Russian Village.

[Nighthawk]

I've been thinking about doing a backdrop for the Tamiya 1/35 T-34/76 that I recently built and I've been scratching my head how to go about it, not really having much of a clue about Russian buildings the only option was to find inspiration online.
I found a couple of images that seemed appropriate so I came up with a cunning plan, I held a 1/35 scale figure up to my laptop screen and enlarged the images until they seemed to match the scale of the figure.
This is where the cunning bit comes into it, I got my steel ruler and measured the size of the building, although its not going to be accurate it is however a starting point.
I sat at my table with some pink foam and balsa wood and started fiddling around trying to knock up a basic Russian house, just a framework for further improvement and this is where its at right now. I will update this as and when but I am quite possibly the slowest builder of models in the entire universe.

 

[Nighthawk]

A quick update, I fixed the side walls and made the loft door and main door. None of the frames are glued in yet as I'm still at the "adjustment" stage........ that means I'm making it up as I go along.

 

[Pantherman]

it`s looking really good, i like it. Pantherman

 

[Nighthawk]

it`s looking really good, i like it. Pantherman

Thanks mate, I was going to try to do a bit this morning but I had to go pick these up from FB Market Place for £25, still sealed in bags..........well it would have been rude not to!

 

[Pantherman]

Thanks mate, I was going to try to do a bit this morning but I had to go pick these up from FB Market Place for £25, still sealed in bags..........well it would have been rude not to!

View attachment 103830

That's a nice haul. Lucky you.
Pantherman

 

[Pantherman]

A quick update, I fixed the side walls and made the loft door and main door. None of the frames are glued in yet as I'm still at the "adjustment" stage........ that means I'm making it up as I go along.

View attachment 103812

My attempt at a Russian diorama. Not brave enough to do any building's. Pantherman

 

[Nighthawk]

My attempt at a Russian diorama. Not brave enough to do any building's. Pantherman

That looks fine to me Pantherman, this will only be my second building and previous to that I built a wall and a drainage ditch

 

[Pantherman]

That looks fine to me Pantherman, this will only be my second building and previous to that I built a wall and a drainage ditch

View attachment 103838View attachment 103839

Wow, that's so much better than mine. Love the cobbles. Pantherman

 

[Nighthawk]

Wow, that's so much better than mine. Love the cobbles. Pantherman

Thanks mate but no it isn't, its different to yours, its easier to do finer detail on a smaller base and I have to do smaller bases because I only have one small display cabinet. Another thing is the time spent, its only a wall and a ditch with a bit of road but it actually took me weeks and weeks to do that.
This is the other building that I did just as an experiment to see if I could do it after watching tons of YT vids by the Warhammer guys, this is the largest base I have made and its nowhere near as finely detailed as the one above. Something else that you will not be aware of is that I'm a semi retired bricklayer and I have spent just about my whole working life building real buildings.

 

[Pantherman]

Thanks mate but no it isn't, its different to yours, its easier to do finer detail on a smaller base and I have to do smaller bases because I only have one small display cabinet. Another thing is the time spent, its only a wall and a ditch with a bit of road but it actually took me weeks and weeks to do that.
This is the other building that I did just as an experiment to see if I could do it after watching tons of YT vids by the Warhammer guys, this is the largest base I have made and its nowhere near as finely detailed as the one above. Something else that you will not be aware of is that I'm a semi retired bricklayer and I have spent just about my whole working life building real buildings.

View attachment 103842

Well brother, I'm an ex carpenter now construction manager because my back and knees gave up way before I wanted to. I know what you mean about the time it takes on a bigger diorama. Worth it in the end though. Pantherman

 

[Nighthawk]

Well brother, I'm an ex carpenter now construction manager because my back and knees gave up way before I wanted to. I know what you mean about the time it takes on a bigger diorama. Worth it in the end though. Pantherman

Yep, the building trade certainly takes it out of ya!

 

[Nighthawk]

I found the time to put a back on the building, paint the inside black and make a rough roof shape which will be trimmed to size when everything is dried. The next planned step will be to spray the outside black but that may not happen for a couple of days.

 

[Pantherman]

I found the time to put a back on the building, paint the inside black and make a rough roof shape which will be trimmed to size when everything is dried. The next planned step will be to spray the outside black but that may not happen for a couple of days.

View attachment 103847View attachment 103848View attachment 103849

Cool

 

[Nighthawk]

Cool

Thanks mate, you need to have a go at a building, it can be most entertaining and you don't even need to spend money on a kit, what could be better than that.

 

[Pantherman]

Thanks mate, you need to have a go at a building, it can be most entertaining and you don't even need to spend money on a kit, what could be better than that.

You have inspired me so I will start searching the site skips for suitable building materials.
Pantherman

 

[Nighthawk]

You have inspired me so I will start searching the site skips for suitable building materials.
Pantherman

I pulled a huge pack of pink foam out of a skip, the builders were ok with me having it. The white Celotex foil backed stuff isn't very good and it gives off highly toxic fumes on a hot wire cutter. The pink stuff I got was supposedly for underfloor heating and it is the only type I've found that isn't toxic and great for carving, I'll find the brand name.

 

[Nighthawk]

It is IKO Enertherm XPS Extra Roofboard.

 

[Pantherman]

It is IKO Enertherm XPS Extra Roofboard.

Thanks, we are doing some roofing works on a few schools so sounds like my housing stock might increase in the next few weeks.
Pantherman

 

[Nighthawk]

Thanks, we are doing some roofing works on a few schools so sounds like my housing stock might increase in the next few weeks.
Pantherman

If you are serious about having a go at some foam work I would recommend a hotwire cutter if you haven't already got one, you don't need an expensive one.

 

[Nighthawk]

A quick update, I sprayed the whole thing black and started with the veneer planks.