3x Tiger II in the Ardennes (1/72)

Steven000

WWII and nuts.
SMF Supporter
Joined
Aug 29, 2018
Messages
1,945
Points
113
Location
Belgium
First Name
Steven
Hello guys,
A few weeks ago I started working on a new diorama. I wanted to visualize some Tigers from the advancing ‘Kampfgruppe Peiper’ in the early stage of the Ardennes offensive…

I choose 1/72 scale to reduce the size, time and costs of the project.

The dio is designed to fit in my bookcase, about 52x28cm.

-------

BASE
I made a base from MDF,
TigerDio_001.jpg

I put some foam blocks inside to shape the hill and road…
TigerDio_002.jpg

Then I covered it with a net (hor) to support the plaster in the next step.
TigerDio_003.jpg

Then I mixed some (wall gypsum) plaster and started sculpting rocks and hills.
TigerDio_003b.jpg

After a few days I started adding color with paint. This is always trial and error for me, I just keep mixing paint until I like it.
TigerDio_003c.jpg


TREES
For me the Ardennes is all about pine trees, so I needed a lot of trees to get the feeling right. I looked in my stash for trees but they felt unrealistic to me so I gave it a shot and started making trees from scratch.

I took a few wooden sticks, drilled some holes in them, cut wires etc
TigerDio_004.jpg

Then I added glue and fibers to get sort of a pine tree.
TigerDio_005.jpg

I made 22 trees...
TigerDio_006.jpg

I sprayed them brown and later added green with the airbrush.
TigerDio_007.jpg

After all that I drilled holes in de dio and carefully sorted them in place
TigerDio_008.jpg

I made 22, but could use 40 I guess :D
TigerDio_009.jpg

I went outside to get me some sand, baked it in a pot on the cooking-stove and then sorted with sifts.
TigerDio_010.jpg

I used the sand and stones for the river. The water was done with ‘Vallejo Still water’
TigerDio_012.jpg

All sorts of flocking stuff were used.
TigerDio_011.jpg

I made a small wire fence from matches and the smallest wire I could find in my scrap box
TigerDio_013.jpgTigerDio_014.jpg

At the moment it looks like this, but it’s not done yet.
TigerDio_014b.jpg

I will add some pics of the Tigers in a moment ;)

Cheers
Steven
 

Steven000

WWII and nuts.
SMF Supporter
Joined
Aug 29, 2018
Messages
1,945
Points
113
Location
Belgium
First Name
Steven
TIGERS
I used 3 ‘Revell Tiger II’ kits, they have nice detail and come with glueable tracks.

ICowley_Revel_TigerII_03129_bt.jpg

TigerDio_015.jpg

I added some detail to the turret, made from thin wire.
TigerDio_016.jpg

I drilled some '88' holes in the barrels.
TigerDio_016b.jpg

I have cut some of the side skirts, to give the tanks a bit more character.
TigerDio_018.jpg

Then I choose 3 commanders to put in the turrets, I melted the arm of the left guy to change his pose. Here they got a mist spray of vallejo primer with the airbrush. I love the detail of these figures.
TigerDio_017.jpg

I airbrushed the base color with a mix of Dark yellow and white…
TigerDio_019.jpg


That’s it for the moment, I think I will have some time next week to start the 3 tone camo with a brush…

Thanks for reading and kind regards ;)
Steven
 

Jim R

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
13,595
Points
113
Location
Shropshire
First Name
Jim
Hi Steven
An excellent start. Base is really nice. I do like the trees and the river. I look forward to seeing the Tigers.
Jim
 

minitnkr

Rabble & escape committee member
SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
6,655
Points
113
Location
Dayton, OH
First Name
Paul
Great job so far. Love the gardening. Beat me to the punch, as I had something similar in mind in 1/87. Will do a street scene instead. PaulE
 
D

Deleted member 5819

Guest
Hi Steve great start to the build very clean and tidy, I'm liking the base and tree's lot, nice to see a splash of water to, looking forward to seeing the cats in the forest, keep up the great work.:thumb2:
Old Puffer Pete.
 

SimonT

Rest in Peace
Rest In Peace
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
2,448
Points
113
Location
Yorkshire
First Name
Simon
Looking good Steven - always nice to see a small scale build :thumb2:

I bought one of these Tiggers last week as Creative had them in their weekly special offers section - look pretty good but will definitely benefit from some detailing work

What make are those commanders? They look pretty good apart from the mutant banana fingers :smiling:
 

wotan

SMF Supporter
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
1,037
Points
113
Location
Quebec
First Name
John
Steven

Very nice base you are building here. I do like the trees and the ground erosion, very convincing. As an owner of property with a lot of pine trees I can tell you that the ground under the trees is always thickly covered with dead, brown pine needles. The fall being the worst time,

John
 

Steven000

WWII and nuts.
SMF Supporter
Joined
Aug 29, 2018
Messages
1,945
Points
113
Location
Belgium
First Name
Steven
Thanks Jim, Paul, Paul, Tim, Pete, Simon and John for the comments! ;)


Paul: You can still make something similar in 1/87, I don't mind and in a few weeks everyone has forgotten about this tread anyway ;D


Simon : It's a sprue a got from ebay, I think there are 3 sprues in one box.
Here is the information;

Name: 1/72nd German stowage and tank commanders
Model: WW2V20021
Manufactured by: THE PLASTIC SOLDIER CO RANGE



John : Thanks, I will add some dead stuff under the trees, will add some bushes too. ;)


Kind regards,
Steven
 

Steve Jones

Steve Jones Scale Modelling Site
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
6,698
Points
113
Location
Plymouth
First Name
Steve
Good God Steven!! That is unbelievably awesome. The base is mind blowing. To think it is on such a small scale. You must be very pleased with the way it has come out. Looking forward to seeing how the tanks come out. Will there be an support vehicles or figures in the dio??
 

Steven000

WWII and nuts.
SMF Supporter
Joined
Aug 29, 2018
Messages
1,945
Points
113
Location
Belgium
First Name
Steven
Thanks Steve,
I designed the road for 3 Tigers, so unfortunately there will not be much space left for other support vehicles. I got me some German paratrooper figures, so I hope I can bring some life to the dio...

At the moment I'm painting camo, but still a lot of work to do ;)

Cheers, Steven

Cheers
 

Steven000

WWII and nuts.
SMF Supporter
Joined
Aug 29, 2018
Messages
1,945
Points
113
Location
Belgium
First Name
Steven
Hi Guys,
I got an update on the Tiger tanks, I painted the camo with a small brush (ambush pattern). Had to paint 2 coats for the red and green tones.
I used some images from books as a starting point and for inspiration.

Here I'm painting the first coat red brown...
TigerDio_019b.jpg

Here the Tigers are finished, some detail work might be added later, for the moment I don't have enough free time...
By cutting the decal-numbers I could make Tiger '222', '212' and '221'
The commanders are painted and fit into place with some hot-glue...
TigerDio_020.jpg

TigerDio_021.jpg

Here you can see some close-ups of the tanks :
TigerDio_022.jpgTigerDio_023.jpgTigerDio_024.jpg

Here is a temporary setup in the forest, just to give you an idea.
I haven't worked further on the diorama, so a lot of bushes in the back and under the trees are still missing...
TigerDio_025.jpgTigerDio_026.jpg


Thanks for reading ;)
Kind regards,
Steven
 

scottie3158

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
12,531
Points
113
Location
Spalding
First Name
Paul
Steven,
Bravo that looks very nice indeed the vehicles are beautifully finished and the scene sets them off.
 

AlanG

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
SMF Supporter
Joined
Dec 2, 2008
Messages
7,476
Points
113
Location
Scotland
First Name
Alan
Stunning. Wish i had the talent to do this. Just as a side note. Note sure what size wire you used but have you thought about getting some of the shielding wire that wraps around co-axial cable? It is really thin and makes great wire for electrical looms on aircraft
 

Steve Jones

Steve Jones Scale Modelling Site
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
6,698
Points
113
Location
Plymouth
First Name
Steve
Absolutely wonderful work. By far the best miniatures I have seen for a while. You must be very pleased.
 

Steven000

WWII and nuts.
SMF Supporter
Joined
Aug 29, 2018
Messages
1,945
Points
113
Location
Belgium
First Name
Steven
Scottie, Alan, Peter and Steve; Thanks for the kind support :thumb2:.

Alan: I used a small cable from my scrap-box, so I'm not sure where I got it from. I will remember the co-axial-shielding-cable for future projects ;)


Thanks all and kind regards,
Steven
 
D

Daniel Horvath

Guest
Absolutely stunning! Everything looks spot on ! I really love the base ! Looks real! You did an amazing job mister! Best regards Danny
 
Top