Steady, wait 'til he's right on the bridge!" A 1/72 diorama

[spanner570]

To my eternal shame I haven't touched a bit of plastic or been near my bench for, it seems, months! I've also missed the deadline for finishing numerous builds I put my name down for, sorry fellas....

So now I am pulling the proverbial digit out, making a fresh start and getting back into the swing with this diorama!

It will consist of part of a rural village in France, a canal, a lock system, a stone bridge + whatever comes along during the build 'cos as usual I only have a very basic idea in my nut! Remember that farm house I did for the 'Sniper G.B.? I was going to incorporate that, but decided that was cheating!lol Hence the fresh start....

The Story:-

An American Armoured Infantry Division has arrived at a relatively undamaged, quiet, run down village......After scanning the place with binoculars, the lead elements decide it's safe to continue and arrive at the bridge over the canal....

Here is progress thus far:-

I found an old piece of 1" thick polystyrene in a skip when taking some stuff to our local tip...This will be the base, it measures around 16" square.

The buildings will be made of the usual styrene pizza bases. I have made a start on one of them.....

First, I drew the out line on one of the pizza bases, then cut out and glued the building together. The doors, shutters and window frame are plastic card and the tin sheets are kitchen foil. The glass is part of a plastic shirt stiffener. The timber door frame ect. are made from 1/16" square balsa. The lintols over the openings are simply scribed into the 'poly' with my modelling knife. All painted with children's water colours. Still bits to add, but the basic building is there.

Next up I will tile the roof, add a few bits to it and then have a go at the canal and locks....Never done these last two before, so should be interesting.

Here are some pictures of the progress so far.....

Thanks for looking and all comments and suggestions (Physically impossible or otherwise) are always welcome!

Cheers all, and it's good to be back at it!!

Ron

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[Andy2035]

As normal with your dio's Sir, wow, I shall be pulling up a sandbag and some popcorn to watch this come together...

[Guest]

Looks great like always friend!

Nice you come back Ron.

Cheers

Polux

[Ian M]

Good to see you back at the bench.

It never fails to amaze me what you can do with a pizza box.

I think I will pull up a sand bag next to Andy.

Ian M

[Guest]

bout time you did summot instead of faffing around in the countryside all summer

ill grab my sandbag and ill bring some more popcorn cos it looks as though we'll be getting through it.

[yak face]

eyup mucker! great to see you back with us, i hope you enjoyed the walkabout. The dio sounds excellent , im really looking forward to seeing a canal in a dio , i wouldnt be surprised if thats a worldwide first! Ill be watching with great interest matey, cheers tony

[Andy2035]

bout time you did summot instead of faffing around in the countryside all summer ill grab my sandbag and ill bring some more popcorn cos it looks as though we'll be getting through it.

Please Sir, don't sit around for too long, we still need our MASH fix...:sunglasses2:

[spanner570]

Thanks for the great posts chaps, I hope I don't let you all down!

I've just realised after reading them what I missed most.....Not the modelling, certainly not.

Just the b****y abuse.....and long may it continue!

Cheers,

Ron

[Guest]

welcome home mate.

[saguy]

Hi there Ron ... good to see u back in the saddle - will be following this build with great interest .....the building is nothing short of amazing ......rgds

lindsey

[spanner570]

Thanks Andrew, it's good to be back....

O.K., here's how I go about the roof tiling stages. I hope it will be of some use to all you diorama-isters!

I have seen various ways of 'Roofing', all good, but seem very long winded and I haven't the patience to fix individual tiles. I did enough when I was 'on the tools'!

So, after a few cans of Boddies, I came up with this idea. It works for me, being quick and easy. I have no doubt this has been used before, but I've not come across it.....

First get a piece of stiff card that will cover the roof with a bit of overhang all round. Scribe it down the centre and fold to the pitch of the roof....Glue it on. Be careful, just put glue on the top edge of the strip and onto the 'under card', any glue squeezed out below will show through the final painting. Guess how I know!

Next with a piece of thin card and depending on scale, mark your tiles out with a pencil...Not a pen, as the lines will show through the paint!

With a modelling knife, cut the card into strips length ways, then carefully cut the individual tiles around half way up the pencil marks, not right through!!(Scissors work best)

Take the first strip of tiles and glue this to the bottom of the roof, allowing a smidging overhang at the bottom to hide the thick card, let the strip run free at either end as this will be trimmed on completion.

Take the 2nd. strip and glue and lay it half on the first, making sure you half bond the tile joints. Repeat all the way up the roof. Don't be fussy about getting the rows nice and parallel and a perfect half bond (look at old roofs!) Then do the other side...lol!

For the ridge tiles (along the top) cut a 5mm strip of card the length of the roof, then mark it out crossways about twice the width of the roof tiles. Cut the card from both sides nearly through, then fold down the centre and fix to the roof.

When the glue is set hard, and for more realism, get your modelling knife and gently lift the front of the tiles at random over the roof, even cut one or two clean off!

Finally paint and weather whatever colour you want...........

Moderators. If you think this should be in the 'How to' section, please feel free to move it.

Here's the pictures...

Cheers,

Ron

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[spanner570]

Hi there Ron ... good to see u back in the saddle - will be following this build with great interest .....the building is nothing short of amazing ......rgdslindsey

Sorry Lindsey, our posts crossed.....

Thanks for the compliments. I hope you find something of use during this build for you to incorporate into your own excellent dio's.

Cheers,

Ron

[Andy2035]

Hi Ron,

Many thanks for sharing the Roofing tutorial :score:, I'm really thinking I should have a go at finally building something, I just have no idea what...:noidea:

Andy...

[Guest]

thats basically how I did the roofs on the coutances diorama.

used balsa for the base then added individual tiles made of card.

both ways are nice and simple and look good when painted up

[Guest]

will be copying that roof on my next dio that is still in my head at the moment,thanks ron.