crash-scene dio with a 1/72 P-38

Hasegawa made a few - fuel truck, starter truck - you can find a few of each on Ebay.

I know that they also included them in some 1/144 WW2 Japanese aircraft kits, as accessories; the Ki-45 Nick has a starter truck included.  I don't know if they did this with their 1/72 aircraft as well, though.

Others here might have other leads, but hopefully this is a start.  I'd check the online stores as well, if for no other reason than to see what is out there.  I know $ is an issue (that never changes), but if you mow lawns for the summer and market yourself well around the neighborhood, you should be able to afford some extras without much trouble.

If you are doing a crash scene, I wouldnt worry about a runway It would seem like it would be more likely that a plane crashed out in the woods or a field. And with it being your first diarama it might help to just make it a little more simpler and let you get use to building them.

For smoke, I had an idea(not sure if its already being posting around already) but you could try to use cotton balls or swabs, stretch them out to make them more "airy", and airbrush or spray them a color ranging from light gray to a darkish/black gray depending on how bad you want it to be burning. But, I wouldnt over do it and kill the effect...that is, if it actually works..lol I havent had the chance to try it yet.  

m1garand wrote:

I'm assuming that this is going to be based on WWII.  Wasn't majority of run-ways for the military pretty much grass field (europe) or those plates of steel linking each other in the pacific ocean?

good point 

Don't worry I can help you out, I myself am only two years older than you.

If your'e gonna do a scene of a runway just paint the wooden base falt grey, a aspalt like color, for the landing stripe, just place tape over where you want then using a hobby knife cut some small rectangular shape hole, make sure that the tape is well press (don't want the paint going under the tape) and paint the hole white, wait when the paint dries and remove the tape and bingo! perfect stripes. I did this to one of my diorama of my corsail, see my first forum on the dioramas section of this website to see a image of the plane with the scene. (my computeur busted, won't let me put the image on this forum, sorry).

As for the lightning use conton from your medican cabinet for smoke and paint the bottom red, and orange for fake fire. Good ideas of doing it a crash scene, if there a horribule model just make it destroyed.

a fellow "whippersnapper"! hey trex. i was actually thinking of using a chunk of styrophome as a mountain and then just take my hobby knife to it. anyone seen Return of the King? that is how they did Shelob's Lair. they had HUGE blocks of styrophome, they gave the guys in the prop-building studio machettes, then said "have at it".my dad has all 3 movies in the 4-disc special-edition extended Lord of the Rings. so there is ALL sorts of bonous stuff on it. anyway, after cutting up the styrophome, what can i do to make it sturdier? im sure there is SOME kind of spray-on stuff. after that, i was wondering how to paint realistic snow? it isn't going to be completely snowed, i want to paint some rocks too. any help would be greatly appreciated, and thanks trex, ill use that masking idea.

sam

southern dragon wrote:

a fellow "whippersnapper"! hey trex. i was actually thinking of using a chunk of styrophome as a mountain and then just take my hobby knife to it. anyone seen Return of the King? that is how they did Shelob's Lair. they had HUGE blocks of styrophome, they gave the guys in the prop-building studio machettes, then said "have at it".my dad has all 3 movies in the 4-disc special-edition extended Lord of the Rings. so there is ALL sorts of bonous stuff on it. anyway, after cutting up the styrophome, what can i do to make it sturdier? im sure there is SOME kind of spray-on stuff. after that, i was wondering how to paint realistic snow? it isn't going to be completely snowed, i want to paint some rocks too. any help would be greatly appreciated, and thanks trex, ill use that masking idea. sam

After reading some posts in this forum, it seems like you should cover the foam with a type of self drying clay or plaster, you can add texture and sculpt it even more this way. And ive heard that a company that makes things for model trains make a type of snow you can use. Do a search for "snow" in this forum and you should be able to get some ideas. But if you are doing a mountain..just remember the scale and do a chunk of the "side" of the mountain instead of having a "full" mountain(with the peak, etc..) with a gigantic P-47 crashing into it! lol 

Oh ya your doing a moutain scene, well for securing the mointain use toothpick or copper wire to plan it in the syrofoam and in the diorama base, as for the snow I may have a idea, you know that stuff use to make fake snow in a spay can, use that and spay it on top of the moutain or where ever you want it, the only bad news is that stuff doesn't dires, even after day or curing, it should be fine cause you can even create realistic snow piles, just never touch it and you scene should be fine after all models aren't for touching just showing.

sorry!! i was going to use painted sandpaper for the asphalt. okay. last idea. what about a crash-landing on a carrier deck? any ideas there?

There is no difference betwen a runway in airport or a carrier, beside the only way of showing thats it on a aircraft carrier is showing the ship itself, that will just be harder to to, also i never seen or hear a P-38 on aircraft carrier before.

By the way did you find and see my carrier scene of the pimp out Corsail.

ill use a pointy hobby knife to simulate cracked canopy glass, maybe ill even melt some bullet-holes into the plane. the first thing that made me decide to make a crash-scene is bacause a couple of peices got ripped off(a prop blade, front lg). how would i create more battle damage without totally ruining it? like how would i take a hammer to it without smashing it to helpless pieces. and i need some construction tips on building the base of the dio. thanks trex for all the tips! this might happen sooner than we all think!! like, in april. thenks everybody!!

sam

You can use heat(like a candle) to bend parts..like the propellers that would have hit the ground on impact. If you are doing bullet holes you need to find some pics of shot planes to get an idea of the size of the hole campared to the plane..so you can get an idea about scale..between the bullet holes you will make compared to the model. You can use a thin metal rod, heat the end over a candle and push it through the plastic.

And if you are making it seem like it was shot..then to add to believability, make it as though it was shot and needed an emergency landing. Landing gear failure could have occured, due to hydrolics being shot(literally) and crashed. You can use a knive point or rough sandpaper and make "skid" marks on the underside of the plane(which would have hit the ground)..and add some black marks on the runway for the plane impact. Also, since it was unable to fly(due to engines being shot(again...literally)) make it seem like oil or gas...or both was leaking out of the holes near the engines. Maybe a glossy black/brown wash.

 just throwing out some ideas...lol

on our way home from church today, (sunday) we stopped at rider's hobbys and michals. rider's is listed in the fsm magazine's hobby shop locator pages. at michals, i got a plaque to lay mt sandpaper, ect. down on. while at rider's, i got a set of 50 1/72 british figures. there are a few running figs and i was planning to have those running away from the p38. now that i have everything i need, i should be anble to start as soon as i finish my other project i have going. thanks for all the posts, and when i can get my sister to show me how, i will post pics.

sam

for pics you have need to find a image host site....like photobucket.

Upload your images there and it should provide you with a URL.

When you post here click on the image symbol ...its the  one with the tree. Post the url and voila!

on my way back home from a Boy Scout meeting, i was puzzling over how i was going to blend the wooden base of my dio with the sandpaper of the runway. then it streck me. actually, a mosquito struck me in the mouth because the window was open, but that is another story. my dad has our b-ball hoop weighteed down with bags of sandbox sand. so after cleaning the sand, im going to use elmer's white glue, put some on the edges of the sandpaper and the base, then after evening it out, im going to sprinkle sand over the glue! the figs i bought are wearing desert apparel, so it couldn't work out better!!! (im so happy(happy sigh)) im not sure i should post progress pic 'cause the assembly might be kinda boooring. ill have to ask my sis about posting pics. are there any free pic hosts out there? anyway, thanks for posting, ya'll have been a big help. THANKS!!!

sam

That's great news, just like my first Dio.

I spread elmers white glue on the wooden base and spread it aqround evenly, then spread grass spead (not actuall grass, more like really small green syrofoam pieces ) on the boad evenly, then wait till it dries and Bingo automaticque grass filed.