“Shove Off!”
This Pacific diorama has a similar theme to that of "All Washed-Up", posted here a few weeks ago. The Zero used in the earlier piece was depicted as part-destroyed, and, having the 'missing' pieces still to hand, I incorporated them into the drama here. The principal focus, however, is the 1/35 scale bulldozer.
The kit used is Mirror Models' US Military Bulldozer (35851). Remarkably, the rather diminutive subject has 600 parts. Often with tracked vehicles, a high-parts count can be attributed to the treads - individual links and other sectional supports. While the track parts here are indeed a significant number, there are still 400 pieces of plastic and etch for the main vehicle. The engine alone consists of 80 parts.
The diorama base is a standard wooden display base to which has been fixed a simple ramp made of balsa. Insulation foam has been applied overall, and when it had finished expanding it was trimmed and painted to resemble a lava outcrop.
In the previous article, I described my method of creating realistic palm trees, which I've undertaken again here. Because the scene is basically stone and surf, I didn't need to add other plants, apart from a few sprigs of grass, or similar, which keeps the scene simple and also reduces project costs.
The water effect is created, also as described previously, from artists' acrylics and Heavy Structure Gel, another artists' medium.
Various sands have been applied with white glue, and then stained for effect with weak enamel washes. A mist coat of Testors Dullcote has been applied to matte-down the various finishes, excepting the water, which has a coat of the craft medium, Mod Podge (gloss).
Finally, pigment dusts have been scrubbed into the vehicle, for wear.
The driver is LZ Models' US Army Bulldozer Driver (35911), a nicely detailed resin figure, and one of a new range they've released recently to accompany their series of support vehicles. Although 'Army' so-called, I've painted the figure as a 'Seabee'.
Very nice work Rob.
All those small parts must of been a nightmare.
Great imagination mate.
Well done sir.
Cheers, Simon.
I like the way you use materials and techniques from other "disciplines" to construct your dioramas, Rob, and I also like the way you describe how you use them, great stuff, and exactly, to my mind at least, one of the many benefits of iModeler.
Thanks, George.
Rob this is absolutely STUNNING! Well done!
Thanks, Morne. Glad you like it.
Very cool idea. Nice job. 🙂
Cheers, Paul.
Looks great Rob.
Thanks, Phil.
Beyond clever, just an outstanding idea and execution!
Thanks, Mike. The only reason I did it was having the aircraft bits left over, but then I realised the importance of the 'tipping point' of the engine off the edge of the blade and knew that was the point of drama. Anyway, cheers for the kind comment.
Perfect use of "spare parts," and just love your diorama work - excellent!
My only question/observation: it does seem that the driver is overdressed for hot, hard work in the South Pacific! (no reflection on your work - just the subject available!).
Well done!
The driver is the only one I could find, and as it happens he was made for the dozer. I've seen any number of Seabee photos lately, and they're in all states of dress, but I take your point.
Cheers.
Hate to be the black sheep here...but i don
t like it that much :( The water ruins it for me...its not very realistic is it? Kinda looks like algae... I do applaud the effort, but i really think it would have been better if the water was still(ish) and some gel could have been used to make it more wet in appearanceHi Matija. Not sure how waves breaking against rocks could be shown as 'stillish', and the Mod Podge makes it shine like a new penny. Maybe the camera angle, but thanks for looking anyway.
PS took this dio to model club last night (armour competition night), and we all noticed that the sea looked dull under room lighting but in daylight it was full of bright colour. This is of course a different issue to that of not caring for the effect itself, but the lighting issue was interesting as it came on the back of your comment.
An interesting way to dispose of odds and ends in the parts box. Imaginative diorama, Rob. Looks like a "labor " of love. Oh...and I can't do that water thing with the gel, either. 🙂
Cheers, Craig.
hairy precipice...neat dio
Thanks, Bob.
Like idea & scene
Thanks.I've since gone back to add a little pigment dust to the wing hinge areas as it was a little too clean, and a little more white to the breakers.
Cool build Rob! Very imaginative and a great way to use up those spare parts. I'm struggling to find the time to build the models themselves these days, let alone put that much effort into a diorama!
Thanks, Richard
Excellent build and presentation, Rob. The whole scene looks very convincing to me, well done. i remember you wrote some time ago something about to "recycle" a Tamiya A6M, thats the one ?
Yes that's the one. Thanks for the comment.
Excellent diorama and very original! Great work!
Thanks, Gabor. I've given it a 'test run' at a regional show last weekend and it was awarded a second place in the armour dio category (a well contested group) so it seems generally to have met the brief it was designed for.
Good lord man that little dozer would have me cross eyed. Great dio
Cheers Vince. It's a great little kit.
Unusual and stunning diorama ! I first look for airplanes on this site, so i missed this one, but in fact it's a fallen apart japan fighter...
Good idea to reuse boxes surplus. Great !
Thanks for looking in.