Warspite by kpnuts - FINISHED - Academy - 1/350 - PLASTIC - diorama

[kpnuts]

Hi all I made a start on what is going to be a massive project in which HMS Warspite is involved in an air attack by the Germans.

I will be using Academy's 1/350 Warspite and several other scales of model aircraft also will be using led's for the explosions and lighting the water spurts from near misses with bombs.

I wont be getting the Warspite till my birthday in roughly a fortnight but have made a start on the base and some of the planes I will be using.

Here are some picks of where I am at, at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the smallest bombers are 1/350 scale kindly donated to this project the 1/144 stuka's are zevada

the 1/72 Stuka in the process of being built is Academy and I have a 1/72 Airfix FW190 to go on the Dio too.

as you can see it will be a long term project.

[Walter Biles]

I imagine, that one could put the largest scale close to the viewer, and the closest ones to the ship could be in the same scale as the ship, which might lead the viewer to perceive greater distance from the ship and it's closer attackers giving an impression of waves of planes.  IMHO

 

Walter Biles

[kpnuts]

Yes that's my idea the ones closest to Warspite will be the smallest and lowest, the ones furthest away and higher will be the largest.

Hope it works.

[src]

It's called forced perspective. You see it in theme parks like Disneyland regularly. The entire main street of the Los Angeles Disneyland is forced perspective, everything on the upper floors are 4/5 (IIRC) the size of the lower. The castle also I believe. I know the inner rooms are.

Anyway, this sounds line a fun project I will be following along.

Sam

[kpnuts]

glad to have you, and anyone else along for the ride, it will be a long ride.

I will be using the Academy 1/350 version with the dx detail pack (can't seem to find the Academy premium edition anywhere ) so this is the next best solution not too sure about the PE first time I used it on my Titanic kit I swore I would never use it again, we will see if I'm pulling my hair out when I start.

[ScottRC]

Are you going to use a shadow box, or will the diorama be open on all sides?  As src had said, this type of illusion is quite popular at theme parks, movie making, and museums and are fun to build.  I participated in a flight line diorama a number of years ago for a local museum and we used from 1/4 to 1/72 to show the perspective of looking out a window and actually feeling 1:1 with a row of planes lined up ready to take off. 

[Q A's Revenge]

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses!

[src]

I was thinking along the lines of ScottRC. i wouldn't want to tell you how to do your build, but it might be cool to a shadow box style diorama looking out a canopy or gunport or something.

Makes since that the movie studios use the same technique since they too are in the world of make believe.

Sam 

[kpnuts]

Hi all I am getting excited have ordered the Warspite (although swmbo) says I can't have it till my birthday (we'll see) thanks for the suggestions but this is going to be huge I can't see how I would have room to make it a shadow box (I assume you mean boxing the whole thing up and cutting a window in it to see it through)

[src]

KP, That was my thought.  Ummm, how big is huge?

Sam

[kpnuts]

840x710 or in english 33" X27 1/4" X approx 36" high

 

Hi all here is a little update on the Stuka

I have realised from the pic on the box I have bought the wrong version, the one I've bought is the anti tank one, which, apparently has no dive brakes and no bomb cradle.

I have tried to make the air brakes (I could only find one decent pic of them and that was on a model) I have no idea what they really look like so this is my best attempt at what I could seen. as for the bomb cradle would that have swung back up after dropping its payload as I obviously dont have a bomb so I want to do it as if its just got rid of it.

I have glued the windscreen on before it says so in the instructions as I got tired of rescuing them from the CM after breaking them off, seemingly every single time i picked it up, Hope that decision dosent end up biteing me in the bum

 

 

Also made a start on the FW190

 

[kpnuts]

Look what I got today 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not allowed to start it till my birthday though(mind you I wasn't allowed to open it before my birthday)

[src]

Well, you've had a birthday in the last 12 months haven't you??? Sounds like you're cleared for take off!!

 

You mentioned this will be a meter tall more or less but your not boxing it in; what will support all the airborne items?

Sam

[kpnuts]

I am planning on using levitation (only joking ) clear plastic rod. Is what I'm thinking but I may have to change that.

[Grimber]

A few links of images of Stuka's dive brakes

 

bomber-Junkers-JU87-Stuka-Ground-attack-divebomber-German-luftwaffe.jpg

 

http://www.warbird-photos.com/gpxd/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7754

 

Also has a cool in cockpit view of dive bombing ships in a stuka from the 'IL-2 Cliffs of Dover' game play.

http://luftwaffesim.com/profile-luftwaffe-ju-87-stuka/

[kpnuts]

Hi all not much to report tonight been working on the FW190 I have really made a mess of it so far and I've only just started it first I lost the joystick or whatever its called to the CM so had to make a new one then I cut the wrong bits off the foot peddle thingys so had to make some new ones of those ( I know they are not seen but hey )I do need help with the most important point of the dio Warspite (Whilst the mussus is out I,ve had a little play.

Where should I put her Baring in mind I want planes behind her and in front, most of them will be in the front though. So if you have a preference lets just say pic 1,2,3,4 or 5

 

 

 

 

[Grimber]

if the planes will be mostly to her bow I'd say something like 3 but not so close to the edge she is near but more to the opposite side.

[kpnuts]

That the sort of thing I want but I was hoping for some sort of consensus on where to put it. 

Any way I've been working on the Stuka tonight and I don't know why this Stuka is still in one piece, I was doing the undercarriage and the canopy came off as did the rear guns(I stuck the canopy on to stop that happening ) so after half an hour wrestling with CM I won and glued the guns back on put it on the bench for the glue to set went to pick up the FW190 snagged the Ju87 with my sleeve it fell on the floor upside down, guess what came off, so 20 mins later wrestled them from the clutches of the CM went to glue them back on an ping off they went just found them after over an hour chucked them and the model back in the box. That's me done for tonight @@!!.

[Grimber]

Sounds like you want the focus of your diorama to be on the bow section of your ship.  with the dioramas I've made usually want your focal point placed somewhere near the center/off set from the center then the rest of the elements positioned to draw the viewer eye to follow a line towards that focal point.

 

For your gluing problems a few things I have learned

 

always clean your model parts with a degreaser before starting any work on them.  They are almost always still coated in the 'mold release' that the manufacturer sprays on the mold between each injection so the parts trees won't stick to the mold.  Since model glue is a welding agent that mold release will effect the chemical reaction that causes parts to weld.

 

clear parts are not of the same formula of plastic as the colored parts.  model plastic and glues for plastic models are formulated ( in US and europe) so that when the glue and the parts come together they don't just bond but they chemically react and 'weld' the surfaces.  Since clear plastic isn't of the same formula you usually have to resort to something more like an all purpose clear household cement and even then you might have to 'scar' the surfaces to get better cement anchoring.

 

model kits made in asia also don't use the same plastic formulas.  With them you will also have to go with a cement adhesive than a model glue.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Grimber

[kpnuts]

Well here is a progress report of todays work the guns are back on the Ju87 and have done a bit more work on that and the FW190.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kpnuts]

Hi all done some work on the FW190

 

 

[src]

KP, What is the LED going to be used for?

Sam

[kpnuts]

To light up the explosion from the wing being shot off by Warspite. 

This sort of effect.

 

Edited October 20, 2014 by kpnuts

[cog]

That's awesome!!! The swirling ... just amazing

[kpnuts]

_{thought you might like to see the whole thing.}

[src]

kp,

That's a pretty cool effect. Are you using standard led or programming in a flicker/flash effect?

Shouldn't be too hard to program an arduino to flicker a couple of led to give the light a bit of action. Or maybe so. 5051 WRGB LEDs. They are getting pretty cheap these days.

Sam

[kpnuts]

Just a normal led Sam

Here is tonights bit on the planes

 

 

 

 

[kpnuts]

Hi all got some paints for this dio delivered today

 

 

Its amazing how much paint you need for something like this, as far as I can work out I still need another 11 colours.

and did some work on the stuka

 

 

 

 

[src]

KP,

Now that I have seen it on something besides my cell phone, that effect is even more impressive. Nice paint work n the car BTW.

 

I am curious how you plan to hide the wires?

Sam

[kpnuts]

So am i. What I am thinking is stripping off all the insulation and painting them white.