Roadblock defence Sd.kfz. 251/22

[Leighbo]

Hi Guys

Progress has slowed now I'm back at work, but here's the latest update.

I first finished embossing the pavement strips and the cut a layer of card to fit underneath and raise the pavement above the road. Once this was dry I painted over the base with black acrylic and the added some grey randomly to it, taking care to fill in the gaps.

Once this was dry I sort of wet dry brushed the cobbles with brown, leaving the grey / black in the gaps. I continued brushing by adding colours to the brown to make the cobbles look realistic, then painted in the kerb line to break things up.

I now moved to the next building, making the structure from foam board again, but making pillars from square plastic tubes and using strips and blocks of plastic to create the details

I sketched out the sign ready for painting.

And created a boarded up window from plastic card, suitably painted and washed and then painted everything up

And mounted it to the base with the other buildings

Thanks for looking

 

[JohnSimmons]

Oh man this great, first one to start painting aswell! (I think?) Diorama catorgory is crazy this year....and to think I'm going to enter with something aswell (I must be mad).
Keep up with the usual awesome work Leighbo 8)

 

[spud]

omg.......... im going to start calling you teh dio master ;D

i love the buildings this one is going to be hard to beat for sure but thats why were here

 

[Leighbo]

Thanks for the comments guys

Mj there are some wicked diorama projects on the go that's for sure, and anything you put your mind to is always awesome.

Same goes for you spud, your diorama has started off at you usual top notch standards.

There's gonna be some great finished works at the end of this!

 

[Bizarre]

Incredible work. The buildings look awesome!

 

[spud]

Leighbo what kind of foam board do you use and how did you do the paving

and thanks for teh kind words ;D

 

[Grendels]

Nice work on those buildings!

 

[ShutterAce]

That's awesome!

 

[Leighbo]

Thanks for the great comments guys

Spud, the foamboard I use is called westfoam, it has one side grey and one side black and is in large sheets and 5mm thick and is not very expensive.
I get mine from Hobbycraft in England, not sure whether you have Hobbycraft in Ireland?

I have tried a few different foamboards, but many cannot be peeled back cleanly to expose the foam.

I have an converted USB stick and paintbrushes with the bristles removed as embossing tools

A tip is to use a file to sharpen the front edge of these tools so you cut through the top layer easily. Also when you are cutting it always use a sharp blade.

This is not a technique I made up I saw it on the website below by a master of it called Emmanuel Nouaillier, who does some truly awesome work
http://www.009.cd2.com/members/how_to/nouaillier_a.htm

Hope this helps!

 

[spud]

Awsome stuff we dont have hobbycraft here but im sure ill be able to find some of teh board online. ill also check out that link,

 

[Leighbo]

Hi Guys

Heres the latest work!

I needed a break from buildings so I decided to sort the figures positions. I'd ordered a set of Dragon winter flak crew figures, but after being on order for a week the supplier advised they were discontinued! I couldn't be bothered to wait a month for some from China so I dug out a spare set of Miniart winter tank crew figures and they have actually worked out well for the halftrack crew. I also have a Dragon Gen2 Totenkopf division set, which are in Winter gear and depict an MG crew. These Gen2 sets have really awesome detail, the only thing I can improve is adding some Hornet heads of which I have 2 sets on order.

Now back to more buildings!
I want an archway at the back of the scene to frame things and so I got out more trusty foamboard and did a load more embossing, as below. I shan't bore you all with a repeatof the technique, but I will add that this arch ended up 6 layers thick as I want to be able to view it from the rear too!

The arch is all built and ready for some paint tomorrow
Thanks for looking, see you soon

 

[Grendels]

That arch looks really good!

 

[Leighbo]

Hi Guys

Quick update with the arch painted using acrylics and weathering powders

Hopefully have something more than buildings to share soon!
As always thanks for looking

 

[spud]

Wow that arch is epic

 

[Leighbo]

Hi Guys

Heres the fruits of another weeks work.

I have started yet another building! This one will be a grocers and there will be a shop window display on this to add some life to the scene. I also have changed my mind about a couple of details, I am going with an old shopkeeper sitting in the doorway as if refusing to leave his shop and watching the troops set up the defense position. Also I am not going to have the car burnt out and ruined, I don't think it suits the scene. I will have the car intact, and as if it has been pushed across the road as a makeshift roadblock. Maybe with a few mines in it for good measure.

Anyway the grocers was made using, you guessed it, foamboard, but to give some variety I created the structure and then to give a rendered finish I have some stone effect spray which comes out of the can with a speckled effect whic scales nicely.

I then cut the window surrounds from plastic card and rectangular tube and fixed, this gave me the dimensions I need for the window display

I wanted to display some produce on sale, but the resin food and store supplies are over £20 and I thought it would be a challenge (as if I needed any more of a challenge!) to make these.

I first made some wooden display trays from plastic sheet and painted them up. then I mixed up some Milliput and taking small chunks, rolled them around to make potatoes. I did the same procedure but rolled into tubes for courgettes and rolled round for apples with a dent put in the top with a cocktal stick. Obvously these were then painted accordingly and stuck in the trays with white glue. I will tidy up the painting when these are dry.

I have also cleaned and fnished all the figures and their final positons and stances and have added the Hornet heads, but I didn't take any photos so you wll have to wait for when the painting begins!

I also actually finally managed to get on to painting the halftrack. I wanted to get the interior really detailed so I have painted it before final assembly to make life easier.
I started the painting with a coat of Vallejo dunkelgelb primer and then misted over radome tan to brighten it up, follwed by a sealing coat of gloss varnish.

I then addded a wash with oils to bring out the panel lines, etc... and then after a couple of days of drying I chipped everything with watered down radome tan and vallejo tank brown and painted in the details.

Once all the acrylic details were painted I gave a coat of Klear ready for a light coloured oil wash to simulate weather marks.

Once ths is dry I will continue the layers of oils to get a really dirty streaked interior, to represent a vehicle which has been fighting a hard fought retreat.

As always thanks for looking and any comments appreciated.

See you soon!

 

[longlance67]

Stunning !!!


smashing work




shane.

 

[JohnSimmons]

Yeah this is awesome work my friend, keep it up!

 

[ScreamingSamuraiStudio]

Your diorama work is simply AMAZING!
Really nice work and good to see your progress.

 

[wyoroy]

That's looking first rate.

 

[spud]

awsome job on the shop Leighbo