Hey guys,

I'm quite new to all this. I have a plan to make a diorama using an AFV Long Tom, A Hobby boss Highspeed tractor, Hobby Fan Long tom gun crew 1 and 2 and the 155mm stowage set from AFV.
The plan is as follows: I want to put the diorama and a September/October 1944, Battle of Aachen, setting. Wich would look like this: The gun will be in a prepard fire position. That would mean that the gun is partially dug in with a U shaped earth wall around it wich ofcourse should have a small depression for the gun elevation and declination and the left and right swing of it... I also wish to put the gun underneath ww2 like US camo nettings. ofcourse the gun will be in full action of being loaded by its crew members.
Around it i wish to place stacks of ammunition. Also i want to have a lot of tracks between the location of the tractor and the gun... and the tractor should be in the edge of a tree line...

Now my questions are:

Where do i start?
What materials could i use at best?
How should i use them?
How do i create trees?
How do i make the tracks on the diorama.
wich colors should the uniforms of the soldiers have? I'm quite clueless in there. I use tamiya colors but i cant really find a good guide to painting them. I tried it with 1 figure now and the colors look far to bright to me...
How do i Create the black gun powder residue on the barrel?

I'm looking forward to your tips and hints in order to recieve the best results. You are also welcome to give me suggestions or tips on upgrading the detail level of the dio...

Cheers Remi

Hello Remi,
If you are just starting out I would grab a book or two.

This one..
How to build Dioramas by Shepard Paine is pretty much the "bible" us old timers used when we first started out to cut our teeth on diorama building....

http://cgi.ebay.com/How-to-Build-Dioramas-Aircraft-Armor-Modeling-Book-MINT_W0QQitemZ390099379371QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Texbook_Education?hash=item5ad3bc24ab

I hope this helps..feel free to PM me with any specific questions.

Ok thanks for this help.

I orderd the book at a dutch website. Should be in home next weekend. If i have some questions I will pm you ofcourse.

CHeers Remi

One of the first things to consider is what kind of base you will use to display your Dio on. A long tom and tractor should take a lot of length but not too much width. What I often do is go to my local hardware store and buy some moulding . Then cut it to the size that I want, miter off the edges and fill the interior part with styrofoam that you can find discarded almost anywhere. Get some simple tools, a hobby knife set ,some emry boards and a scale . You do not have to spend a lot of money to get started . Keep it simple and always use your imagination . Many materials come from discarded stuff as the saying goes ...one man's trash is another man's treasure...........Good luck......Al PS......Read a lot of the posts that are on this web site. Some of the modelers are really awsom about how they do things and we can all learn from them. Take the advice but by all means develope your own style.

Plan, plan, plan. Plan for the little things. Do a test run of the diorama, test fit the major components, make some fake ground out of cumpled paper or something. Get a sense for how much space it will take. See how much extra empty space you may have. Think of the vertical space you'll need to support any big trees.

I would build the model and get it ready then as you go make any planning adjustments.

As far as resources check out the "Features" section on Armorama - TONS of features on trees, bases, weathering, building, and more

With the gun, hauler, and crew in a firing mode this thing is going to be pretty big. I'd really plan out the layout so that it isn't crowded. I'm in the process of redoing two bases because they look too cramped. I'd use cardboard to workout your base size and general layout. You could include some signs of cleared foliage for the gun to be set-up.

Anyway, sounds like you have a good one planned as is. I'll be interested to see it.

What materials could I use at best in order to make a good and decent moulding? And how should I make the bottom of the actual dio?

Cheers Remi

Not sure if you understood.....I am not good at posting pictures or I would show you. Moulding , and I hope that I spelled it right is wooden strips that you find at the hardware store. It is used to trim walls and cabinets and can be simple or quite ornate. You cut it with a saw and miter box or you can draw pencil lines at 45 degrees and cut it with a hacksaw blade. Glue them together. After it dries you can cut a piece of styrofoam to fit exactly in the center and then glue it in. You end up with what looks kind of like a picture frame with styrofoam as a base for your diorama. The nice part about it is that you can pretty much shape it the way that you want and not have to depend on some pre made boards. Hope all this helps. Send me private mail if you want...........Al