| 1/72nd SCALE MODELS Page 1, 2 |
 |
| Vehicles (continuation) The Kubelwagen is also a Nitto kit. I think it came with the motorcycle. I did some minor modification with the Kubelwagen. I removed the molded doors and replaced it with one that was in an opened position. The new doors are made from lead foil, which I rubbed against the original to get the raised surfaces. I cut the foils to size and glued them on to a styrene frame. I also created foot pedals for the driver and added some more personal stuff. I didn�t do much modification with the motorcycle. I painted them both with Panzer Grey plus some weathering. |
| Figures Of interest is the cluster of German officers poring over a map. In 1988, you don�t have a lot of choices for 1/72nd scale figures. Overcoat wearing officers are non-existent. The only figure at the time that had an overcoat on was from a Hasegawa motorcycle kit. I removed the head from the body and replaced it with one that came from a Matchbox German Soldiers set. The arms and boots came from the figure manning the ESCI Flack 38 kit. The officer wearing the pointing to the map came from the ESCI Jadgtiger kit. I cut him up and glued him in that position. I didn�t use parts from other figures. I made them look like they were discussing the current battlefield situation. The German in the lead, carrying the machine gun is another figure that comprised of several others. The body itself came from an ESCI tank kit. He is supposed to be carrying Jerry cans. The arms with the MG and ammo can came from an Airfix Afrika Korp figure. I glued the arms in place and created another unique figure. The German playing with the dog is actually a radio operator that came from the ESCI German Soldiers set. The dog is from an Atlantic kit. The Russian prisoners came from two ESCI kits, the soft and hard plastic sets. The one with the helmet is from the soft plastic set while the other one wearing the soft cap came from the model kit set. |
| Conclusion The whole project took about a year to complete. I have had a custom glass enclosure made for it. To date, I have entered this diorama in three competitions. I have won some awards on all three. I created this project when I was in the Philippines. In 1997, I am in the U.S. and I attended a figure painting class by none other than Shepard Paine himself. I got him to sign my books and I was able to show him this diorama. His main critique was, I made the bridge parallel to the base. I should have positioned the bridge at an angle! He does suggest this in his book! Anyway, if I were to build the same diorama all over again, I would very much want to update the way I rendered the �river� and of course, position the bridge at an angle. Also to the right is a picture of the diorama with a U.S. dollar next to it for scale reference as well as the different awards I have received. . 2nd Metro Manila Scale Mode Competition - 1992 San Diego Armor Expo - 1997 SCAHMS - 2000 This is not the only diorama I have created. I have two more that are worth entering into competitions, unfortunately, I gave them away as �gifts�. What can I say? I was young and foolish! Thanks for reading. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Click on the thumbnails to view the pictures. Click your browser's 'back' button to return to this page. |
| 1/72nd SCALE MODELS Page 1, 2 |