The stanchions are always a problem because I take the risk of breaking them with each manipulation with the technique I use: glass beads for necklaces glued on some 0.7 mm thick brass tubing. I sanded each of the wire's extremities so that they would offer more adherence when I glue those. In order for the whole to be stronger, I added a very tiny drop of 2 components epoxy glue at each joints, but even with all those precautions I had to glue them back every 5 minutes after handling. (pic 16)

The last tricky thing to build was the big air intake that lies on one of the sides of the gun cradle. I had no other way than to vacu-form it as it would be completely empty. So I created a master in Magic Sculp using some plastic circles and a cross section as some guides.
I tried different ways of heating the plastic -under the lit oven I only managed to burn myself while holding the thick (1,5mm ) plastic sheet, under one single candle flame, I couldn't manage to get enough plastic melting.
So I finally got round this stupid problem by holding the sheet of plastic under *4* different candles. When the plastic began to sink, I pressed it over the shape. I tried several times and got half a dozen different halves and choose the 2 best ones. On one of the halves you can see some stretched holes which were done because the plastic actually began to burn. But then this proved to be ideal to create some extremely rusted part.
When I got my 2 halves, I glued them together and used a ton of mastic to make the joint disappear. Then in used some half moon shaped evergreen length to create the borders of the intake. (pic 18)
I must confess this method is really appalling –it certainly works really well for small parts like for instance Sokol’s bell, but an especially designed vacu-form device would have work a lot better. (pic 19)

Doing the groundwork.

I repeat this article after article, I have got nothing against rivet counters as long as they count the rivets of their groundwork as well as they count those of their panzers.
The genius of man is that he was able to name the things that surround us, and I want to be also able to more or less name the different ferns I use in my dioramas.
Here is a sort of swamp so I set up for water lilies, reeds, and water hyacinth. Only 3 species, but those would be reproduced the more accurately I could. And then, less than 6cm2 of the final diorama would end up being covered with groundwork. Which would still do a large number of individual ferns to create, as a realistic effect can only be achieved through the sheer mass of plants.
You could maybe say that I could have chosen some ready made photoetch fret to create those but then I would reply that as far as I am concerned, using photoetch to create ground cover is one of the diorama making worse capital sins.
This is nothing to do with the vast amount of money you have to spend in it, it’s just that the stuff looks totally crap and unrealistic: I never see any straight borders to a plant; I never see some flat twigs in nature.
My method is to simply use some dumb superglue covered paper and cutting out the leaves from it.
So the trick is simple: you just cover some piece of normal paper with superglue (take care of the fumes) and you let it dry for a dozen of minutes. The good thing is that when you cut some fine bits from that special material, those tend to twist naturally which is ideal for leaves.

I first did the reeds, using a variety of material for the stem: all with their different advantages.
First I did 4 of them while using some rolled up Duro. The good thing is that I had a perfect shape which means thinner on the top, thicker at ground level. But then the stuff is just too soft for an easy gluing process of the leaves, and then proves to be a nightmare to paint.

Then I built a good number out of stretched plastic under a flame. Those were not too bad because I also could get those to be thinner at the top if I was careful. But then the stuff was still pretty soft which led to be rather complicated to paint.

Then I built another good number using some brass tubing which proved very easy to glue some leaves on, very easy to paint. But the paint tended to peel to reveal the brass background every time I touched the stem and then there was no way I could get the stem thinner at the top.

So I cut an average of 8 leaves per stem and glued them on the opposite direction one to another.
 To add the fluffy bit on the top of the reeds, I put a bit of superglue on the stem and dipped some cotton wool. When I took back the cotton wool, some stayed attach on the stem, I then sealed the whole with yet another coat of superglue. (pic 20)
The problem with reeds is that they don’t really cover the ground much. On examination of marshes pictures, there is some growth of always the same kind which is composed of water hyacinths according to my books.
I set up to build a large quantity of those.
To create those I started to cut out some leaves while leaving a bit of paper underneath for them not to come out individually like for the reeds leaves. Those cutting were always done starting from the edge of the paper (for the next one, just cut out a new a new edge!). Remember to try and cut thin leaves. Once it’s done roll the paper between your fingers -but try that the bigger leaves face *inwards*'  'Roll a length of cotton wool inside the "tube" that you did while rolling the paper fern. Cut the cottonwool in excess. Now with the tip of the blade, try to make the fern to take shape by bending some of the leaves unevenly. Cotonwool is very responsive to superglue, and that’s it that will bind and produce some strength to the whole -so just drop a bit of superglue in the "tube" and try not to touch it afterwards because you will glue your fingers and ruin your work. I have done some 40 of them in 2/3 days, how boring. (pic 21 -22)

Now on for some water lilies. I must admit one of the reason I made them was that i foreseen  there could  be eventually problems to join the underwater and emerged parts of the Sokol and was kind of counting on water lilies to be able to cover the mess.
My method to create those is in 5 steps
First, take a flat surface and grease it (I have been using some table oil!). Then make some small Green Stuff balls.
Then use the bottom of your X Acto knife and press your ball flat on the greased glass surface using some bit of greased plastic bit of plastic bag to avoid direct contact between the metal of the knife and the green stuff -otherwise it will glue to the metal of course.
Then use a modelling knife and still through the bit of plastic bag, scribe some of the leaves veins.
Let dry overnight, cut out a V shape form at the base of the leaf and detach the stuff from the glass with a blade et voilà.
As the green stuff always stays kind of elastic, you won’t break anything while cutting them out from the glass surface.
The water lilies produced this way are very thin and certainly better than you could find anywhere else -even if using some laser cut paper, and I don’t even mention bloody photoetch. (pic 23)
There are 2 kind of underwater plants in this diorama: the first are the water lilies roots which were done out of Duro thin rolls. The rest was either twigs or mosses that I dig from the garden. The stuff is pretty rough but it looks very realistic as some unclear underwater plants.
Finally, I noticed that strawberry roots are perfect to create trees that look like willows, so i dig one and let it dry several weeks as I noticed the diorama could use a bit of extra detail behind the funnel.

The fig,

For some nextish project of mine, I will have to really outstretched my sculpting talents, so this time, though I could probably have convert an existing figure, I preferred to sculpt it almost entirely for training.
The problem is, I am a diorama maker, which means not particularly good at sculpting stuff, nor do I get a lot of training as the figures amount to maaybe 1/10 of the building time. But then I took the risk of ending up with a bad figure in a good diorama.
As my diorama was settled in the early 1920's,  I had to find a right figure wearing some clothes that would be either Intervention armies, Red or White Russians. That's a lot of choice, but then as I wanted to use a lot of green in the diorama, i thought it would really be best if I could find a red uniform.
And there i found it, the ideal uniform, the one of Red Hungarian Hussar.
Now I don't like to model either the good or the bad ones. I really like to model the loosers, the brighter those loosers are the better they are in my book, and those Hussars where bright loosers according to my book.
During World War One, a lot of Austro-Hungarian soldiers got prisonners from the Russians, and got freed during the revolution. Those were offered to fight either for the Red or the Whites. Most Hungarians choose to fight for the Reds but didn't have anything to wear. So they broke into an old wardrobe and found those red trousers they choose to wear. At first they didn't have any horses and paraded carrying their saddles.
After The Communists took power, some special arrangement were made between USSR and Hungary so that those Hussars could come back, but some stayed in their new country.

So here I went. First: bits of paper clips and a Magic Sculp lump for the body. Then I let it dry overnight. I started with the shoes using the tip of some Dragon ones, then the trousers. I added the complicated scheme with Duro as you can stretch it thinner than Magic Sculp.
Now as this diorama is my own story and that I had to get some reference, I simply took my own self as a model. After I got 2 weeks worth of evenings spent on this figure, i couldn't be convinced of sculpting the hands by myself and took those out of a Nemrod set. So in the end my wife agrees that the guy is me, except that I am taller, look less nasty, and especially that she never saw me washing my own shirts.

The first time I ever sculpted a figure on my own was less than a year back and painting it proved horrible. At one point I remember seeing myself not really painting, but pushing the oily pigments in crevices.
For this one I made an effort to sand correctly at least the visible body parts, but that was not really enough, and it proved another nightmare to come through. As usual I painted it first using acrylics and then oils. Of course I tried to get the same light direction effect as the rest of the diorama. So the trousers are of a lighter shade on the top right side of the figure, and the skin is darker on the left side for instance.
To reassure myself, I kept telling myself that after 10 years of feeling the pain of painting my own figures, the day I am given an Alpine figure you can call me Bill Horan. (pic 24)