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Die Pressung

The Rascals

For this diorama I wanted civilian children. I found some excellent children from Andreas. These were called Rascals. With the help from a brother of mine, Costas (Major Goose), he painted them for me as they are so small and my figure painting skills are not the best. These figures I placed along the river. In the scene they are fishing. One figure I leaned against a stump, the other I sat on a fallen trunk. I made a fishing pole from a small stick and fishing line using a strand of my fiancé' Mary's hair. This I glued with CA. Thank you so much Costas for doing such a wonderful job of painting the figures. They are wonderful. And thank you Mary for the strand of hair.

The River

The river presented a new challenge. My only other experience with water turned out horribly. I wanted this to be done right. There were a lot of different mediums to use to make water. I had chosen clear casting resin for mine. With the help from Keith Middleton (KBM), who graciously sent me some gunze transparent paints, I was able to come up with the results you see here. Thank you again Keith. The water was achieved in two pours. The first I mixed smoky blue and clear green gunze colors into the resin to the proper color. After this was thoroughly mixed, I mixed in the hardener. With this first pour successfully on the diorama, I let it set for 24 hours. Please make sure you allow this to set in a well-ventilated place free from dust. After the drying time, I mixed up the second pour, this time adding more regular blue instead of the smoky blue, but used the same amount of green. And poured this. After this was dried for about 14 hours, I took a metal rod and started drawing lazy S's across the water from bank to bank and continued to do this over the next few hours as it cured.

The Figures

Originally I planned for no more than ten to fifteen figures on this diorama. But with the persistence of friends and brothers it grew to the grand total of 40 figures. Figures were donated from Engin (Graywolf), Costas (Major Goose), and Paul (Nato308) to this diorama. Thanks Bro's. !! There are figures on this diorama from Tamiya, DML, Trumpeter, Wolf, Andreas, Tristar, Italeri, and Revell. I want go into all the painting details. Basically they were painted with whatever paints I had on hand. In the beginning they were painted in an assembly line fashion. all being primed, then flesh tones etc. Then I switched to working on them in groups of 4 to 5 at a time for doing uniforms and gear. Until they were all finished. I added details such as rifle straps, helmet straps, belts, details of this nature. If you look close, you can even find a wristwatch or two. As an extra detail the tank commander in the Marder III has cotton smoke from his cigarette. I would also like to extend special thanks to Graywolf, Nato308, Major Goose, and Anders Heintz for their support and help during my construction of the figures.

House 2 Revisited

The Roof was made from the unraveled hemp rope but with this house, I decided on a two-sided roof instead of a four-sided roof. For the ceiling, I used gray cardboard with a light layer of spackle for the underside. For the windows, these were framed in balsa wood. The glass used, is just the plastic sheet such as used in toy boxes, in girls doll box. The flower boxes were an idea from my Mary. With these I again used the red colored baby's breath for the flowers, and the same purple colored candy tuft that was used in the outdoor flower beds, only this time, the purple flowers I painted green to resemble leaves and foliage. Inside the house, again another Faust rug was used. A tool kit from an Italeri shop set was used as a sewing box. A sewing dummy was made from the original tank commander from the panzer III and putty. A sewing machine made from a charm, balsa wood, pinheads, and an old photo etched brass Christmas ornament. The basement in this house has a lot of scrap lumber a workbench, screwdriver, and hammer from the Italeri set, some fuel drums, and small wooden kegs.

Finishing Touches

I added a dog into the scene that was a toy dog that I had from childhood. A cat that can be seen with the Rascals is from a charm from Hobby Lobby. The Butterflies are constructed from paper and pastels. The watches are made from paper and paint. The smoke from the tank commanders cigarette are all touches that I feel adds a sense of realism to the over scene. In conclusion, I would like to thank all my Bro's and Friends here at Armorama. For all the help and support they have offered through this endeavor. I would especially like to thank Jim once again, for having a site where we can all meet, make new friends and share.

Cheers Kevin.

Editors Note: This was a great feature to work on. Kevin offered over 500 photos of this project. I have taken a number of them and put them in a gallery for you to view. Please check out some great in process photos, detail shots, different angels here in this gallery.