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  

[45DegreesModelling]

Another update for those following along:

 

I bought a cheap static grass applicator from eBay along with some 6mm and 10mm length grass. It went down without a problem. I did it in clumps as I want some nice weathered mud to be visible when I finally start painting and adding washes.

 

 

You can see on this image all the texture and visual interest in the mud.

 

I also took the time to make a wooden railway crossing from balsa wood. I genuinely can’t wait to start painting and weathering all the wooden elements.

 

 

I also purchased some meadow mix from Ammo to give more depth and interest to the diorama/vignette.

 

 

This stuff is laser cut and so easy to work with.

 

 

I’ve still got some more of the meadow mix to add, along with some damaged barrels. I’ve got a couple of weeks off work now so I should expect to get this over the line soon.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Tom

 

[Rob Maynard]

Top work so far, looking forward to seeing the final result!

[45DegreesModelling]

So I’ve made some great progress on the diorama/vignette. I decided to add some Tamiya oil barrels to the scene to add some more interest to the foreground.

 

 

I forgot to get a photo of the whole thing primed. I sprayed it entirely in Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 black. This was followed up by painting the static grass. Initially I gave it a spray of XF13 JA Green then I mixed in some XF5 Flat Green and then some XF60 Dark Yellow to lighten the top of the grass. Generally I just had a play around as these were the only green colours I had to hand.

 

 

Next came the ground work which I needed to match the AK Dry Ground texture paint which id used on the Centaur. I went with Buff and Deck Tan. Then I painted the ballast with XF66 Light Grey and XF24 Dark Grey. Nothing fancy with the ground, the washes and enamel paints will hopefully make it pop.

 

 

Before I began painting the brick road I did some superficial damage to areas that would be seen as it was looking a bit too ‘new’.

 

 

The whole brick work was initially painted in Vallejo Neutral Grey. This was then followed up by mixing various shades of grays using Mig Cold Grey, Vallejo U.K. Light Mud and Dark Grey. 
 

I really like the variation and I know it will be toned down by pigments and washes later on. 
 

 

 

The wooden elements for the crossing were primed in Grey then painted in a mixture of Cold Grey and Yellow Grey from Mig. Next up will be to use the oil brushes from Mig to paint and weather them!

 

 

And that’s as far as I’ve got. Painting the wooden sleepers and track will be the final part before the weathering can begin. 
 

Thanks for looking,

 

Tom

[45DegreesModelling]

Another update on my Centaur Diorama/Vignette.

 

I moved on to painting the rails. For this I used burnt umber for the actual rail and rust and light rust for the ‘seats’. I then gave the top of the rail some silver where the wheels would run along the rail.

 

 

 

Next came painting the actual sleepers and for this I used the ammo oil brushes dark brown and sludge to mix up the variation and tone.

 

 

This was followed up with some buff from the oil brushes range too to make the wood look a bit worn.

 

 

Then came the washes to tie it all together. I used the black panel line wash for the centre of the rail as usually that’s where the most grime would accumulate. The fresh mud and loose ground was used in the low areas and the rain mark effects up high. I used the wet blend method to allow it all to blend together.

 

 

 

Once the washes had dried, I went in with some paints to pick out some rocks to add contrast as well as fixing some sand to the cobbles with pigment fixer. 
 

 

I’m pretty happy with it considering it’s my first proper diorama. I’ve learnt a few things so that’s what matters. Now it’s just a case of finishing the wooden crossing and painting the oil barrels.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Tom

[sanfrandragon]

The sand between the paving really makes the road!

[45DegreesModelling]

On 26/04/2023 at 17:46, sanfrandragon said:

The sand between the paving really makes the road!

Thank you, it’s a feature I really like too, although the tank covers most of the paving now. I should have a final update this week!

[Keeff]

This is looking really, really good  

 

Great work on all the painting and effects! 

 

Keith  

[45DegreesModelling]

On 30/04/2023 at 22:00, Keeff said:

This is looking really, really good  

 

Great work on all the painting and effects! 

 

Keith  

Thank you Keith!

 

Well here is the finished product. I painted the wooden railway crossing much the same as sleepers. The oil barrels were painted a dark yellow and rusted up as well. 
 

 

The mini figures supplied with the kit came out ok and I was happy with how they looked considering it was my first time figure painting! I also added a little .4mm wire to the figures hand as he’s holding a radio which I thought was a nice touch.

 

 

Here is the Ready For Inspection Post as well!

 

Thanks for looking and for those following along. You can check out my build process on my YouTube channel, the link is in my signature block 

 

Tom.

[Old Man]

Marvelous work, Sir!

 

Real time-machine with a shrink-ray stuff....