"Liri Valley" diorama in 1/35 scale

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 11:26 am

Hi lads!
This will be a long term project i wanted to do for some time. After i finished some other stuff on my bench i´ll start it, so consider this as an announcement

The Italian front was always a bit neglected by me, but it is an interesting theatre and there are good opportunities to build a really impressive diorama with unusual environment (usually we see Normandy or Russian dioramas).

Here are the kits i´m going to use, maybe i´ll add more. Usually my dioramas only show one vehicle and some figures, but this one will be bigger. I think the grand landscape of Italy deserves such a tribute

The agricultural storage house from Model Victoria will be sort of the core element of the diorama. It is expensive (70€), but it comes with full!!!! interior details and is made out of resin without any flaws but with exquisit detail. Makes me drool

Some figures will be needed too!

I´ll convert those fellas to normal infantrymen, but German mountain troops served in Italy too, so maybe not.

Another important element will be this Dragon kit. Love those halftracks!

A Kübelwagen is always a neat addition. It is a great and simple kit.

As i said, maybe i´ll add more as i move along in this project.

Now some reference shots of the area. Oh dear, i think it is true when people say Italy is the most beautiful country in the world.

Now some reference shots of the area during the war. It was part of the Battle of Monte Cassino.

This is very much like the scene i have in mind, but i´ll use Germans of course

Post by **Coen** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 12:18 pm

€70!!! Oh my! I really can't wait to see that up close. That should be a really impressive kit.
With all of those other elements this should be an epic diorama Michael, you mother will not thatpnk you haha.
I really can't wait to see this start coming together bud.

Post by **UKguyInUSA** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 3:23 pm

I can see this becoming another mega masterpiece and one to watch closely!

Post by **modelmad** » Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:12 pm

looking forward to seeing your latest creation fantastic youtube channel and very helpful for someone such as myself who is returning to the hobby after a 30 year break nearly keep up the good work

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sat Aug 09, 2014 12:39 pm

Go man go, this is one to watch like so many of your builds.

John

Post by **localjedi** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 10:32 am

Looking forward to watching this dio come together...

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:50 pm

Thank you very much for showing so much interest

I started with the assembly of the house, first of all i made a kit review video.

[youtube]cNc-dnZLW2E[/youtube]

Here are the parts before the assembly, still wrapped in plastic bags.

I started with the four main walls. The fit is not perfect, but that is pretty normal for such large resin pieces.
Super glue and gentle pressure from tape get the whole thing in shape.

The long log on the top of the roof. Please notice the filler in the corners of the walls.

The little shed.

Tape removed, there are little gaps as expected.

Filled. Revell Plasto is your friend.

I attached the little shed to the house already, again i filled the gaps a bit.

How to achieve this all? I listened to a neat song which alleviated the work a lot

[youtube]ky4CdN0x58A[/youtube]

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:57 pm

What an exciting project Mike.
Love your work mate (what is not to love, watching the Master).
Can't wait for more.

John

Post by **Paips** » Sat Aug 16, 2014 8:40 pm

im looking with interest, the local Regiment here has Liri Valley on their battle honours they lost a lot of men there. Great idea for a Dio..

Post by **rm6239** » Mon Aug 18, 2014 8:00 am

Oooh, this looks to be a build to watch. Nice start so far mate.

cheers

Rossco

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 3:50 pm

Thank you guys

I made some progress on the building.

I put on the roof of the little shed, i bent the metal sheets a little bit to give it a worn out look. The stones on the roof are real ones from my garden, the resin parts are nice but need a lot of cleaning up. Instead i went for real stones as a time saver.

Next i put on the roof of the main building. I intended to keep it loose so i can remove it, but this did not work. The roof was slightly bent so i had to get it fixed by glueing it into place. The tiles in the middle did not fit properly, so i used spare ones. Not a big deal at all.

Installed shutters and doors. The assembly is basically finished.

Maybe i will add this kit to the dio, we will see.

Post by **AchtungPanzer** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 4:25 pm

Not bad Hamilkar, not bad

Post by **billk** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:14 pm

Really,really interesting build!!! Going to wait for the great result!

Post by **MarkVerploeg** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:56 pm

That will be a big diorama once it is completed
But a very nice idea
I'm sure you will make a stunning piece from all these kits

Post by **EasyEight96** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 12:04 pm

Great start on the building Michael this will look awesome on the diorama your're planning

**Felis Barcinonensis YouTube Channel** · Post by **felisbarcinonensis** » Thu Aug 28, 2014 9:38 pm

Looking great mate!

Post by **modelmad** » Sat Aug 30, 2014 3:09 pm

looking forward to seeing the end results your work is an insperation and have picked up a few tips from you along the way

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sat Sep 27, 2014 11:03 am

I purchased some more plants which look a bit more Italian than the trees and shrubberyi already had in my stash. I like the look of them a lot

These are from MiniNatur

Mk35 as the box tells us

I picked up this hand made shrubbery at Cologne a while ago.

As you can see diorama building is all a matter of materials you use. It is not necessarily the expensive stuff or the size of the diorama as a whole, it is rather the right amount of everything.

Post by **localjedi** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:36 am

I've also bought some bushes and tufts of grass from MiniNatur recently... It's great stuff. In my opinion better than Greenline. Anyway, looking forward to the next update. I have a feeling that this is gonna be awesome. It's also good to see that you've treated yourself with a nice Hacker Pschorr...

Post by **Nige99** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:09 am

Looking really good so far! Love the tin roof looks really effective.

Post by **Coen** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:08 am

Those are stunning pieces Michael. Any diorama that you add those to will certainly shine.

Post by **Deacon** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:31 pm

Lovely work so far sir.

Post by **rodrant** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:31 pm

This is to follow ! Will be a lovely diorama !

Like a lot of the trees and vegetation . DO they have some online store ?

Post by **UKguyInUSA** » Thu Oct 09, 2014 3:15 am

All that foliage looks awesome....that's really going to help bring your dio alive!

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 5:26 pm

Thank you very much guys

I really like to apologize for the lack of updates, but i´m working on other models at the moment. As soon as they are done i will continue to work on this. It will be a long-term project for sure, so i hope it won´t become boring for you to follow.

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sat Oct 25, 2014 2:48 pm

Finally i got round to work a bit more on the diorama base.

On a wooden plate i glued on some styrofoam and got it into shape with a knife. Then i covered the surface roughly with fine repair grout. The framework is made out of balsa wood plates.

Then i gut away some bits of the framework and started to cover the base with fimo air basic modelling clay. I mainly focused on the edges in the beginning, later i applied a rather thin layer on the whole dio.

At this stage you can incorporate larger objects into the diorama already, in this case i mounted the house already. I will paint it later right on the diorama.

Do not worry too much about the cracks, they are hard to avoid. A second or third layer will cover them and you end up with a solid base to continue working.

I prefer it to use such modelling clay over ordinary plaster, because it is lighter and not as messy. You have more time to create certain features of the landscape. This approach found some acknowledgement in a building review in the latest issue of a German modelling magazine.

Post by **Dunhill2005** » Sat Oct 25, 2014 3:34 pm

I congratulate you for mention in another building report !!!!!

Post by **Paips** » Sat Oct 25, 2014 4:36 pm

Looks great so far cant wait to see the progress.

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 8:28 pm

Thank you guys

I hope next weekend i can create some more details of the landscape, especially the road.

Post by **UKguyInUSA** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 1:13 am

I already know this will turn out awesome, but I still look forward to it!

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 1:07 pm

Progess is small but at least there is some progress

I applied a second thin coat of the modelling clay to fill the gaps. It is also a nice opportunity to incorporate further features of the landscape like rocks and so on. I used some stones from my garden and some modelling clay to incorporate them into the diorama.

Post by **Coen** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 1:38 pm

That's looking really cool now Mike... actually looks a lot like snow.
haha.
I like the looks of that figure in the background... he's pretty sharp looking.

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 7:48 pm

Some progress can be reported

I assembled the Tamiya Kübelwagen. Takes about 1 hour, superb little kit!

Primed everything i´m going to paint with black acrylic colour. I will paint the rocks too.

Painted the building and the rocks with medium grey paint.

I tinted the walls a bit with a light olive colour.

Finally i tinted the building a bit further with beige and applied a thicker coat of that colour in the rocks.

Here the building with painted details. I basically painted everything monochrome, only the tiles received some different shades of brick red so far. I will see how it looks after i applied a wash. I may go back and add some shading on the stones later if i feel like doing so.

Post by **Tiger131** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 7:58 pm

This is looking amazing so far and it aint finished

Post by **AchtungPanzer** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 8:05 pm

All Looks very good at this stage . I look forward to more - will be super Dio

Post by **Coen** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 1:21 am

That wonderful Michael. That shading will look cool later.
Nice work.
I'll bet that dio weights a few kilos. My North Africa dio is only a little larger and it is close to 6kg.

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 3:58 pm

Compared to a Tiger tank it is a lightweight!

Post by **andreb87** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 4:43 pm

i used a styrodur base for the first time for my normandy diorama, it is used to insulate roofs etc! it is light like styropor but the surface is very smooth and it is harder than balsa wood! it also doesnt break as easy as styropor! i love this stuff! you can cut it with a cutter or a teppichmesser (dont know the translation

) i can highly recommend it! you can get it in every obi, hagebaumarkt, praktiker etc! you can also use it to build buildings of all kinds! very nice stuff

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 7:44 pm

My vacation started so i made some progress and i hope i get it done in the next weeks

I applied a MIG wash (dark wash and brown wash) on the building, the awesome recessed details take the wash well.

To create a realistic look of the roof i brushed on some Vallejo pigments (burnt sienna)

Then i glued on some trees because i want to incorporate them nicely into the surface before the application of the earth.

Later i will add shrubbery and grass all over the place.

Post by **trnkepfc** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 9:01 pm

great work so far, i like it

Post by **Tiger131** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 9:14 pm

That building looks amazing buddy

Post by **martin57** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 10:14 pm

very nice like the shading on the house . trees are cool

Post by **Coen** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 10:54 pm

That is truly spectacular work Micheal. Those are cool colours that you chose for the building. That's going to look wonderful, especially with those trees around it. Very authentic.
I think you are about to out do yourself my friend.
I can see where you're going with this and it's going to be amazing!!!

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 5:40 am

Top notch buildings, roofing tiles and foliage
Really well done so far

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 2:02 pm

We shall see how good it turns out, at least i know exactly how i want to build it and how it should look like which helps a lot. thank you for all your praises

the dio is now at the stage where i have to wait for the vehicles, so i think the next posts will deal with vehicles and figures from now on.

Post by **localjedi** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 7:25 pm

It's coming together nicely. Excellent job so far.

Post by **rodrant** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 7:33 pm

Looking a great dio build so far,Like a lot The building and The trees are great .
The detail of The shed with the wood and The stones is superb .

Now i'm waiting for the vehicles and figures.It will be a super Diorama

**Felis Barcinonensis YouTube Channel** · Post by **felisbarcinonensis** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 9:49 pm

It's going to be a fantastic dio! The composition and the elements you are using are spectacular! Waiting for more!!

Post by **trnkepfc** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:23 pm

thats great i cant wait next update..

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Thu Dec 25, 2014 9:06 pm

Update time!

I started the assembly of the Sd.Kfz. 10/5 from Dragon. The kit is a pig. The engine assembly was not clearly shown in the instruction so i ended up in adding a copper rod to create a connection to the belt pulley. How the handles and gear shifts have to be positioned is a huge guess due to bad instructions.

Comon Dragon. I want to build that thing, i do not want to spend 10 hours cleaning that part up.

It starts to look like a halftrack now.

These ammo boxes on the sides are tricky to assemble. PE parts are used here but comon...why?! that could be done with plastic too.

Some simplification were done here. You can crucify me if you want, i do not care.

All it needs now is the running gear and the aa gun.

I assembled some figures and put on the vehicles just to see how it could look. I definately need more figs!