1/72 Short Stirling Diorama, with 1/76 LNER D16 Locomotive and Carriage Diorama - How best to do this??

[Nick21]

Looking for ideas and suggestions please, as first foray into such a large diorama for me, gulp 😆!! Please see images below - I am going to create a diorama to replicate Short Stirling MG-V W7445 at it's hard stand at RAF Oakington, with the LNER D16 locomotive and carriage in the back ground (I've purchased both) as seen in the B&W image below. My initial plans are to are cut out a "Trapezoid" that's 50cm across the front, 60cm deep and 70 wide at the back out of a solid foam, this gives it depth, width at the back and possibly a good composition too?  . I am not going to use the frame that's in the image below with the paper cut out of the Stirling, that was way too heavy and large but it shows the concept. The rail track will sit at the back as the 70cm gives it the width for the D16 locomotive & carriage and the Stirling at the front, with it's front wheels on the hard stand and tail wheels on the grass behind. I'm thinking of using Balsa wood to create the edging of the foam. There will be a tractor and bomb trolley's, may be a vehicle and definitely figures working on the Stirling and loading Bombs too. It's Nov 1941, it'll be wet, even with a light snow here and there. Lots of Youtube info available, perhaps too much, so appreciate any suggestions?

 

 

 

 

The scene below is what I'm thinking I'd like to replicate, though some bombs will be loaded and some being drawn up into the bay too. 

 

By Charles E. Brown - This photograph TR 36 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2050947

Edited June 23 by Nick21
added photo

[Nick21]

Idea's and purchasing coming together! Have decided to go with a 9mm Plywood base and 20mm high density foam, to be glued to the Plywood. It will be cut to take the form of a Trapezius shape, 50cm wide at the front, 70cm wide at the back and 60cm from the front to the back. PVA glue to secure foam to base, with both cut to shape prior to gluing together. I'll edge the foam with Balsawood, that'll be 3 or 4mm higher than the top of the foam, to create a surround to "catch" the concrete and grassy areas and railway line! I'll leave a 4mm surround of Plywood extending out from the Balsawood edging as that will support a Perspex cover that'll have made once the foam and Balsawood are in place. Ply and Balsa will be painted black. The concrete hard standing will have 50% of the width of the concrete taxiway included, allowing the Stirling to sit further forward on the diorama. This will not move quickly, as lots to plan out and start to build! The Locomotive and carriage will have a coat of gloss soon too, ready for some weathering and cotton wool, for smoke, fashioned onto the Chimney too. It'll be the detailed components that will take time concrete, grass, railway, fencing, powerlines...... 🙃

 

 

 

Edited June 25 by Nick21
added image

[Nick21]

Tad issue with the real flu, apparently worse than Man Flu, I can vouch for that too, taken out of action for 10 days!! Anyway, I have cut the Plywood board and foam, edging the foam with Balsawood and leaving 3mm protruding so that when I have a Perspex cover made it'll rest on 3mm peripheral lip! The perimeter track, where I'll position MG-V on the diorama, looks in the coloured images to have a concrete base but a Bitumen layer on top of that too (see image below). I'll seal the foam where the hardstand will be with a Grey tinted PVA glue and then I'll start with the AK Terrains concrete diluted and see where that takes me! The concrete, based on my research seems to laid in approximately 8 to 10 feet squares that's about 42mm for the 10 feet option at 1/72 scale. There are also references to rectangular concrete forms too and for RAF Oakington, I've yet to confirm that detail.....would anyone know? Had a play with Static grass, on just the Foam and then on foam painted Brown, the latter wins! Also some AK Still Water to see if I can create a Frozen puddle look! For the Grass, I'll seal the foam with a Brown tinted PVA and once dry I'll use a some Scatter material as a base layer, add some dead grass to that. Then use Autumnal grass and tufts to create some variation. The railway line and adjoining fence I'll start once I've got the peripheral track and grass area completed for the Stirling! Link to the Stirling build below too: 

 

 

Playing around with Static Grass!

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick21]

Made some basic progress with the Diorama today and the Stirling too.  Diorama photo sequence below and the Stirling and components awaiting to be attached to it have all had a Flat Clear coat applied. Tomorrow's job, loading the Bomb's and fitting the bomb Doors, that'll be a "Blast" by all the accounts I've read so far!

 

This is roughly, what I am looking to replicate: 

 

 

No.1 - Used a very thin file to mark out the "10ft square" (in 1/72), to a depth of around 3 to 5mm. These, along with the surface, I'll seal with a PVA glue, tinted with Grey and then the AK Concrete pre-mix:

 

 

No.2 - Lashing of PVA tinted with Grey:

 

 

 

No.3 - Sealed with the Grey tinted PVA, this is after it had dried.. Stirling added for effect! 

 

 

No. 4 - PVA tinted with Brown added to the area where the wintery Static grass will go and possibly some Snow too. AK Concrete added to the hard stand area, just the start of this piece of work:

 

 

Aerial View:

 

 

Edited August 15 by Nick21

[Nick21]

Progress so far! Not the best images, I'll post the best ones once I've completed it! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ossington 2]

If you pick your dispersal, you can can scale out the distance to the railway line:

 

https://imgur.com/a/DiRuztu

[Nick21]

16 hours ago, Ossington 2 said:

If you pick your dispersal, you can can scale out the distance to the railway line:

 

https://imgur.com/a/DiRuztu

Hi, The distance to the railway from the perimeter track on the Eastern side of RAF Oakington is 100m, that scale (according to the online calculator) is 1.4m and that's where my Stirling was actually positioned.  So way too bigger distance for my diorama, just going with replicating the concept to give it life, even though Stirling is too close! The perimeter track along with one of the runways, only started to be built in September 1941 and my diorama is dated 15th Nov 1941, so very early stages of moving from dangerous grass runways to three concrete ones. Appreciate the suggestion though 👌

[Nick21]

Making some positive progress with the Short Stirling Diorama, lot of work to be completed as yet! Making the tops of the railway lines shine after an Airbrush coat of brown to weather them a little. The Wire fence needs to become "galvanised" and weathered too. Placement of grass tufts and weeds, under the fence line and its posts. May well add some more light scattering of Snow but less is more, I must remember! Then there is the bomb trolleys, trucks, tractor and ground crew to complete and add. The Locomotive needs a cotton wool "Steam" flow added to it's chimney and the carriage, a grey weathering to reflect the fact railway hardware was not cleaned during the war. Finally I'll add a Perspex cover that'll come in two parts. One, will be the upright back Perspex section that'll be screwed in place behind the D16 Locomotive and carriage, with a printed countryside scene adhered in place. This will allow diorama impact to stay in place once the main Perspex cover is removed. Two, the construction of the main Perspex cover by a local fabricating company, that will protect the whole project!  There is a link to the Short Stirling MG-V Build below for those keen to have a look, with images of the Diorama below the link. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 15 by Nick21

[bar side]

This is a cross over of my areas of interest - GER and aircraft dioramas. A Claud in the background too.  Your presentation is looking good.  There are a real lack of prototypes where railways run into airfields although I am sure it happened a lot more during the war than we have good pictures of.  Most of the one I know had a reasonable gap between the stations and bomb concentration points and the airfields. But dispersals could be some way from the main fields.  I work near the rail line between Great Ashfield and Bury St Edmunds.  Two Eight Airforce fields that were undoubtedly rail supplied and could easily have spurs from the line. Must go and read up on Oakington.  Wonder how far the line was from Mildenhall?

[Nick21]

On 21/09/2025 at 09:56, bar side said:

This is a cross over of my areas of interest - GER and aircraft dioramas. A Claud in the background too.  Your presentation is looking good.  There are a real lack of prototypes where railways run into airfields although I am sure it happened a lot more during the war than we have good pictures of.  Most of the one I know had a reasonable gap between the stations and bomb concentration points and the airfields. But dispersals could be some way from the main fields.  I work near the rail line between Great Ashfield and Bury St Edmunds.  Two Eight Airforce fields that were undoubtedly rail supplied and could easily have spurs from the line. Must go and read up on Oakington.  Wonder how far the line was from Mildenhall?

Hi, Below is a scale map of RAF Oakington and you'll see that the Cambridge to St Ives Railway line runs approximately 200m in parallel to the East of the perimeter track which is where the image of the MG-V W7445 has been taken, looking East from where the Stirling is at it's hard stand. Beyond the railway is what was my Grandfathers farm and where this Stirling crashed landed upon take off on Sunday 15th Nov 1941 that he rescued two from being awarded the BEM (civil) for his actions. I lived on my Grandfathers farm from 1966 for 9 years and have fond memories of this and the RAF stations history. This is the inspiration for this build and diorama. Below are links to the following: a) The Map, b) Pathe' video that shows this part of RAF Oakington, MG-V and the Claud D16 8825 with carriages in tow, again an inspiration for the build. c) My diorama build that now supersedes this post, d) the post detailing the Short Stirling build and e) an image that I just found online of the 8825! Not sure about Mildenhall but you've perked my interest! 

 

 

Pathe Video is here: 

 

 

Diorama build - Live posting site: 

 

Short Stirling MG-V W7445 build:

 

 

Image of the D16 8825: