Hi,

well it has been a long time for me since I have posted something here but I thought my latest Dio would be interesting for some of you here.

Scale is 1:72 as usual for me ht ebase is about 95 x 35cm, the Skyhawk is the magnificient Airfix kit with only small extra details.

The idea to this dio came from the wish to create a very dynamic and dramatic scenery in a dio. I have a soft spot in my heart for dioramas ever since but I always try to build something different, something really challenging and building a real explosion was something I could not resist.

It all started with a wooden base of about 95 x 35 cm, scale was as usual for me 1:72. During the next weeks I learned quite a lot about how to create good groundwork, build better trees and bushes. The final touch was this explosion thing. At the end I had to build no less than 18 such plumes until satisfied. The first few were out of size, out of shape and looked as if out of this world too. But with each one my experience grew bigger and better. What you are about to see now in the final photos is the result of all these efforts. I think this one is the best of them all, it looks just right in size and shape, the colors are exactly how I wanted them in other words nothing more to change for me.

Some of you have asked me how to do this explosion plume, they are pretty easy to do, all use is some chicken wire which I bended into the desired shape and then stuffed it with cotton balls using a pair of tweezers. If the entire thing looks ok, I fix the entire structure using some hairspray. Then starts the coloring, as you can imagine I start with solid layer of bright yellow then comes a not so solid layer of orange if you like it followed by some red and finally some black all of them should be flat. Inside the plume I have installed one of those new LED light bulbs, do not try to use anything else because those normal light bulbs are getting pretty hot, to hot Im afraid and this could easily start a really real fire. Switch on the light and youll be amazed by the result, just like I was.
So after about 2 month of very joyful work I finally finished my project.

After all this work was done it was time for my friend Albert Moser, hes not only a very talented model builder, most of all hes one hell of guy if it comes to taking photos. I drove to his home where he has a little studio in the basement of his house. Thats where we took quite some pictures over the next few hours and heres the result.

Finally Ill have to say thank you to all of you as well, during the building process I asked you several times for your input concerning the details of my dio. Thanks to your critiques I was able to improve this scenery several times significantly, so due to your help I can easily say that this dio is your work as much as it is mine, so once again, thank you all very, very much again!

So here are the pictures my friend Albert took
I hope you like them as much as I do, so have fun

Have fun and

keep on modeling

Bye

René