International Scale Modeller

Hi wanted to do something different and make a world war 1 diorama. Everything I do I am going scratch build, make up as i go along no planning just getting ideas from books and google and only use the figures from Tamiya. I would like to share my build.


First I'm using an old photo frame for the dio and and using the photo board as the base so got some ceiling tiles and chopped up to make the mounds so I don't use as much plaster and that it doesn't take for ever to dry.





I then used patching plaster to start putting down a first layer of what will become the mud. I was gonna colour the plaster to look like mud but like I said it is the first layer and didn't have the paint to do so.



I then let this dry overnight to start working on the other side.
I then got some lollipop sticks cut them down and plaster the other side and stuck the sticks into it, i will use them to attach the wooden planks too for the trench wall.



Now I left to one side to once again dry out. In the meantime I started the wooden walkway but using small soft wood strips I've had in my stash for years and never used. They are now perfect to use for this dio as they are the correct scale that I want. I used superglue to fix them together.



When finished the walkway I placed it on the board to make sure I'm happy that it fits where it suppose too. This will be pushed into the plaster when I put the plaster on the base and then taken off to painted and weathered separate.

Looking good so far Mark...
Continued success buddy..


I'll stay and watch a while..

Very interesting

Interesting indeed

I am in

Did some more today before I go to work the dreaded night shift. I made a wooden bench or seating area out of the same wood I made the walkway out of.







Then I've made some ladders that they used to go over to no man's land poor sods.







Haven't stuck anything down as yet or decided where everything is going just wanted show what I am trying to do.



Thanks for looking.

Nice work, I'm watching this one

Today wanted to make a wicker type panel to use for part of the trench wall.
I started with some cocktail sticks and some fine wood strands.



Stuck them into some polystyrene.



This wasn't working as I was trying to weave the strands of wood the Cocktail sticks kept breaking



So decided to use thicker strands of wood as the post as they had more flexibility.



This is very time consuming.



All done but not glued together I tried superglue but this wasn't working I don't want to pull it out until it is glued so trying to what glue to use in my stash. But now it's time for work.

Today started to build up the trench wall with strips of soft wood and superglued them in place.



Trench wall complete.



Put it together should look like this.



These are the figures I'm going to use for this dio.
They are WW2 figures but hopefully convert to WW1.

Started to make homemade sandbags out of modelling clay for the top of the wall and some that will be scattered around I rolled out the clay till it was about 6-7 mm then cut into 10mm rectangles then flattened them out to look like sandbags then put them on the wall and make them look heavy if you know what I mean.

Put ready made filler on the walkway floor so I can put the wooden walkway on and push into the filler. And I also finished the trench wall with filler to put the wicker style panel I made earlier.





I bought some corrugated card from hobby craft to use as old worn corrugated metal panel which I thought was a good and easy idea.

I'm going to make my barbed wire by using some wire from my stash and some cotton. Also got some thicker wire to use as the post for the wire and will put around the dio randomly.



Here some pics of where am at. I also made a little wooden sign as I think some trenches had sign posts around.

I have now primed the mud on the dio with vallejos black primer using my NEO for Iwata CN ab.
I used the black first because this will help keep it dark in areas when putting down the brown.

Just now painted the mud base color using thinned down Tamiya XF 64 red brown as want the black to show through.





Then again thinned down I used XF 52 flat earth as highlights now starting to look like mud not quite sure whether to use a lighter high light don't want it to look like really dry mud. Any thoughts anyone?

That is very nice indeed. Great Work!!

Painted the wood work using Mr hobby H37 wood brown but it came out to clean wood looking. I put a black wash over but I think still looks clean.



I tried on the wicker panel Tamiya XF 79 Linoleum deck brown with a black wash and I think it looks better.



So decided to the rest the same.



Then painted sandbags Tamiya XF 78 wooden deck tan and sprayed a little randomly on the panels.

Painted the sandbags and glued them in place



I watched the warhorse film which has some excellent footage of the trenches in WW1 i decided to put a light dust of green over the wooden wall as it was a damp and wet so moss and so was growing in the panel. Will put some green scatter in the panel to simulate moss.





Trying to make homemade barbed wire by using some small wire and cotton.



Cut some wire to required length and tied small knots on the wire with the cotton and the cut with scissors on each end to make the barbs and painted with gun metal and rust colour.





Then placed and glued on the dio.



Then I used humbrol clear and sprayed over the mud to simulate wet mud and more coats on certain areas to give it heavy wet areas.



I had some woodland scenic ez instant water granules that I have had for ages and never used it but I wanted a puddle on the dio so I thought I'd give it ago for the first time.

Melted it and poured it in and wasn't really happy with it went like a yellow colour and had loads of air bubbled in it so don't look like water plus I poured to much in and it sat over the edge and looks not natural so will have to put more filler to make the edge better you will know what I mean when u see the pics below.





Painted the walkway same way as the mud primed black then used Tamiya linoleum brown then flat earth and the highlighted with desert yellow.

This is really coming together nicely and looking fantastic and I'm very apriciative of your detailed build log which is full of very useful information

Thank u OneSmallStep1966 glad it helps.

Painted the ladders and bench same way as the trench wall and stuck them on with superglue.





Now to start the other side of the trench I've got some foam board and cut to size to fit dio.



Put on board just to see fit.





Time to start on the figures at the moment I'm gonna use 3 but maybe more if needed.

Great work on this dio! What a horrible miserable thing WWI was. Try adding a gloss coat to your dirt for a wet look. Maybe you could use an enamel product like Mig's "wet mud" to add splotches or mix up your own. It could also be added to the walking planks and the bottom of the support and the boots of the figures to tie it all together. Just some thoughts. Disclaimer, I've never done a dio set so proceed with caution on these ideas.

I think the figures look too happy to be on patrol, but that's no fault of your own. The sandbags are awesome!

Wow you are really blasting away at this. Really like what you are doing
Taking lots of notes on this fine demonstration of scene building.
I thought the puddle looked good!

Looks brilliant !!!!

Um, I hate to be fussy but if it's a WW1 trench dio why are you using WW2 troops, the uniforms and equipment are totally different. Sorry to be a pain. Don't get me wrong, I really like what you have done and it has given me some ideas but they should be WW1 troops. Tamiya, ICM and Masterbox do some very good ones.

I know i did mention it i have painted the figures but haven't put them on. But at the time i couldn't afford to buy new figures so i was going for them. I think i will get some as the dio is better then i thought. I'm not a fussy model maker i don't make everything accurate i make them with what i got and for the fun of it. Thanks for your comment though.

Still think your trench is amazing.

Cheers buddy.

That dio is looking superb
All that planking must have been a bit tedious

Damn, there is always a catch....good find on the WWII figures
Figures can always be swapped out later if you don't cement them in
Keep going, the diorama is great

Awesome...