Smolensk 1941 diorama
High fello plastic bashers lol. I picked this mirage diorama kit whilst in America and now I'm home I've begun building it. The kit is made by Mirage hobbies and this case depicts a scene from the battle for Smolensk in 1941 although the base that comes in the box could be used to depict anywhere in Europe with a few changes.
The dio base is vac formed and unfortunately very prone to buckling and even puncturing if not treated gently, I solved this problem by back filling the cavity with expander foam from my local builders merchants which also acted as a glue securing the vac form base to my chosen base board. Once set the foam has ensured a sturdy yet ligth weight diorama base.
As can be seen I've model scenics static grass as well as a brown version to set up the main sectors on the base but I also did some weathering with pastels especially on the foreground rode to depict more wear and traffic. For my still water I sprayed the base a general camo green and then added several layers of antique oak coloured varnish allowing each to set before the next. I also added some Marsh grass using deer hair. There is still some way to go on the base so I've begun building the tanks that come with the kit although I'm a little surprised that I've got to start cutting the first tank up just to be able to build the tank portrade in the box art. As you can see by the added images work on the first tank is progressing however I'm not at all happy that I've had to take a razor saw to the kit in order just to build the model in the box plus I'm kind of dubious about the type and scale. Anyhow that's enough ranting for today. High again decided to put tank two on the building board as tank one is taking longer than I thought it would and using way more filler than I had hoped. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised by the poor fit of just about everything from this manufacturer but I had hope that at least one panel would fit properly but sadly it is not to be. Anyway thanx for reading and please any comments or advise is always welcome.
That looks very nice so far, Steven !Never done a dio so far so i can t say much about it.
Thank you Bernd.
My dad was around Smolensk in fall 1941, he said the area was surrounded by deep woods, so may you put something as a back drop for your diorama.
I am in the process of either finding a suitable back drop or I may have to resort to making one myself. I have already decided to add one of my own trees to this dio as well as maybe a couple of small shrubs. At the moment though I'm having trouble sourcing suitable troops as the kit does not come with any and the one set of figures I have found are no longer available.
Check out the figures from Master Box, for example,
figures in 1/35 should be available.
May you find something which matches your dio.