D-Day Air Assault Diorama lockdown project

[null_null981707818191]

Lockdown has given me the time and opportunity to get the D-Day Air Assault set diorama built. It's the first time that I've attempted something like this, and I've thoroughly enjoyed the project. First of all, here's a picture of the completed project:

/media/tinymce_upload/21c9ba907d1f5ea3eb0c5715a97475f5.jpg

Then taking the various components one by one, here's a picture of the finished Typhoon Ib:

/media/tinymce_upload/37380e633c252f8704b4ca0bf363ab57.jpg

And now a close up to show the cut-away gun cover flap and the armourer reloading the 'tanks' whilst on the other wing, someone tops up the forward fuel tank in the wing:

/media/tinymce_upload/8b59b2232719b1b9adb899f1da08de29.jpg

The various vehicles (the Tilly, the Bedford light truck and the motor cycle) were all interestingly intricate. So first of all, a picture of the Tilly's chassis:

/media/tinymce_upload/13e08da8dddb96c46c8a48589b6a8341.jpg

And I decided to add a driver and a passenger - the passenger being a pilot on the way to dispersal:

/media/tinymce_upload/94afbc849575c7afe56c225fdb26b497.jpg

Next the Bedfortd truck, which I opted to model without the canvas top - I thought it made a more interesting and utilisable model with an open back. Again a picture of the chassis (to show its detail) then one of the truck itself, to which I added a bit of my own interest by having the bonnet open and a mechanic getting threatening with a very large spanner. (Don't tell anyone, but the mechanic is actually from the Luftwaffe figure set...). I also added the tow-rope to the nudge bar at the front using a bit of thick thread. The Bedford has a reasonably detailed engine which you can't see unless you model it with the bonnet open:

/media/tinymce_upload/87b170aaeab408b85c0f85a1315c652c.jpg

/media/tinymce_upload/327ffd2bff883107621ad2ef2d9d5f4c.jpg

/media/tinymce_upload/ce12ffd5445e09190eb6ba8f2aead466.jpg

And lastly from the actual set, a couple of the figures with the motor bike:

/media/tinymce_upload/61c68bfecae1c0a97ae96c2748492f80.jpg

I also happened to have the ambulance from the RAF Emergency set, with the appropriate figures, so that's gone into the background as well, and I've added a pilot figure from the slightly out of scale set produced by a manufacturer beginning with 'R'...:

/media/tinymce_upload/1738409b0020448c9643b7589e97ed1b.jpg

/media/tinymce_upload/0dd6031d3214d22398b280cf881128e7.jpg

To work on the base, first of all I glued it to a sheet of plywood, then it was painted with acrylics, then the 'grass' was added using lots of PVA glue. To stop any reflective 'shine' from the acrylic paint, it was all sprayed with Vallejo Matt varnish.

/media/tinymce_upload/2f3a16f5a2d0accb9b564104c85f1b3c.jpg

As I said at the top, it's the first diorama that I've attempted, and whilst I'm looking forward to going back to just modelling aircraft, I must say I enjoyed the variety of the tasks involved. Although it's largely finished, I'm in the process of adding a fuel bowser (from the Refuelling set) and sometime when I've time, I might get round to building the control tower.

So there we are - hope you approve!

/media/tinymce_upload/1f511f8b9ca3178af95c96eedd3d345f.jpg 

 

 

[T2B]

Yes you have done a very good job on the diorama and all the vehicles. I have started doing 1 or 2 dioramas recently to bring my aircraft displays to life.

 

You have also done well with the Airfix figures as the soft plastic (usually with flash and seam lines) are horrible to work with and paint. Many have been calling for Airfix to retool these in proper hard plastic. You can see the better quality of the pilot figure from the R set!

 

But again well done!! 

[null_null981707818191]

Thanks for the kind commernts T2B. I heartily concur with your thoughts regarding the soft plastic figures - as you say, those produced by the 'other' company are much easier to clean-up - so I've added another figure and persuaded him to lean nonchalantly on an unexploded bomb!:

/media/tinymce_upload/b92ccfc1106a0b910a78af1d09064589.jpg

I've also added a refuelling lorry (from the Airfix Refuelling set). I decided to use the Bedford QL, but not painted in yellow and blue (as suggested in the instructions); attaching a fuel line to the boom was tricky, and to get the groundcrew to 'hold' the other end, I drilled out his hand and superglued it. The pipe is a piece of fine wire from an old USB cable. It's worth noting that the figures from the refuelling set are made from normal hard styrene, so it's obviously possible!

/media/tinymce_upload/4bafc741c2110875fe11fc831d215a7b.jpg

I spent a bit of time detailing the pump end of the Bedford, though I had to guess some of the colours:

/media/tinymce_upload/c7df2be815a8cea53011d99478b8b55f.jpg

The AEC Matador from the refuelling set then posed a problem: to build or not to build. So in the end, I followed the suggestion in the Airfix Magazine Guide No 27 and modified the AEC to become a flat-bed lorry, seen transporting a spare wing...

/media/tinymce_upload/78949c42229b3370aaaafc41d57b19e5.jpg

The trouble is, having never actually built a diorama before, it's hard to know when to stop! And I've still got the Control Tower and the RAF Reccovery set....