Thanks Steve.
As it is now mid October I have to admit to myself that I am not going to finish this project in time for Scale Model World at Telford in November - although I will be there in person (and my usual flowery shirts!)
But hey ho... this is the part of the build which I find the most enjoyable, where everything comes together. And there seems no point in rushing it.
First off there are my figures. Most of them are completed, but apart from a black and white (actually
Vallejo '
concrete' 71.131) highlight shade with the airbrush, they still await real painting.
View attachment 316470
View attachment 316472
Meanwhile, I have been working on stowage for my Universal Carrier. I will cover this in more depth once I finish it, but suffice to say that there is a lot! In the shot below it is all temporarily installed and, although the carrier has had oil washes applied, the all-important dust has still to make its appearance!
View attachment 316473
I have also been adding to my vegetation around the ravine and bridge. There is still quite a lot more plant life to add to the ravine itself, which has been further darkened with
Vallejo acrylic washes, but the most obvious developments are the ivy around the bridge itself and the olive tree behind it.
Here I followed the lessons of master modeller Rodrigo Hernandez Cabos (whom I had the pleasure of meeting in his home town Madrid and at several shows here in the UK) and his wonderful series of books 'Landscapes of War' (Accion Press).
For the ivy I began by forming the branches using 'Lichen Fine' which is sold as part of his diorama accessories range 'Landscapes in Detail' (LANDS202). This was cut and stretched into tendrils and then glued to the sides of the bridge using Deluxe Materials PVA (which is faster setting than the ordinary stuff).
View attachment 316474
At this point I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure it was going to work - it looked more like jungle creepers or something out of an
Indiana Jones film. But once I attached a piece of ivy (see top left) I could see that it would look fine...
After an application of Vallejo acrylic Dark Brown Wash to tone it down I then added the 'ivy'. This is actually a combination of
MiniNatur '
Plane Tree Foliage Early Fall' (933-23) and '
Ivy Dead', cut and stretched into suitable shapes and then glued on with
Gorilla glue.
View attachment 316475
View attachment 316476
In the background of the shot above you can also see that the olive tree has finally sprouted some leaves! This tree began life as a wind-blown piece of heather (found on top of Curbar Edge in the Derbyshire Peak District if you want to know) to which I added some bark texture using Magicsculp. After being airbrushed in various browns and greys I then added olive foliage courtesy (once again) of
MiniNatur. Here's a pic before I added it to the diorama...
View attachment 316477
...nice with natural sunlight.