Hello gentlemen,

This diorama was finished some time ago already but for one reason or another I hadn't written a

forum post about it yet..

The idea to make it came from the following period photos. They were taken in 1938 and they looked

rather sugestive, the perfect excuse to finally start building Italeri's 1/72 SdKfz 232.



I had to convert the kit as it depicts the version built by Bussing-Nag. When Germany's High

Command launched the order for a new 6 wheeled armored car, three companies developed their

prototypes so, three versions end up seeing combat, although in different numbers: Bussing-Nag,

Daimler-Benz and MAgirus. The vehicle in the period photos was built by Magirus and the main

differences to the Bussing-Nag vehicle were: their from grill, front fenders, shorter chassis and

presence of return-rollers on the chassis.


(Daimler-Benz, Bussin-Nag and Magirus, from top to bottom)




(typical MAgirus look)

http://planetarmor.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3620
(great Bussing-Nag built by Rick Lawler)

I had to convert the wheels to look like the photo's, build a new aerial frame because the plastic

one was too thick, build a new grill, new fenders, new frontal part of the turret, new vehicle

access doors on the back and so on. I only used plasticard, copper wire and stretched sprue. In the

end it looked like this:









I used Tamiya colours for the paint job, sealed it with floor wax, applied some oil washes and

sealed everything again with Modelmaster Flat Lacquer:


~
(a bit too much masking but gladly everything held it's place...)





The figures are Preiser's, painted with Humbrol enamels. I've now started to use Vallejo and their

pretty great but it takes some time getting used to...





The base was a challenge because I wanted to display the photos on it. This way, I build a

structure from balsa wood that was sanded and varnished. The street-section was built from plaster

scribed with a needle with the help of a strip of coca cola can used as straight-edge (mostly for

size and flexibility).





It was airbrushed with Tamiya colours, received some oils washes and pastel dust for the weathering

of it:




And here's the end result:









It was stressful at times but the end result is near enough to what was my objective. Looking at it

now, I'm glad it's finished

Thanks for viewing and happy modelling,

Francisco
http://fbminis.blogspot.com

Absolutely wonderful job. Especially in such a small scale. I couldn't tell whether the figures and the vehicle were 1/48, even 1/35 because they looked so good.

Amazing, the detail is stunning!

Martyn

great diorama one careful driver ay

do you have the arcticle on the accident itself?

i like thebase especially it looks stunning for braille scale

Francisco,

Jeez, where to start? WOW! From pictures, to build, to the display. Dayuuum!

I have Ity's kit with the resin parts.....oh, how I can only hope that it'll turn out as nice as your's did. I haven't "dug deep" into the kit, but the aerial you did is so much better than what's shown....050 and 065 wire??

Can you explain in a bit more in detail what you did with the wheels/tires?

Many thanks and ..... whao!

Mike

Thank you all for your kind words!

Unfortunately, have no more information about the scene apart from the fact the photo was taken in Mach 1938.

Well, the later-style wheels found in Italeri's kit had to be converted to the earlier style ones, that didn't have hubcaps and had those little holes in them.

For the front wheels, I just cut the round hubcap to an hexagonal shape and also carved out the 6 little triangular holes. Then I made a mould of the hexagonal part to use on the rear wheels. These were also hollowed out using a minidrill, the little triangles were carved and the hexagonal pat was glued, that was it.

Technically it wasn't difficult but it had to be done to resemble the wheels of the vehicle in the period photos...

Simply outstanding!!!
Your scratch job on the antenna frame is wonderful. It looks tons better than the kit supplied junk. Beautiful finish and great display as well.
Best regards, Ed

Great results from a Great effort! Way to go,Francisco! Really like the presentation of the inspirational photos. Really makes the piece a standout item,very unique!
Cheers!
Rick

Brilliant all the way around.
I really like the way you designed the base to show the photos.
Bravo,
Cheers,
Charles

You are definitely Mr.Smallscale! Well done.
Great idea also on the base.

Cheers
Claude

Brilliant! very well done and dynamic! All my congratulations

Great work, really nice model and great display base!

Chas

Seen this in AFV magazine. Nice to see more pic's of the build. Great work love the early camo Thanks

Really nice thread. What do say to a "Build Feature" about it?

Great job! I agree the base was a very smart way to display multiple photos. Comical crash

This is one piece of excellent modelling!!

The idea is great, the execution and level of detail is simply stunning. I really do like the original idea of showing the photo's, in the base, the way you did!

Just 1 very tiny little bit of criticism; you might want to make the angle of the vehicle less steap, so that it actually rests on the rear wheels.
That might improve the overall look.....

Other than that..... I will not be able to top you on this one!!!

Hey guys,

Thank you very much for your kind words, I really appreciate them and it makes me want to try harder to make better models!

Ron, the back wheels are resting on the edge of the sidewalk, as they seem to be on the period photos:



They should be even a bit more to the edge but as the wall was built "by eye", there's a slight difference.

Scott, thank you very much for your offer, I will send you a PM so you can explain me what do I have to do!

Thanks again and keep on showing your work. If it wasn't for forums like these we'd be only a few around..

Francisco,
A neat idea and a great build.
A feature would be fantastic
I must admit to a soft spot for those early war armoured cars.
If you have the time I'm interested in more infomation on how you built the aerial it looked difficult but it seems you had it sorted.

Regards

Chris

Wow! Awesome job! Fantastic vignette!
The vignette base also turned out good. Very original!
Thanks for sharing!

Cheers!

Absolutely stunning work yet again Francisco your skills with 1/72 kits is astounding my hat's off to you keep up the good work

i really like your build, Francisco. Especially the weathering- it gives it a "used but not abused" look. One easy question though. Do you thin your Humbrols for brush painting, or do you use them streight from the jar?

Wow, thats a beauty. I particularly like the guy reading the book while the other two crewman are besides themselves. IM betting the book is "Sdkfz 232 For Dummies" LOL

Thank you very much guys, I wasn't expecting so much enthusiasm! Now the bar has been set very high, I'll have to come up with another project to top this one

So, gladly the antenna frame was easier than I expected, it came out good enough at first try! Using a length of wire and a pliers, I created the outer part of the frame using the plastic part as a guide. Then, with three lengths or finer wire I created the interior transversal parts. The longitudinal parts were then glued using small lengths of wire, one by one. I used superglue for this and a "third hand" device:

http://www.ted-kyte.com/3D/Pictures/Third%20Hand.jpg

Cheers,

Francisco

Wow! Impressive work. I love the way you have included pictures of the real event in the base. I might just steal that idea

Thanks for sharing

I also took the idea from another diorama I've seen in one of those modelshow after-reports and did it my way, so it's the way to go Being original is creating something no one remembers that it has been done before anymore, hehe