This was a build of a 251/18 that I did for Dupes' 251 GB. I had planned to put it on a base but then got distracted with another GB until last week when I realized that the 251 GB was coming to a close. So I came back determined to follow up on the /18. A simple base was all that was initially planned. But then, I found a Custom Dioramics Italian Farmhouse kit at the LHS; and a few additional figure sets that looked interesting. I came across some Hudson and Allen materials; never worked with them until now. And before you know it, I'm into a full blown project. Here is the result. First, an overview of the model, groundwork and other elements:
The model itself has been modified slightly since its initial completion. Manstein's Revenge commented on the original build that one of the antennas should probably be a star antenna. He is likely correct, so I added a PE star antenna from a Tasca kit that was initially intended for a command tank. I also added a few more things that might not be very visible in the pics above, like a map case and set of binoculars on the map table.
The setting is supposed to be in Italy; the farmhouse is in ruins as the terrain has changed hands from German to British 8th Army and back again. Artillery bombardment has topped or toppled the trees. And our boys here are calling in the coordinates for a little payback. A crew member has just taken some sightings and is breaking down the scissors scope after relaying coordinates to the commander and radio crew.
The groundwork is Scenic Express Mold-A-Scene plaster. This is a fairly coarse grained plaster that I mixed with earth tone acrylic paint and some white glue to bond it better to the base. Takes overnight to fully set. Then, the entire surface was coated with slightly thinned white glue (bits at a time) and covered with finely sifted real dirt. The dirt was rubbed in firmly and filled in the coarse texture of the plaster creating a nice dirt surface finish. At this point, the grassy surfaces, which are pieces of a Silfluor cow pasture mat were glued on. The dirt surfaces remaining were coated again with dilute white glue and a layer of coarser real dirt was added. This also served to blend in the edges between grass and dirt surfaces. Scenic grass was cut into various lengths and glued around the base of walls and structures. The stone wall in the picture above was made using aquarium pebbles and was built one layer at a time using CA. Oil washings with various shades of brown, grey and black, along with some acrylic dry brushing gave it its color.
The farmhouse is a Custom Dioramics product. These are plaster based kits and this one must have been knocked around a bit because it was broken in several places when I opened it. Some of the cracks were still visible after I epoxied everything back together, so these were filled in a bit more and painted as if they were patches made to the exterior finish. The structure was given a base coat of tan acrylic and then lots of oil washes mostly in shades of sienna. Windsor & Newton Burnt Sienna oil has an orange tint to it that makes a very nice terracotta; it was used on the tiles lining the wall. I also took some liberties in assembling the house so that it fit nicely onto the base (which is an 8.5 x 11" wood plaque).
The inside of the structure was plain and needed additional work. Basswood strips were added to the walls and around the door frame. The door itself was resin, but it had molded wood grain only on the outside surface. The grain on the inner surfqace was scratched in by hand. Additional pieces of basswood were cut, ends were made ragged using the XActo knife and placed as debris on the ground. Then, a handful of Hudson & Allen debris was added and set with dilute white glue.
The ivy was also Hudson & Allen. The base vine seems to be made of a thin Scotchbrite material that was painted brown. The foilage look to be birch seeds. The vines were glued onto the wall with CA, then coated with thick dabs of white glue. The foilage was sprinkled on and given a few minutes to dry. Excess was shaken off and the process repeated until the desired look was obtained.
Ready for a quick escape before the shells start flying....
The radio crew is busy at the moment.
a few final details; the trees are real branches obtained from a river Birch in my yard. Figures came from the Dragon 251/6 kit (the radio crew), from Dragon German command Staff figure set and from Tristar's Last Consultation figure set. Scissors scope, tripod and accessories were from Tristar's Spotting Scope kit.
Thanks for reading.
Don
P.S. Apologize for overshooting my background in some of the photos.