“Berlin, April 1945″
Here's my small dio/vignette featuring Tamiya's JSU-152. It's intended to depict the Soviets advancing through Berlin in early April 1945, right before the end of the war.
The JSU-152 was built OOB. It's a wonderful kit that goes together very well. No fit issues at all and no need for putty or filler. Tamiya gives you the option of using vinyl treads of plastic link and length track. I opted for the link and length. They even provide a jig to achieve the appropriate tread sag. The 'Beast' is painted with Tamiya Nato Green as the base with post shading/modulation achieved with IJN Green.
Weathering was accomplished with a mix of oil washes and pastel chalks. I grind regular artist's pastel chalks and apply the powder with fine brushes. I use water to mix a slurry of these chalks to apply mud to the running gear/wheels.
The base is Miniart's Street w/ruined building. These Miniart scenes are really great. They are vacc-u-form and go together very nicely. I painted the street and building with various Tamiya shades. The debris is a mix of cork sheet cut into individual bricks then dyed with an oil wash of raw umber /sepia and crushed plaster also dyed with a thin mix of Payne's grey. I added some bass wood splinters for blown apart wood using scale stripwood from my model RR supplies. Everything is held in place with a mix of diluted white glue with some alcohol added to let it 'flow'. I then added sprinkling of real dirt and fixed that in place too. This was all attached to a 9x12 bare wood plaque I picked up at Michael's. The wood was stained with Minwax dark walnut and given a gloss lacquer clear coat.
The figures are a mix of Miniart's Soviet Army on the move and Dragon's Soviet tank riders along with the kit provided vehicle crew members. I had to re-position some of the heads and arms to achieve the poses relative to the scene I was composing. They were painted with Tamiya and Aeromaster acrylics with pin washes and dry brushing applied.
That's about it. It took me almost a year to do this one. The kit itself was quick but all the other items took time and then I'd get distracted by life or another project...typical. Still it was fun and I think the effort was worth it.
I looked at the Sherman article before I looked at this one. And ya know what? What I said before! Nice. A "10"
Definitely a great diorama.
I have to agree with Craig & Tom, a suberb article, which ties in the the book i'm reading at the moment - "Berlin - the downfall" by Anthony Beevor.
Great book. Enjoyed it immensely, as also his "Stalingrad".
Very nice model and a convincing setting. Always liked the brutish look of the JSU-152, it is still impressive that that could put this calibre of gun on a tank chassis.