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- #201
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
As promised, here are some photos of my Finucane Spitfire Mk Vb in a simple diorama. This is my first attempt at a diorama and indeed, my first go at brush painting miniature figures, so I'm not holding it up as a shining attempt at how it should be done - but if you don't look at them too closely, they're not too bad and I learnt some lessons that I might be able to apply if I ever am tempted to paint figures again. The diorama was decided upon to justify my decision to leave the hatches and gun covers open. I also wanted to represent 'Paddy' Finucane as the pilot in some way. The first photos concentrate on the work I did on the figures and I will try to explain the processes I used for those who might be tempted to give it a go themselves.
These first four photos show a) the box illustration; b) the unpainted figures with any modifications I made; and c) the painted figures.
The figure of the pilot is from Ultracast in 1/32. I modified it by repositioning his arm to hold a mug and removing the gloves and scarf for a collar and tie. The joint was drilled for a metal pin and Squadron white putty filled the gaps. His hair was removed and replaced with putty to more resemble Finucane's hairstyle and colour. The mug is a piece of a (hollow) cotton bud shaft, cut and painted with a piece of wire as a handle. All the rank insignia on the various figures were graphics downloaded from the internet, reduced to scale size and printed as decals at home. All of the figures were given a base coat of their basic colours in acrylics and the final coats were matt enamels.
The corporal needed the least amount of work - just repositioning the angle of the hands and adding some props. This is a 1/32 resin figure from PJ Productions.
These three figures are from a Tamiya 1/35 Panzer ammunition loading crew. The inset photo shows how they are meant to look. The figure in the centre is a real hybrid, comprising a crewman top half, with a bottom from a 1/32 Airfix kneeling Commando. A skirted coat, made from lead foil and a masking tape belt helped to hide the joins. The other two figures needed their arms repositioned and a scratch-built spanner was added to the standing figure. German insignia was sanded off before RAF insignia was added and painting finished. The Airman on the right is lifting a 60 round, 20mm cannon drum.
Now on to the diorama proper. This is a 30 X 40cm picture frame I had. A layer of static grass mat, bought at my local model shop - which also specialises in model railways - was glued to a piece of foam board so that the figures and props could be pinned into position and moved later if necessary. In fact, it took a number of goes to get a composition that I was eventually satisfied with, based on a number of rearming shots of Spitfires I found on the internet.
The other elements were either scratch-built - the green ammo boxes and the table - or adapted from the spares box - the ladder which was from an old 1/48 jet kit with support and ropes made from plastic card and painted brass wire. The etched brass ammo belts are 1/35 .30 ammo from Eduard.
Really, I don't think that there's much else to say about them, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I tried to use natural sunlight for these photos, where possible.
Finally, I had to try some 'arty' shots against the setting sun. Unfortunately it was too cold and windy to open the window so these are the best I could get.
That's it. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed putting it together. I just hope you'll feel I've done some justice to the airman I set out to honour - Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane.
Sláinte,
Gerry
These first four photos show a) the box illustration; b) the unpainted figures with any modifications I made; and c) the painted figures.
The figure of the pilot is from Ultracast in 1/32. I modified it by repositioning his arm to hold a mug and removing the gloves and scarf for a collar and tie. The joint was drilled for a metal pin and Squadron white putty filled the gaps. His hair was removed and replaced with putty to more resemble Finucane's hairstyle and colour. The mug is a piece of a (hollow) cotton bud shaft, cut and painted with a piece of wire as a handle. All the rank insignia on the various figures were graphics downloaded from the internet, reduced to scale size and printed as decals at home. All of the figures were given a base coat of their basic colours in acrylics and the final coats were matt enamels.
The corporal needed the least amount of work - just repositioning the angle of the hands and adding some props. This is a 1/32 resin figure from PJ Productions.
These three figures are from a Tamiya 1/35 Panzer ammunition loading crew. The inset photo shows how they are meant to look. The figure in the centre is a real hybrid, comprising a crewman top half, with a bottom from a 1/32 Airfix kneeling Commando. A skirted coat, made from lead foil and a masking tape belt helped to hide the joins. The other two figures needed their arms repositioned and a scratch-built spanner was added to the standing figure. German insignia was sanded off before RAF insignia was added and painting finished. The Airman on the right is lifting a 60 round, 20mm cannon drum.
Now on to the diorama proper. This is a 30 X 40cm picture frame I had. A layer of static grass mat, bought at my local model shop - which also specialises in model railways - was glued to a piece of foam board so that the figures and props could be pinned into position and moved later if necessary. In fact, it took a number of goes to get a composition that I was eventually satisfied with, based on a number of rearming shots of Spitfires I found on the internet.
The other elements were either scratch-built - the green ammo boxes and the table - or adapted from the spares box - the ladder which was from an old 1/48 jet kit with support and ropes made from plastic card and painted brass wire. The etched brass ammo belts are 1/35 .30 ammo from Eduard.
Really, I don't think that there's much else to say about them, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I tried to use natural sunlight for these photos, where possible.
Finally, I had to try some 'arty' shots against the setting sun. Unfortunately it was too cold and windy to open the window so these are the best I could get.
That's it. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed putting it together. I just hope you'll feel I've done some justice to the airman I set out to honour - Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane.
Sláinte,
Gerry
