Well another new dio in the making. Well actually, not quite. This is a re-do of an old model I made 7 years ago, that's been sitting looking at me these past few years & I've been wanting to give a bit more life to & busy it up abit. Having learnt so much since then (back in the day I didn't even paint the faces on
) I fancied giving afew new techniques a try. First time I've built a building exterior from scratch, first time I've used cork as a street (this old one I'd used 'lentils'
). First time too for scribing a wall out of clay. The original idea for using a tall base & a cover picture came from a Tamiya magazine. Here's the original:-
Wanted to try & keep & use as much of the original pieces as possible, as well as introducing some new elements. The scene itself won't be from any part of the series, it's just an excuse to use the image on the front of the block. These are the kits (old & new) I'll be using...
The basic idea was to use 'MasterBoxs' France 1944 paratroopers coming out of a building with the two french civilians, only to be stopped in their tracks by one guy spotting a lone German SS Grenadier around the corner, oblivious to their presence. Well that was the idea anyway....
The horse & cart will be used another time. So to create this scenario, I wanted a small side lane, leading into the main street. Got some ideas off Google images using the one below with the French bakery as one to work from. Raised the lane from the back to add some height, with a small hump in the middle to allow the rainwater to flow to the sides. 
Today I had a go at the stonework on the front of the bakery. Using the ideas from the excellent book by Laszlo Adoba's "Lets Build a Diorama 1", I first rolled out the air dry clay to fit the plastic I wanted covered.
Then the scribing began...slowly....
Once it was done, & before it could begin to dry, I painted it with thinned watery glue & stuck very thin layers of tissue paper over it in small sections, before pressing it down & reforming the seperate stones underneath, as below:-
The idea for this is it gives the stonework abit more texture, especially once it has all dried & been painted. I made a rough mock up of how it's all supposed to take shape later on, the grenadier unaware of his sudden situation. The door at the rear to the left is where the civilin mother & daughter will be emerging from .
All the buildings interiors will obviously all be built & decorated accordingly, I think this will be the first dio I've done when the buildings won't have been damaged in any way. However, because of the obvious height restrictions, they won't have roofs, but a level cut off point.
Any comments or suggestions appreciated as always, as I said I'm new to the 'scratch building 'buildings' game'
, so any advice most welcome. I'd have liked to have had abit more room to work with, but the size of the base held that back. I'm pleased though with how much extra I've got onto that base compared to the original model. The rear house on the left will be coated in glue & fine sand & airbrushed for it's facade, but that's all for another day...Cheers for now....,
SIMON
