Battleship Yamato - Diorama of the Day

by Kasper Fischer

This amazing and very dynamic diorama of the Japanese WWII battleship Yamato, was made by Uun Bariansyah. Uun is from Jakata and is one of our Facebook buddies and if you are on Facebook you should really visit him and take a look at some of his other work. Amazing stuff.

I have really been looking closely at this one because of the fantastic water effects. The model ship really looks like it's plowing through the heavy sea. I will be trying my hands on some ships in the future but I don't think I will be able to do anything like this. One rule in life though; you'll never know unless you try.

'K' for King - Diorama of the Day

by Kasper Fischer

I photographed this beautiful Hurricane diorama last year at a local IPMS show. The aircraft, the settings and the back-story really stuck with me and I have been reading a bit up on the Danish WWII pilot.

Escape to England

On 21 July 1941 Kjeld C.J. Pedersen and Thomas Sneum escape Denmark in a D.H. Hornet Moth. From Funen they reach Coquet Island, Northumberland, in six hours. They are met by a section of Spitfires and later Hurricanes and lands in a field outside Alnwick.

Kjeld C.J. Pedersen volunteers for the Royal Air Force and is in service from 27 June 1941 until the end of the war. On 6 December 1942 Kjeld Pedersen joins No. 33 Squadron at Benina, North Africa. He is tranferred to No. 94 Squadron at Savoia on July 28, 1943. He advances to Flight Lieutenant and 'A' Flight Commander during his time at this squadron. Following a period in hospital with infective hepatitis he is posted away from No. 94 Squadron on 28 January 1944.

On 9 March 1944 he is posted to No. 234 (Madras Presidency) Squadron then at RAF Station Cottishall, Norfolk, but is posted to No. 1 Squadron on 7 April 1944. This squadron is converting from Typhoon Ibs to Spitfire IXs in April 1944 and moving from North Weald to Ayr on 22 April 1944. He follows No. 1 Squadron as it advances over the continent in the last year of the war.

After VE-day

Following the German surrender Kjeld C.J. Pedersen continues in RAF service for about a year ending his service in No. 26 Squadron on Spitfire XIV’s and based in Lübeck, Germany, from 10 October 1945 to 4 April 1946.

On 12 July 1946 he is re-engaged by the Danish Naval Air Service and he is promoted to Flyverløjtnant af 1ste Grad (Flying Officer) on 1 August 1946. He is flying instructor at the Air Marine Station Avnø in 1947-1948.

Kjeld C.J. Pedersen continues in the then newly established Danish Air Force and retires following a long career in 1977 as Oberstløjtnant (Lieutenant Colonel).

Diorama of the Day

by Kasper Fischer

I really spend way too much time looking at other peoples models and not enough on my own work. That's a fact. Never the less I thought I would be an awesome idea to find a diorama, from my network, everyday and show you guys some of the excellent pieces I find.

I have recently signed on as subscriber at Flory Models. Mostly out of curiosity to see how Philip had lined up the site and his videos but I most admit I'm really happy I did so. I will make a bigger and more detailed review of the site but I just wanted to leave you guys with this picture I stumbled upon. 

Panzer IV ausf D in Poland 1939

By Francis Lee



Diorama background:
Invasion of Poland, 1939. The German 14th army with two Panzer and one light divisions attacked towards Kraków. The German troops inital objective was to drive from Silesia towards Warsaw (8th and 10th armies), and to destroy the Polish forces around Krakow.

Models:
1/35 Panzer IV ausf D----------Tamiya
1/35 Kubelwagen type 82------Tamiya
1/35 German figures------------Tamiya

The Panzer IV was the third most numerous German tank during the invasion of Poland, although the 211 available represented only 7% of the total German tank force (1,445 Panzer Is, 1,223 Panzer IIs and only 98 Panzer IIIs).

German Kubelwagen type 82

by Francis Lee

Towards Krakow! Invasion of Poland 1939

Models:

1/35 German figures---------Tamiya

1/35 kubelwagen type 82----Tamiya

Diorama background:

Kubelwagen was the work horse of the German army during the second world war, this diorama, the kubelwagen type 82 along with troops was a very typical view in war.

It was 1939, during the invasion of Poland, the German 14th army with two Panzer and one light divisions attacked towards Kraków. The German troops inital objective was to drive from Silesia towards Warsaw (8th and 10th armies), and to destroy the Polish forces around Krakow.

Sd.Kfz.222 & M3 Lee in Tunisia 1942

By Francis Lee

Scale: 1/35

Models:

Tamiya M3Lee
Tamiya Sd.Kfz. 222

Tamiya US figures

Diorama background:

1942 Tunisia, North-Africa. An American M3 Lee on advance with infantry support discovers an abandoned Sd. Kfz. 222 just outside the city of Bizerte. The Germans had to give up their vehicle after suffering an engine brake down. The Americans are inspecting the vehicle.

Kawanishi N1K George

by Francis Lee

"Hey! this is not a Zero, this is a George!"
(1/35 scale diorama made for Tanksboy Hobby Land)

Diorama background:

In october 1945, it was 2 months after Japan surrendered, US Marines searched the remain of Japanese aircrafts in Japan mainland air bases.Here, four marines drove a Willys jeep in an air base of Yokosuka. The city is an important navy base with airports. They found a Kawanishi N1K2-J Shideankai (nick name George), the most powerful interceptor of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during Second World War.

Models:

1/35 Kawanishi George from Nichimo

(Antique Japanese model plane of 1/35 scale)

1/35 US Marines figures from Italeri & Tamiya

Winter Wars Contest www.afv-news.com

by Kasper Fischer

I made a short comment about the running winter war contest at afv-news.com about a month ago but I have almost forgot to follow up on it. The contests at AFV News are always good for some master builds. Both armor and dioramas. I thought it was about time to check in and see what this edition has to offer. Here are a few picks from yours truly. The competition is still open until June 30th so if you have a model that fits the winter war theme, you should really think about entering it.

Heavily weathered JS-2 Stalin tank

by Michael Rieß

The kit is from Cyberhobby and includes the old JS-1/2 kit from Dragon, Magic tracks and four figures.
I made this model only to test some weathering techniques i saw in the last time on youtube. Therefore the tank looks very derelict and dirty. I think the whole weathering is a bit overdone, especially the rust effects. This model helped me a lot to learn some new techniques.

The worn out winter camouflage is made with my Humbrol Maskol chipping technique and white oil paint from 502 Abteilung. I applied the Maskol on the green basecoat of the tank, white acrylic paint followed, applied by airbrush. After removing the maskol i applied the white oil paint with a brush and a sponge on the model to accentuate the disparity of completely worn out and remaining winter camo.

The rust effects on the exhausts are made with Vallejo rust pigments, the rust marks on the rest of the tank are made with "Standart Rust Effect" from MIG, applied with a very fine brush.

I made the spilled oil and fuel effects on the addition fuel tanks with black oil paint.

I used black acrylic paint and my airbrush to create the smoke effects on the main gun and the exhausts.

The mud is a mixture of earth from my garden, water and white glue applied with a thick brush.

I would love it to hear your opinion about the weathering effects.

"I love the smell of coffee in the morning!" Libya 1941 Diorama

by Michael Rieß




Here is the small diorama for my Panzer I B from Dragon. The figures were included.

I want to make a video about the build of the diorama (i filmed the whole work on that!), but i have some problems with the video software. I hope to fix that, because i want to show you how easy it is to build a small scene like this.

T34/76 video tutorial - Warfare in Scale

By Kasper Fischer

"Not by strength but by guile" 1/72 scale diorama by Carlos Costa

I really thought I knew all modelling channels on YouTube but I guess I was wrong and today I found an awesome new Spanish channel, called Warfare In Scale. So far they have uploaded one complete build in nine episodes and it's really looking good for the future. The model is the well known 1/35 Tamiya T34/76 and the modeler is Carlos Costa. Though I have never heard of him, his work really looks amazing. 

I hope you guys will survive a non-English video.

Scale Model Addict's Big Spring Contest

by Kasper Fischer

"Finders Keepers" by Ken Abrams

I know a lot of our readers are also regular visitors at ScaleModelAddict.com. The Big Spring Contest has really gotten some good contenders this year and winning the prizes will really require some skills. I know they give some random prizes away too but getting in the top 3 will be hard work.

You can still take part, if you want to. The competition is open until June 30th so you still got 12 days to get your entry completed. I was hoping to get something done, this year but I really haven't had the time. Maybe next year...

I have a few pictures here of some finished dioramas but I really think you guys need to go visit the forum and see all the entries.

"Egyptian JS3 Stalin" by Rob Ferreira