discussion PJ's Commando / SAS Jeep fuel dump Diorama

[pjgtech]

Alongside my 4WD GB (suggested by Paul) I will be doing a small Dio for the completed car.
I had a think, did a bit of googling and decided on a small ammo/fuel dump where the squaddies will be resupplying.
It will have a few trees, be quite "green" and lots of shrubbery, grass and mud....maybe some sand bags, a small wall, etc?
Just a small resupply point.....

 

[pjgtech]

I do like a nice little plan.....
Put pen to paper and came up with this very basic idea....

Dived into my materials box and found some foam board, cut to size, sketched out the rough layout and set to with some PVA glue and some Ammo/Mig Mud paste to create some lumps and bumps, a little slope/hill, etc, we are off.......

 

[scottie3158]

I will watch this develop.

 

[pjgtech]

Managed to do a bit more on this today.
The Ammo/Mig liquid mud has now dried overnight, so I added a bit of fine filler to make a few more lumps and bump, as this diorama will be set on rough ground, also highlighted the two tracks a bit more, when its dry it will get its first coat of primer.


I have decided I will have a fair few fuel drums and want to cover some/all of them with a camo net or similar.
Have watched a few YT clips where peeps soak the material in PVA, so thought I'd try that.
The camo net will be made from bandage type gauze.

I prepared a 50/50 water/PVA mix then liberally coated the gauze with the mixture.

I then arranged the fuel drums and covered them with cling film, so that the PVA soaked came net would not stick.

I then placed the camo net over the fuel drums and arranged it how I wanted it.
I think a loosely draped, slightly folded look, so the contents underneath can be seen/glimpsed, as this seems to appear more realistic, rather than just covering completely, (at least to me anyway?)


I have also a put top coat onto some of the accessories I will be using, eg: various ammo boxes, kit bags, ammo pouches, etc, but I have not glossed and weathered them yet, which will be the next job.

 

[flyjoe180]

Looks interesting Peter. I agree with you regarding the netting looking more 'natural' like that

 

[pjgtech]

Nuther little update today....
Left the PVA soaked camo net overnight and it has set nicely, taken the shape of the drums but still a bit of flexibility to move it around it I need to, I will prime it then paint with various shades of brown, green and tan.


Then gave the base a coat of primer as the fine filler and mud mix had also dried nicely overnight.
Maybe later today I will start to paint the base with a mix of browns, ready for grass to be added later.

I have been watching various YouTube clips on how to make fuel dumps, ammo dumps, etc and a few peeps use foam as "shapes" and then cover them with camo nets or tarps, and then just add a few accessories to make it look like a lot more equipment than there actually is, so I'm pinching that idea.
Played around with some basic shapes, which will be filled, primed and painted, then camo nets or tarps to cover them, then a few strategically places items to indicate what may be under the coverings.
The basic shapes I started with...

And once a few extra items are added, should look more like a proper re-supply point...

 

[pjgtech]

Some more little updates today...
First coat of paint on the camo net, used some dark brown and dark green and a lighter green.
Am also toying with the idea of using dried herbs on the camo net, I have seen peeps on YT use tea leaves and similar small flecks of material....will see what it looks like? If nothing else it will smell nice! Lol


The foam shapes that will be under more camo nets or tarps are a bit soft, so am coating them with pva, mod podge and filler to try to harden them up a bit, and fill the little holes, before getting a coat of paint. The will mostly be covered up, but I will still paint them as bits may be seen through the gaps in the camo net/tarp, etc.
I will also be trying my hand at scratch building a small pallet, out of balsa wood and pva, to be placed under one of the stored bundles or next to one.

I have also given the base a couple of coats of paint, slowly building up the soil/dirt type look, using black, dark and light browns and dark and mid greens. There will also be a few small trees, shrubs, grass, mud, plus few rocks, etc so hopefully will start to look more natural as we go along. In my box of odds and sods I do also have a 1:35 scale tree stump, so may add that too....

 

[pjgtech]

This mornings little updates...
Made my first scratch built pallet, the little Balsa boards were warping, so left them with some weights on top overnight and seems to have dried and is nice and straight, NB: not painted or weathered yet.
Needs a couple of planks trimming, but, I also think its a bit oversized? so may do another one but a bit smaller...

After a rummage through my bits and bobs materials box, I realised that I had previously bought some coffee stirrer type stick, which are about the right size for a 1:35 scale pallet, so may try the new smaller pallet with those...

I have added the tree stump to the base and used filler to fill gaps around the base and to "extend" the roots so they (hopefully) look a bit more realistic. Needs painting to finish the stump.

Put a few of the bits onto the board for its first dry run mock up...
Not sure whether to have lots of supplies dotted around all over, or keep them to one side and have lots of trees, shrubs, etc on the other side to give the impression of it being located in a wood/forest type environment, we'll see...
I am going to be doing a forest floor type base covering, so dirt, grass, low level plants, trees, leaves, small rocks/stones, lots of "scatter", etc.
Starting to look better now though...

 

[pjgtech]

Today I have been developing the base.
Repainted the tree stump, added some thicker scribe lines to try to indicate bark lines and tree rings.
Added first layer of grass, using my acme tea strainer method....
I may add another layer of grass later to fill in any gaps.

Next up was adding a small wall damaged, shot, etc) and a line of sand bags.
Small scatter greenery was added along the base of the wall and to various areas in small clumps.
I will be adding to the ground cover later with small bushes, shrubs, etc.

I have also selected a few trees from my diorama accessory stash. I may not use all of these.
Started to add bits of colour and texture to the trees foliage as they were fairly plain and one colour, also started painting the trunks as they were mostly green or white/cream.

Lastly added some dark earth and sand type pigment/texture scattered around and especailly on the vehicle tracks I want these to look well worn and flatttened. I lightly dragged the pigment, with a brush, along the track lines which seemed to give a good impression of well worn track/tyre lines on the forest floor.
I then added some scenic fix spray and am now letting that dry, before continuing on....

 

[pjgtech]

Did a bit more late last night.
Trying another camo net/tarp over a formed bundle of crates/boxes....
Coated it with water/PVA mix and placed it over the bundle, to see how it sets, etc.

Have now also added some trees, various sizes, still need to weather these a bit more as they are still a bit too plain.
Also now glued in place the wall, sandbags, etc....

 

[pjgtech]

Now added some more green stuff to the base, small tufts of grass in clumps, few small dark rocks, few larger light rocks, various dark and light scatter foliage, and lastly some base layer soil scattered about.

I think I am happy with the base now....sometimes you just need to know when to stop! Lol...
Also put some camo net (bandage gauze) on couple of other bundles of crates/boxes.

We are nearly there, just need to let everything dry, paint the final couple of camo nets, then it will be final staging, adding the last few little bits, accessories, etc and we will be good to go.

 

[Jim R]

That base has come out extremely well. Great stuff.

 

[scottie3158]

Looking really good.

 

[pjgtech]

Did not do much over the weekend to be honest, but a couple of small updates.
Now covered a couple more crate/box stacks with medical gauze bandage, coated with PVA.
Then when dry primed black. Then when that was dry first coat of camo colour, eg: mid green.

Then added various additional colours to try to make it more camo looking, eg: flecks of black, light green, dark green, dark brown and lighter brown.
Then decided to try adding dried herbs, with dabs of PVA, to look like the little camo leaves that you get on came nets.
Oregano seemed to look ok and were about the right size/shape. I may go back and colour some of these so that they are not all the same colour.

Also added some of the dried herbs to the trees and as "scatter" on the ground, under trees, etc to simulate fallen leaves, forest/woodland debris, etc.



But we are almost done now, just a few last little bits to tidy up.
Then we can have the final big completed Dio reveal....

 

[pjgtech]

Made a slightly smaller pallet, as my first attempt was a tad overscale and also the nail holes were poorly executed, eg: splodgy!
2nd attempt is better, neater planks, etc.


Then painted it, a yellow shade, then a beige shade, then a darker wood shade, NB: using Vallejo wood and leather acrylic paints set, came up ok, I may weather it a bit, maybe a few oil stains or whatever....also did abetter job with the nails this time, much smaller and neater, not as splodgy as the first one! Lol....

 

[pjgtech]

Noticed that the base is now warped! Only slightly, so not catastrophic, but it is noticeable.
I just used a plain foam board (5mm) but its had various coatings put on it during the build, eg: PVA, mod podge, modelling filler, Ammo/Mig mud coating, primer, several top coats of paints, pigments, scatter materials with more PVA, etc. etc.




My plan is to put some thin Balsa strips all around to edge the base, so these will hopefully cover up the warped edges, and as its meant to be a woodland/forest base, its highly unlikely that it was perfectly flat anyway, so....

But what would the groups hive mind recommend to either stop the warping in the first place, or as an alternative base material?
Cheers

 

[flyjoe180]

The balsa edging will hide the warping well Peter. Looks great!

 

[pjgtech]

Balsa edging strips measured, cut, shaped and painted and then super glued onto the base edges....

 

[pjgtech]

Final pics for this dio as its now done. I will put up some more (better) photos in a separate "completed" thread.
Enjoyed this one a lot, once again thanx to Paul for suggesting the 4WD GB in the first place....

 

[pjgtech]

Learnt a few more things from this build.....
How to make a pallet from scratch.
How to customise trees.
How to make a woodland/forest floor.
How to make cammo nets.
Always good to try a few new things out, and even better if some of them actually turn out ok, Lol....