Area 88, The Base (diorama).

Nils Steyaert
Update: i started with a rough sketch of what would be placed and the size of the building, keeping in mind the limited space i have on the board (salvaged from a scrapped drawer unit).

on the shoppinglist for this project (aircraft not included):
-5 sheets of 1mm thick styrene sheet
-5 sheets of 0.5mm thick styrene sheet (roofs)
-pasticard rods and tubes (rtevetment detailing)
-10 x 30mm wooden strips (for revetment)
-scenic background poster...

Nils Steyaert
Update 2:

the first round of supplies for this project have been ordered, mostly the raw materials but also a few extra's i decided to add, including (for the first time) lighting. ive taken inspiration from Strobez area 88 builds and thought of about trying to add some lighting inside the building and on the tarmac. ive already started drawing up plans on paper for both the hangar and Mc Coys warehouse.

Greg Baker
Oh, baby... sign me up! I'm thinking of trying something similar in 1/700... 1/144 scale will be awesome!

Nils Steyaert
Update 3:

the first part of the raw materials for this build have arrived today. all i need to do is wait for the rest to arrive. i also ordered 2 new airbrush guns as my current one broke yesterday, and it was cheaper to buy 2 new guns then to buy replacement parts for the revell basic airbrush.

Nils Steyaert
Update 3.1:

more parts have arrived. today, the lighting and the railing have arrived. everything i need for the main construction is here, all thats left is to wait for the extra detail parts.

Greg Baker
Can't wait to see this come alive, Nils!

Nils Steyaert
Update 4:

althouigh all the materials for this project have arrived, i had to cut some corners or change materials. i was planning on using 10 x 30mm thick wood to place Mc Coy's warehouse on a raised floor, like in the pictures, and make a revetment for the aircraft with the same materials, but i decided to make those parts out of bootlegg lego's and dress them up with styrene strips. result should be somewhat the same and adds the option to make size adjustments on the revetment.

i also started making a rough 1/1 scale sketch of the layout on a piece of A2 size paper (got it for an art project my wife wants to do with the baby). frm what ive see, the reventment needs to be built wider. (13cm wide instead of 10). im almost ready to get this project started, there's just some small details i need to work out.

Nils Steyaert
Update 5:

rough construction of the main buildings is largly done, now comes the detailing, followed by paintwork. i still need to design some additional decals for the interiour and exteriour of the buildings.
the main building with the control tower accidently turned out longer then i designed, but the size of the original design i had planned was a bit too small IMHO.

Nils Steyaert
Update 5.1:

looking at the size of the buildings, im thinking of dropping the revetment from the diorama, the reason is that the main building with the tower is taking up more space then it should have in the original plan. instead im gonna make a normal flightline parking lot.
also, i just ordered a 75 x 50cm poster of a desert mountain area to act as backdrop.

Greg Baker
This is really shaping up nicely!

Nils Steyaert
Update 6:

its been a couple of months since i last made progress, but now im back at it.
ive started with building the antenna section for the control tower. i had some problems getting the parts i needed, but i finally found some usefull parts.