Souvenir Hunters: 1/32 BF-109F Desert Crash Diorama-N. Africa 1942 (Diorama Base/Accessories Only)

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers,

My latest project will be creating a 1/32 scale North African desert diorama that will include a base, a crashed BF-109 Messerschmitt airplane, a small British transport vehicle and a few British 8th Infantry figures. Construction of the base, Tilly vehicle and figures are the only parts covered in this thread. Construction of the BF-109F airplane is another thread in the Modelling Works In Progress-Prop Aircraft Section.

I have always been intrigued by World War II dioramas showing frontline infantry soldiers picking through crashed enemy aircraft for souvenirs to take back home. Although these scenes do not include intense action, they do provide good storytelling and reflection. I do not have an exact layout established in my head, but have purchased the kits, accessories and research books I plan on using. I will work out all the final, smaller details as the build progresses.

A description of the diorama setup is listed below:

The time period is set around February 1942. A Gruppe III/JG27 BF-109F-4 Trop airplane has been damaged in air combat with RAF Tomahawks (P-40B/C) and Kittyhawks (P-40D/E) and made a forced landing deep behind the British lines. The unfortunate Experten Luftwaffe pilot has been captured and taken away for processing to a POW camp. A lull in the ground fighting has allowed several curious British infantry soldiers to borrow a Tilly utility transport vehicle to make a quick trip to the crash site to “officially” look for valuable maps or other documents but “unofficially” gather souvenirs to carry back to their basecamp. Welcome to my diorama Progress Build titled Souvenir Hunters.

Figure 005: I bought the Tamiya kit to build the Tilly truck. I never build vehicles but I am hoping it will turn out to be a simple build. I plan on building this model straight out of the box. The only little tweaks will be leaving one of the doors open and having the front wheels turned at an angle.


Figures 006 and 007: I looked at a lot of British desert infantry figures before I purchased the Master Box Ltd LRDG North Africa set. The main thing I was looking for was good casual poses that can be integrated around the crashed aircraft. I also liked that these were made out of styrene instead of resin. What I did not like about the set was the figure heads and head gear, as it was hard for me to tell these were British soldiers. The exact number of figures I will use in the diorama will depend on how easy they are to modify and how the painting goes. I think I will end up using between two and four figures.



Figure 008: Fortunately, my figure head problem was solved by purchasing the Hornet Heads with WW1 Brodie Type British Helmets set. I believe this style of helmet was standard issue until 1943 or 1944.


Figure 009: Sculptamold will be used to create the groundwork on the base. This is a cellulose compound that is mixed with water.


Figure 010: This bag of gray river bottom soil and rock mix will be used to represent the small, medium and large size rocks in the desert groundwork. These are great because there are so many different shapes and sizes.


Figure 062: I needed to layout the airplane and vehicle together to determine the size of the diorama base. Before I could do this the Tilly model parts needed to be cleaned up and organized so a basic assembly could be temporarily taped together.


Figures 063 through 066: These photos show how the BF-109 and Tilly vehicle will be positioned next to each other on the base. The base is a leftover 14” X 14” pressboard shelf and is only here to help determine the final size of the 3/4” thick plywood board that will be used.





Figure 069: Work now focused on cleaning up the figures and determining how they would be used in the diorama. The shown sprue tree includes all five figures and extra accessories (i.e., guns, canteens and supplies).


Figures 070 and 071: I rarely work with figures but think the parts look pretty good. The details are sharp and natural. Most of the parts had raised seamlines that had to be carefully removed with an X-acto knife.



Figure 072: Here are the parts for one figure after being cleaned up. All of the figures had pretty much the same layout.


Figure 073: This photo shows some of the “loose” accessory pieces I selected that might be added to the diorama. I think they look nicely detailed.


Figure 074: This photo shows a good view of the replacement Hornet head/helmet pieces. They required very little clean up. I have to say I am VERY impressed with them. Each one is so different and so detailed!


Figures 075 through 078: After working with the figures for a while, I determined how each of the four I selected would be positioned in the diorama. In addition to replacing their heads/helmets, most of the figures would require modifications to their arms/hands. This is Figure #1 (man leaning over cockpit). Like all the figures in these photos, the legs and torso are permanently assembly and the head is tacked on with white glue. Both arms will have to be modified (later) with at least one of them positioned against the airplane fuselage.





Figures 079 and 080: This is Figure #2 (man seating on wing reaching for flare pistol). At first, I thought neither arm would have to be modified but have now decided the left arm needs to be stretched out straight to make it clearer he is reaching for something.



Figures 081 through 083: This scene now includes Figure #3 (officer standing holding flare pistol). Only the right hand was modified so it could hold the flare pistol better. A really cool fun fact is this flare pistol part was actually included in the Hasegawa BF-109 kit! A flare pistol and hunting rifle were part of the survival gear put in these Trop airplanes to help any pilots shot down in the desert. Figure #3 is the only one not touching the airplane.




Figures 084 through 086: This is Figure #4 (man standing holding tailfin). The left arm will have to be modified to hang straight down. My original thought is he is contemplating how difficult it would be to remove the rudder, as it would make an excellent souvenir to display back at the basecamp.




Figure 087: Work now begins on the base and groundwork. The size of the plywood base ended up being 16” X 14” X 3/4”. The first step was adding veneer wood pieces to the sides of the plywood to improve the appearance.


Figure 088: The 1” tall veneers were cut a little oversize in length and placed over each side.


Figure 089: The veneers have a glue layer on one side that is activated to stick by applying heat. I used my wife’s iron (please do not tell her) to permanently attach each piece.


Figure 090: Various grades of sandpaper were used to sand down the veneer pieces to match the plywood.


Figure 091: The veneer sides were stained with Minwax Golden Pecan. Finally, the entire base was given three Minwax Polyurethane satin clear coats, with light sanding being done after the first and second coats.


Until next time...

Phillip1

[cor]

The veneer looks great

[digger303]

I hate cutting chipboard I always end up with chipped edges.
Your base boards look very nice.

[Stokesy44]

I love how this is looking, the poses of the Tommies are great as they look over their prize!

[Phillip1]

cor/digger303/Stokesy44-Thank you for the compliments and support!

digger303-Yes, chipped edges are a bummer. Using the veneer edging can really make the wooden base look professional.

Stoksey-Yes, I am very pleased with the figure poses. Also, the replacement heads are a HUGE improvement.

Phillip1

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers-A lot of work is done in this post including creating/painting the groundwork and modifying the figures.

Figure 092: It is time to mix the Sculptamold and apply the groundwork to the plywood base, but first the Tilly vehicle and BF-109 airplane have to be prepared to temporarily sit in the wet mixture. The Tilly’s chassis and wheels were tacked together with white glue and the front wheels were angled to give it more interest.


Figure 093: Wet Sculptamold is sticky, messy and hard to clean up so pieces of masking tape were placed over all the openings on the bottom of the BF-109.


Figure 094: I also decided to protect the base’s veneered sides by covering them with masking tape.


Figure 095: This photo shows water being added to the Sculptamold. Although these two components can be mixed by hand, it is strongly recommended that a food processor be used to make sure all the lumps and clusters get dissolved.


Figure 096: I added Model Color chocolate brown acrylic paint to the mix to make it easier to see when spread out. The consistency is good when a finger can be inserted in the mix and removed without the hole filling back up.


Figure 097: This Sculptamold mix has passed the finger hole test and is ready to be added to the base.


Figure 098: A spoon was initially used to spread the Sculptamold.


Figure 099: This photo shows the Scupltamold after it was spread over the entire surface to about a 1/8” thickness. While the mix was being spread, I continually added drops of water to make it easier to control and move around.


Figure 100: The BF-109 airplane and Tilly chassis were pressed into the Sculptamold, along with any skid marks and wheel tracks that needed to be included. A metal strainer was then used to randomly sprinkle the gray river bottom soil and rock mix over the surface.


Figure 101: A stiff bristle paint brush was used to bunch up some of the groundwork in front of the right wing to indicate the wing dropped down right before the airplane stopped. An exaggerated amount of build up was created because I knew (hoped) the Sculptamold would shrink a good bit as it dried. The ground around the front of the engine was not torn up as the airplane’s initial contact with the ground bent the propellor blades enough where they did not drag. A small airborne bounce probably occurred (just outside the scope of this diorama) before the airplane skidded to its final resting place. The skid marks were made by the oil cooler and right wing radiator cutting into the ground.


Figures 102 and 103: A soft bristle paint brush and a few drops of water helped to improve the shape of the skid marks and tire tracks.



Figures 104 and 105: Larger size rocks, about 1/4” diameter, were then individually pressed into the Sculptamold.



Figure 106: When all the rocks were in place a 50/50 mix of white glue and water was generously, but carefully brushed over the entire surface of the base. This step is critical, as the white glue mix will be the only thing keeping many of the rocks fixed in place when the groundwork is painted and dry-brushed later.


Figures 107 through 109: Here are some overview photos of the diorama.




Figure 110: This photo shows how heavily the white glue mixture was applied to the surface of the base.


Figure 111: The BF-109 airplane and Tilly chassis were removed from the Scultpamold as it began to set up and dry. The time period will vary with every project depending on how much water is used. I waited about 2 to 3 hours. Any minor surface material pulled up with the models was repaired with a soft bristle brush and a few drops of water.


Figures 112 through 114: I let the base set for two days to completely dry and become hard. The BF-109 and Tilly chassis were then put back in their places to make sure minor shrinking didn’t cause any fit problems. The weight of a few coins is now required to keep the right wing against the ground. Also note the bunched up ground work in front of the right wing is a good bit smaller and looks more realistic. Whew!




Figures 115 through 117: The propeller and spinner assembly were temporarily attached one last time to check the clearance with the ground.




Figures 118 through 120: The fit of Figure #4 against the tailfin is also checked again. Note his left arm has been modified where it now hangs straight down.




Figures 121 through 123: These photos show how the left arm of Figure #2 was modified from being bent to being straight. First, the arm was sawed at the elbow and attached with regular superglue in a straight position. Next, thick superglue was applied in layers to fill in the missing section of the arm. After the recessed section was filled an X-acto knife was used to blend the hardened thick superglue with the surrounding plastic. For the modifications I was doing this method was easier and faster than working with plastic contour putty.




Figures 124 through 126: These photos show how the interaction between Figures #2 and #3 was made better by extending Figure #2’s left arm.




Figure 127: Time to start painting the groundwork! For the base color I used Humbrol 63 (flat sand).


Figure 128: The base color is in the process of being applied. I was surprised that nearly the entire paint tin was required to adequately cover the groundwork.


Figures 129 and 130: The single color looks good, but adding variation will make it look a lot better.



Figure 131: The first color variation to the base was added with pastel dust. The brushes shown were used in the application.


Figure 132: Brown pastel dust was placed around the base of all the large size rock formations and raised mounds created by the skid marks and tire tracks. Next, a large, soft brush was swept across each area to disperse the pastel dust and blend it into the surrounding groundwork. This step added the illusion of depth and shadow.


Figure 133: The second paint color applied was Humbrol 103 (flat cream).


Figure 134: This photo shows Humbrol 103 paint being dry-brushed randomly over large areas of the surface, which created lighter color variations.


Figure 135: The final color paint color applied was Humbrol 148 (flat radome tan).


Figure 136: This photo shows Humbrol 148 being dry-brushed on the upper halves of the medium and large size rocks, which made them stand out more than other features of the terrain.


Figures 137 through 140: Here are photos of the finished base and groundwork. I am glad to have this done!





Figures 141 through 145: The final figure modifications are worked on. This photo shows the final location of the arms for Figure #1. He is holding a foldout survival kit in his left hand that he found in the BF-109.






Figure 146: The superglue gap filling method detailed earlier was used on Figure #1’s right arm.


Figure 147 through 150: With all the figure modifications complete, 5-Minute Epoxy was applied to each to fill any gaps. All of the heads, arms and hands were kept separate to make painting easier. Each of these figures is now ready to paint, which will be done later. Being able to modify and integrate the Master Box figures into this diorama is one of the things I am most proud of.





NOTE: Work on the project will move back over to the Aircraft-Work In Progress Section thread to completely finish the BF-109 when the next update is posted.

Until next time...

Phillip1

[Stokesy44]

Lovely work on the detail and painting of the base

[Phillip1]

Stokesy-Thanks for the compliment! Do you plan on using the Master Box British Infantry LRDG figures (that I am using) in your 1/35 SAS Jeep/Command Car project?

Phillip1

[digger303]

Good work all round and a good explanation of how it was done.

[aur0ra145]

Nicely done on the base!

[Stokesy44]

Stokesy-Thanks for the compliment! Do you plan on using the Master Box British Infantry LRDG figures (that I am using) in your 1/35 SAS Jeep/Command Car project?

Phillip1

Absolutely. If you check my thread you'll see I've already put them together. Very impressed with them too. The seams on mine were less pronounced then on yours. Maybe they were from when the molds were newer.

[Phillip1]

Stokesy44/aur0ra145/digger303/-Thank you all very much for the compliments!

Stokesy44-I visited your referenced thread and saw the very nice assembly work you did on the figures. I modified the arm and hand poses on most of my Master Box figures, which created greater gaps. These were overcome with slow set superglue and 5-minute epoxy.

Phillip1

[Tomcat64]

Absolutely stunning work on the base - I can't believe you used a food processor for the sculptamold

The repositioning of the figures has worked brilliantly well and they look like they're properly interacting with each other and the vehicle/aircraft.

Looking forward to seeing the next updates.

[Phillip1]

Tomcat64-Thanks for the compliments and comments! It had been over 10 years since I worked with sculptamold so I made a small testbed to re-familiarize myself with it and manually mixed it with a wooden ruler. The testbed dried as an endless mass of lumps and bumps and looked horrible! I found there were just too many tiny clusters that could not be broken up with manual mixing. That's when I followed Master Modeler Sheperd Paine's advice from his diorama books and used a food processor for mixing, which worked much better. On the figures, I was lucky the Master Box set was exactly what I needed for my diorama. I almost never work with figures so I will take all the help I can get!

Phillip1

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers-In this post the Tilly transport vehicle is painted and assembled.

Figure 206: My first painting decision was that the interior be a different color than the exterior. I guessed the interior color leaving the factory was a dark brown or dark green. I used 50/50 mix of Testors flat olive and flat black.


Figure 207: The sparse interior details were painted either flat brown or flat black. All of the parts were dry-brushed to highlight the raised details. Using a darker green color helped make the dry-brushing really stand out.


Figure 208: A couple of the interior parts have been glued in place.


Figure 209: All of the exterior parts are shown after the base coat was applied. For the desert scheme I used Humbrol 103 (flat cream). I assume this color, or something close to it, was added at a local maintenance depot after the vehicle arrived in North Africa.


Figure 210: The man body parts were given the first weathering treatment by over spraying a thin wash of the base color with 25% flat white paint added in. The colors are very light so it is difficult to see in the photo.


Figure 211: I wanted the vehicle to appear really used and worn and applying paint with a torn sponge is a great way to convey this. The marks left by the sponge can represent peeling paint, scratches, dings and rust spots. In using this technique there were a couple of rules I followed. First, all of the marks needed to look random and different. I only used the same sponge piece on a couple of areas before going to a new piece. Notice all the used sponge pieces lying on the paper towel. Second, the selection of the sponge paint color was based on what showed up well against the base paint color. In this case I used Model Master Military Brown over the cream color.


Figures 212 and 213: These photos show the impact of using the sponge. I was really happy with how realistic and to scale it comes across, but the sharp contrast between the base color and sponge color needed to be toned down. Also, to make it look like a sun-beaten desert vehicle, more color variation needed to be added.



Figures 214 through 217: To get the finish I wanted I first over sprayed the sponge paint areas with a weak wash of the base color. Next, brown pastel dust was applied over every raised surface with a small pointed brush, then blended in with a wide soft brush. I bounced back and forth between using the wash and pastel dust until I saw the balance I was looking for. These photos show the final paint finish on the body.





Figure 218: The dashboard was painted, dry-brushed and decaled before being installed.


Figures 219 and 220: The final weathering step was applying pastel dust to the interior floor, underside and wheel wells. I selected a pastel color from my Alphacolor Earth Tones set that best matched the groundwork color of the base.



Figure 221: Here is a full view of how messy my work desk got while I was trying to finalize the color of the body exterior. I am sure many modelers reading this can relate!


Figure 222: With the painting complete, some smaller parts were added to the body. I painted the recess areas of the headlights silver before gluing the clear lens in place. Doing this made the headlights look more realistic.


Figure 223: The wheel on the left is shown after basic painting and the wheel on the right has been weathered with dark gray and groundwork color pastel dust.


Figure 224: The canvas cover for the truck bed was the final part painted on the Tilly vehicle. I applied the same dark green color used on the interior.


Figures 225 and 226: Only dry-brushing was used to weather the canvas. Three successively lighter green colors were applied, with the last one being almost completely white.



Figures 227 through 232: Here are photos of the finished Tilly vehicle. I have nothing but good things to say about the Tamiya kit and building it has been one of the easiest things about this diorama project.







Figure 233 through 241: Here are photos of the diorama after the Tilly was glued to the base.










Until next time...

Phillip1

[BigWall]

Very good! I really like how the canvas cover came out

[digger303]

Very cool.

[Stokesy44]

Lovely work on the car. I love seeing the progression from the base coat to the finished article

[Tomcat64]

Awesome work on the Tilly and it looks completely at home on the base setting too

[Phillip1]

Big Wall/digger303/Stokesy44/Tomcat64-Thanks!

Phillip1

[aur0ra145]

Nice work! Also, what a strange place to put a spare tire.

[Phillip1]

aur0ra145-Thanks!

Phillip1

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers-In this post the figures are painted and added to the diorama.

Figures 242 and 243: I will start by stating I am not a figure painter. The two or three times I have attempted it, it was not fun or easy. I have been dreading this step, but painting the figures is the only thing left to do on this project. I went to YouTube.com and searched for videos on easy figure painting and found a handful that were very helpful. I discovered several eye opening techniques that were new to me, so forgive me if I am repeating what most of you already know. Acrylic paints specially formulated to be brush painted are very popular. They also have the advantage of drying very quickly, unlike oil based paints. In addition to the acrylic brush on paints, I also learned about a painting method called “glazing” which I ended up using. Per this method the figures were first completely spray painted flat black.



Figures 244 through 249: Next, they were spray painted flat white in a misting coat applied while the airbrush was pointed nearly straight down while above the subject. The black and white paints created natural shadows all over the figures, and eliminated the need for any shading.







Figure 250: I decided on Model Color for the acrylic paints. This photo shows all the colors used on the figures.


Figure 251: Shown are the four brushes used in painting the figures. The two middle ones (sizes 10/0 and 0) were used about 95% of the time.


Figures 252 and 253: Each acrylic color paint was applied in multiple, very thin coats that were thinned down with water only slightly stronger than a wash. Applying these multiple thin coats is called glazing. Here is one of the figures after three coats were applied. The photos show how the black and white undercoat created several topcoat color variations.



Figures 254 and 255: Next, a much darker paint was applied in all the obvious, recessed lines to add depth and give it some pop. In these photos the painted dark lines are too strong and will have to be throttled back with additional touch up.



Figures 256 through 258: In these photos the dark recessed lines have been reduced and are more subtle. Lighter highlight colors have been added to all the sharp edges and wrinkle crests. Using highly thinned acrylic paint made any small touch ups much easier to blend in to what was already there.




Figures 259 through 262: These photos show the completely finished figure. The base flesh color (2 parts buff to 1 part brown sand) went on great and required only minor tonal variations. On the face I used calvary brown to outline around the eye sockets, nasal passages, ears and between the lips. Minor dry-brushing was added to the socks, leggings and boots. Lastly, a 50/50 Dullcote/thinner mix was applied to produce an overall flat finish.





Figures 263 through 269: Here are finished photos of the other three figures. I apologize that I did not provide more details or photos on how I painted them. My intention was to show a complete A-to-Z painting process but I could not make that happen. Although I like how the figures turned out, honestly, I was in panic mode the entire time I was painting all four! It mostly seemed like for every brush stroke I was happy with there were two others that looked bad and had to be redone. Using the acrylic paints and glazing method made the everything easier, but it is still difficult to paint figures IMHO! I am glad this part is over!








Figure 270: The four figures are shown after being added to the diorama. A small amount of white glue was used to attach them. Note that ground color pastel dust was brushed on all the boots. Adding little details like that really help sell a diorama’s overall message. Only a few final parts need to be added to the diorama for it to be finished (i.e., 2 rifles, 1 machine gun, main canopy section and a tool bag) so the next post will be the last one.


Until next time…

Phillip1

[Stokesy44]

Nice work on the figures

[BigWall]

Very nice outcome with the figures. I've been hesitant to paint figures so I'm forcing myself to repaint horrible looking figures from 30 years ago as practice for the figures that will go with my current project. Luckily I can procrastinate until after the holidays when I can put my workspace back together on the dining room table.

[digger303]

Love the step by step on the figures. They turned out very well.

[Stokesy44]

Very nice outcome with the figures. I've been hesitant to paint figures so I'm forcing myself to repaint horrible looking figures from 30 years ago as practice for the figures that will go with my current project. Luckily I can procrastinate until after the holidays when I can put my workspace back together on the dining room table.

One of the big things with figures is using the right paint. I would highly recommend Vallejo Model Color. Beautiful to use with a brush and can be thinned for spraying.

[Phillip1]

Stoksey44/digger303/BigWall-Thanks for the kind words!

BigWall-I understand the figure painting procrastination. I pushed painting mine until everything else on the project was done!

Phillip1

[Tomcat64]

Great work on the figures - like everything else we do it's all down to practice and repetition

The second one (seated on the wing) is the pick of the bunch for me

[Phillip1]

Tomcat64-Thanks! Yes, repetition makes us better at everything.

Phillip1

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers-The diorama is finished! The estimated total project time was 226 hours.

Figures 271 through 294: Here are photos of the completely finished diorama.























Figure 293: This photo shows the simple setup I used with a desert background poster to create forced perspective images.


Figures 294 through 299: These last images show the ground warriors picking over the remaining bones before the slain giant is left to rust away in the desert! Thanks to everyone who commented and followed along. I hope you enjoyed the build as much as I did!







Until next time…

Phillip1

[Stokesy44]

Nice pics and I love the ones with the background. Stunning!

[digger303]

The background works well and great builds all round.

[aur0ra145]

Very nice job!

[BigWall]

Great work! I think my favorite element is the figures. They really bring it to life

[Tomcat64]

Well that's just all kinds of superb - what a cracking result.

I love the photos with the background, they are really well done too.

Great concept brilliantly executed - very very well done

[Phillip1]

Stokesy/digger303/aur0ra145/BigWall-Thank you very much!

Tomcat64-Thanks so much for the very gracious compliments and funny cat video!

Phillip1