I actually made this model well over thirty years ago and put it onto a very simple diorama base. With the figures included you have to really!
I started with a piece of plywod, rectangular in shape and obtained a packet of modelling clay, Das I think it was called. I cut the Das into slices and then cut the slices into strips of about the same thinckness of the slice. So you ended up with square section lengths of about 10mm x 10mm.
I then got hold of some old silk material and covered a small piece of wood with it and used this to roll the pieces of clay into round section. The material gave the clay a nice fine textured surface. I then cut the clay 'round bar' into pieces with a knife and ended up with a shape that looked pretty close to a sand bag. I then made a sandbag wall diagonally across one corner of the plywood base with enough height for the gun barrel to just clear it.
You can then either fill in the area behind the sandbag wall and make a second level, as though you are looking at a part of a gun emplacement or simply leave it as a sandbag wall. I covered the base with soil from the garden, dried out and sifted, and painted it all up. It was very simple but very effective. From there you can go as far as you want by adding fence posts, corners of buildings, street signs etc but I prefer to let the model remain the centre of attention and the diorama the means of presenting it rather than develop the diorama into another model i its own right. That is only my prefferrence though.
You could of course also buy a Tamiya set of field accessories and stick them on a plywood base but there is a great deal of satisfaction to be had from doing it yourself.
The gun looks excellent by the way! |