discussion Neil's 1-35 Liberty Ship Diorama

[Neil Merryweather]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments.
I decided to do a final check of all the figures before putting them behind me and moving on, and I did find a few paint touch-ups here and there, which were easily dealt with. But I realised I had not made blanket rolls for many of the earlier figures, because when I made them I had not yet discovered my disposable glove method. So I set about rectifying that situation, which was a bit tedious but needed to be done.


With that done I could finally allow myself to bring the ship model out of the mothball fleet and place the figures in position to see how they look.
I must admit I was bit excited....









Please note that the upper superstructure is not properly attached yet.
I decided to bring a couple of the more individualistic figures, such as the two medics and the radio guy, out on to the open deck area, as their details would be a bit lost in the darkness and behind the bulwark.



Which means I might have to make a couple more generic GIs to fill the gaps. And there will be a few more guys on the open deck in due course. But now that I’ve decided to concentrate on the water and the landing craft crew ,rather than fix down the roof of the walkway, they can wait.
So here are a few shots of the bigger picture





And with a ruler - they ain’t centimetres either!



And this is what’s on the end of the diagonal ropes



A rope fender, yet to be painted. And the ‘ropes’ are just thread for testing purposes, they will be more substantial eventually.
So I've got to the end of this phase, and it’s finally time to crack on with the water.
I need another pic so it's on to a new post

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I've done water once before, albeit at 1-72 scale



How hard can it be.......?

 

[Steven000]

Neil this is getting very exiting indeed, a one of a kind diorama, excellent work so far have fun, cheers

 

[flyjoe180]

Superb work Neil, the figures bring the scene to life. Look forward to the water creation

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Thanks Chaps!
As usual there’s been rather a lot of distracting household stuff keeping me from cracking on with this project, but, as promised, I have been gradually getting on with the first stages of the water.
I found an old piece of insulation foam in the loft when we bought the house, and I knew it would be useful one day, so the first thing was to cut that to size and position the landing craft.





Then followed about a week of other duties while I figured out how I was going to shape it without buying something for just one job, and whilst tidying my tools in the garage I found precisely the right thing- a tile saw.



So I divided the piece into segments to make it a bit more manageable and, Voila!



I replaced the plug for the landing craft to keep the flow consistent, and then I used the hand rasp to refine the shape. Ooh it made a mess!



This is as far as I’ve got, but I wanted to show you all at least some progress . The next stage is to create a more robust sub-surface from Sculptamold (explanation in the next post) to paint before I apply the water effect.
Thanks for following
Neil

 

[Jim R]

Superb work. As Steven noted "a one of a kind diorama,". Your patience, skill and vision really shows.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Many thanks Jim.
Well so much for my pessimistic prediction- I had an unexpected window of opportunity open up yesterday so I went for it!
As indicated before, I am using Sculptamold to cover the insulation foam foundation. People have suggested DAS air-drying clay but I've never been able to get on with it, and this large a piece will be very heavy anyway.
“What is Sculptamold?”, you may ask, and my answer is,

This fluffy stuff



It’s a kind of instant papier maché, it’s very lightweight,and when you mix it 2 to 1 with water it looks like porridge



According to the instructions , if you mix it 1:1 it can be cast - I can’t think of a use for it right now but it’s good to know....
Anyway I trowelled it on, about 3- 5mm thick , over the foam


here’s a wicked close-up


Then I removed the plug and positioned the landing craft, which was protected with clingfilm



It’s going to take a few days to dry out, and apparently it can be sanded and even sawn when it’s dry- and that’s what I intend to do, so we shall see...
Cheers
Neil

 

[Jim R]

That Sculptamold is wonderful stuff. I add a dollop of PVA to the mix and some cheap poster paint of an appropriate colour. Stops little, annoying, white flecks appearing. The only downside to it is it shrinks slightly as it dries.

 

[scottie3158]

This is really looking the nuts mate.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

That Sculptamold is wonderful stuff. I add a dollop of PVA to the mix and some cheap poster paint of an appropriate colour. Stops little, annoying, white flecks appearing. The only downside to it is it shrinks slightly as it dries.

I usually mix paint into it Jim, but I know I'm going to be sanding it and spraying it with primer so I didn't bother this time. And in this case the odd white fleck won't look out of place anyway