I'm venturing into diorama-land with my first attempt. No pictures to show yet, but I'm moving right along.

It's quite an ambitious first attempt, I think. Basically, the centerpiece is Academy/MRC's 1/35th scale Blackhawk hovering over a desert scene. The Blackhawk will be supported by a clear acrylic rod. The Blackhawk has two pilots and a door gunner from Czech Masters. There will be one man repelling down a rope and several men down on the ground (perhaps 3 or 4). These will be from Tamiya's modern US military. I wanted it to be a scene from OIF, but I think the Tamiya figures are more representative of ODS.

The building and wall will be based on a cardboard box with lots of Durham's wall putty applied. Exposed brick (under chipped plaster) will be made out of cork. The wall will be similar, but using foam board instead of cardboard. No problems so far except I am a little worried about how to make window coverings (I don't want the windows to be open since I'm to lazy to finish the inside of the building. Ground cover will be a variety of Woodland Scenics fine and coarse granules.

Ambitious project, but I'm having fun.

Sounds really cool! Would love to see pics though when you have them.

Sounds good. The Tamiya Desert figures are from ODS time-frame. The new DML Modern USMC that I sent you will look much better since they are OIF w/IBA body armor. The windows could be covered by shutters. Keep us posted adn get some pic up when you have them.

Good luck.

Thanks Gino! I'm looking forward to seeing the difference. What does IBA stand for?

It sounds cool, pls give us some pics soon!

Brian- IBA stands for Intercepter Body Armor. Its the armor currently used by the US Army and Marine Corps. More indepth info is available at the following link.
http://globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/interceptor.htm


HTH

Matt

Ok folks... its in the early stages so be nice.
The copter coming together slowly but surely... first and last time for Photo-etch! The base is stained and Polyeurathaned and ready for the diorama to start taking shape.

You can see the main building with some of the exposed brick made out of cork. The walls will be "spackled" with Durhams water putty.

Figures are slowly coming along. The guy over buy the steps of the building will be the guy repelling from the blackhawk. I reformed one of the Tamiya Modern US soldiers for this guy.

Ciao Brian,
Now, that is going to be a cool looking dio! One warning - be careful about applying the putty to the cardboard. It could soak into the cardboard and weaken the backing. You could do a great job, and return in the morning to have the wall collapsed. I don't know if it will happen, but I was just thinking that it might.
Ciao for now
Rob

Looks good so far.

Is that the base that everything is going on in the picture. If so then you might want to consider staining or just polying the base to get it as waterproof as possible. Depending on the type of wood and the composition of the groundwork the water might soak through and warp your base. Ya dont want that to happen

HTH


Matt

I did Polyeurathane the whole thing, but did not stain the middle (ran out of stain). I thought the dio would cover the bare spot.

The cardboard did warp a little after the Durham's was applied to a portion of the box. I will try to be careful. Next time I will just use foam board to make buildings... that seems to be the way to go.

Thanks for the advice all! I really appreciate it.

anyone know if they have hoists on both sides of a Blackhawk or is it just one side?

Brian,

Try this link, http://globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/h-60.htm.

From my limited knowledge though of the Blackhawk, i believe the H-60 Hawks are only winch equipted on the right side (starboard?). If these guys are gonna be fast roping in then once they rope in the crew chief drops the line to the ground. Check BHD for some in action footage of this.

HTH

Matt

And you might try posting this question in the A/c forum as they might know more about it over there.

Well, the building is coming along now. I have done the Durham's Water Putty and applied the chipped bricks made out of cork. I have made the window frames, but nothing is painted yet. I have also scratch built a roof system for the blackhawk with the Fast Rope attachment bars. Nothing special, but better than having nothing there at all.

Looking great Brian, was that a cardboard box you were using for the building?

Have you measured the base and the length of the props? I know our pilots can be brave but just wanted to make sure that there was enough clearance to safely make a landing as you planned. Building looks good.

First question.
The box was just the shell. Then I applied Foam board to give it some thickness and for the pieces around the windows and door frames. I covered it all with Durham's Water Putty after I applied some of the cork. Then I sanded the Durham's Water Putty down. I plan to airbrush and weather it some more. Also I plan to paint the window units to look like wrought iron.

Second question.
I never planned to have it land on the building. Rather, the building will be in the back ground as the Blackhawk hovers. There will be a guy fast roping down to the ground in front of the building as well as others in the copter and on the ground.

p.s. anyone have a good idea for what to use for a door? I planned to use some balsa wood. However, I still need some hardware (e.g., door knob)... is there an every day item that people use for this in 1/35th scale?

Well, the idea of the Dio sounds great, but for me, the acrylic stand for the Blackhawk is somhow annoying.

My suggestion would be, to make the Heli fly by the ropes used for fastroping.

(just rewatched Blackhawk down, and found there is a rope used on each side).

There is no way I could make that work. Rope would be way to thin to hold up the heavy 1/35th scale blackhawk plus all the resin figures that will be inside. The acrylic rod is a necessary evil and should also allow me to remove the helicopter when I'm transporting the dio.

thought of using metal tubes with some coating to make them look like ropes. Just did not like the acrylic stand The ropes seem to have a diameter off app 3 inches. With some stuctural improvements on the Blackhawk...

pitger

Is the Helo going to hover in front of the building or above? Either way your idea is fantastic!! Looking forward to seeing it

In front and slightly above the building. The base for the diorama is aboutt 2 feet long, so I should have enough room. The diameter of the blades are about that anyway.