WW2 "Broken Bridges" Diorama

[JCON]

Looking good brother!!!

[bravo1jon]

Lessons learned:
Some of you with experience using resin may have noticed a very big problem with my river. My first attempt at pouring a body of water with resin was a complete failure. What was meant to be a raging river turned out to be a dried up river bed with a couple of puddles left behind. The issue was I didn't respect the need for a completely sealed darn to hold the resin while it sets and I did one single pour all at once. One little tiny pin hole of a leak turned into an open faucet by the time it was over. So to fix I pulled out the sculpt a mold and added enough material around the edges to create a flat surface to glue my temporary dam to. I will pour in stages 1/8 to a 1/4 at a time using a premix from woodland scenics. This stuff is awesome. If you remember my WW1 plane on the rail car I used it for that and it turned out pretty good. I plan to pour on Thursday and will record it success or failure. I do feel better about my chances now though.

One more thing. So I have done this before and promised I would never do it again but here we are still learning the hard way. When I have these grand ideas I must stop and factor in the costs. To do what I really want to do is going to cost a ridiculous amount of money that I simply don't have. I did the same thing with a GT40 project that you have not seen nor ever will since its now in the parts bin. I use to own an Advertising/Design agency and know that you must design to a budget. All that to come to this my ideas are getting scaled back to fit a more reasonable budget. It stinks and I wish I had a Hobby Store worth of products laying around but that's not reality. It will still be the biggest Diorama I have ever done and will look as close to my vision just a bit smaller.

As always thank you for all your comments. 



You can see in this image that there isn't enough surface to form a large enough area for the darn to press up against.


When this dries I will sand flat and smooth. I have seen some add a thin layer of plaster of paris for an even tighter smoother surface but I think it will be fine but I may change my mind after sanding.


Testing darn fit and its much better


More testing


There it is and hopefully no leaks. I will add a good amount of gorilla tape on all the seams for more protection. The best thing aside from this though is to pour in layers. 

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Turned out awesome, to me. Looks bone chilling.

[bravo1jon]

Birds and a River
I found my birds tucked away in the closet. Glad to find them too cause these little guys cost me twenty bucks. For birds..I don't know what's crazier that they charge that much or that I bought them. I never thought in my modeling career that I would ever seek reference photos for bird droppings on a building but here we are. I used AK salt streaks for naval ships and a tab of grey wash. Turned out ok but needs some work. 

The first layer of river is in and so far no leaks. The first layer will help form a seal around it so the next and final pour will be much thicker. Not finding any stone bridge rubble available I made some from cut up insulation board. I thought it looked ok 

On the supplies note I was blessed to be able to get all I need except figures so pretty happy about that. From furniture to foliage I order it and that was a lot. The lights are on the way from Evan Designs as well. I should have the rest of the model conversion kits today. 

That's it for now. 













The blue tape will act as a barrier between the wood panel and the resin. If the resin sticks at all to the tape which it shouldn't I can remove it from the panel and sand the tape off the resin.


I used heavy duty Gorilla duck tape and glued the bottom edge of the boards to the diorama base using Gorilla wood glue. 


I added drops of olive drab green and AK fresh oil to the water to make it nasty looking. 


So question. Do you think it needs more water? 

[JCON]

Yup that looks good and nasty!!! LOL!!! I would go with more if you want the raging river look!!!

[Steve Ski]

Adding more water would be your call, but I found run-up is a common thing with pre-mix resins. The dang stuff likes to climb up the rocks, etc. I've read quite a bit on this when I did my sub gun deck, it can be tempered by a mix of epoxy resin, very thin last coat. I like the color flows, looks natural to me, even the oil can spill.

If I remember correctly, you can use some of the gel to flow things a bit more naturally around the rocks and have total control with the brushing when applying the gel. When you go to pull the forms that is when you'll see the run-up, but an easy fix, like you said.

Water is another art form I'm still learning, it's a bit scary when all that time and effort can be jeopardized if not done right. Ruck On I say!

[bravo1jon]

The Leyland conversion kit has arrived

But first that you for the feedback more water was added and looks much better. There is some run up like you said but its fixable on the board side but I kind of like it on the wall. We will call that a happy accident. LOL Its nearly set now and very happy with the results. I was thinking about adding one more thin layer for more movement but I have some stuff for that so we are done pouring resin. 




The Leyland conversion from Resicast. We have a lot of work ahead so I'l just let the pics do the talking.








Check out those tires. Great detail.








They offer 30 variations for this truck.




I'll replace the bolts and rivet heads 

[JCON]

Looks much better Jon!!! Nicely done for sure!!!

[bravo1jon]

Sept 3, 2021 18:41:35 GMT -6 JCON said:

Looks much better Jon!!! Nicely done for sure!!!

Thank you my friend. I am glad to be done and its drying nicely. A couple of holes appeared during shrinkage but I had just enough resin left to fill. Going to pull the dam off tomorrow so we will get to see how it looks. 

[JED]

I'm really liking the look of your diorama and the bird poop looks pretty good. Good luck with the truck,lovely extras and detail

[bravo1jon]

Truck is done and undammed the river.

Another great kit from Resicast. I just can't say enough about how good these resin kits have been. The truck was a bit more challenging than the Churchill but its the nature of what it is. So many teeny tiny parts my eyes are sore. I am still waiting on paint but it should be here in a couple more days. I'm really excited to paint both kits at the same time. As I mentioned a ton of parts are on the way. I was able to buy everything I needed to finish the dio except for the figures. They may have to wait till next month. 

As you can see I took the dam off the water. This will allow it to dry in the sun a lot faster. Soon as it dry I will sand off the run up and polish the water. I think it may be a little on the green side but that's what we got no changing it now. I also need to add some ripples and other details.

Thank you all again for your wonderful comments.

[JED]

Stunning already

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Sept 6, 2021 8:56:56 GMT -6 JED said:

Stunning already

What Jed said!

[bravo1jon]

Water is done. More coming soon.

[reserve]

Very well done river; the added layers were well worth the time and effort. I like the depiction of the uncommon and complex vehicles very much

Regards,
Mark

[JED]

Great work on the water

[JCON]

That is turning out amazing indeed Jon!!!

[bravo1jon]

Bridge Dio update. Sorry not much to say other than its going pretty good but I've been feeling pretty awful. Been sick with a cold so its been slow going. I'll have more to say on the next update.

[JCON]

Looks great Jon, get well brother!!!

[Dukemaddog]

Stunning work! Wow, this would look like the real thing with a proper background to it! I'm blown away!