some new not really finished dioramas

I hope I'm not the only one who starts with new diorama even there are a lot others still waiting for getting finished. So I started by end of last year with two new dioramas because I wanted to try out some new techniques. At the moment these dioramas are on my workbench but not in the first line.

Here I tried some plant and pieces I found in the nature. The bunker should be a Japanese one and the diorama should present a scene somewhere in the pacific. The bunker is made out of foam and after glueing painted in grey. So now everything is waiting for the first American tank or truck but I have yet not decided what will be on the display.

This is a older diorama which I built and then made a foam to diecast it with Plaster of Paris. The small trees are from Woodland and the truck is on of the latest News from Panzer Depot.

German and American tank transporter

Since one week I have them both now. The American M25 with his trailer and the German Famo with Sonderanhänger Sd. Ah. 116. The price for both are high in comparison the the normal dragon tanks but once you have them in your hands, you will see, they are both worth it.

Esspecially the M25 is a really beautiful set with a lot of details and a perfect box for storage.

So here some pictures I took to give you an idea about the different execution for the job both armies had to do.

Of course I needed for the M25 a German tank, on the modell the Jagdtiger was no problem, in reality I'm not that sure, a standard Jagdtiger had a weight of 71 tons

My German Famo with his trailler transports a Russian T34, that should be no problem for them.

M 25 American tank transporter

Today I received one of the best models you can get at the moment.

It is the American tank transporter M 25 together with the trailer.

Here some pictures I took today:

 

On the last picture you can see the difference between a model as a "mass product" and a hand-made product. But the price difference is hugh too, The Sherman tank from Dragon you can get for around $ 3 and for the M 25 you have to pay around 20 times more.

Trains in 1/144

Very close to Christmas I got a model for an acceptable price I was looking for a long time.
It’s the Leopold 28 cm gun, which the Germans used during World War II. This model shows a winter camo what was not with the normal production.

 
Krupp built 28 pieces of this railway gun. The most well known one was the one which shot at the Anzio beach during the American landing there. It took the Americans a long time to find out what and from where the shoots came. Finally the caught the gun which was after camouflaged and protected in a special railway bunker / shelter.
Another interesting railway tank is this Russian version I show below:
The model is from a friend of mine and not for public sale, so I’m more than happy that I got one.

Happy Christmas and best wishes

As I had not so much time during the last weeks, I hope to finish some of my dioramas during the next days.

For you as you read this, I wish you some nice days of, only the best weather and a lot presents.

Merry Christmas to all!

on my working bench at the moment

As I had to slow down everything over the last weeks I will give you an update 
about what should get finished after Thanksgiving.
My next diorama will show two of my favorites: tanks and bunker!
I found an old printout from an internet page where they described Belgian 
bunkers. Yes they had bunkers too. Not that much likes the French with their 
Maginot Line or the Germans with the Westwall or later with the Atlantic Wall.
Besides the fortification of Eben Emael they had bunkers at the most important 
bridges and railways on the border to Germany.
So I sketched one of these bunkers with two heavy MGs. The bunker is made 
out of one piece of foam. The landscape is done with gypsum.
I made a mould so that I can use it several times.
After drying I painted everything with with tea!
Yes, I took tea bags and pressed them on the gypsum to color it. As I drink a 
lot of tea, I do not have problems with the supply chain.
More as soon as I have decided which tank will be on the road to Belgium.
So here some pictures of the unfinished diorama:

Verlinden Bunker in 1/144 - or - Somewhere in Italy

No Verlinden is doing any bunkers in the scale 1/144. But somehow I liked this bunker even I do not think that the Germans anywhere had a similar bunker. 

In Italy they do not enough time and material to build up their defenses with the REGELBAUTEN (that's the name for all bunker types the Germans developed and used during the war), and they used a lot of the bunkers and defense types the Italians had. So let's say, there might something like the Verlinden type have been possible.

The foundation is a piece of MDF on which I clued the poster board I used for the rest. The bunker is designed from some pictures I had from other dioramas where people built this bunker. Some minor details I changed. First of all, my bunker has on the front side no door to a lower level, but I added a much more important detail. All German AA-positions had on the side openings where they had the ammunition. So I added them by sticking some brown painted pieces of paper which I tried to engrave a bit. Just writing this I saw that I forgot the second steps to the top level, so my soldiers have to make a bigger step. Things like this happen.

The AA-gun is from SouthWest and the Mercedes truck is from PanzerDepot.

All German soldiers are from Dragon and I had to paint them.

So here some pictures: