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Of course all those operations led me to keep my nose very close to the fumes, thankfully I had invest in an efficient gas mask before.
I unmoulded the whole after 2 days of drying and here I had that perfect square of resin with all the underwater parts of the wreck perfectly embedded. (pic 41)
When I dry fitted the top elements, I noticed those white bits popping out the diorama, as well as some big air bubbles that were trapped when I covered the resin with the glass sheet.
So i had to take my small drill and cutting out some resin parts, paint the white plastic and covering the scar with some Clear Quote or with this Valejo's Still Water pot I bought and whose quality I am not convinced of.
It's been now a few years/months that some companies sell some acrylic mixes of binder and stuff like sand, fine sand etc to help people build their bases –this stuff is currently being seen as the new Holy Grail for building bases. All very well, but it's been more than 15 years that you can buy exactly the same kind of stuff from art shops and all my early dioramas are done using it. The only difference is the name of the brand, and sometimes the price.
Anyway, I would say that the best stuff is the one whose grain is then finest for details. But it doesn't hold its shape very well. So I have an older pot of sand mix that is almost dried out. I added a bit of water in it and pulled out some half dry lump. I then poured some black brown and red paint according to the dark coloured earth I wanted to get and proceeded to half mix, half crush the stuff. (pic 42)
I then applied the very heavy mix on some plastic sheet that I had previously cut on the right dimensions for the only reason that I didn’t want to put some paint and dirt on the already done water.
I then proceeded to put all the hyacinths very close to each other, trying the leaves to interpenetrate each others. I also fixed the wood lump that serves as an access to the gun cradle and that I had built and paint earlier. (pic 43)
The stuff took a night to set and I then proceeded to glue the earth covered plastic lumps at the right place. I fixed the small bit of dead willow and made another quantity of my earth mix to cover all the joints and too hide the small bits of white plastic that were still visible.
Then I tried the best I could to drill some holes in the ground behind the boat so that I could fix the reeds one by one.
Finally I used some solvent free superglue (it’s not supposed to fog) to glue the top elements of the Sokol and suddenly, this diorama’s future looked quite bright.
Stayed the question of direction of light applied to the groundwork.
I created some darker mixes of green using once more my inks, and proceeded to overpaint the rear and side places where the sun was not supposed to shine. I also added a fes high highlight reas using some yellow green mixes on the most exposed of the leaves, which were near the 37mm gun.
I diluted some Future and painted each leaf so that the groundcover could take a satin appearance. Finally, I cut a good 40 extra leaves out of superglue covered paper that I painted in a mix of Chestnut Citadel ink and leather Valejo paint. I glued those as dead leaves here and there (including some on the gun cradle) which added both colour and variation –even more because those dead leaves were painted in matt colours compared to the satin shades of the green leaves.
When all was ready, I put a very generous coat of Humbrol Clear Quote on the water (to get rid of finger prints, and even small bubbles) and placed my water lilies. What was pretty cool is that those fixed this way seem to be slightly touching the water, producing an effect which I think is very realistic.
Doing those lightly or out of fun is therefore out of the question.
Knowing the virtual looks of incredulity I am getting from fellow modellers every time I hint at this, I wish to add that fun is somewhat there in the process: when I am writing those articles I have a tremendous amount of fun!
But I realize being so openly serious about my dioramas has got only some good sides, I can't allow myself to produce truly bad dioramas so I give myself at 100% in the building process.
So sure, technically I am still not up there with the great diorama masters. Sokol's idea is not the best I ever had, and then the diorama is pretty small if you consider that 8 months of work was put into it. But I also consider this diorama (like the one I did before) as being some year long exercises where I experimented new techniques.
Indeed I will use everything I learned from this experience in a next-ish diorama that should really kick ass. But then I don't consider Sokol being too bad for an exercise which still leads me to think that my future as a diorama maker is in French Steel.
I usually fill my dioramas with deep hidden senses, some kind of invisible ink throughout the scene which makes me love my own work more than what meets the eyes.
Here there is none, it's just some big burst of light chasing the ghosts from the ship. And a weary father pinning some clothes on the wire.
As always, nothing could be much possible accuracy wise without a good bit of help from the friends: so I wish to thank Peppe Giuffrè who saved my neck for the second time in a short amount of time with yet more plans and pics, Mr David O'Meara for bolts and astounding display of comradeship, Edward Pinniger, Jim Baumann, Mark Gunny and everybody at Modelwarships and Kitmaker for support, other kind of thanks to Rudi Richardson for language, Engin Kayral for Turkish galleys, Rusty White for trust.
I unmoulded the whole after 2 days of drying and here I had that perfect square of resin with all the underwater parts of the wreck perfectly embedded. (pic 41)
Assembling the different bits together –what's above the water.
As I sensed earlier, I made a few mistakes. Indeed, to level the underwater parts with the top of the future water, I had to sand thoroughly some pieces like for instance the 37mm base, or the lower part of the funnel which stood too high. And then I was stupid enough not to paint back those plastic parts and there I had some white plastic embedded in my resin, often too deep to be efficiently painted back.When I dry fitted the top elements, I noticed those white bits popping out the diorama, as well as some big air bubbles that were trapped when I covered the resin with the glass sheet.
So i had to take my small drill and cutting out some resin parts, paint the white plastic and covering the scar with some Clear Quote or with this Valejo's Still Water pot I bought and whose quality I am not convinced of.
It's been now a few years/months that some companies sell some acrylic mixes of binder and stuff like sand, fine sand etc to help people build their bases –this stuff is currently being seen as the new Holy Grail for building bases. All very well, but it's been more than 15 years that you can buy exactly the same kind of stuff from art shops and all my early dioramas are done using it. The only difference is the name of the brand, and sometimes the price.
Anyway, I would say that the best stuff is the one whose grain is then finest for details. But it doesn't hold its shape very well. So I have an older pot of sand mix that is almost dried out. I added a bit of water in it and pulled out some half dry lump. I then poured some black brown and red paint according to the dark coloured earth I wanted to get and proceeded to half mix, half crush the stuff. (pic 42)
I then proceeded to put all the hyacinths very close to each other, trying the leaves to interpenetrate each others. I also fixed the wood lump that serves as an access to the gun cradle and that I had built and paint earlier. (pic 43)
Then I tried the best I could to drill some holes in the ground behind the boat so that I could fix the reeds one by one.
Finally I used some solvent free superglue (it’s not supposed to fog) to glue the top elements of the Sokol and suddenly, this diorama’s future looked quite bright.
Stayed the question of direction of light applied to the groundwork.
I created some darker mixes of green using once more my inks, and proceeded to overpaint the rear and side places where the sun was not supposed to shine. I also added a fes high highlight reas using some yellow green mixes on the most exposed of the leaves, which were near the 37mm gun.
I diluted some Future and painted each leaf so that the groundcover could take a satin appearance. Finally, I cut a good 40 extra leaves out of superglue covered paper that I painted in a mix of Chestnut Citadel ink and leather Valejo paint. I glued those as dead leaves here and there (including some on the gun cradle) which added both colour and variation –even more because those dead leaves were painted in matt colours compared to the satin shades of the green leaves.
When all was ready, I put a very generous coat of Humbrol Clear Quote on the water (to get rid of finger prints, and even small bubbles) and placed my water lilies. What was pretty cool is that those fixed this way seem to be slightly touching the water, producing an effect which I think is very realistic.
My future is in French steel
9 months after writing my last article I am very happy to say that I still don't have any fun while doing my dioramas. I have some fun with my wife and new born baby, being with friends –but when I am doing my dioramas it's just like I connect myself with something very personal, something that keeps me standing and costs less money than alcoholism or therapists.Doing those lightly or out of fun is therefore out of the question.
Knowing the virtual looks of incredulity I am getting from fellow modellers every time I hint at this, I wish to add that fun is somewhat there in the process: when I am writing those articles I have a tremendous amount of fun!
But I realize being so openly serious about my dioramas has got only some good sides, I can't allow myself to produce truly bad dioramas so I give myself at 100% in the building process.
So sure, technically I am still not up there with the great diorama masters. Sokol's idea is not the best I ever had, and then the diorama is pretty small if you consider that 8 months of work was put into it. But I also consider this diorama (like the one I did before) as being some year long exercises where I experimented new techniques.
Indeed I will use everything I learned from this experience in a next-ish diorama that should really kick ass. But then I don't consider Sokol being too bad for an exercise which still leads me to think that my future as a diorama maker is in French Steel.
I usually fill my dioramas with deep hidden senses, some kind of invisible ink throughout the scene which makes me love my own work more than what meets the eyes.
Here there is none, it's just some big burst of light chasing the ghosts from the ship. And a weary father pinning some clothes on the wire.
As always, nothing could be much possible accuracy wise without a good bit of help from the friends: so I wish to thank Peppe Giuffrè who saved my neck for the second time in a short amount of time with yet more plans and pics, Mr David O'Meara for bolts and astounding display of comradeship, Edward Pinniger, Jim Baumann, Mark Gunny and everybody at Modelwarships and Kitmaker for support, other kind of thanks to Rudi Richardson for language, Engin Kayral for Turkish galleys, Rusty White for trust.