Centaur In Normandy Diorama

[45DegreesModelling]

Hello everyone, I thought I’d share the slow but steady progress of my Centaur Mk IV diorama. I recently finished the Tamiya 1/35 Centaur Mk IV, a WIP thread can be found here for anyone interested.

 

 

I’d always envisioned this tank on a railway crossing diorama, even before I’d begun construction of the tank.

 

 

I’d searched around and the only 1/35 scale track I could find at the time was Trumpeters German Railway Track.

 

 

The foam slab was bought from eBay and along with some other foam I had lying  around I purchased some AK construction foam for the road/path.

 

Composition is important and I wanted the railway crossing to be seen and represent 1/3rd of the diorama.

 

The black foam is used simply to give the tank some elevation as a flat diorama would look boring in my opinion.

 

 

I used the 6mm AK construction foam for the road which raises the tank a little

bit more.

 

 

Initially I carved in some brick work but it totally looked out of scale. 

 

 

So with that in mind I re sized some

foam and carved out smaller bricks along with a kerb. I also rolled around a scrunched up tin foil ball to add texture to the bricks.

 

Ive decided that the former road with the big bricks can act as a paint mule and if it looks ok, rather than waste it, use it as a base for the Honda RA272 that you can see in one of the pictures above.

 

Thanks for looking and I’ll keep you all updated.

 

Tom

 

 

[Jb65rams]

Nice start. Agree the smaller bricks look better.

Will follow with interest.

[TonyW]

Forgive me if I'm stating the bleedin' obvious.

I've had foamboard take on a curve on a couple of projects I've had a go at. All part of the learning curve and all that, but annoying all the same.

If you are not already going to do so, I would highly reccomend fixing the foam to a solid base of some sort.

 

Tony.

[Richard E]

I'm going to pull up a chair and follow your build to pick up some inspiration; I acquired a couple of wagons and some MiniArt Railroad Track a couple of months ago with the intention of finishing them in a diorama setting.

[45DegreesModelling]

On 19/02/2023 at 19:08, TonyW said:

Forgive me if I'm stating the bleedin' obvious.

I've had foamboard take on a curve on a couple of projects I've had a go at. All part of the learning curve and all that, but annoying all the same.

If you are not already going to do so, I would highly reccomend fixing the foam to a solid base of some sort.

 

Tony.

Thank you for the advice Tony. I’ll try and source some wood. I think raising it will certainly make it more visually appealing too.

 

On 20/02/2023 at 17:34, Richard E said:

I'm going to pull up a chair and follow your build to pick up some inspiration; I acquired a couple of wagons and some MiniArt Railroad Track a couple of months ago with the intention of finishing them in a diorama setting.

Ill have a further update in a couple of weeks. I’ve been super busy with work recently

[Gordon J]

Looking really good so far Tom. I have some of that foam but I found it to be quite soft and hard to make any carvings look realistic. 

[Bullbasket]

I like the way this is shaping up. I did something very similar in 1/48th, using Tamiya's Cromwell and some O gauge track.

 

John.

[45DegreesModelling]

Another little update on my diorama/vignette; I have been super busy the last couple of weeks so I haven’t had much time to get to the bench.

 

I forgot to mention that I was taking inspiration from the following book, it’s pretty decent and well produced. 

 

Next up on the dio was getting the landscape sorted and for this I wanted to try Sculptamold. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to apply and it wasn’t as messy as I thought it would be.

 

 

I was able to get some balsa wood for the border. I trimmed it down (roughly), before applying the sculptamold, which I also used to secure the track in place. Once this dries I intend to further tidy up the border, before applying the mud etc.

 

 

Thanks for taking a look and I appreciate all your comments so far.

 

Tom

 

[Geo1966]

Coming together nicely Tom. Do you have to mix the sculptamold with water or is it ready to use out of the bag?

 

George

[Keeff]

Nice job so far.  

 

I'll grab a chair and follow this one along ..... 

 

Keith  

[Snafu35]

Hello Tom,

 

May I make a suggestion?

A level crossing allows any type of vehicle to pass easily. The rails are therefore flush with the surface of the road, usually with wooden planks laid down at the time.
This picture of a model train is an example: 

 

Have fun in modeling.

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[45DegreesModelling]

On 13/03/2023 at 07:38, Geo1966 said:

Coming together nicely Tom. Do you have to mix the sculptamold with water or is it ready to use out of the bag?

 

George

Thanks George, yes it requires water. One part water to two parts sculptamold. It’s simple enough, you can tell if it’s too runny and need to add more. I worked in small sections and small quantities so the stuff in the bowl wouldn’t dry out. As it starts to dry out on the dio, you can wet your fingers and rub it to smoothen it. This was the first time I’ve ever used it, and practised on a small piece of foam first.

 

On 13/03/2023 at 11:21, Keeff said:

Nice job so far.  

 

I'll grab a chair and follow this one along ..... 

 

Keith  

Thanks Keith, hope I can make a decent diorama… this is my first proper attempt

 

On 15/03/2023 at 09:18, Snafu35 said:

Hello Tom,

 

May I make a suggestion?

A level crossing allows any type of vehicle to pass easily. The rails are therefore flush with the surface of the road, usually with wooden planks laid down at the time.
This picture of a model train is an example: 

 

Have fun in modeling.

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

Thank you for the suggestion Eric. I do intend to do just that. I applied the mud today (update to follow in a few days), and while it was drying I was looking at cutting down some strips of wood just for that. The book I mentioned has some brilliant techniques for painting and weathering wood which I want to try out on the sleepers and crossing!

 

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

Tom

[45DegreesModelling]

Just a little update as I think I’ve gone as far as I can until I get back from work in a couple of weeks…

 

Well I got back from a few days away and the sculptamold had dried nicely. It cracked slightly but nothing to worry about. It was only in areas I hadn’t smoothed down. The first thing on the agenda was to trim down and sand the balsa wood.

 

 

 

Satisfied it was time to make a mud paste using Mig acrylic mud, sharp sand, sea grass and some pigments. The AK rocks are a new product (I think?) and the stones from my garden would be used afterwards.

 

I made a nice paste that I could paint onto the sculptamold.

 

I worked in small sections and sprinkled on some sharp sand to help speed up the drying but also add a little bit more texture.

 

 

Next up was the ballast and for this I used AK Big Grey Rocks. This product is ideal. I thought the little tub wouldn’t be enough but I believe one tub could easily cover 25cm of 1/35 track. 
 

 

At this point, I also sprinkled on some little stones from my garden and tried to feather the ballast at the side of the track. It was all fixed in by using diluted PVA glue.

 

 

And that’s as far as I’ve got. Next up will be applying static grass in certain areas, making a wooden crossing, before I’m going to do an Uncle Night Shift and prime the whole thing in black! 
 

Thanks for looking,

 

Tom

 

 

[Keeff]

It's looking good and progressing nicely. 

 

 

Keith