Holy Yeeps! Bastogne December 1944

Post by **Coen** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:58 pm

Hey fellas.
Over the last week or so I've been working on the last two pieces for my series on the Ardennes Offensive of November 1944 to January 1945, also called the "Battle of the Bulge".
So far in this series I've completed
A panther Ausf G,
An Achillies Mk IIc,
A PUMA,
A Hetzer,
and an M4 18t Fast Tractor.
This thread will be about the last piece. A diorama depicting a group of GIs moving through Bastogne while it's being attacked by German forces at the Beginning of December.
I hope to finish before the end of this year, though I may be pushing it a little.
A lot of the elements of the diorama I had already constructed over the year so some of the heavy lifting will be averted. I still need to paint a portion of the figures, paint the jeeps and stowage, and build the diorama.

These are a few of the reference photos that I've been using for this particular build.

The scene that I will depict will be in a more built up area near the outskirts of Bastogne where the Panzer Lehr were attacking from the direction of Margeret. Wounded were being cleared from the area while forward units provided security for the evacuation.
I am hoping to depict a very high degree of action with this diorama, more than I've ever done before.

Here's the general plan and layout when I originally conceived of the diorama.

I'll be using these vehicles, one of which Devon Bliss gave me and the other was from Freddy Duarte...

and these figures will be added...

Along with this exceptionally cool stretcher set that Forbes Hutton gave me...

After a few days of mucking about they were all built and ready for paint.

I had an old ICM steel bridge set that I wanted to use so that got added as well.
I added a Chaffee tank from Bronco that I'd built and crew to the scene to increase the sense of action.

The dio was layed out as such...

And there the thing sat on the shelf for about a month until I finished a few other pieces.

This week I got back to it.
I started with the rear wall by adding the brickwork detail. Marcus M Wilkinson of Modeller's Workshop on faceboob (https://www.facebook.com/groups/241261905976850/) and the Hangouts used a cool trick with cork tile to make brick and cobblestone work on a diorama. I happened to have some cork sheeting in the cave from a previous project so I thought to give it a try.

I plan on filling all the areas not covered in brick in hydrocal to simulate plaster work.

The brick wall...

A test fit of the bridge...

Some window glazing added and some bars added to the tunnel...

Next all the groundwork was built up in about 5 layers of sculptamould. A paper mache/white glue mix with water added. I'll paint it later. This is just the contour layer. I'll be adding some cobble stone work and rubble to this much later.

Now it's a waiting until it dries and hardens thing. Hopefully it will only be a day or two.

**Felis Barcinonensis YouTube Channel** · Post by **felisbarcinonensis** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 3:14 pm

Wow! It's looking so cool Michael! You are indeed a fast dio builder

Post by **jamesdivall64** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 4:44 pm

That is Brilliant work Coen! Gives me inspiration to get and do some dio practice

Post by **Joesdad** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 5:05 pm

Great stuff Coen, kinda de-mystifying the whole diorama thing.....well for me anyway.
Ta

Post by **Coen** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 5:21 pm

Thanks guys.
That's the point Tim. No secrets, no mysteries. This stuff is pretty easy.
It's all about the planning and how much time that you want to put into it. The more planning and time you put in the better the work.
It means the difference between this... Several months worth of work by Mastero Shep Paine.

And this... About a month worth of work.

Post by **HamilkarBarkas** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 7:39 pm

Coen wrote:Thanks guys.
That's the point Tim. No secrets, no mysteries. This stuff is pretty easy.
It's all about the planning and how much time that you want to put into it. The more planning and time you put in the better the work.
It means the difference between this... Several months worth of work by Mastero Shep Paine.

I second that!
Awesome diorama, love this scratchbuilding

Post by **Art17847** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 8:06 pm

Lookin great so far......this is gonna be brilliant

Post by **AchtungPanzer** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 8:08 pm

Wow !

Post by **rodrant** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 10:16 pm

Actually I was seeing another Masterpiece in this thread ...and I was wondering as I'm doing this weekend a Diorama from Ardennes , or a sort of ...I will place some photos today as I already have managed to do the Sherman, I start to build the tamiya Sherman tha tI received this week and start to think that would be nice to do a diorama .

So in this masterpiece , Coen did it again ...a thread to follow and to learn a lot from it ....

IT is just incredible this , the all concept , the planning , the build ...

Post by **Yevgeny** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 11:33 pm

Oh wow!
You are just non stop model/dio making machine Coen.
Looks great already, love the brickwork/scratch build. Awesome

Post by **Coen** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 1:37 am

Thanks guys.
I'm no machine though, I'm just retired. I have lots of time to work.

Post by **MikeyKb** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 6:20 am

just one beauty after the other, bud.

lovely work, as always

Post by **Nige99** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:09 am

Stunning action scene Mike! Your ideas on the layout for your dio's are amazing mate. The scratch building is breathtaking

loving the cork brickwork.
Loads of figures and vehicles. One word can some your work up.

EPIC

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 5:18 am

Holy Cow Mike.
If this is last build of the year it may take accolades as the best.
You really cram it in.
My hat is aloft.....

Happy Christmas to you and the family as well Mike.
May you all be blessed with health, love and happiness always,
John & Di x

Post by **MarkVerploeg** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 9:36 am

Nice work so far Mike
But you have a hetzer in your list of this series
But i didn't see it , where can i find it or is there no thrwad for it?

Post by **Coen** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 10:46 am

Thanks Mike and Nige

Donkeywalloper wrote:Holy Cow Mike.
If this is last build of the year it may take accolades as the best.
You really cram it in.
My hat is aloft.....
Happy Christmas to you and the family as well Mike.
May you all be blessed with health, love and happiness always,
John & Di x

Thanks John, and the same to you and yours my friend.
Safe and happy seasons greetings bud.

MarkVerploeg wrote:Nice work so far Mike
But you have a hetzer in your list of this series
But i didn't see it , where can i find it or is there no thrwad for it?

I built the hetzer the year before I joined the forum. It's the very first piece that I built of the series. I was going to show the entire series later on but I'll show you the hetzer now.
She needs a bit more work, I'll be fixing up those trees with a little bit of extra ... ummphf.
This shot is an old one and I'll need to shoot some new ones once I do the extra work.

Post by **Coen** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 12:24 pm

The last few days were spent experimenting with hydrocal, cork, and fine white beach sand.

First, I wanted to try and get the plaster effect on the rear wall of the diorama worked out. I've never done it this way and a lot of it I made up along the way.
The use of the cork as a brick was Marcus Wilkinson's idea but the plaster I sorta puzzled out. At first I really didn't think that it would work, and I almost tossed it in the crapper at one point because I couldn't get the hydrocal that I was using to make the plaster to play ball.
In the end I was satisfied with the results.

There are a few things that I'll do differently the next time I fully scratch build something like this though, one would be to vary the thickness of the bricks in comparison to the edging stones or casement stones around the windows and doors. They should protrude more than the bricks do. The other is to add a bit of static grass to the hydrocal to simulate the grass or straw that is in the plaster of the time (Nigel Wells' made me consider this one).

Anyway... on to the pictures. As Andy likes to do... warning... there are a lot of pictures. haha.

So this is what the wall looked like before the plaster...

And this is after...

I also blackened out the areas that glass will eventually go and the areas where either empty space will be or ice.
I didn't like how the first coat of plaster settled so I added a second skim coat and I was happier with the results.

Next added a fresh layer of sculptamold and white glue and I cut more bricks into paving stones, then added them in a sort of broken road/pathway.
This was a lot easier than it looks. It took about an hour and a half... most of the first Die Hard movie

Then I added some extremely fine white beach sand to the paving stones to fill all the gaps. It looks a bit like wet snow and slush, but that's because I fixed it in place with watered down white glue from woodland scenics. Once painted it will look like dirt and the cork bricks like paving stones... I hope. The sand it just for the texture.

Then I added some of the finer details, a pair of man hole covers, a lamp post, and some rubble for a broken down part of a wall.

And then a general overview of how much mess making one of these things makes.. haha

Post by **trnkepfc** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 12:32 pm

Great work so far,i like it

Post by **Nige99** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 6:25 pm

That's a awesome dio your building Mike! Where do you get your ideas of layout from? Bloody stunning so far.

Post by **Art17847** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:00 pm

i really luv watching u do ground work i always seem to learn something new.....so maybe i missed it but are u planning to do water under that bridge if so id like to see how u do that as im planing on doing some in the near furture...BTW looks great so far

Post by **PaulAyrey** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:42 pm

Great work so far ..... as usual. Can't wait to see it progress.

Post by **MarkVerploeg** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 9:41 pm

Oohh but i know that hetzer
It is in your intro vid
Nice work on it and i see the new dio is coming along too
Keep up the good work

Post by **jbellos1** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 11:05 pm

Simply awesome Mike - superlatives fail me.

Post by **Hillbilly** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 11:15 pm

Looks awesome so far

A lot of action going on there!

Post by **Coen** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 12:35 am

Thanks fellas,
Yes Art, water will be under the bridge but I was thinking of making it ice as ithe setting is mid December for the dio.
I'll show the work no matter which I do though.

Post by **hook1169** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:54 am

Very nicely done so far.

Post by **Nev** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:45 am

Jeepers Scoob that's coming on nicely

Post by **Coen** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 10:41 am

Ranks Raggy

Post by **Coen** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 10:47 am

All I got done yesterday was the texture layer and I fixed the rubble to the base.
Now it's just waiting for it all to dry before I prime it all sometime today.
Last night I started on the figures, but there's nothing to show of them yet.

The Rubble...
Pieces of broken popcicle sticks, cork bricks, some verlinden cobblestones that I had laying around, and left over plaster bits that I smashed up.

The texture layer is just various layers of sand, kitty litter, talus, and coarse gravel added to the surface that has been coated in thinned white glue.

Hopefully I'll have some figures done and the base primed by the end of today.

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 2:50 pm

Oh my Mike.
How the hell do you get all of this done in the time.
I have just got up after working nights (finished at 05:00 and slept badly through to 12:30).
Couple of hours cutting, filing bending and sticking on five bits of PE on Chief.
Then I look at your pictures and feel I have accomplished naff all.
You really are the Artist.
Its coming on beautifully.
John

Post by **Coen** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:11 pm

I'm retired and I don't really sleep so I have a lot of time when I'm alone. Not all if it I can spend at the bench, but I get more than other fellas do for sure.
To be honest John, this took and hour to do and is about as difficult as putting toppings on a pizza.
I had all the materials in cans and pots and the cork and wood were left over from the construction of the diorama.
It's literally spend some glue and sprinkle.

Post by **Lee** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:47 pm

Holy sheeeeeeeet Batman...!!!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:21 pm

Coen wrote:I'm retired and I don't really sleep so I have a lot of time when I'm alone. Not all if it I can spend at the bench, but I get more than other fellas do for sure.
To be honest John, this took and hour to do and is about as difficult as putting toppings on a pizza.
I had all the materials in cans and pots and the cork and wood were left over from the construction of the diorama.
It's literally spend some glue and sprinkle.

It's literally spend some glue and sprinkle.
You underestimate your skills Mike.
Your end results are not a case of Sprinkle and a bit of Glue here and there.
I know you have time and all of the practice pays off but you do have an eye for this and your skill set is superb.
Tried to have a nap, but back at Bench having another look at Chief.
Have a great evening Mike.
John

Post by **trekfanj** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:49 pm

Great work, Mike!

This was just the motivation I needed to get back to the dios I was working on!

Post by **Coen** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 4:22 am

Yesterday I primed the base then spent a few hours base painting the figures and the jeeps. They're starting to look the part now. I've never build jeeps before so I had to use a few good reference shots to get the details painted.
I haven't really taken any photos of the figures or jeeps yet because they're all in pieces and you can barely tell what they are at the moment.

So I prime the base with three coats of Vallejo black primer. It's a good primer for dios as its thick and it glues a lot of the lose bits nicely just by itself. It also turns the whole mutil media surface of the dio into a single surface of plastic. This reduces the chance of material reactions with the underlaying items.
The materials above the primer will be mostly paint and pigemets and glues.

Next I started with the base colours for all the elements.
A concrete grey for the cobbles and large stones of the casements.

Then a cremeweiss for the plaster, I wanted a yellowish underlayer for the rest of the colours.

Then a thinned layer of white...

Next the ground was painted in a burnt umber cheapo craft acrylic.

Then I added the pigments. Two Browns for the road in random spots then three Browns for the rest of the ground. I added a green pigment for the patina cause by the algae growing in the soil and on the damp walls.

Then I installed the lamp post and temporarily installed the bridge. I also added several brick and mortar coloured pigments to the pile of rubble.
I also painted the house door a purple blue colour.

Then I painted and installed the window frames, they're only there temporarily as I'll be adding glass later.

Then I drybrushed gunmetal over gloss black on the railing then stippled white over it, and weathered the house door a bit. I also added a bit more colour to the debris pile.

And here is how it looks now.
Next is a few washes, plants then pose the figures and vehicles. Then the snow.

Post by **Russ72** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 5:48 am

Brilliant stuff mate. I love watching good dioramas come together. So much to learn.

Post by **Paul** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:26 am

Just awesome work Mike, its gonna be a stunner

Post by **timtamtung** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:41 am

Tremendous work there. Wow its huge... Where r u going to put it? I have space here

Post by **wappynutter** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:45 am

Dude......

Truly outstanding!!!

....and scratchbuilt!!!! Masterbox and Verlinde eat ya hearts out!
The improvement in quality and quantity since cutting your YouTube activity is crazy Mike!
I sit and stare, fixed and studying every little bit trying to take in all the simple yet very effective tips and techniques, hiding them in my head hoping to use and achieve just a fraction of there awesomeness!!
Master at work..... Thanks so much for sharing bud....

YouTube · Post by **Kingdan** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 11:09 am

Holy moly Mike I thought I had a lot on with a bit of rust but you sir are a true modling Jedi great work looking forward to seeing this in the altogether well done sir

Post by **Nige99** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:01 pm

Stunning work Mike

you are the guru of dio's

Post by **Coen** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 1:11 pm

More like the master guru of bum changes right now haha.
Thanks fellas.

**Felis Barcinonensis YouTube Channel** · Post by **felisbarcinonensis** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 4:13 pm

Looks gorgeous mate!

Build, painting and textures are freaking awesome!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 5:15 pm

Coen wrote:More like the master guru of bum changes right now haha.
Thanks fellas.

Mike don't forget to Nail Brush the nails after that.
Nothing worse than scratching your top lip later and wondering what paint / solvent / Glue has that funny odour

John
PS: Your Dios now are becoming mindblowing in content. The skill-set you passion in something out there. Every post makes my old craggy (but beautifully moisturised face, having a Mrs in the Beauty business has compensation), beam with happiness.

Post by **psydeviant** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 11:06 pm

i flippin love this , proper good stuff

Post by **Coen** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 4:07 pm

I started the next bit of work with the application of washes to the vertical surfaces.
I started with a Ultimate concrete wash over both of the walls (excluding the door) then a dark dirt wash starting with a highly thinned coat at the top of the wall and gradually thickening it toward the bottom of the wall.
Over that along all of the lower portion of the walls as well as from all the window casements I added a pin wash of green algae colour. I added a similar wash to all the metal parts on the dio, door handles, the lamp post, the hanging light and the bridge beams only this one was a green blue colour.

Next I added the water to the ditch. This I did by adding about four layers of future over a gloss black surface. It took about an hour for each layer to dry enough to add a second. The final layer I added a few drops of cheapo craft acrylic burnt umber paint and stirred it around a little to make some swirls.
When I added the snow later I sprinkled some along the edges. The future drew the powder into itself a little and fogged a little looking like ice. Made me happy.

Then I added a thick dark dirt wash to the bridge surface followed by a light dirt.
Once they were dried I added a pair of muddy tire marks to the bridge made from a mix of Ultimate mud, dark dirt, dark earthy coloured chalk pastels and some static grass.

Then I added a few tufts of green grass and dead grass.

Then came the snow. Once again I used Precision Snow and Ice. I sprayed hairspray over each section and added the snow from the provided sifter, then some more hairspray.. repeat until the desired depth is reached.

Once all that was in place I added the chaffee and the crew permanently to the dio and added the placement weathering and environmental effects.

Then I temporally added the rest of the figures and the vehicles so I could drill out the location holes.

Now it's let the whole thing dry for a day while I finish the figures and the jeeps.
The end is near muhahahaha!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 4:20 pm

Your an Artist mate, pure and simple artistry.
In awe.
John

Post by **jbellos1** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 5:03 pm

Holy crow Mike! So much going on - excellent content...allows the viewer to imagine the story. Well done!

**Felis Barcinonensis YouTube Channel** · Post by **felisbarcinonensis** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 5:18 pm

Freaking awesome Michael!!!

Water effects, dio setting, vehicles, figures and story. Perfection!!

Post by **rodrant** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 7:21 pm

Action packed Diorama! Now that's some action Michael !
And a wonderfull build , your concept is fantastic . Please enjoy your build as i have my eyes delighted.
Amazing!Great! I'm away of my builds now and it is só nice to follow yours.And all your scratch build is just amazing .