Deep in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone hundreds of vehicles rust away to nothing while they are picked apart by illicit looting and the natural environment. I plan to create a diorama of a scene which could be typical of The Zone, a swampy wilderness with the last signs of civilisation receding into the undergrowth.

The diorama will take a roughly even mix of inspiration from the Zone of the real world and also from the fictional Zone in the pc game series: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. For those of you not familiar with the game it is a first-person shooter which involves hunting mutants and 'artifacts' in The Zone while avoiding the many dangers; radiation, hostile mutants, 'anomalies' (which are there primarily to ruin your day) and other S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s or bandits. Most interesting for us modellers is the game and the various add-ons use photo-real locations and items in the game-world. It also uses an accurate set of vehicles which can b found in The Zone; BRDM scouts, civilians vehicles and the like.

Using images of the real Zone, as I have not yet been there, and my knowledge of the computer game I hope to reproduce a representation of life in The Zone. The base has been measured and ordered with a sketch-plan in place, so the time is nigh!

While we wait for the base to arrive I have decided to kick this blog off with the items depicted on the diorama.



First up we have a trusty Zil-131; the 131 features heavily in The Zone as it was one of the Soviet workhorses. Many 131s were used by civilian operators in addition to the armed forces of the Eastern Bloc. The Fire Engines used at Chernobyl and Pripyat were converted from Zil-131 chassis. This is the Revell/ICM kit which recently came out, I was going to convert it into one of the copious fire truck wrecks seen in The Zone, but the cab extension will prove to be a bit beyond me at this time, so this will be a 'bits and pieces' style wreck.



Secondly we have some MAIM figures from their Stalker Series who I intend to be exploring the wreck or hunting for artifacts, if I can work out how to make some strange floating, glowing things to call artifacts! There are also a pair of 'Shadow Dogs' from MAIM to add to the scene if required but I can touch on that when the dio is a little more advanced.



Cheers for checking out the project, updates on the building work will hopefully be rather frequent!

Chris, if you haven't seen anything by her, check out a Ukrainian photographer named Elena Filotova - http://www.elenafilatova.com/

She's actually toured around the zone on her motorcycle and has compiled a number of quality pictures of it. It may help in your search of how it looks.

Thanks AFVFan. I had found those a couple of years ago but had clean forgotten about them. Those are very useful, good find!
Cheers

That rusty ZIL firetruck with the crew cab is really interesting. Needing two kits to produce one model, that's right up my alley!

I have an old and partially built Revell URAL truck which I despise lurking in the 'forgotten' stash.I might be able to splice the cab sections onto the firetruck...

I am afraid this is not Zil on your photo. This is Ural 375 which is bigger truck. Zil 131 fire engine looks like that



Full name of the fire engine is зил 131 ац 40
BTW here some guy builds the same vehicle
http://karopka.ru/forum/forum193/topic19065/. In russian, but photos and blueprints may be useful.

Sorry for my English

Thanks Michail, I hadn't noticed the vents on the size of the engine block. The URAL (seen properly below), ZIL-131 and, according to Elena's photos, the ZIL-130 can all be seen as fire engines in the various Chernobyl graveyards.



Looking at the diagrams on the link Michail provided it appears as though the cab is intended to be all one unit, but looking at the pictures of the real thing, and on examples of the URAL, the rear passenger cabin looks like a later addition or an afterthought. It is still the roof which gets me, I am not sure how I am going to go about making it. I reckon the sides and doors will be transferable from my URAL with some slight doctoring.

According to that build log, which is very recent Panzershop are possibly bringing out a ZIL-131 AU40 conversion set, which looks good on the pics but I can't actually find any evidence on it on their webpage, just on their facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/281874215283404/photos/a.636690709801751.1073741892.281874215283404/636690719801750/?type=3&theater

I am quite happy to build a wrecked ZIL now and buy another later for the fire engine if this is the case. It was always my intention to get two as it is a good truck in my opinion.

Hi Chris- this is a subject that also fascinates me- I'm also a big fan of the STALKER games. I've done a 54mm STALKER figure before.

I like your ideas for this dio and I think you have chosen your subjects really well. I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops. Best of luck with it!

Well the roof is pretty simple according to this photos linkname. It is just a plane and a bunch of cylinders
Most complicated part is that pumps and vents and thing

Thanks guys, just doing some work on the Chassis while I wait for the board to arrive and while I 'ummm and arrr' over wether or not to wait for the Panzershop conversion kit.

Also meet Gerald and Derrick, two hazmat troopers I made for another piece who may end up on this diorama if I can fit them in. They are originally from the Takom Obj. 25-something kit. Derrick has been modeled holding a Geiger-Counter / 'Bear' Artefact detector.

Tonights work produced 'Victor' from the MAIM Stalker Series, he went together very well and was good fun to paint however getting his gas mask pipe and rifle off their sprues was a bit hair-raising and both are ultra-delicate and (pip especially) are fixed to the sprue in awkward ways. I decided to give him a more civillian clothes/borrowed equipment feel than equipping camo gear and all that as most S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s are just everyday folk in search of adventure.

nice work!

Thanks Matt.

A few notes before progress is shown. Panzershop has released their Fire truck conversion today. I should be picking up a set at the Telford Nationals in November ( a birthday present to myself, you know how it is ). This build will then become a partial review of said kit.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZIL-131-Fire-Fighting-Truck-CCCP-resin-conversion-1-35-PanzerShop-ICM-Revell-/171947477804?hash=item2808de4b2c

This is the progress on the chassis. The kit is going together very very well. However to get the drive train and exhausts to line up properly you need to install the engine block. The majority of trucks in The Zone have lost their engines for loot or scrap and naturally I haven't put one in my Zil... Hopefully I got everything in roughly the right spot, I am sure it will not matter so much as trucks abandoned for 20-odd years will have bites fall off and move anyway. The chassis, and later the body work, is painted Vallejo 'Mahogany Brown' then patches faintly drybrushed/sprayed on with Vallejo 'Flat Earth'. Patches of Revell 'Colour Stop' is stippled onto edges and in patches while the remaining paint is applied over the top. The Colour Stop is then rubbed off to produce flaky patches.

Nice work on those stalkers!

Sorry for the lack of action recently guys, I have been waiting for things to arrive! My diorama base, a whopping 27x36cms, has arrives and some polystyrene is being cut to form groundworks. I am currently using a steak knife, if anyone could suggest some more basic tools to help carve slopes that would be great!

More progress has been made on other areas of the dio; the chassis for the fire truck is almost finished and another figure has been painted. On these pics you should be able to make out the patches of rust coming through the chassis paint. This will be washed and dusted with pigments in due course.



Say hello to 'Boris', another MAIM S.T.A.L.K.E.R. figure. These figures really are very good, they go together quite well and paint up nicely. bother of those only took an hour or two of work each and I am very pleased with my result. Again, civvie jeans and jacket with surplus combat gear

MUTANT CANNIBAL ZOMBIES!!

Hey Chriss, this looks to be a promising build to watch. I like the break myself from military every once in a while. Gets me away from the military colors and adds a splash of color to my life. Just for that reason I P/U MasterBox zombie set. Figuring out what I need to tell the story is fun as I mentally count up a parts list of this and that. Your idea has a good story line to it and the mix of civilian/military colors and gear will keep it very interesting. I keep thinking of P/U some of the Stalker figures but never seem to get aroung to it. Maybe watching your build will lend me some insperation to do so. I've been doing dio's for many years and have an assortment of lots of odds and ends, so if you get stumped for finding something drop me a P.M. and I'll see what I can come up with for you. Looking forward to seeing more of your build as you go along. bob d.

Dear all, I am currently suffering a computer malfunction and can't upload pics for you as I am on my mobile. I managed to pick up the Panzershop ZIL-131 fire truck conversion at the Nationals and I have made start. I admit I haven't done too much conversion work like this before so can't compare it, but It seems
straight forward enough. Work on the diorama is progressing with the groundworks in place and coated with Keramin. A tree is also being organised for the base.