Damien Doyle-Bull, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Damien calls his 1/72 scale diorama “Supply drop, Baghdad, Operation Iraqi Freedom, circa 2005.” The main vehicles are an Oshkosh M977 (with scratchbuilt cargo) and M1126 Stryker, both by Academy, and two Dragon M1025 HMMWVs with gunners added. Also included are Model Railway civilian cars, painted and weathered. Populating the scene are Preiser military figures and Fredericus-Rex Middle Eastern civilians and street fighters. Damien scratchbuilt the buildings and base with balsa wood clad in plaster surface filler; bricks are made from clay. Utility poles are stained balsa wood with monofilament power lines. “Nearly all the U.S. figures have been chopped and repositioned to suit the modern way of carrying weapons,” Damien says. “They have scratchbuilt night-vision scopes or goggle covers added to their helmets. The weapons have scratchbuilt scopes and straps added, too.” He painted and weathered with a combination of Tamiya and Testors paints (for the models and figures), artist’s oils and acrylics for the base, and “a lot of chalk pastels, washes, and Tamiya’s weathering kit,” he says. Damien also noted a delay in his project: “My wife went into labor with our first child just as I was laying the rubble, brick by brick, for the destroyed building in the foreground. Construction was suspended until everyone was home and happy.”