspray and then white grey again. Then the white was washed/rubbed off to reveal the rusty coloured base - more work to come here.

 

That's it for today!

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4 hours ago, keefr22 said:

They are looking really good, very neat paintwork in some spot on looking colours. I really like your idea of the final summing up photo, that's very useful!

 

Nice work!

 

Keith

Thanks Keith! It's tough to decide what colours are suitable since most period photos are black & white so I've used modern photos of Normandy assuming old buildings haven't changed much. Still, with damage/weathering the buildings will hopefully look more realistic and less uniform. The summary is just because I forgot to take in progress photos and have a new pen+drawing tablet to play with, but you're right - it works well enough to keep doing it.

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Very small update tonight - moss!

depositphotos_212518570-stock-photo-greewlHM3yQ.jpg

So the one on the right is obviously a real photo and what I'm using for reference. From this you can see lichens, multiple colours of moss and green algae-like discolouration of the tiles. Also it's clear the moss builds up along the joint lines of tile and then occasionally larger patches across the tile. For the moss I used Woodland Scenics green turf scatter mixed with water, white glue and green paint because the scatter I had was too light. I then used a toothpick to lay out small clumps on the roof and tease it appropriate shapes and places. I then used watercolour pencils to simulate streaking and staining from the moss. I think I still might use some very diluted AK Slime green enamel wash to blend the moss and the tiles together, but that's tomorrow's problem :) 

 

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Wooow this is by far and away the best Dio I've seen on here. So many bits to take heed of. I'm very jealous of your work space as well, wish I had a bit more room to work. Anyway the wall. Roof. Cobbles, all looks mint. Can't think of anything to improve on. What foam board did you use (sorry to ask specifics but I'll have to study this one more closely for a future project I want to do and has given me many idea.) Very, very neat!!! Also did you scratch build the brass down pipes and styrene guttering, if not where did you source those bits please, again want to try and do the same myself.

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1 hour ago, Muchmirth said:

Wooow this is by far and away the best Dio I've seen on here. So many bits to take heed of. I'm very jealous of your work space as well, wish I had a bit more room to work. Anyway the wall. Roof. Cobbles, all looks mint. Can't think of anything to improve on. What foam board did you use (sorry to ask specifics but I'll have to study this one more closely for a future project I want to do and has given me many idea.) Very, very neat!!! Also did you scratch build the brass down pipes and styrene guttering, if not where did you source those bits please, again want to try and do the same myself.

 

1 hour ago, Muchmirth said:

Oh and are you a chippy by trade by any chance? With the tiles I couldn't see what they are made of? (I'm might be a bit blind if you did mention)?

 

Thanks mate! Very high praise indeed. The foamboard I used is polyurethane foamboard, known as Kapa line foamboard (might be the brand?). I got it from here: https://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Item/Foamboard-KAPA-line-white/ITM4981

The gutter and drainpipes are scratchbuilt from styrene and brass stock. The styrene u-shaped profiles are from Maquett, but I'm sure that either Plastruct or Evergreen Styrene have comparable profiles - I picked the size closest to what modern gutters scale to in 1/35. The ribbing is added by me using thin styrene strips and Tamiya extra thin. The brass pipe is from Albion Alloys who have a huge stock of brass, copper and aluminium profiles. Again I chose an appropriate diameter based on photos etc. The tiles are plastic sheet, cut to size with the Chopper tool.

 

No, I'm not a chippy - I actually had to look up that one :D So clearly my carpentry skills are lacking. If I was, I'm sure the base would be more precise :D 

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Hi,

Fantastic progress. Fiddling/altering things is all part of the fun and nearly always for the better.

Your building is/was obviously quite 'modern' for the time, so won't be overly decrepit.  Moss is very slow-growing so if your building is relatively new, say built in 1900, or renovated in the early 1920s I wouldn't put any more moss on.

However, I can offer a tip for some extra 'growth' on roof tiles that you might find interesting, and that's to apply a water and plaster-dust wash with some green acrylic ink/paint and a bit of washing-up liquid mixed in.  Stipple it on with a brush and leave to dry. When the bubbles pop they deposit the plaster dust and pigment around the circumferences, leaving patches of tiny green circles, as well as the usual green wash effects. I do have a video showing the technique and the results, To find the channel and vid, click on the link at the bottom of this post. But to whet your appetite, here's a couple of photos from my Pit Stop dio, in this forum.

 

There are tiny circles in this photo, but you need to zoom  in. The 2nd photo shows a more extreme version, which was just a test run.

W3nhdcT.jpg

 

hkx99Mz.jpg

 

And back to a less-pronounced affect on a wall......

hQCfR09.jpg

 

Hppe that helps.

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

 

Edited by Badder
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Thank you Badder - you're right, this has been an experiment as it's been a while since my last dio. Thank you for the technique suggestion - it looks like it'll make for some very convincing lichens.

 

Today's update is a mix of details and weathering:

a3swoQI.jpg

The main building has a front door:

1. The door is made of thin Obeche wood planks glued side by side with CA

2. The handle & latch are styrene strip painted with Tamiya Dark Iron

3. Bullet holes at roughly head height...

4. Kick bar/reinforcing again with styrene strip.

 

The wood was tinted with Vallejo washes and then sprayed blue. Then the high points and areas of contact were sanded back to reveal the wood. Finally, I gave it an oil dirt wash to sit in the recesses. Is it a bit overweathered? Maybe, but in my mind it's a wooden outside door and weather sealing probably wasn't as good then as it is now, so it seems ok. Plus the tank obscures most of it from the front anyway.

Next, I've addressed the rather plain looking buildings. I've been reading the tremendous Rubén González book, Dioramas FAQ from AK - It's pricey but full of some excellent tips and some beautiful work from Rubén. Along with real references, this served as inspiration for the next steps. Here are some sample references I found:

ACDG3fe.jpg

SRaaA1d.jpg

N9pyDNW.jpg

As you can see, even the undamaged buildings have weathered, both from the environment and nearby action/explosions. There is environmental bleaching/discolouration, staining/streaking from rain, dust, paint fade, shrapnel damage and a layer of brick/stone dust. So here's what I did:

EQxqZdM.jpguDUPtPA.jpg

Both buildings received some weathering with an airbrush to give colour variation. Over this, I stippled Abt. 502 Sunny & Basic flesh tones on the main building to add a stone texture-look and further colour variation at the edges, under the gutter/roof edges etc - all of this was done in areas that seemed weathered based on the photos above.

1. Shrapnel/bullet hits were cut out of the plaster facade, the dust was blown out with my airbrush and then it was painted - red/brown for brick and a muted stone colour for the other. Then there was some dust streaking applied as if rain after the damage has caused the dust/water to streak.

2. Under the stone 1st floor strip, there is some staining and streaking applied with oils and enamel washes.

3. Bigger fading and discolouration around the larger battle damage sections.

4. The lower stone sections have received some green/brown washes at the bottom to simulate rising damp/staining from standing water sitting at the pavement/building joint.

5. The second building received similar sun fading but less general weathering indicating it's not quite as old.

6. The exposed plaster edges have received some lighter coats to show how the plaster/render has been damaged revealing the lighter, unpainted plaster.

7. The concrete beam has received chipping showing the material difference

 

The second building, which I had planned to be a cafe/patisserie (hence the large window) has received a bit of interior paint to break up the white monotony, and now needed a sign. I used some laser cut MDF letter from Yen Models - same supplier as the manhole/sewer grates and again a lovely product. Here's a link: https://www.yenmodels.be/shop/urban-accessories/yml35014-storefront-lettering

storefronteur.JPG

 

Like the door, I butted up Obeche strips with basswood strip framing. This was all painted MRP Sand brown as a wood base colour, and then I marked out spacing for the letters and used CA glue for the signwor. These also received the same base colour. Over this I sprayed some chipping fluid, and the red and yellow main colours. Further weathering and chipping can wait till it's attached:

Ix0MUDn.jpg

1. Obeche strip base with MRP sand base, chipping fluid and Vallejo red.

2. Yen Models storefront lettering picked out in Mission Models yellow (see, I own paints other than Vallejo :D)

3. Basswood framing

 

This was glued in place above the large window, and I also made the window frame:

Zcf6ivM.jpg

1. The space was framed with basswood strips, weathered with Vallejo washes

2. Sign glued in place and chipped at the damaged end to expose the wood

3. The frame is styrene, built up exactly as I did the windows above - right angled parts for the outside frame and strip elsewhere. Also painted red to match the sign.

4. Clear styrene was cut & scored to simulate broken glass.

 

Finally, both the sign and window received oil washes to tie them in to the building and knock down some of the shininess of the colours. Further weathering will happen when the buildings are fixed to the base and rubble has been put down.

 

In my second reference photo you can see some distinctive lamp brackets on the right which I thought would add some detail to some flat buildings. I used some copper wire, straightened out, bent to shape and soldered the two parts:

pdwz8v0.jpg

The plastic piece was only to keep the spacing whilst soldering. This was then painted in MRP Red Primer, chipping fluid, Vallejo white grey, chipped and then an oil wash and fixed in place:

2zB6QRW.jpg

Then I used a Hauler resin lampshade with some scale suitable chain all painted and weathered in a similar way to the bracket to complete the look. Here is how everything so far looks on the base:

rhRuwjc.jpg

 

Thanks for looking!

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