"The getaway"

[Dr Dave]

This diorama, I'm hoping, will not take as long to build as the first one did. There's not as much in this one as there is in the first one, and this time I've learned a few lessons from my mistakes with the first. I have remembered this time to put the boxing around the foam first before getting too far into the build and realizing it's too late to put a box around the thing
After hacking, gluing , chopping and sanding , the shape is starting to look like what I want. A light coat of primer shows up the contours a bit better than just bare foam, so any adjustments to erosion, washouts, wheel ruts and pot holes can be made more visible.

[Dr Dave]

This is where I'm up to at the moment. I've added some dirt, grass, a few rocks, and some gravel on the track. The dirt, from my back garden, has been sifted through various sizes of mesh to get course and fine, and the same with some white sand to get the mix of gravel for the road.

[Dr Dave]

The addition of a few extra bits and pieces in the form of some tufts of dead grass, a few small bushes and a sprinkling of leaves makes such a big difference to the appearance but it just doesn't seem right. It looks too clean, too fresh. It needs to be roughed up somehow but I'm not sure what to do.

[Andym]

This is AWSOME! I've never seen a diorama base built up from scratch and it's just incredible. Well done Dave.

Andy.

[Dr Dave]

Thanks Andy, I'm glad you're enjoying it. This is only my second diorama and I'm having a great time doing it. The only problem is that it puts the imagination in overdrive with heaps of ideas bouncing around for future projects that will never get done. It's all good fun!
I get encouragement from a couple of mates here in my town who do dioramas. One does military stuff and the other does ship wrecks and car wrecks. They are superb I'll ask them if I can put some photos of their work in here.
Dave.

[Dr Dave]

This afternoon I made a start on the Zundapp and by tonight I've got it almost finished. Now that I've reached this stage I've found that this kit has very little detail at all. Unlike the Italeri BMW & sidecar I did that had everything but the cables and wires, this Tamiya kit lacks levers on the handlebars, carbies, intake pipes, exhaust pipes from the engine, linkage from the shift lever to the gearbox. At the moment I'm not sure how far I will go to add some of the missing detail, and whatever I add will have to be added to both bikes. Disappointed but I guess you get what you pay for and I didn't pay much for this kit.

[Dr Dave]

..

[Dr Dave]

In the last week all I've been able to get done is a 'not quite finished yet' German soldier. I hope to have the little fellow and his bike all dirty and on the road this week end. The last photo shows him temporarily in position just to see what he looks like. Somehow I have to make the rider of the other bike look like an escaped prisoner of war.

[Dr Dave]

The soldier and his Zundapp are now finished, all dirty, rusty, and oil leaks. A couple of washes of different oil paints took care of the dirt and leaks and some real rust flakes ground down to dust and sprinkled on wet paint couldn't look any more realistic. Some silver speckles dabbed on with an almost dry brush adds stone chips. A hole drilled in the bottom of both tires with a pin glued in will secure the bike in position on the road.
Now it's on to the BMW and fleeing prisoner.
I hope you all are enjoying this as much as I am.
Dave.

[Dr Dave]

Today I've managed to put the BMW R75 together but it's not finished just yet. Still have to put the saddle bag on and the pipes from the engine, then add some weathering . I've also been looking at the rider trying to work out how to turn a German soldier into a British or U.S. person of some sort. Got the left over figures from the BMW & sidecar kit out to see if they could be used. Maybe if I did a major body swap I could change it enough. Still have to use the bottom half of the original figure to sit on the bike.

[Dr Dave]

The BMW is finished now but I think I might have gone a little overboard with the weathering . How on earth is the poor fellow going to out run the soldier on a heap of junk like this? I hope he can ride like the wind.
I didn't dilute the washes as much for this bike as I did for the first and it almost looks like camouflage colours rather than a thin film of dirt and grime, and I was a bit heavy handed with the rust. But I guess there's no rules with weathering , just slap it on.

[Dr Dave]

I've made a start on the British soldier after I googled WW2 British uniforms for colour schemes. Quite a few to choose from so I picked something easy and very different to the German. The body swap worked ok (is that why they call me doctor?) Couldn't be bothered making a hat so used Tamiya putty to shape a full head. Also filled in a few gaps here and there and slightly bent his arms so he can be sliding the bike around the corner.

[Dr Dave]

Coming along nicely. I did a bit of sculpting to the jacket to remove the rifle shoulder strap, added the top button, seams where the sleeves attach, and fix up the pockets. I got the black wool out and chopped it up fine (the same as I did for the fisherman with the BMW & sidecar) so he can have hair instead of a hat. I put glue on his head to stick the hair on but it didn't work very well, I could see the paint underneath. To fix this problem I scraped it all off, cut up new batch and stuck it on with black paint. That worked better. Not much more to go now.

[Dr Dave]

The chase is on! The German is in hot pursuit of the fleeing British on a stolen bike. Lets hope the riding skills he learnt racing around the English countryside when he was a boy help him out ride his pursuer.

Trees courtesy of the root systems of weeds pulled from the garden and leaves are dried seed pods. I've tried to make some dust, rocks and leaves flying up from the rear wheels by using a small piece of nylon fibre cushion stuffing with some tan paint rubbed through it. When dry I put it in place with a few spots of wood glue applied with the point of a tooth pick. I used the tooth pick and glue to stick the rocks and leaves in place on the dust. I also had to glue down every stray leaf on the whole thing as they kept blowing away whenever a nice breeze blew through the house. The only thing I need to do is put a couple of spark plug leads on and I'll be happy.

Another one finished Oh no, what am I going to do next?! I have a bunch of projects to choose from,,,,,,,, I just can't decide
Went fishing this afternoon to celebrate.