WIP Diorama for my Centurion tank 1/35

[Basosz]

I've recently built a Centurion tank for my dad and I've decided (beforehand) that it needs a small diorama. I was going to do a scratch built, but I would have expanded that thing to huge proportions and then the whole thing would be too big to put in my dad's garage. I have plenty of ideas

Then I came across this box at the LMS. I think it's Ukrainian or something but it looks rather good.

The price is quite steep though for what you get in the box (I paid 5 cents under 20 euros for it, and I saw similar kits for twice that price). You get two injection moulded sprues of the type on the left for some unexplained reason because all you need is on the one set. Lots of back-up I suppose. The street itself and the walls are vacu-formed which is new to me.

I already started cutting before I figured I could do a WIP. Sorry 'bout that Vacu-form is quite different from injection moulding parts because it's quite hard to determine where to cut. A bit of dry-fitting with some excess plastic and the whole thing becomes clear. One thing I definitely learned in a hurry is to cut a wide swath around the part you need. It's better to trim down than to trim... uhh... up? You get my drift.

Because this is the first time with Vacu-form for me, the learning curve is quite steep but I think I'm doing OK. Test fitted the two pieces for one broken off wall on the right side of the park wall and needed some sanding but after that the parts went together fairly well. Only problem is that the detail of the broken stones in the wall don't line up. You can see this at the bottom of the wall here. I already cleaned up similar problems at the top of this wall and it looks pretty good I think. It helps that it's supposed to look broken when it's done so it's not that precise.

Some filler was needed for a larger gap which I fixed. Some sculpting with a toothpick and it looks great.

The slightly larger broken bit on the left side of the wall had similar problems but I tried to fix these with some CA gel. Looks good, test spray with the air brush will determine if the tiny gaps are filled up properly

Things about this kit that I like:

- It forces me to think inside the frame of the kit which is good or I'll go way overboard with the whole thing

- The detail on the street and the street light and so on are actually pretty good.

- the plastic is quite thin and soft so it's quite easy to sand and fix when there's a problem (both a blessing and a curse)

Things I don't like about this kit:

- The price. This one wasn't too bad (although 20 euros is still quite high) , but a similar one for 40 euros is just too much

- The thin plastic. Especially around the corners of the walls, the plastic is really thin and crumbles easily. Not too bad as this diorama is eventually supposed to look beaten up, but it can be a hassle. I'll have to use some putty to strengthen these areas

- The street itself could use some support. It kinda sags in the middle. I'll have to make some supporting braces underneath.

Ideas for the rest of the build:

- Weeds between the stones in the street

- Tank breaking through "The Fourth Wall" with the cannon when I put a plexi glass case around it

- Plants coming from the "park"

- Opening the... uhh... I think it's called the manhole cover. The round thing which leads to the sewer

- Street light will be broken on the street to reduce the height of the whole thing

I'll try to update regularly and comments and helpful hints and tips are welcome/wanted

Edited June 22, 2010 by Basosz

[Basosz]

Progress thus far has been pretty OK.

Glued the two halves of one of the pillars together and cleaned up the edges with filing and sanding. I need finer sandpaper !

Still turned out OK

Fitted the top of the pillar together. A ball and the plate on which it rests

Test fit. This is what it's supposed to look like when it all connects.

Ball-head thingy for the other pillar

Also cut out the manhole cover. Pain in the neck to cut but I think I got it quite round. It's good enough for me. I need some ideas on how to make that hole look like a real sewer without having to go inches deep. Anyone got any ideas?

The street light also finished. Bottom bit is fairly straight forward. Only thing to watch out for is to keep it round when sanding. The plastic is quite soft and so the round bits have a tendency to get flat sides to them. Top bit (not visible on picture) is very thin and very fragile. Muchos care was needed to get the flash out of the way. Strength is not really an issue as the thing will end up on the street anyway.

More to come

[Basosz]

It's been a while since the last update. Vacation got in the way, as well as some really unusual hot summer days which turned my attic into a sauna. No fun working in that heat. I did however managed to get some things done now that the obscene heat has passed somewhat.

I had to redo the pillars because I'm an idiot. Glued the wrong halves together. They're specific for making a corner, and making a straight piece which I only noticed after I glued them together. Pried them apart, glued them correctly, fixed up the mess.

Also had to fill some gaps with putty and cleaned up the excess as well. Also placed the... I think you'd call them fences?... between the pillars and on the end. The middle two are slightly too small so they don't completely fit between the pillars so I attached them to the walls, and made small braces at the top and in the middle. This looks better to me so I'm gonna keep it that way. I've seen small gaps between fences like this before so it looks natural to me.

Then it was time for some primer. I tested the stuff on a bit of waste plastic and it worked fine. It's called Motip Primer and my dad uses it for cars. It's great stuff and not too expensive. I'll probably use it more after this. The primer showed a few areas that I might touch up, but I think I'm going to camouflage them with bits of weed and plants so i won't bother. The thing looks a thousand times better than before the putty.

Here you can see the little braces I made for the fences.

Then I got the really stupid idea to make a "real" sewer instead of a picture below the manhole cover. I don't know why I go through this trouble because it's going to be pretty much invisible when it's done and the Centurion is on top of it... but somehow I really enjoy building this. It's a 22 mm T-connection which is normally used in the central heating arrangements in houses. I had to grind a LOT of material from the thing to keep the height in check but it will now fit in the base I made for the Diorama. Inside of the T-connector is also primed.

Here is the base. It's about 5 cm think but that couldn't be helped cause of the sewer system. At least I can pretty much guarantee that the whole thing won't tip over. It's quite heavy.

I then proceeded to cut off the leg of a 1:32 (close enough to 1:35th scale) pilot I had in my stash. This will be a gruesome reminder in the diorama of the price some people pay for fighting a war. Plus: It's really fun to make body parts Do I have a twisted mind? Hell yeah I had to cut some holes in the legs because of an arm that the pilot had resting on his leg. I just want a clean, bloody leg so I had to sand some stuff away. The putty will fill the holes as well as make a nice stump for the ripped off leg

Scratch built a (wonky) ladder for the sewer from some wiring and CA glue. Tricky to do, took me an hour. Very finicky stuff. Still, got it done and it looks beaten up and I like it.

The sewer entrance with some paint on it. The lighting is crap, but it looks awesome. It's dirty all the way to the bottom and tomorrow I'll add some brown/yellowish water to get the total sewer experience. I'm actually looking forward to that

The other side of the big nut with the ladder in place. Maybe tomorrow I can make better pics in natural light.

Tomorrow is water time and perhaps a bit of a start with the painting of the street and the walls. That may take some careful planning...

As usual, ideas and comments are welcome.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Basosz

[Nick Belbin]

Good stuff . . .

Keep it coming!

Nick

[Deon]

Great idea, cant wait to see how this turns out

[Murdo]

Very nice!

[Basosz]

Hi there and welcome back to this thread

Since last time I had a few days doing not very much. I just made up a batch of wood glue (when it sets, it gets clear) diluted with some water (to make it more liquid) and some tiny trash from the floor to make some water for in the sewer. With the addition of some sickly yellow and brown paint it certainly looked like it belongs in the sewer. No pictures yet cause it's still setting. Takes a while cause it's a lot of glue and the water needs to vaporize etcetera. Anyway, that can take it's sweet time because I had lots to do still.

After primer I wanted to do some sort of pre-shading on the cracks between the tiles and cobblestones in the street. So I painted every damn crack which took forever. Result after painting the street? YOU DON'T SEE SH!T from the damn pre-stuff. Never doing it like that again. Anyway... here's what it looked like after pre-shading

The severed leg needed a bit of TLC so that was next. I sanded off most of the previous colours and fixed the thing up with some putty.

You can see I had to do some surgery on the previous owner of the leg

Street light, lamppost... whatever it's called... is now done. I've decided to leave this one upright cause it's very good looking. Picture may not show it too much but after paint (Revell Aqua #9 Anthracite) I weathered it very nicely with some drybrushing steel (Revell #91) and some reddish brown (Revell #37) to make it look like it's been chipped and rusty.

Before paint (different lighting conditions in my spray booth)

After paint. The street is done with medium grey (Revell #374) and the side walks are a mixture of white (Revell #5) and again medium grey. I just mixed some paint together until I liked what I saw. The wall is a mix of several colours which ended up being a very nice yellow that really struck me as perfect for what I wanted. The band at the base of the wall is brown (Revell #381). After paint I took a piece of toilet paper and brushed the sidewalks a bit greyer with Medium Grey (Revell #374). Sort of like dry brushing. Is that what's called a wash? I sometimes hit the language barrier on this site. Anyways... the effect is raterh nice and uneven which is good for a street.

Better picture of the wall.

The leg was painted. Boot was done black (#9), the one trouser was done in a mix of greens which was left over from the Centurion build. The blood is Reddish brown again and the visible bone is White (#5). Made the leg look all muddy with Tamiya Weathering Set with the sand and the mud in it. Coat of matt varnish (Revell #2) and the leg was done. It looks quite terrific/horrific and I had way too much fun doing this

After that it got real interesting when I got in the swing of things. The walls and so on looked WAY too clean so I dirtied them up like there's no tomorrow. It may look like overkill now but the thing isn't done by a long shot. There are going to be vines and weeds climbing over the wall which will camouflage the uber-dirt a bit so it will (hopefully) balance out. The place where the guy lost his leg is now quite visible though. I don't really know what happened to him but he was alive when they dragged him away !! I swear...

Better look at the crime scene My mom says there's something wrong with me

I really almost forgot the backside of the wall. I got so into bleeding the guy out...

Picture with the flash. Some colours drown out, other pop up. When the whole thing is done I'll make better pictures outside in natural sunlight. For now.. this will have to do.

Last one. I'm really quite happy with the result so far

To do:

- The cracks between the tiles on the side walks need to get darker and they need little bits of weed between them

- Street need a big job to get it to look WAY dirtier than it is now. Also weeds here.

- Park/garden needs a good sandy cover plus plants and weeds and so forth.

Probably needs a lot more than that, but this is what I'll focus on tomorrow.

Comments, suggestions and ideas are welcome as always.

Thank you for watching

[davidelvy]

Oh my goodness, that is REVOLTING.

Won't stop me watching, though.

[Okdoky]

I take it that is not his own footprints in the blood (since there are two) but the span of the footprints looks a bit wide. Could have been doing with being closer together. I bet ya someone is hopping mad about this one.

It would get some classic (bad taste) comments on some sites. Personally I am simply curious to discover what was afoot that led to the demise of this poor sole. I have visions of some east German defectors climbing up from the sewers only to be splatted by a passing Centurian in Berlin Brigade camo.

OOOOOoooooppppppppppsssssssss

Waiting to hear the rest of the story.

Nige

Edited July 20, 2010 by Okdoky

[Basosz]

Okdoky, you're right about the span of the footsteps. I kinda saw that when I was making them. I really wanted them to stick out and not drown in the blood trail. I figure it can't be too easy trying to move an almost dead body so that's how I can justify it to myself. As for the rest of the story... I don't really know yet. I made this mostly because I like it. It's unusual and I like unusual. There might be a "ooh... let's see what reactions I can get from making something gruesome" aspect to it... but that's secondary. Maybe I can do a competition for the story You lot can help me with it. I like the east-German defector angle.

[TonyT]

Excellent, all you need now is a dog dragging away his recently aquired leg

[crookedmouth]

You need help. Badly.

[daz greenwood]

Looks good different to the norm.

I'd love to see this at an exhibition somewhere.

[Muller]

Looking good so far! I'd put more footprints in the blood trail to make it look like the poor fecker that lost his leg got dragged away by a couple of his buddies.

How about a mangy looking stray dog licking the stump??

Edited July 23, 2010 by Muller

[Basosz]

Hello again,

Thank you Tony, Crookedmouth, Daz and Muller for your remarks Although I have to say that ideas like the dog really make me question whether I'm the only one wit a sick twisted mind

Lots has been done since the last time.

I painted the broken wall ends in a nice brick colour (red with a few drops of white to give it a slightly pink look) and I painted the curbs a dark grey.

Also painted the fences a nice shiny black

After this, I kinda forgot to take progress pictures. my mistake. Anyway... it's now almost finished. Things that I did to finish it were:

- Grooves between the bricks were painted

- The upright edge between the street and the park wall was painted.

- Black fences were given a steel dry brushing, then a rust dry brushing

- Some more weathering was done on the bits that didn't look right on the wall. These were mostly bits were I didn't weather it enough the first time around

- Street was given a rather heavy wash

- Edge of the manhole cover (the little bit in the street) was painted, weathered

- Garden floor was painted brown

- Garden floor was painted with wood glue, then the brown bits (resembling tree bark) were glued in place

- Vines were made with electrical wire stripped of isolation, then the individual strands inside were used to make twigs on the main vine. (I hope I made this clear, my botanical English is rubbish)

- Vines were painted green, painted with super glue and then "leaves" were added by dropping them on the Super Glued areas. Result looks amazing. My first ever scratch vine building

- Tree stump was made in pretty much the same fashion but with some putty to make it look better

- Tree stump was painted, weathered

- Two Woodland Science "Broken tree stumps" were added in the garden

- Woodland Science grass was cut and added to the street, park, outside wall

- Vines were "planted" using a drill (to make a hole ) and some super glue Gel (I love that stuff. It's very useful). Vines were then twisted around the fence

- Various bits were cluttered around the park to give it that neglected look

- Bits of weeds were added to the curb/street edge

- Street light was placed

- Bit of grass was planted next to the street light

- Leg was glued in place as was the manhole cover

- Sewer was placed

- Placed the Centurion

I've probably forgotten a few steps, but that was the gist of it. There are still some things to do:

- Add a few Italeri sandbags that I've modified to look bunched up.

- Hammer in a few nails in the board to support the street from sagging

- Glue the whole thing to the base plate (thing still weighs a ton)

- Paint the edges of the street thingy black

- Make a Plexiglass cover with hole for the barrel of the gun.

- Make fun of idiot Centurion driver for smashing through a Plexiglass cover

Here are pictures of the thing as it is now. I'm rather pleased with it if I may say so myself

I hope you enjoyed my build !

Comments, suggestions etcetera are welcome. I may not incorporate them, but I sure as heck read them all

Thanks for watching

[crookedmouth]

That's a lovely dio and it sets the tank off nicely. I wouldn't dare suggest any improvements.

[Maxidad]

Marvellous work; thanks for the useful step-by-step explanation. The scene almost does not need the leg. The blood stains on the pavement and the open manhole cover would, imho, add to the mystery of the question of "what happened here".

[Basosz]

Marvellous work; thanks for the useful step-by-step explanation. The scene almost does not need the leg. The blood stains on the pavement and the open manhole cover would, imho, add to the mystery of the question of "what happened here".

Thank you for your kind words. Crookedmouth too

I agree with the leg bit. Hindsight is 20/20 or something like that... and maybe it would have been a better mystery with no leg. Can't do it now I suppose since the leg is superglued in place. I have to say though that I really do like the white spots (the bone) in the stump. It also gives the whole dio a bit of a sinister creepy look which I like. But I agree that it doesn't really need the leg.