The Phantom and the temple

Some images of the downed Phantom 

And the damage caused by "the damn SAMs" to the aircraft... 

Inspirational images of a temple in Cambodia "devoured" by the roots of those wonderful giant trees... We will try to reproduce it... 

The temple of My son where we will place the scene... 

Very preliminary sketch of the Phantom and temple scene... It is obvious that my skills as an artist are even worse than those of a modeler... ha, ha... 

 

 

I started with some "Asian" figures bought on Aliexpress. They came in copper colour and I gave them a coat of primer and a grey base. Some oils and for now nothing else until the scene was set up... I apologize for the lack of historical or religious rigor (I'm mixing Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese figures... a real sacrilege), it's a simple modelling exercise. 

Although we are going to work in 1/144 scale and nothing will be visible, I cannot resist detailing the cockpit even minimally. 

 

 

To give the Phantom a bit of interest I have scratch-worked the interior of the plane, engine and various pipes... 

Almost ready to prime and paint 

Painting and first aging with oils. There will be later layers with pigments as I build the scene.
I have also messed around with the ejection seat, trying to carve it more so that it is a visual element that stands out in the whole. 

 

 

Following the advice of my FMM colleagues, I have rethought the scene and we are going to explore this path. We'll see what comes out... 

Working white the tree. Just wires, Plastic tubes and paste  

 

 

 

 

First paint session, I have to resolve the details but i’m happy with the resoult  

Following the advice of my colleagues at Fulle Metal Modeling and AVAM, I have redesigned the scene. I have resized the tree and the roots to better integrate it into the temple, I have created all the vegetation and the palm trees. Both the temple and all the vegetation are scratch-made, painted with AK Real Color and adjusted with oils and pigments.
The water is made with Vallejo products, painted and also retouched with oils and pigments. 

And this is the final result. I hope you like it.