Another Tamiya 1/48 armor
Much earlier, I posted my first armor build - a Tamiya 1/48 Flakpanzer. I am an aircraft guy, but after building that kit, I became interested in doing a few more from the series. Here is my 2nd armor build - a Tamiya 1/48 Sherman (early). This is completely OOB, except for the antenna wire. I used kit decals, and went to town on the weathering using washes (from artist's watercolors) and pigments (ground up pastels, as well as AK and Ammo pigments).
The armor bug has also created a bit of an interest in vignettes and dioramas. So, in the interests of building those skills, I put together a base for my Sherman. A piece of insulation styrofoam was used for the base, and the sides of the road were built up with more styrofoam. I placed plaster cloth over this, and then began by painting the whole thing in brown watercolor.
I built the hedgerows out of dozens of small branches and used Woodland Scenics foliage for the greenery. Ground up leaves and dried spices make up the underbrush. The stone wall was made by mixing various small stones together with water and white glue, and then using a form made out of Legos to shape it while it all dried. I then painted it various shades of greys and browns, with some pastel dust in the crevices and some green pigments for bits of moss. The grass tufts are from Fredericus Rex, and i scattered a few different blends of Woodland Scenic turfs around to mix things up.
The road is Vallejo 'earth' paste, which is a mixture of acrylic paste (resin?) with some sandy granules. As that was drying I worked in various shades of earth colored pigments and pressed in some tank tread tracks.
My last touch was a roadsign I acquired from Duplicata Productions - they produce some great little signs and other useful bits, all printed on heavy stock. I mounted the paper to some balsa cut to size, and then added a small piece of square balsa stock for the post. This was then weathered with some washes and pastels to help it blend in.
I'm still trying to perfect my diorama technique, but am fairly happy with this one as a starter!
My next diorama is much more ambitious, but still very much in the planning stages!
For being an "Aircraft Guy", you did very well with your Sherman. I really like it...
Greeat looking diorama The Detail is good espacialy the hedge row
Tom
Good stuff
Those Tamiya 1/48th are really nice. Like the Old Bandai series, you can have a nice collection without taking up a lot of room. Lately they've done some items that work on airfields, like the refueling truck, jeep, Deuce and a half, Kubelwagen, kettenkrad, Opel etc. Same with the dio, doesn't take up as much room as 1/35th, and sets off the tank. Nicely done! What's next? Tiger? Hoping they do a series of halftracks, one with the quad fifties. (which can be dismounted) Or a nice Bofors.
I like the build AND the setting...nice job.
Real nice!
Is it my imagination or does that turret move? A classic job with this kit, nicely weathered and set in a realistic environment. The diagonal positioning of the tank shows it off to its best advantage as well.
Very nice!
Very nice diorama! Very very convincing, great skills.
I like it !, well done Paul. I've also been thinking, a nice Tank might be a nice break from the winged things.
I really like your dust, dirt effect too.
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Nice set up Paul, very interesting work.
Paul, this is a great model diorama! And it's just your first! Awesome. I particularly like your grass. It's very well done. Thanks for sharing!