Maverick231 Posted September 5, 2021 Share Posted September 5, 2021 (edited) Evening all! After reading through a couple of other threads on building an airfield diorama I decided to share mine! I've been working my way through a bunch of kits, toys, diecast models and scratch built items in hope of oneday achieving a 1/72, 1/76 Airport/Museum diorama mixed with a OO Gauge(1/76 scale) Railway Layout. To achieve this I'd had to come up with my own whiff location. I will say though if your not a fan of mixed eras and mixed similar scales please look away now as you will not like this one bit! Within this project I want to replicate some of the vehicles I used to drive in my old job before I became disabled. So I've started with the EBT(Electric Baggage Tug) and Ground Power Unit which came with the Revell Typhoon and Hardened Aircraft Shelter set. The Tug has been part started for a very long time(a few years) but I managed to collect all the pieces ready for the build. and the Ground Power has never been touched. Both have been fully built and the Tug has been painted. I chose not to use the kits front bumper and added my own and left off the large frame as ours never used those either. Full detail has been painted and I used a piece of clear sprue with a hole drilled out with Tamiya Orange Clear painted into the hole to represent a beacon. On ours we had bright red so I did the same. The other spare has been saved for another vehicle. I like how scuffed the windows are as that's how the real things are! I then started painting the Ground Power Unit. I then masked off were I wanted the control panel. I also modified the towing arm with magnets to make it posable(brakes on or off). This is what I used to drive at work and on atleast 10 occasions per day this is a set up I used. and finally using some unused instrument panel.decals from an Airfix Hawk T.1 I created a control panel. I have a few more plans with the GPU but the Tug is now completed. Edited September 6, 2021 by Maverick231 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desert falcon Posted September 5, 2021 Share Posted September 5, 2021 Very interesting, I’ll be following your progress with interest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick231 Posted September 6, 2021 Author Share Posted September 6, 2021 (edited) Next up is a flood light. This one looks similar to a few at RAF Mildenhall and I found it in a charity shop for 25p! This is how it started. It really was nowhere tall enough and it was bent so I decided to cut it up to remove the pole. I replaced it with some wood I had bought for my smaller 1/400 diorama and it seems to have done the trick. I then painted it and I think.it looks the part. I then decided to add filler to the base for weight which has stabilized it perfectly! Now onto one of the aircraft you bars I have and maintenance ladders. The figure will be showcased at a later date. The Towbar has been made to replicate both the Dash-8 and ATP towbar I used to work with. all I added was a set of wheels, a handle bar and a "foot"(metal piece at the Tug end to stop it hitting the ground) And the maintenence ladders have been painted. More to follow. Edited September 6, 2021 by Maverick231 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick231 Posted September 7, 2021 Author Share Posted September 7, 2021 The modelling mojo was dwindling tonight so I took the opportunity to give the GPU some extra detail. I scratch built a beacon from some clear sprue, drilled out in the middle and added some Tamiya Clear Orange to give it a little glow. I also used the oxygen tanks from an Airfix Spitfire as fire extinguishers. And I painted all the handles and roof grates Silver. I plan on weathering the grates once the paint is fully dried. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted September 7, 2021 Share Posted September 7, 2021 All looking good. There are a number of very good priced flood lights about for ho or oo gauge railways with working lights. A few for less than a tenner on eBay. I am always of the opinion that you can get increased realism for a diorama to have working lights were the real lights are rather than trying to use external lights. I even saw a mobile generator driven one 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick231 Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 (edited) Those lights do look very nice, thanks bar side! Edited September 8, 2021 by Maverick231 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick231 Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 (edited) The next 2 pieces of equipment will be a Hasegawa Ford Tractor and a Revell towbar which looks to be almost a perfect representation of a B737 tow bar. Overview of the Tractor Sprue. And just like that it's all built! The kit didn't come with any axles so I used this 0.81mm Metal rod. I used the spare two bar from the Electric Tug. And drilled out the attachment hole on the front of the Tractor as it will be pictured pushing back aircraft at some point. Onto the aircraft tow bar. Primed and painted Yellow. Both now very much finished. I'm really pleased with the detail on both but the engine detail in the Tractor is quite pleasing! The Towbar doesn't look too bad either! More to come. Edited September 8, 2021 by Maverick231 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick231 Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 (edited) I found some Russian Metal wheel chocks in a Zvezda MiG-29SMT kit I have. Built and painted in about 10 minutes. These are for the larger aircraft. I've created some rubber chocks for smaller aircraft. My wife bought me the Atlas Editions De-icing Rig, unfortunately this is one vehicle I didn't get the chance to drive. I've painted 2 of the figures! This one is "Grandad" And this guy is called "Ky" I painted them in the original uniform I had when I first started at the airport. "Ky" on the belt loader again that my wife bought me, and "Grandad guiding him onto the hold door. Thanks for looking! Edited September 10, 2021 by Maverick231 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick231 Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 I think it's time we built an Aircraft for the diorama/Layout! I started with the wings, gluing the seat supports to the cabin floor and tidying up the fuselage halves. I put the nose weight in and painted the cabin floor. The rest of the interior is finished and installed. Fuselage has been buttoned up, sanded and reriveted. The wings are only dry fitted at this stage. Windows are masked and PVA'd in place. I put the doors in the temporarily closed position to mask the interior. And the Yellow is now gone! A splash of colour. And she's done! I enjoyed building the Islander so much I immediately bought another one, ironically this time it'll wear the Yellow Aurigny livery. Now that there's an aircraft ready I can get a better prospective on the planning part of the diorama and layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick231 Posted September 11, 2021 Author Share Posted September 11, 2021 Here are a few more things I plan on including into the diorama and Layout. 3 busses: A Stobart Rail low loader carrying the preserved wreckage of a Hampden. A forklift. I have about 10 cars for the car park and stuff to give it more of an atmosphere. And this is the closest I could get to having my own real car on the layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Random Username Posted September 11, 2021 Share Posted September 11, 2021 Loving this good stuff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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