A while back, Jackhammer81(kevin) and I started talking with thebear(rick). We in the process of communicating thought it would be cool to do a mini-group build of Panther G tanks. Just doing something for fun and something to keep each other motivated. Kevin and I decided for our Panther G's , we would do a diorama base that would feature a railroad track theme. During further talks with Rick..we discovered that it was his birthday coming up, so Kevin and I thougth it would be nice to make him a diorama base for his Panther, that would go along with our theme as well.
Sooo..here are some photos of the progress that we have made so far on the base.
This is the beginning ..we started with a basic picture frame, then used pink insulation foam to build up the basic ground levels.
This is a pic with the Tamiya basic hull showing the tank positioning on the base.
This is a pic after the laying of the Aves Clayshay and a dusting of fine sand to give the groundwork texture. Also tank track impressions have been made, as have the railroad tracks been put into place.
These pics portray the base after we have begun to paint the groundwork. First we started with a brown oxide craft paint that was painted over the entire base, followed by a thinned wash of trail tan acyrilic craft paint.
Next..we mixed two diffrent kinds of ballast from woodland scenics. Tacky white glue was applied in between and around the railroad ties, the ballast was then sprinkled on creating the base layer of ballast. At this time was also rubbed with an HB graphite pencil to create a mettalic sheen of warn metal.
The tracks are from DML, the ties were finished in Tamiya red brown, then raw umber oils were brushed over the ties, and then removed with a stiff brush after about a half hours time. The rails and metal parts of the ties, were first painted with MM burnt iron metallizer, then dry brushed with MM burnt metal metallizer. These were followed by a light application of old rust pigments.
Next steps will include more ballast, and the vegatation (grasses, etc). Will keep you posted. All comments welcome.
