M4A3 Sherman w/ 105 mm Howitzer & 75 mm Long Gun tanks by Jack12477 - 1:35 scale - Tamiya - FINISHED

[Canute]

I think the little beardless one has a distant cuzzin lives near me, over Cold Mountain way. He wants to get his still on that Moonshiners TV show. His stuff will curl your toes. Smooth, not!

[Jack12477]

Well everytime ole Bennie opens that  jug he's carrying,  the smell will knock you over. Don't know what he's got in there but it is darn potent even at 20 paces. And Uncle Howie makes me real nervous with that shotgun he keeps twirling like a baton. 

[mtaylor]

That crew looks like some of my neighbors, Jack.  I guess good-ol-boys are everywhere.

 

I hope your parts are enjoying the nice road trip they're getting.

[Egilman]

7 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

Uncle Howie makes me real nervous with that shotgun he keeps twirling like a baton.

Hey, tell him he ought to move out here, up in the foothills shotgun twirling is an olympic sport.... they even have classes for gauge, length, size, number of barrels and amount of shells loaded at one time.... 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Egilman

[mtaylor]

11 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Hey, tell him he ought to move out here, up in the foothills shotgun twirling is an olympic sport.... they even have classes for gauge, length, size, number of barrels and amount of shells loaded at one time.... 

Not sure where you are but it sounds like where I am.   Several decades ago there was "survivalist" camp in the mountains.  A mile away there was camp for some sort of insurgents (overthrow the government? I never did find out).

[Egilman]

37 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Not sure where you are but it sounds like where I am.   Several decades ago there was "survivalist" camp in the mountains.  A mile away there was camp for some sort of insurgents (overthrow the government? I never did find out).

Yeah, we have those up here too... They know they are usually laughed at and are tolerated as long as they don't make asses of themselves... (too many good people with firearms around here for them to risk it)

[Baker]

The little one at the bottom center looks like me when I was younger  😂

[popeye the sailor]

they look awesome Jack.....where's Ma?  when I lived in Fla.  I had a chance to try some 'o that stuff.............I was told to sip it.   hell no.........I knocked it back!   never had to swallow so much in my life!

[Canute]

Lucky you lived to talk about it, Denis. That stuff is wicked strong.  😲

[Jack12477]

And usually loaded with lead from the solder they use to hold the pipes together on their still

[Canute]

A, what's a little lead amongst friends?

[mtaylor]

And there's copper as many used car radiators for the condenser. 

[Jack12477]

Building the diorama:

 

For the diorama display I chose a 9 inch by 11 inch basswood plaque to which I applied 2 coats of Minwax Cherry stain followed by 2 coats of Minwax Clear Satin poly.  For the scene I decided to show the tank and crew moving thru a wooded area with a rock outcropping on one side with a stand of hardwood trees atop the outcropping.  First step was to get out my Woodland Scenic rock casting rubber molds (shown in photos below). I mixed up a small batch of Hydrocal casting plaster, poured it into the molds and let setup overnight.  After removing the castings I gave them a base coat of lamp black paint, followed by successively lighter shades of slate gray, and dry brushed with titanium white.

 

 

 

To make the raised area for the rock outcropping I used some sheets of hard packing styrofoam (the really stiff kind that they use to pack small appliances and the like) which I stacked 3 high in a triangular shape to fit onto one corner of the plaque.  I then attach the rock molds to the Styrofoam using pre-mixed ceramic tile cement & grout, working the rocks into the face of the the "cliff". But before I did all that I had to lay down the "road".  I did this by applying dilute white glue to the plaque surface, then lay successive layers of toilet paper/bath tissue over the glue, pressing it down with a brush. Following this I mixed some Fawn Brown paint into the dilute white glue, sprinkled it over the tissue and then dusted it with "dirt" of various shades. 

 

After the tile cement/grout set overnight it was on to making the hardwood trees.  For this I chose to use the many twigs that my River Birch (Betula nigra) trees constantly drop onto my yard. They are in a sense miniature trees. 

 

 

Adding them to the foam was easy just make a small hole in the foam with a common nail, apply a few drops of white glue to the hole and insert the twig.  Then applying some grasses to the mix and dry brushing the rocks a little more increases the effect.

 

 

Continued in next post

 

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Jack12477

[Jack12477]

Continuing on:

 

After ordering some more of Woodland Scenic;'s trees and snow I was able to continue on, test fitting the soldiers and tank and trees before gluing them in place.

 

 

And now the FINISHED model and diorama. 

 

 

Thanks for following along.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Jack12477

[marktiedens]

All I can say is WOW  - super job!   All you guys doing plastic is giving me the itch to do one.

 

Mark

[Egilman]

Now that's the ticket.....

 

Ardennes in the winter supporting the infantry....

 

Beautiful job!

[Edwardkenway]

 what can I say........!!!!

Thankyou Jack 😁

 

[Baker]

Looks great.

Well done 

[Jack12477]

Thank you gentlemen for your comments

[Old Collingwood]

That looks Awsome   truly beautiful  job, the whole thing comes alive now.

 

OC.

[Jack12477]

I took the model/diorama outside in the early afternoon direct sunlight to get some better lighting - the one I took this morning had too many shadows and this digital camera I have doesn't compensate well. So here's the same photos with a little better lighting.

 

[cog]

great diorama Jack!

[VTHokiEE]

Looks awesome! Thanks for sharing the build with us

[Canute]

Brr! A little slice of the Ardennes. Looking great, Jack. 👍

[Jack12477]

Thanks, guys.

[mtaylor]

Ken is right.. brrrr...  makes me cold just looking at it.    Super nice work, Jack.  

[Jack12477]

Thanks, Mark

[Old Collingwood]

"We want more - we want more  - we want more"

 

OC.

[Jack12477]

1 hour ago, Old Collingwood said:

"We want more - we want more  - we want more"

 

OC.

I have 3 more armor and 1 Infantry figure set in my stash to do. But they probably will not be dioramas. I am out of space to display dioramas; this one will probably wind up in a clear plastic storage box in the cellar. 

 

This diorama is 9 inches by 11 inches or 22.86 cm by 27.94 cm; the M16 was 10 inches by 12 inches or 25.4 cm by 30.48 cm. I can put 4 to 8 tanks side by side in that space.

 

I love doing dioramas, just wish I had the space to display them. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Jack12477

[Old Collingwood]

4 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

I have 3 more armor and 1 Infantry figure set in my stash to do. But they probably will not be dioramas. I am out of space to display dioramas; this one will probably wind up in a clear plastic storage box in the cellar. 

 

This diorama is 9 inches by 11 inches or 22.86 cm by 27.94 cm; the M16 was 10 inches by 12 inches or 25.4 cm by 30.48 cm. I can put 4 to 8 tanks side by side in that space.

 

I love doing dioramas, just wish I had the space to display them. 

Cant wait to see more of your armour  even without dio's.

 

OC.