RAAF Spitfire “Down in the Trees”
After a bit of a hiatus from posting, here is my latest.
I tried to depict a scene somewhere in the SW Pacific, late in the War, with Aussie Spitfires constantly on patrol conducting low-level strafing and bombing sorties. Here a Spit has just finished a run and is on the lookout for more targets of opportunity, as a lone Japanese soldier crouches under cover. Some clever flying by the pilot will be needed to avoid those trees!
Eduard's 1/72nd "Aussie Eight" Dual Combo kit was used for the Spitfire, straight out of the box. I modified the landing gear to be in a retracted position, and created a Frankenstein pilot out of 4 different pilot figures (including a resin head from a CMK US Navy pilot). All control surfaces were repositioned to properly reflect the left bank. For the simulated propeller spinning, I cut a circle of acetate, masked it with a slightly smaller circle of tape, and airbrushed the yellow tips. I sawed the prop hub apart at the level of the prop blades, then sandwiched the clear disc inbetween the two pieces. Pastels were rubbed on to simulate the blur of the prop blades.
The base was built from insulation styrofoam, covered in plaster. Painted with various browns and then covered with several different brands of ground cover. Palm trees are a great product sold on eBay by a small company in Thailand. I slightly modified some of them and airbrushed some tones on them. Several plants were added from a laser-cut sheet (forget the brand) and grasses were added, again from a few different 'turf' manufacturers. The small lake is resin, and the waterfall is Woodland Scenics 'water effects', spread out on wax paper in wavy lines until dry, then peeled off and attached with lots of acrylic gel medium. The aircraft is held up with a piece of florist's wire, which is basically stiff wire with a green wrapping - it seemed to be a pretty good way to blend into the background. The soldier is from the old Airfix sets, and is made of that awful waxy plastic that paint does not like to adhere to. I used Tamiya primer (grey) from the rattle can, and then carefully painted it with Vallejo acrylics.
I'm getting more into dioramas of late, and really enjoy them. Next up is probably a beach or snow scene... still trying to decide!
