Neil Murray
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
Neil writes, “The focus of this diorama is the Italeri 1/35
scale Church Door kit, which I had purchased about 20 years ago and, until its
recent discovery at the bottom of a storage box, I had forgotten I even owned.”
He used packing foam as the base and cut sections to
match the back side of the walls, attaching it with craft tack glue. Imex Perma-Scene
and acrylic spackling compound form the groundwork.
“The material adheres to the Styrofoam, provides great detail, and takes
acrylic and sprayed enamel paint well,” he says. “But don’t brush enamel
directly on the foam. It will melt.” Using FolkArt acrylic paint, he covered
the groundwork with raw umber, then used a watery mix of tack glue to plant two
shades of scenic grass. The hedges are reindeer moss. “It comes in clumps of different shades and sizes, which make it
very versatile,” Neil says. Smaller shrubs are from Woodland Scenics tree kits.
Neil painted the walls with FolkArt acrylic medium gray, pewter gray,
and winter white, and trimmed the window and door with balsa wood. The statue
is from an Airfix HO scale Robin Hood set. “I cut off its sword and glued a
toothpick cross in its hands,” Neil says. The soldiers are Dragon’s German
Grenadiers (East Prussia 1945) with rifle and helmet straps of Chartpak tape.
Lynette Murray took the photo.