Liberation, Italy 1944

[Steven000]

Looking great Tim!

Kind regards,
Steven

[Tim Marlow]

Great progress Tim. Nice to see the old Barry Norman grass technique being updated and still giving such great results. The pastel tones of the whole scene are really pleasing and look really convincing. You can almost feel the heat coming off the ground.....
If I may offer an observation, the mini natur tufts look a little evenly spaced in places, so you might want to break that up a little?
Cheers
Tim

[Si Benson]

Nicely done Tim, really coming to life now:thumb2:

[TIM FORSTER]

Sunflower Madness

Now I will be the first to confess that I thought I had taken leave of my senses at this point... it all started when I was on holiday in Italy a couple of years ago and we were staying in a villa surrounded by sunflowers. I got it into my head that I wanted a field of them to feature in my diorama.

After a bit of research I discovered these wonderful 1/35 sunflowers in kit form: GreenLine GL085 laser cut sunflower plants.



Now I haven't worked with many paper kits before, but these are absolutely stunning. They are also quite ingenious. And quite time-consuming... Having said that, I believe they are absolutely worth the effort.

The set comes with sheets of flowers and leaves pre-coloured in yellow and green. The leaves are even embossed with the leaf veins in a slightly lighter shade. There's a piece of thicker cardboard for the circular stamen and 14 lengths of flexible brass rod. Everything can be pushed out from the surrounding sheets with a minimum of fuss.

Then the fun begins. The flowers are easy enough to make with five layers + the stamen. The leaves then almost 'clip' onto the brass rod, although they need to be glued in place. I used my new favourite glue: Gorilla Super Glue Gel. This is the first glue I have found that actually doesn't clog just as it promises...









It's important not only to arrange the leaves in a three-dimensional way, but also to give them some shape by bending them over a cocktail stick / end of a paintbrush. This is best done before gluing them in place.

Also, although the kit promises to make you 14 plants, I would advise buying two sets if you want to add more leaves (as I did).

Lastly, I brush painted the brass stems using a mix of Vallejo Uniform Green 70922 and USMC Tank Crew 319 + a little black.

Et voila!



Well, as I say, despite the effort I felt that it was worth it. They look great! Now I just have to work out where to put them all...

[TIM FORSTER]

Oh yes, I forgot the 'team' shot...

[rtfoe]

Definitely worthwhile there Tim ...quite a harvest of Sunflowers.

Lazer cutting has made the hobby much more interesting producing such delicate items that in the past was only a dream to make.

Cheers,
Richard

[Steve Jones]

Stunning work as always Tim. They really are impressive. Looking forward to seeing them in situ.

[TIM FORSTER]

Thanks guys.

A little more progress on the vegetation. This has been achieved with more Mininatur grass tufts: specifically Two Colour Tufts Summer and Weed Tufts Summer. The latter is particularly useful, because it has tiny leaves and flowers mixed in with the grass.

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The idea is to create a more lush type of vegetation in and around the ravine. I recognise that the fact that I have used four different shades of grass now makes the scene look a little like a patchwork - but I am confident that this will look more subtle once I have got to work with washes and pigments...

There is still a lot more to do here because the centre of the ravine will be the darkest and greenest of all. For this I have various laser cut paper plants in various states of completion. In the end I am probably going to add a little water trickle of water because, although this is the height of an Italian summer, this is in the mountains and it DID rain for a few days following the liberation of Rome in June 1944...

You will also see one of my sunflowers temporarily in place, as well as a German casualty in the foxhole (this is an unpainted Stalingrad Miniatures figure).

[Steve Jones]

Stunning!

[TIM FORSTER]

Thanks Steve.

As it is now mid October I have to admit to myself that I am not going to finish this project in time for Scale Model World at Telford in November - although I will be there in person (and my usual flowery shirts!)

But hey ho... this is the part of the build which I find the most enjoyable, where everything comes together. And there seems no point in rushing it.

First off there are my figures. Most of them are completed, but apart from a black and white (actually Vallejo 'concrete' 71.131) highlight shade with the airbrush, they still await real painting.

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Meanwhile, I have been working on stowage for my Universal Carrier. I will cover this in more depth once I finish it, but suffice to say that there is a lot! In the shot below it is all temporarily installed and, although the carrier has had oil washes applied, the all-important dust has still to make its appearance!

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I have also been adding to my vegetation around the ravine and bridge. There is still quite a lot more plant life to add to the ravine itself, which has been further darkened with Vallejo acrylic washes, but the most obvious developments are the ivy around the bridge itself and the olive tree behind it.

Here I followed the lessons of master modeller Rodrigo Hernandez Cabos (whom I had the pleasure of meeting in his home town Madrid and at several shows here in the UK) and his wonderful series of books 'Landscapes of War' (Accion Press).

For the ivy I began by forming the branches using 'Lichen Fine' which is sold as part of his diorama accessories range 'Landscapes in Detail' (LANDS202). This was cut and stretched into tendrils and then glued to the sides of the bridge using Deluxe Materials PVA (which is faster setting than the ordinary stuff).

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At this point I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure it was going to work - it looked more like jungle creepers or something out of an Indiana Jones film. But once I attached a piece of ivy (see top left) I could see that it would look fine...

After an application of Vallejo acrylic Dark Brown Wash to tone it down I then added the 'ivy'. This is actually a combination of MiniNatur 'Plane Tree Foliage Early Fall' (933-23) and 'Ivy Dead', cut and stretched into suitable shapes and then glued on with Gorilla glue.

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In the background of the shot above you can also see that the olive tree has finally sprouted some leaves! This tree began life as a wind-blown piece of heather (found on top of Curbar Edge in the Derbyshire Peak District if you want to know) to which I added some bark texture using Magicsculp. After being airbrushed in various browns and greys I then added olive foliage courtesy (once again) of MiniNatur. Here's a pic before I added it to the diorama...

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[SimonT]

All looking absolutely fantastic Tim :thumb2:

[Tim Marlow]

That looks brilliant, absolutely love the ivy......really natural look to it.

[rtfoe]

Excellent work on the foliage Tim. The figures are like wine maturing in the cellar waiting to be popped out. The Carrier is a must see with dust on. :thumb2:

You are right that it is too close to rush for Telford. Just put the lid on and let it simmer until all the ingredients blends in. There's always next year.

Cheers,
Richard

[scottie3158]

Tim,

That is a stunning scene mate your attention to detail is excellent

[minitnkr]

Excellent gardening. Your patience with this work is paying off big time. PaulE