Panther turm

[mrafalsk]

Very good job, Carlos. My congratulations. I couldn't expect that it is possible to make so good diorama using my small project.

I would like to ask you to show more pictures showing whole diorama.

Michal

[carlos filipe]

Thank you for your comments
Hi Doug:
I thin Tamiya putty with odorless acethone, something I find here in regular supermarkets or convinience stores. I mention odorless as there is a scented variant.
After sanding with two types of sandpaper (can't recall the specs, but they are very, very fine), I inflicted some damage to the paper. You can notice on the turret, the photo with the rusty brown I used as a pre-shading.
I use 1.5 to 2 PSI on the compressor and a very common Aztek airbrush. The paint falls like a cloud and I avoid soaking the paper. I have not noticed any difference of absortion. I guess it might absorb more on the "bruises". By the way, I thin the Tamiya acrylics with rubbing alcohol, something we can also buy here on any store.
On a later model that I haven't finished yet, I tested a polishing cotton ball on a Dremel (what is the correct name for that cotton ball....). I noticed some improvement.
I try to plan ahead and harden the surface of paper with cyano glue. It helps a lot, but you have to wipe off the excess imediatly otherwise it will dry hard and the surface is definitly ruined.
So far no washes, I don't want to push my luck...
I used instead pastel chalk either rubbing with the fingers or just using them as a regular pencil.
Best regards
Carlos

[carlos filipe]

Hi Michal:
I'm honnored with your words.
I stumbled by shear luck on your site and studied your work for many days. There is still a lot to learn.
Your small project as you call it, is actually a pleasure to build. If I could build it and I'm a beginner, everybody will.
I will post soon more photos
Best regards
Carlos

[carlos filipe]

1st photo
Illustration board 0.5mm cut free hand to form the slope. Under I built a grid (just two or three plates standing vertically, to withstand the terrain.
2nd photo
The Das Pronto clay. I should have used the one colored clay (ocher red), but I had this 1kg pack opened and this stuff has a very short shelf life.
I have a little tray I built with 2mm plastic. In the middle is just one thickness, on the edges it is two thicknesses. I lay a piece of aluminum foil, and with a flask (coated with talcum powder) I press the lump I shaped by hand into a roll. The end result is a “matt” 2mm thick. Oh! In this case, I used talcum powder under, so I could release the clay from the aluminum foil. This is a technique I learned back in the 80s from a French magazine Loco Revue.
The tree stump was sculpted with the same clay, but the small retaining wall is a casting I made using gypsum (the kind used to finish drywalls).
3rd photo
This is the odd part of modeling. I prepare my ground cover wuth real dirt, but this time I was looking for the rich soil of forest. Since I make at least two pots a day of coffee, I started drying the used coffee and then mixing it with dirt. I’m pleased with the color and texture and for at least a couple of days the diorama had a discreet scent to coffee.. Nice change form the usual paraphernalia of chemicals…
4th photo
The grass is from Noch. It is a well known German manufacturer. They commercialize Woodland Scenics, I wouldn’t be surprised id the opposite happens in the States. This is N scale (1/160). It comes on a gelly matt that can be broken in irregular pieces and applied with PVA glue. Noch also has a new range of laser cut paper models of specific plants…
I used three references to avoid a monotonous look.
The planks used for the retaining walls are from the kit of the outhouse (free offer form Clever Models). Toothpicks were used for the poles. I hammered them to spread the top as it really happens whe you stick them to the ground.
5th photo
Flowers in a military diorama…
It was not intended to look nice
I got a dab of color and brought the notion of contrasts between the beauty of a simple life and the horrors of war

[carlos filipe]

The pine tree needles were home made with pieces of rope made with natural fiber. I soaked them on a tint to restore leather. I spent two days separating them, as after drying they turn into a clump.

[treadhead1952]

Excellent work all around on your diorama. I especially like the ground work and vegetation as a counterpoint to the intended purpose of the main weapon.

[carlos filipe]

1st photo
The pine tree needles were home made with pieces of rope made with natural fiber. I soaked them on a tint to restore leather. I spent two days separating them, as after drying they turn into a clump.
2nd photo
I tried to make a simple composition. The dominant being the bunker, forming a triangle with the tree stump and the small retaining wall with the flowers. I tried to make a small rotation to avoid an orthogonal organization of the space. Never before I placed the parts parallel to one of the sides of the diorama, but in this case I had interesting details that should be obvious to see, I mean the stairs and the door, the only area that gives the notion of the height of the buried bunker.
The camouflage net is an “after-market” or to be more exact, a supermarket after-product. It is used here to pack garlic and small packs of onions. In Poland you might find in Biedronka supermarkets, owned by the same company where I shop here in Portugal. They give a 20cm grid. Judging form period photos it can be acceptable.
3rd photo
Left-hand side of the diorama. I used black cardboard to cover the “box”
4th photo
The geometry of the edge makes it look like an architecture model, but the contrast of colors turns this rear elevation an interesting view.
5th photo
The right-hand side of the diorama. Although quite light, I can detect some fragility in the way I applied the finhishing black cardboard. I think that in the next project of this size I'l use the old way of making book covers, the corners wraped in tissue. It might be a more resilient way and I think it would be "within" the paper language.

[carlos filipe]

Someone asked me why wasn’t I placing some figures to give a notion of scale.
There isn’t much choice other then scratch building them. But that was not the main factor. This is an illusive structure. There’s a garrison inside. Merging into the scene, one can wonder “Am I being watched? What are their intentions?”
I wanted to let the wind sound, blowing this hill top, and nothing else but silence
/////////////////////
model presentation finished, next I'll post some reference photos

[carlos filipe]

Some photos I used as reference. I will not use captions as they are self-explanatory.
I used several sources in the net, unfortunelly I was not foreseeing to use them on the presentation, so I didn't kept record of the sites I took this photos. My apoligizes to the people who had the craft to gather the information I used.

Thanks to Michal Rafalsk for sharing with us his work. I learned a little more about History and had fun building the model.

Best regards
Carlos

[Stev0]

I was having some difficulty processing the pictures at first because they were quite convincing. Amazing work!