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Hi Everyone,

I've been wanting to make a diorama for a number of years now and finally plucked up the courage. I wanted a scene that depicted the pointlessness of war after watching a few WW1 documentaries. I started with a crashed Aquila Lander from the Battle for Macragge set and some das pronto modelling clay on an A4 piece of plasticard and decided the Imperial Guard were prepared at all costs to retrieve a vital piece of equipment:



I then used a lot of milliput, silicon putty moulds, Imperial and Necromunda bits and models from FW Chaos renegades and Dark Vengeance cultists to get to this:





I wanted to have one of the dead crew/pilot surrounded by all the enemies he managed to kill in this scene.





You can see the earth basecoat has already been applied. I expect a lot of weathering on this diorama and plan on learning new skills (e.g. using water effects in the craters).









I wanted to show death in a number of different ways, from death by spade.......



...to being run through by a bayonet!



I had a real blast making this and over the Christmas period, I plan on attempting to paint this project.

PS: As I was having so much fun, I plan on adding another A4 tile with Imperial Guard reinforcements.....



....and further into the future, another A4 tile of Chaos reinforcements:



Till next time.......

That's quite an awesome (and sick at the same time) diorama. Can't wait to see it finished.

 Singleton Mosby wrote:
That's quite an awesome (and sick at the same time) diorama. Can't wait to see it finished.

Thanks for your comments Singleton Mosby.

Update time. I thought I'd share some of the conversions I have made for the new Imperial Guard tile:



Rather than have a heavy bolter attached to a base, I thought I'd attempt to make an Elysian version. I used a cut down SM Scout Heavy Bolter, tripod and a bit of milliput to make my version.



I wanted to attempt to make a bomb exploding, so after making the 2 troopers, I made an "open petal" out of milliput. I then used pva glue to stick cat litter, fish tank gravel and sand to create the ground erupting. I think it worked out really well!





Apologies for the picture quality, but I cut up the Cadian Sniper parts from the Command Squad kit to make this version. I added another SM Scout tripod to this modeal as well.





I wanted a small vignette of a medic trying to treat an officer here.



I wanted to have some troopers running, so I converted a number of Cadian legs and made these three models. I made a couple of them hold their helmets as they were running to add a bit more realism. I really had fun making the medic in the middle carrying all of his kit - boy is he going to need to use them with all the carnage on this diorama!!



Sneak peek of me starting the tile!!! More to come soon. Regards, Phil.

Update time:



After a small layer of das pronto all over the base, I smoothed all my fingerprints away to be left with this.



I spent a bit of time pressing some spare boots over the wet clay to leave boot marks all over the place! I then started adding the troopers.



Here's what I've done where this tile joins the old one. I now need to spend a bit of time using milliput to "sink" the troopers into the ground.



Here's a shot from the left side.



Shot from the front right.....



...and a shot of the 2 tiles together. Till next time. Regards, Phil.

Can't wait to see it all done!
The current muddy gray-brown base-coat looks so good already.
And I like the "wet" look for the environment.
'
Just make sure to make a really really nice wooden / stained / waxed frame/base for the diorama/s
This is going to look Epic!

Wow, what an imaginative undertaking. Serious kudos for you.

Happy New Year!!

Thought I'd share what progress I've made over the Christmas holiday on my diorama:



I've base coated and shaded all the elements of the diorama. There are highlights to be completed on all of the models as well as weathering and spilled blood. The Aquila lander needs to have a bit of work as well.





I've used Vallejo Still Water Effects on 2 small pools for the first time. I'm semi happy on how they have turned out. It's still drying so is still a bit cloudy, but once fully dry, it should dry clear.



I have a few "zombies" that need to have skulls and rib cages finished as well.



I've also got to pick out the teeth in all of the Cadians as well.





The plague zombies need to have "boils" etc finished and also their horns. I will be sponging on "rust" to all metal surfaces of the renegades as well.



Whilst painting, I inadvertently knocked off the spade stuck in the renegades head and both bayonets stuck in the renegades bodies elsewhere on this diorama. I'll re-attach them at the end.







You can see where the second diorama joins the first at the bottom of this shot.



I've basecoated and shaded the earth bits of the second diorama whilst waiting for the "water" effects are drying.

I'm back in work tomorrow, so progress will slow down now, so until next time ......

Regards, Phil.

Very impressive, both the idea and the execution.

A bit late this time, but perhaps a little more height if you do another one? As in bodies piled high? Think Battle of the Bastards.

 War Drone wrote:
Very impressive, both the idea and the execution.

A bit late this time, but perhaps a little more height if you do another one? As in bodies piled high? Think Battle of the Bastards.

Thanks War Drone for your comments. I plan on making more of these in the future and will see what I can do. It will need a lot of work as it will look unnatural if you just plonk one model on top of another.

Regards, Phil

I managed to finish my first diorama over the weekend and thought you'd like to see the progress I've made:



This is an overview shot of the whole of the base. I weathered the soldiers with sponged on mud, which you will see in some of the close up shots shortly. I cannot believe the number of hours I have put into this project!!



I'm still not 100% happy with the water effect in this crater. I'm not sure if I poured in too much at the sametime, but it didn't dry out perfectly clear. I added a red wash to suggest blood leaking out of the wounds.



I tried to make the entrails look a bit more realistic, so after painting them purple and putting a purple wash over them, I added a small amount of clear red to imitate blood.









I stuck the lasgun bayoneting a renegade back on - see how long it stays there!!!







Someone has lost their entrenching tool!













I like to tell a story - in this shot you can see the Cadian has bayonetted a Renegade and has succumbed to his own wounds and died on the enemy he has just slain!



Just to show there's no rest for the wicked, here's a WIP of the next tile I have started to paint!

Till next time, Phil.

In blood and death 'neath a screaming sky I lay down on the ground
And the arms and legs of other men were scattered all around

'A Pair of Brown Eyes' - The Pogues

Seemed apt.

Does it have a title? What's the overall plan, are you going to do a 6x4' slaughterhouse? Are the WWI docs you watched the BBC series and the Channel 4 series? I'm looking to expand on my collection...

 Excommunicatus wrote:
In blood and death 'neath a screaming sky I lay down on the ground
And the arms and legs of other men were scattered all around

'A Pair of Brown Eyes' - The Pogues

Seemed apt.

Does it have a title? What's the overall plan, are you going to do a 6x4' slaughterhouse? Are the WWI docs you watched the BBC series and the Channel 4 series? I'm looking to expand on my collection...

It was the Peter Jackson film/documentary “They shall not grow old” where he coloured old black and white WW1 films - sobering stuff!
With regards to naming it, I’ll have to give it some thought excommunicatus! I’m not sure how much bigger it will become beyond the second A4 diorama of more Cadians running into the meat grinder and I probably have enough to make a third A4 of more Chaos renegades running to the battle as well. I don’t think I’ll do more than that as the costs are prohibitive!!!

Thanks for looking, Phil.