M4 Sherman Po River - Diorama of the Day

This beautiful and creative diorama was created by Len Philpot and it depicts a US M4 tank submerged in the Po River flood in Italy. The crew is working frantically to secure the tank and salvage their possessions. Len has used the Verlinden 'sunken sherman' kit for the diorama, which has been sold to a private collector in Spain.

The piece is in 35th. scale and was first published on missing-lynx.com and if you follow the link you can see a lot more pictures.

-Kasper

Normandy 1944 - Diorama of the Day

by Kasper Fischer

This extensive and highly detailed diorama is done by another blogger from Poland. Lukas's blog (coldemons) is defernatley worth checking out. He has a lot of excellent tanks, AFV's and dioramas. I actually think the everybody in Poland are doing scale models because I keep running into the most talented artists. All from Poland. 

M4 High Speed Tractor - Diorama of the Day

by Kasper Fischer

I have this Hobby Boss kit in my stash and I'm really been looking forward to getting started. Unfortunately I don't have as much time in the workshop as I would like. I guess that's something most of us have to deal with but then it's lucky we can look at other peoples work.

This Beautiful diorama of the M4 High Speed Tractor is done by K of Kawiarenka Modelarska. He is a Polish model builder on Blogspot and is deferentially worth following. He mainly builds Armor and AFV's but he also has some beautiful airplanes in his gallery. 

 

Battle of Tarawa - Diorama of the Day

by Paul Keefe

This is a 1/32nd scale figure diorama entitled 'Battle of Tarawa'. It depicts a group of U.S. Marines 'taking out' a Japanese pillbox on that island, during WW II. The figures were modified from the old (and still in my opinion excellent) Airfix sets. The 'wood pecker' type 92 heavy machine gun is from RPM (it's 1/35th, I could not find one in 1/32nd). The pill box is a plaster casting of one that I made for Farina Enterprises. The log wall and the palm tree were made completely from scratch. 

Shallow crossing - Diorama of the Day

by Kasper Fischer

One of my favourite blogs is MasterModels by Apoloniusz Musialek. He is a Polish model builder living in London, UK. He has recently won the AK Interactive weathering competition on Facebook and have really inspired me over the last year.

This Opel Olympia diorama is set in 1/35th scale and is called "Shallow Crossing" and once again I really love the way he used the water effect. This is not the model he entered in the AK contest though but I'm sure it can be found on his blog.

US. M32 Tank Recovery Vehicle.

By Francis Lee




Model: (1/35 scale)
Nichimo M4 Sherman chassis
Italeri M32 TRV parts
Tamiya Figures

Several months ago, I made a M4A1 Sherman diorama. These days I use the chassis of that Sherman tank of NICHIMO and combined it with parts from a M32 TRV of ITALERI. They fit with each other easily. Right now I wonder what to do with the original turrent of the Sherman, perhaps I should think of another diorama for the turrent.

Retreat to the Elbe - Diorama of the Day

by Paul Keefe



This is a 1/35th scale armor diorama entitled 'Retreat to the Elbe'. It takes place during the last days of the Second World War. It features a Tamiya Jagdpanther modified into one of the very last produced.

The building, cobblestone street, and the log and stone barrier were made from scratch (I prefer to do this kind of work, it is what I am best at). The figure, doors and shutters are resin copies of originals that I made for Farina Enterprises. Everything in this dioama and in all of my work elsewhere were painted by brush, I do not use or own an air brush (this is ironic because my mother was an airbrush artist).

Soviet Su122 & GAZ67B field car

By Francis Lee



Scale:
1/35

Models:
Tamiya Su122
Tamiya GAZ67B
Tamiya Figures

Diorama background:
In summer 1943, during the Battle of Kursk, alot of Russian tanks and infantry rushed into Kursk from nearby cities. Here is somewhere in between Orel & Kursk, a Su122 tank gets lost. The commander is asking an officer for directions.

Twisted Fate - Diorama of the Day

by Kasper Fischer

This amazing diorama is called 'Twisted Fate' and was done by Rick Lawler for Military Modelcraft International. This 'Bulldozer on a Panzer graveyard' diorama was published last year in the Septembers issue of the the magazine.

I'm really blown away by the sheer amount of details, especially the rust and weathering of the metal parts. The way Rick has twisted and ripped the scraped German armor looks completely out of this world.

'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).

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.