Novinky

Ian Doody
. SDR Piloten Christof Motti, painted him up, and slapped him in, basically just the stock pilot, with the Super Jerry blind cockpit gear, added cables, may have to sand his butt down, as you can't see much of the poor swine, when he's sealed in his walking coffin. That'll do for today.

Nathan Dempsey
Your pilot is looking great. Following 👀

Ian Doody
On to the legs of the Jerry Heavy Super Armored Fighting Suit. Now, the newer WAVE release has the shorter foot with cleaner details, but the old NITTO release has the longer but softer detailed foot, as it's a chicken walker essentially, I'm after stability, so I'm going to sacrifice detail for a solid stance.

Ian Doody
Chicken walker Ma.k, I dig it. I really like this design. Mines a super heavy Gigant Floh, armed with anti-air rockets, anti personnel machine gun, and a recoilless rifle. Bad ass.

Ian Doody
That's me done for the day, added seatbelts. And the side bubble windows, built both legs, looking good so far. I'll be building this in the classic white wash and orange camo scheme.

Dash Rendar
Great job so far, looking awesome!

Ian Doody
Added the recoilless rifle as a dry fit mock up of the chin. Looks really nice all glued up, looks really angry with the solid hood, but you can see more of the pilot though with the blown glass hood... Hmm 🤔

Ian Doody
That's where I am today, still very much a WIP. I'm working my way around it, adding extra armor, smoke launchers, it's going to be very busy, but it should look pretty awesome.

Ian Doody
I've added radiator details to the underside of the rear engine bay, and an armored cover for the large rear vent.

Ian Doody
That's it for today, getting there. Just a dry fit of parts added drooping wiring to the under engine area, I'll change the mounts of the rockets, to make them more dynamic, cockpit enclosed forever, adding small nuts and bolts, pretty happy with it so far.

Ian Doody
After adding a cast texture to the whole main body, the start of the winter white wash camo on the Gigant Floh. Rust washes next, then grey wash, then white. Still have a fair few details and wiring still to add. Sort out the rocket launchers fit, aerials, armour plates nuts and bolts.

Ben M
I have no idea what this is, but it looks cool.

shadowlight
Nice work! How did you made the cast texture?

Ian Doody
@shadowlight, I used Ammo putty, brushed on and stippled with some sponge.

shadowlight
Thank you!

Ian Doody
First all over dirt, rust and muck wash.

Ian Doody
A lot more detailing, armour plates, and washes to come.

Ian Doody
Painting has now got to the second grey wash stage, I'll be going up to off white soon, also used a muck wash and rusted up some areas of the engine deck. Rear armour is removable to see the engine deck, fan and exhaust detail. Painted up the lower engine power pipes too..

Jörg Schäfer
It's going to be another fantastic wash.

Ian Doody
Building smoke launchers, and attaching the rocket systems.

Ian Doody
Added the Fug XII Radio mast and painted it up, and finished of the front smoke candle launchers. Added bits of wire to the launchers. Drilled out the radio mast, added thin wire and a small length of spring wire for a detailed holder. Not bad.

Ian Doody
That's all for today, put first coat of paint on the rocket launchers, I've spruced mine up by adding extra sensors, and I've changed the mounting system, by drilling and pinning with brass rod, moves them out a bit more, for a more natural look. Jobs a good un.

Ian Doody
Today, was leg day. Didn't go exactly according to plan, but it all turned out good in the end, getting closer to the finish.

Mr James
Excellent painting and brilliant weathering distress work

Miguel Vaquero
Probably, my most ambitous project yet. Im going to try and recreate a sinking of a submarine with depth charges, droped from a destroyer. Everything in 1/700 scale. For this, i bought the Battle of the Atlantic set, wich comes with a J-Claas destroyer, a type VII German submarine and a Short Sunderland amphibous plane.

gorby
Sounds like an interesting project, I'll tag along. 🙂

David Taylor
Yuup.

Jay Dubya
Permission to come aboard Captain Vaquero?

Landlubber Mike
Looking forward to following this one!

Miguel Vaquero
Welcome aboard guys!! Happy to have you along.

Of course Jay! There's always room in my ships😁😁

Miguel Vaquero
Sub already done! It was small but detailed. The PE parts were really a challenge. Some weathering it's all it's left.

Miguel Vaquero
Today i wanted to work on how i want my diorama to look. So i hoped on blender and downloded some free assets and placed them together to see how i want it to look. I think for the quantity of resin and the accuracy of the scene this is going to be more or less the final desing of my diorama.

Miguel Vaquero
Starting with the destroyer. Awesome detail too but a million tiny parts. Good challenge for sure

Miguel Vaquero
Destroyer assembly done! To the paint booth

Jay Dubya
RAAF 10 Squadron Flying Porcupine next please, Miguel ?!!?

Kesa Tiho
I am in love
Fantastic build

Miguel Vaquero
Thanks Kesa!!

Miguel Vaquero
I don't know if I'm going to finish the Sunderland😞😞. The fitting between the fuselages is too bad and fragile, using putty is not going to do the trick this time cause it will hide a lot of the nice detail and I will not be satisfied. I'll think about how to do it but there's not much hope now😓

Miguel Vaquero
To get my mind of the plane. I decided to destroy the sub.it turned out perfect, as I intended

Jay Dubya
Not really where you are headed with your diorama, but this might give a bit of context to my 'historical' comment Miguel.

"A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Sunderland (of No. 10 Squadron) made the type's first unassisted kill of a U-boat on 17 July 1940.[3]"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Sunderland

Flying Porcupine
"Two examples, in particular, stand out: on the 13th of April 1940, a Sunderland operating off the coast of Norway was attacked by six Ju-88C heavy fighters – the Sunderland shot down one JU-88, damaged another so seriously it had to quit the fight, and drove the rest away.

A 1943 encounter with JU-88 was even more savage when a Sunderland from 461 Sqn RAAF was attacked by eight JU-88C long-range fighters. Despite the Sunderland being heavily damaged with most of the crew wounded, the Sunderland downed three attackers, damaged and drove off the rest and made the 560-kilometre return journey to Britain where the heavily damaged aircraft was beached at Cornwall."
planehistoria.com/short-sunderland/

10Sqn RAAF Photos -
adf-serials.com.au/sunderland.htm

Keep up the great work on these tiny models.
Cheers

PS The nickname 'Flying Porcupine' was probably just a bit of allied propaganda as there's not a lot of evidence the Germans ever referred to a Sunderland as one. It's a lot like the Japanese with the Beaufighter and Whispering Death.

Miguel Vaquero
Thanks for all the info Jay! I really appreciate it. And they could fit very well with this diorama. They actually performed anti submarine operations from GB and they actually sunk 6 U-boats.

I'm sure if I'm able to fix my Sunderland, I'll paint it with their colours. I loved their history

Miguel Vaquero
The U-Boat has exploded!!💥💥

gorby
The explosion effect is very realistic.

Miguel Vaquero
Thanks Gorby!!

Miguel Vaquero
I've already glued the U-Boat to the acrylic sheet. As the background for the diorama states that the aft reserve torpedo exploded, to hide the cables I made some bubbles coming down from the exploded compartment. It's not the best but it's better than to have some cables seen.

Miguel Vaquero
The acrylic sheets mold is done. The ship is now lifted with nylon cord to place on to the resin without sinking. And the u-Boat is secured in the container.

Next step, the resin pouring. I've never been so nervous about a model.

gorby
Good luck with the resin Miguel.

Shar Dipree
following

Miguel Vaquero
Some bubbles formed. Not the best result, also they are positioned in places where some bubbles would be formed. Overall I think it turned out great.

Jay Dubya
Absolutely 'killed it' - well done Miguel!

Miguel Vaquero
Thanks Jay!

That bubble on the bow is killing me. It's right on the surface of the resin but I don't know how to get rid of it, and if I'll make it worse if I try something

talbot
wow, absolutely love this

David Taylor
Brill.

Landlubber Mike
Wow, really cool man! Well done!

Rui S
Excellent work 👍

Miguel Vaquero
Thanks a lot guys! There's still some work to do. But it's getting there.

I've made the form of the waves with some acrylic gel. Let's wait for it to dry and then to make some foam

Guy Rump
Great job, very impressive. 👍

Miguel Vaquero
Thanks Guy!

I ended up making and painting the Sunderland, flying the colors Jay suggested. The end result, I think it's salvageable. I'm wondering if I should put it in the diorama. The downside is ill have to stick it with some transparent acrylic rod. It's going to be visible but not too much. I think if I mask the bottom part of the rod, the one closer to the water, as a droped depth charge from the porcupine, the result might not be bad at all.
What do you guys think

Jan Peters
Very cool set up, and very ambitious. You're a braver man than I.
Love the effect of the explosion, very convincing.

Miguel Vaquero
Thanks Jan!! Im not really brave, I was really really scared 🤣🤣. Its just a matter of trying and if I fail well, from everything we learn. In the end it turned out great, so that is that.

It's really great having all the support from all you experienced guys. I've only been modelling for a year or so, so your comments are really encouraging

Miguel Vaquero
Testing the Sunderland. What do you guys think. I'm not sure If I loved or hate it

gorby
I like it, I think it adds another element of interest (mind you I reeeeeally like the Sunderland so I might be biased). 🙂
I just want to comment on the how you've done the surface of the water - excellent, particularly the effect of the exploding depth charges.

Mr D
That looks fantastic Miguel 👌👍👍

Miguel Vaquero
It really does add a lot to the scene Gorby. I'll have to think thoroughly but I'm starting to like the diorama more with the Sunderland in it.

Also thank you and thanks Mr D for you kind words! The good thing about this diorama is that it really doesn't need any special abilities. It's as simple as it can get and it will give you a great result

Mr D
It's has plenty of life to it 👏👌.
How did you get the bubbles in the right place 🤔??
I am starting a Diorama once l get my next build sorted, lm trying to rap up the X2 projects I'm working on and then l start my Mi-8 it's going to be part of a Chernobyl disaster Diorama, l have the damaged power station ready for paint,
I would like to create explosion n smoke like you have done here and LED.
Nice work 😀👍

Villiers de Vos
This is epic. You manage to capture the observer with your dynamic and realistic scene.

Ben M
Remarkable diorama. How did you get the resin so deep? The stuff I use, you can only pour 1/8" at a time. The diorama is so dynamic and exciting!

Miguel Vaquero
Thank you Villiers. Really glad that you like it. Your words really mean a lot coming from such a great modeller.

Well Mr D, the big bubbles coming out of the explosion are mainly produced by the gap a created when cutting the U-Boat. The air trapped inside came to the surface while the resin was curing, and it cured faster than the bubbles could scape to the surface. They as well appear because of the cotton I used to create the explosion effect, but mainly because of the first reason. Also Ill make sure to follow your build. It really sound amazing, and watching your prior work, Im sure it's going to be awesome.

Thank you also Ben!! I'm glad you enjoyed the work. As per the resin, I really used the cheap one from AliExpress. I mixed well the two parts till the resin and hardener were completely clear. Then I poured it and that's it. The instructions said I could pour up to 2 centimeters per pour. I did four centimeters deep at once and it cured great. The only downside I found is that not all small bubbles rised to the surface and couldn't be popped with a torch. I should have poured a little, then torched and then poured the rest. I didn't expect such a Good result from this but guess I got lucky.

Mr D
Thanks for the Info Miguel 👍 it's all worked out for the best.

Miguel Vaquero
It did worked. Now the only thing left is to crate a base to go with it and finish the wiring.

Bruce Huxtable
Very impressed with your execution of this evocative scene. No escape for those poor souls..... Your creative solutions worked very well indeed, but I'm curious as to how you formed the surface of the sea? There's a lot going on, including the expanding circular waves. Superb!

Dominik Weitzer
great!

Pietro De Angelis
Awesome dio, congrats!

Miguel Vaquero
Thanks for your words guys, they really mean a lot!!

Indeed bruce. It's one of the things that fascinate me the most about U-Boats. They were deadly war machines, every sailor was terrorized by them during WW2. But it unsettles me the way all those people knew, that a single flood, could mean they would never resurface again. It's really nerve racking. Those things are what attracts me the most to this machines and their histories.

As for the water, I used a combination of two artistic acrylic gel mediums. I used one with a low viscosity for the small ocean waves and normal ripples. I then used one much more dense, to simulate the water effects created by the destroyer and the depth charges explosions. The gel, once dried, it stays hard as if it was resin, and also stays transparent. Then I painted the high ripples with a diluted white and extended it with a soft bristled brush along the ripple and it's surrounding area. I did the same were the bubbly foam would stay after the ship passed, but with a more diluted white and more gentle passes with the brush.

Ill try to upload some better pictures were the effects are better seen once I complete the diorama.

Bruce Huxtable
Many thanks, Miguel. You clearly have a very good 'eye', re-creating reality in a very convincing way.

Miguel Vaquero
Thank you very much Bruce. Im glad that you like it!

Christian Abraham
The dio is really awesome

gorby
Excellent model and photos!

Dominik Weitzer
wow, great!

Laurent VILLANUEVA HELLER ForEver
NICE !

gorby
Fabulous result!

André Knippenberg
Thank you!

Dominik Weitzer
like it a lot!