A small pocket - Falaise, 1944

[gwyndaffandy]

Many moons ago I got some 1/144 planes as part of a job lot on eBay. I hadn’t built in this scale before, big fingers, bad eyes and small pieces do not make for a fun afternoon in my book. 
However, rather than consign them to the bin I started to think of what could be done with them. I have built dioramas as an armour modeller and in 1/35 space is a big consideration. The options these tiny planes presented for a bigger scene got me thinking of where to find some targets. I found a range of German vehicles from Pit Road in the correct scale at PlazaJapan. When they arrived I was pleasantly surprised. With the exception of the tracks these are really nice little kits. 
As is the way with my imagination I then started thinking of how do you get the planes in the air? Answer, a building or two, enter the Manor Farm from Metcalfe which is a card kit from the railway world. 
 

I am going to try and build a scene from the Falaise Pocket where retreating German troops became trapped and the allied airforce owned the skies. 
 

here are the bits I plan to use

 

 

[Mjwomack]

This is VERY interesting, shows what can be done in a smaller scale.

 

Metcalfe buildings are very solid but can be painted etc. to stop them looking so Yorkshire. If it's going to look to British then maybe look at the Faller N range because they are unashamedly contental. Osborns Models have a good range in this country, as do Kernow Model Railways.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Very good idea for the little diorama,
 

6 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

This is VERY interesting, shows what can be done in a smaller scale.

Exactly, what I was thinking. 

[Marklo]

Welcome to the GB . This sounds like fun.

[gwyndaffandy]

18 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

This is VERY interesting, shows what can be done in a smaller scale.

 

Metcalfe buildings are very solid but can be painted etc. to stop them looking so Yorkshire. If it's going to look to British then maybe look at the Faller N range because they are unashamedly contental. Osborns Models have a good range in this country, as do Kernow Model Railways.

@Mjwomack I am hoping that it all comes together. As I am building a Normandy scene I think the stone builds will work. It is good to know that there are other options out there. I will see how this goes as to whether it is a scale I can work in. I am worried about the size of figures, I can’t paint big figures so I will have no chance with the small ones

[gwyndaffandy]

Today, I built a house.

 

I started with the main farm house as this will let me figure out what size base I need, which in turn will let me know how many tanks and vehicles I need. 
I have to say at the outset that I have been very impressed with the thought that has gone into the design of the building. The parts are precisely cut within the card runner with just one small edge that needs to be cut through to release the part. 
Here is the main part for the main house 

 

Also included in the kit are clear acetate? Printed windows, simply cut them out with scissors and they are labelled on each piece with enough of an over hang to glue to the inside

 

And once in place they look quite effective

 

The next step involves folding the pre-scored bits around some solid card formers to produce a fairly solid box like structure 

 

I used some paint markers to colour the edges where the white card shows through. This is the roof where I have coloured in the edges of the underside as well

 

and here is the completed house. The porch, rear building and side building are all of the same construction. A nice touch is the inside of the porch where you fold over the sides to give the brick look to the inside as well

 

 

 

I still need to add the chimneys. This will wait until I have figured out the layout and if I can use it to support the tank buster

[Mjwomack]

2 hours ago, gwyndaffandy said:

I have to say at the outset that I have been very impressed with the thought that has gone into the design of the building

You'll be sounding like that recent 'cardvert' @Enzo the Magnificent! But it's true- modern card models are something else from their predecessors. I think it's the roofs that let them down- that can be solved by replacing with plastic sheet; in this case you could replace the slates with pantiles. More work, but given the likely viewing point it could be worth it.

 

6 hours ago, gwyndaffandy said:

I am worried about the size of figures, I can’t paint big figures so I will have no chance with the small ones

They scare me too! I go for an impressionist approach.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

This is an exciting project! Will be watching eagerly.

[gwyndaffandy]

On 13/07/2025 at 20:21, Mjwomack said:

You'll be sounding like that recent 'cardvert' @Enzo the Magnificent! But it's true- modern card models are something else from their predecessors. I think it's the roofs that let them down- that can be solved by replacing with plastic sheet; in this case you could replace the slates with pantiles. More work, but given the likely viewing point it could be worth it.

 

They scare me too! I go for an impressionist approach.

When you look closely at the roofs I can see what you mean. I might give the plasticard approach. I have some thin sheets that I can make into strips of tiles, I really don’t think I will be able to manage individual tiles though. 
 

2 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

This is an exciting project! Will be watching eagerly.

nice to have you onboard, hopefully it will work out ok  

[Mjwomack]

18 hours ago, gwyndaffandy said:

I have some thin sheets that I can make into strips of tiles, I really don’t think I will be able to manage individual tiles though. 

Oh that's serious modelling and attention to detail! sorry, I wasn't clearer- I had this in mind

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/146567594216?_ul=GB&campid=5339075985&mkcid=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&rb_itemId=146567594216&rb_pgeo=GB&toolid=10044&var=0&var=0&ff=11 

 

It's pretty easy to get hold of, just this was the first link I found

 

Also, sent you a PM - hope it's helpful

 

M

[gwyndaffandy]

On 15/07/2025 at 09:43, Mjwomack said:

Oh that's serious modelling and attention to detail! sorry, I wasn't clearer- I had this in mind

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/146567594216?_ul=GB&campid=5339075985&mkcid=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&rb_itemId=146567594216&rb_pgeo=GB&toolid=10044&var=0&var=0&ff=11 

 

It's pretty easy to get hold of, just this was the first link I found

 

Also, sent you a PM - hope it's helpful

 

M

Thanks for clearing the tiles issue up. I counted the number of tiles needed for one of the rows of tiles and decided to pass. I am nervous about removing the already glued card roof in case it damages the walls. I will think of it for my next small scale project - more on that later…

 

I have responded to the PM (I think) thanks

[gwyndaffandy]

The next building to complete for setting the scene is the barn. This is another quite big structure and is constructed in the same way as the house. There is some internal detail with a shippen to one side and a hay loft included. 
There are also 2 lean-to buildings to add to the barn, one is considerably bigger than the other. I haven’t glued either in place yet as I need to figure out the placement of the buildings to see what fits. 
 

 

 

 

 

There is also a tractor shed. I have built it but don’t think I will be using it here. the instructions suggest that with a suitable fence in front then it could also be used for keeping animals in as well.
 

 

[gwyndaffandy]

With the buildings constructed I turned my attention to a bit of town planning. 
 

I like to use cheap photo frames to edge my dioramas not being a skilled woodworker. This one has an inside measurement of 8x11.5 inches. Into the frame I add some insulation board. This keeps the weight light and allows me to stick things in it. 
 

I have called up some 1/144 vehicles from my radio controlled tank diorama to help with planning. A bit of bad news was looking in the box for the Typhoon and discovered there was no canopy nor tail planes. The good news is that I could mock it up here to see how it could work. 
I plan on having to attacking planes, one having finished his attack run and the other about to commence. This will mean a plane at either side, one on the smoke from the chimney of the farmhouse with the other skimming the trees. I know this is too low but it should visually work. 
 

The trees are some that I picked up cheaply with this project in mind. They will need some work to try and make them less toy like, but I do need one for the attacking plane. 
 

Here are the two options, the only difference being the placement of the barn. The road/paths are in tape. The front “empty” section will be a hay field and the borders will be hedgerows. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mjwomack]

2 hours ago, gwyndaffandy said:

I will think of it for my next small scale project - more on that later…

 

OOOH! Slippery slope approaching

 

54 minutes ago, gwyndaffandy said:

I have called up some 1/144 vehicles from my radio controlled tank diorama to help with planning.

 

And there was me thinking that you were really cracking on with this! I mean you are in any case.

55 minutes ago, gwyndaffandy said:

the placement of the barn. T

 

From a practical point of view, you'd probably have the main entrance of the barn pointing onto the road for ease of access, unless you're going to be very exacting about prevailing wind and the rain and weather blowing in.

 

Loving the imagination and creativity.

 

PS PM replied to.

M

[gwyndaffandy]

5 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

OOOH! Slippery slope approaching

with the Typhoon not being a complete kit I have had to go in search of another one. It is coming with some other 1/144 planes, 2 of which are a 109 and a Hurricane. That is screaming BoB to me so assuming I get this one done I will try to do something with those 2

 

5 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

And there was me thinking that you were really cracking on with this! I mean you are in any case.

 

From a practical point of view, you'd probably have the main entrance of the barn pointing onto the road for ease of access, unless you're going to be very exacting about prevailing wind and the rain and weather blowing in.

 

In my head I thought it made sense to have the opening onto the courtyard in version 1. But I do like the way it opens up on version 2. The thin track will be bordered by hedgerows so I can widen the start of that road to get into the farm proper

 

5 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

Loving the imagination and creativity.

 

PS PM replied to.

M

Thanks very much

[gwyndaffandy]

With the buildings complete my attention turned to the vehicle needed for the scene. I started with the Tiger 1. Although this is an early version with twin headlamps, rubber wheels and Feifel filters I am going to go full steam ahead with it. 
the kit is made up of just 16 pieces plus 2 optional parts representing the spare track links. 
 

 

the detail is very impressive, the hull top features details such as the wires on the bottom of the picture below that are for the headlamps. 

 

The hull is built as a box with supports built in to maintain the square

 

 

The tracks are probably the weakest element of the kit. They are made up of 2 parts per side and the detail of the wheels, both front and back are very well done. The problem is with the links which don’t really replicate the look of Tiger tracks. 
 

When it is all put together the effect is rather pleasing. The only thing I have done to enhance this is to drill out the end of the main gun. 
 

 

 

Edited July 18 by gwyndaffandy
Typo

[gwyndaffandy]

Moving on from the Tiger for now, painting will wait until there is enough to warrant cleaning the airbrush, I started with some of the supporting cast. 
The first one is the Kubelwagen, the German equivalent of the US jeep.

This is a 12 piece little marvel with an optional canvas tilt as well. The sprue contains 2 different types of wheels, one with balloon tyres for desert use and the ones I will be using for a European based vehicle. 

 

This little vehicle will probably be the kit. That has taken longest to build so far as I have spent about 40 minutes in total on my knees looking for one of the headlights. Happily I did manage to find it

 

I have left the wheels off until I paint it as it will make life easier. The only thing I have added is the bar that fits behind the front seats and is quite noticeable on the real vehicle. 

and with the tilt placed for the picture, not sure yet if it will be on the finished version

 

Next up is the Sd.kfz 7. This is a big half track that would typically be used as a gun tractor and is often seen towing the famous 88. With no gun available if I use it it will be as an escaping vehicle, used because it moves and can carry passengers. 
 

Again, the detail on this is really good. Marked not for use is the part on the lower left below which is the load bed used when an anti-aircraft gun is mounted with the sides folded down. I have built a few of the 1/35 Tamiya version with the quad 2mm flak gun. There is no flak available for mounting which is a shame  

 

Not many parts but nice to see the optional tilt included as well

With only 5 pieces there aren’t any in progress shots. Here is the completed version 

 

The underneath detail is nice enough and the tracks are not bad on this one

 

 

And finally with the tilt placed, again, I am not sure whether to use this or not

 

The final of my 3 supporting cast is the Sd.kfz. 251

 

This is the most simple and least detailed of the vehicles built so far. There are just 4 parts to this one including the machine gun. 
 

There are seats inside but not much else

 

 

I will attach the gun after painting. 
 

 

[gwyndaffandy]

The second tank I am building is the Panther. This one comes as a set of 3 with the option to build either an Ausf D or an Ausf A. The Ausf A is the one most likely to be found in Normandy so that is what I am building. 
After the 251, the Panther is a well detailed and multi parted model. 22 pieces go into making whichever version you choose with 2 more optional schurzen for either side. There are 2 front glacis, rear plates, commander cupolas, gun mantlets and left hand side turret armour plates, one with a pistol port for the Ausf. D. 
 

 

The hull is complete here minus the wheels and tracks. At the rear are the spare tracks. 

 

The turret is completed with the Ausf A cupola, it would have been nice if the hatch had been a separate piece to add a commander in. I could drill it out and fabricate a hatch but I will leave as is. 
 

 

Here is the finished Panther, the tracks are left loose to aid painting

 

 

 

[gwyndaffandy]

With the targets built over the last couple of days today has been about the hunter. 
My favourite aircraft (today at least) is the Typhoon, I like the size, the wing shape and the big radiator from the front. 
 

As can be seen in the picture below the parts count is low and construction is going to be simple

The insides of the 2 fuselage halves have no detail

 

in order to have my aircraft in flight I needed to source some pilots. When I first envisioned this project I procured some cheap plastic figures from eBay. These were I think intended for railways as they are civilian in nature and include both men and women. 
For my pilots I selected a couple of women, gave them yellow life jackets, a brown flying jacket and helmet. 
 

 

With no interior I added the armoured plate behind the pilot with some plasticard and secured this with some putty. The putty will support the pilot and will also give me a firm mounting point for the plane later on. 
 

 

 

The other change I needed to make was to the undercarriage. The kit provides the undercarriage in the down position but no parts for a retracted undercarriage.

I decided the best method for this would be to scratch my own from some Evergreen. I drew the outline of the wheel well and cut it out. I mounted it using scrap plastic so it was flush and then scribed the line to represent the two parts

 

As this aircraft is going to be the one that has finished its run I also removed the rockets from their racks. 
 

 

With the wings complete they have been attached to the fuselage, one of them needed the mounting hole enlarging to get it to fit. With the angles set I needed filler around all the joints, top and bottom. I will do some sanding on these when the putty is completely set.

i toyed with a clear disk for the spinning propeller but couldn’t get it to a place I was happy, I settled for just removing the blades, the spinner needs some filler and sanding. 
The canopy is attached and distorts the view of the pilot enough that the poor painting isn’t an issue

 

 

I have a Tempest to build next, I am not sure that the Tempest and Typhoon would have flown together but I am using a bit of artistic license with it. 

[gwyndaffandy]

Having had to do some actual work this week, modelling has been limited. I have however managed to build the Tempest. This is hopefully the final piece for my diorama now built. 
Although visually very similar to the Typhoon the Tempest has a noticeably bigger tail and wings that have a shape similar to a Spitfire. Construction of the kit is also different with the wings having a one piece lower half that attaches (badly) to the bottom of the fuselage, where the Typhoon has two piece wings that slot into the fuselage. 

 

I added the pilot in the same way as I did for the Typhoon, one advantage was the flat panel behind the armoured seat back is moulded to the fuselage halve on this version. 
As stated above the fit of the wings is disappointing. Filler is definitely needed here. I also found the undercarriage flaps harder to create on this version. 

 

Here it is ready for paint. I have left off the rockets and their rails to aid painting. I plan to have this one armed

 

 

[gwyndaffandy]

My attention has returned to the targets. I started by paying them all in desert tan, this is lighter than I usually use for German vehicles but given the small scale and the impact of a dark wash I thought it would be ok. 
 

 

I used a wash for DAK vehicles liberally applied to all surfaces. the tracks have been painted with a brown colour. 

 

I then use white spirits to remove the majority of the wash leaving a stain and the detail outlined

 

 

Here is the finished Tiger. Details have been painted as well as I can with the very small size. 
 

 

[gwyndaffandy]

I approached the Sd.kfz 251 and Panther in much the same way. The same Desert tan formed the base but this time I added some camouflage. 
 

Here I have applied the wash to one set of wheels and tracks and nothing to the other. The detail is really nice, when you consider it is 1/144 it is even more impressive 

 

I used AK paint markers to colour in some camouflage. This doesn’t follow a specific tank, I just alternated colours until I was happy. 
 

 

 

 

With the decals added and the wash lathered on and wiped off I know have a Panther tank as well

 

 

Here are the 3 finished vehicles. I will do the little Kubelwagen in the same way. And then it is on to the planes

 

[gwyndaffandy]

I have been back out with my paint markers as I start to add colour to the planes. I have found that the colours rarely match their description nor what is shown on the side of the pen but with some trial and error it is possible to find colours that work. 
 

I started by spraying a light grey primer over the whole plane (well, both planes but this is about the Tempest). This serves as a base for the camo on the upper surfaces and will be the colour for the underside. 
 

Using the painting guide included with the kit I added the grey. This is Hellgrau or light grey. 
 

 

as these pens dry really quickly I moved swiftly onto the green. This one is olivgrun 

 

 

The same method was used on the Typhoon. 
 

 

Next up is to get the decals on and the details painted. Nearly ready for flight….

 

[gwyndaffandy]

Progress has slowed down on this project as I have been deliberating over adding D-day stripes and I have been trying to find the Tempest decals. This little pause made the magpie in me stare at the pile of to build soon kits and inevitably I started one.

 

I have made some small steps though. The Typhoon has the markings on and is almost ready for flight. Having added the rocket rails I couldn’t see a way to get my out of scale paintbrush in adequately to paint the stripes. I am not set on that though and might see what is possible. 
 

 

Having left off the rockets and their rails on the Tempest I could add the stripes. I started off masking them but the paint bleed was such that it was t going to produce results I was happy with so I got out my trusty paint markers and drew them on

 

 

I still haven’t found the decals yet. I should be more organised. I might have to amend another set of Typhoon decals I have although no doubt as soon as I do that I will find these ones

 

Thanks for taking a look as I meander to the finish line

[gwyndaffandy]

I have given up looking for the missing decals. I know they will turn up this weekend but I had looked everywhere they could have been. Clearly I have put them somewhere safe. 
I had a spare set of decals from my incomplete Typhoon so set about using those. With the 2 planes both appearing together I needed to modify them a little. As luck would have it I got a Hurricane in the deal that provided my complete Typhoon. The letters ointment both sets are the same size so I simply cut off the final letter and replaced the F with a D. 

Here are the 2 of them together  I did add the DDay stripes to the Typhoon, opting for just the lower part of the fuselage.

Here they both are, flying in formation. I added the clear stands provided in the kit for these pictures