Up And Coming Posts

Up And Coming Posts.

Below are some models and pieces of equipment  that I will be using in the diorama, I thought I would just post up some of them to give you a wee taster of up and coming posts.

Railway Gondola low sided bought from Germany

Railway Gondola again from Germany

Plaster Model from Field Of Glory Models 

Dockside Crane (Resin) from Down Under

Wall with Street and Water Fountain from Field Of Glory Models

Ruined Town Hall from Verdlinden

German 22mm Anti Aircraft Gun

Tamiya German 3 ton 4 x 2 Truck

Another Dock Side Crane by Verdlinden 

Clock Tower from PlusModels

Milling Machine and Grinding Wheels and welding machine, all from Verdlinden

Military Provisions from Verdlinden

AFV Bussing Nag German Military Truck 

Checkpoint from MB Models

Various Welders from Royal Models  from Field Of Glory Models

Some Figures from MK35 bought from Field Of Glory Models 

Some LED lights, Switches, Arc Welding Simulator and Transformer

Some Equipment That I Required

Some Equipment That I Required.

I had given away, lost or sold some of my tools and equipment that you acquire over the years when I gave up model making all those years ago.  The first thing that I noticed there begin a difference in was my eyesight, never had a problem with my eyes up and till I started doing modelling again.  Some of those little bits I could not see up close, but stand a few feet away I can see them no problems. 

I can remember one of my mates used a magnifying visor for all his modelling as swore by it, so off I went to look on ebay for one of these. I was able to purchase one of these Head magnifying Visor with LED light from a company called RDG Tools I have have looked at the site and at the moment they don't seem to have these in stock.

The visor comes with 4 different lenses with varying magnification, you have 1.7, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.5 lenses on the visor itself you have 2 positions that these lenses can clip into. Another nice touch is the bright LED light that can be seen above  the lens, this light is also directional with a Left/Centre/Right positions. I must admit I would not be without this now and in fact makes things a little easier when coming to paint the small details. Well worth the £9.99 that I paid for them.

I had still kept some of my modelling knives/scalpels from earlier modelling days, however my wife bought me a wee present from Amazon (what will they not sell) a craft set. A nice little set with loads of handles and spare blades. The 57 PC Hobby Craft Knife Set includes 8 blade handles,47 assorted blades 1 pocket/desk stone 1 pocket/desk stone 1 tube of super glue: all contained within a plastic carry case.

The only problem I found with the set is that the little clasps that keep the box shut are not strong enough, this is only a slight criticism.  The cost of the set is only £8.90 so I suppose I should not look for too much. I have found the little sanding stone to be of great use to keep the blades in tiptop condition. As for the handles the range in thickness and are very little and feel comfortable in the hand.
them


With loads of tools I thought that I should get something to store these them in.  I found these tool cabinets from a firm called SGS Engineering UK Ltd. 

Mechanics 8 Drawer Tool Box Chest & Roller Cabinet the cost of this unit is £99.95, I can not complain about these units I found them to be very well made, however I was a bit annoyed when I was out looking for some wood in B&Q and found the exact same cabinet in there for £60, the only difference is the SGS logo that you can see on the right hand side.   So maybe I should have done a bit more research of these unit and saved myself a few pennies. I know I am a Scot we are not tight, we are just careful with our money lol.

So I have used this to store all my tools and equipment in, the one feature is that the top part of the cabinet is lockable. Great for keeping the knives and glues etc out of the reach of the grand kids well those that are of the age to be nosy. I have also used this for storing my paints, thinners and weathering powders etc . Now all these items are at hand with cabinet being able to to moved to wherever I need it and having everything to hand I have found that to be very helpful.

Some of the paints that I require for all the models that are being used in the diorama, I also like to use the Vallejo Pigments Sets 1-4 

1. Rust and Oil
2. Mud and Sand Railway and Military Modelling 
3. Stone, Cement and Urban
4. Snow, Soot, Ashes and Industrial Grime

These can be used dry or with a little water, I find using them dry to give the best results.  I was able to get all these from a company called gb models . I found gb models sent your order very quickly all items were very well packaged and arrived safely.

Whilst on about paint etc I thought that I would treat myself to a new spray gun unit. I was able to find on ebay a company that I had used before and had no qualms about using again. RDG Tools

This is their post on ebay for the same item, Airbrush Kit

I have used the picture from their website I hope they don't mind.  I was able to purchase all this for the great price of £99.99 inc postage. I thought that this was a terrific bargain. OK its not professional standard but for most of us a set like this is more than ample. I have found the compressor to be reasonably quiet, my workshop is right above the living room in the house and I have only to place the compressor on an old piece of carpet underlay and the noise is barley noticeable downstairs. At the same time I got a 4 way connection which enables me to use the 2 spray guns at the same time without having to change back and forth, this has been great. Once again RDG Tools sent this unit out very promptly and the packing was first class, 10 out of 10 for service.  Of course there is a lot more tools that are used and I am sure you know too many to mention all on here however if I find that I need to use something special I will include that in the text with that model.  I also have some other products that I will talk about in a later post.

Alan
20th October 2013

The Main Attraction Part 2

The Main Attraction Part 2

BRONCO MODELS. 

German Type XXIII U-Boat Coastal Submarine .

Product Id ：CB35104

Size ：1/35

Released Date：29/07/13.

As I said earlier I had already started the Uboat before I had thought about doing this blog, So I will just post up some pictures of the model. Sub has still to have some final touches done and to be painted.

Here is the sub sitting on plinth alongside dock. 

I have left the bow torpedo doors off of model as I am going to make a feature here. This will feature in a later post.

Here, a shot looking down at Conning Tower, this was the most difficult part of the kit to make-up. I found it hard to get all parts to fit together and glue. A little bit of time with this part is required and constant checking of all parts whilst glue takes hold.

Step 1/2:  Your 1st job in building the Bronco kit is to make up the 2 torpedo's, these are very straight forward and do not take to much time. The difficult part is adding the VERY small etched brass propeller blades. Again I have made these torpedo's up but have not fitted them to model.  I will use these on the dockside.

Step 3:  Sees you starting with the 2 rear after sections of the submarine including rudder and propeller. Considering the size of the two halves they fit together perfectly with nothing more than cleaning up the mould marks, with the large section of part needing glued you will have to keep a wee eye on the seams when gluing.  Not too much of a problem with these parts.

Step 4:  You are now going to build the Bow/Stern planes and Torpedo doors, 

Step 5: Has got you placing torpedo tubes into the front 2 sections of the u-Boat, again care needs to be exercised when gluing the 2 halves of the sub together, but again the parts fit together with very little effort.

Step 6:    Sorry, I am not an expert when it comes to some bit of the subs. This stage you are fitting what I would call "Duckboards" it looks like slotted boards for walking along the deck, some vents and stanchions for the handrails.

Step 7: Here you have the scary bit.......joining the 2 halves together and at this point you get to see for the first time how big the model is.  They fit together like a good pair of gloves. A firm push and the click together. Adding the bow planes and step 7 is complete.

Step 8:  Is fitting the hatch and what I think is something to do with blowing tanks. Not a lot to do in this step.

Step 9:  Is fitting the navigational lights and some other glass fittings to both halves of the Conning tower. There was an amendment to my instructions here it was to do with the colour of the lights, this my be corrected in future instructions.

    

Step 10. Details for the periscope and sub flooring inside the conning tower. A couple of wee fiddly bits on this step, the handle for the periscope are individual fittings.

Step 11:  Is fitting all the parts together that form the conning tower together, lots of wee fiddly bits here so a little bit of care and attention with this stage 

Step 12:  Now you are fitting the completed Conning tower the the hull of the U -Boat and also fitting some of the etched brass parts

Step 13: Is making up of the plinth for the completed U-Boat to sit on.

Step 14: Is to string up handrail, I have not done this step as yet as I was going to spray model before fitting string

Step 15: and last step is to make up the lifeboat, this is a bonus part of the kit.

The kit comes with 5 options to the model,

U2322      U2329      U2336      U2326      U2360

Overall with the kit I was delighted with both the quality of the plastic and the way the kit all fitted together with very little work needed. I can remember doing models when I was a lot younger and spending loads of time trying very hard and using lots of milliput and sanding paper to get models to join together.  

I will put up another post when I come to paint model.

If there is anyone reading this blog and would like more information or would like to see more photographs please do get in touch and I will try my very best to help you out.

Alan

18th October 2013

The Main Attraction Part 1

Bronco Models. 

German Type XXIII U-Boat Coastal Submarine .

Product Id ：CB35104

Size ：1/35

Released Date：29/07/13. The following information is taken from the Bronco Models website:-

The Type XXIII was a small coastal submarine developed by the Germans simultaneously with the larger Type XXI. Work began in late 1942 and used the same basic hull design of the more advanced Type XXII, which was never completed. The submarine was to be completed in sections at different factories, which would then be transported to the shipyard for final assembly. One of the design considerations was that the submarine was small enough that it could be transported by rail. As a result the submerged displacement was only 258 tons, power was provided a 572 hp MWM 6-cylinder diesel engine and 572 hp AEG electric motor. A small 35 hp "creeping" motor was also fitted, all three motors drove a single shaft. Speed was 9.7 knots surfaced and 12.5 knots submerged, with a range of 4,800 kilometres at 8 knots surfaced. Armament was 2 bow torpedo tubes with 2 torpedoes. The Type XXIII was built in Germany, France, Italy and Russia, with a total of 61 completed by the end of the war. However only 6 boats went on was patrol, of these U-2336 sunk the last merchant ship in European waters of WWII, on 7 May 1945.

I got my U-Boat model from Wonderland Models in Edinburgh, I was going through to a  Hearts V St. Mirren so I thought that me and the wife could make a day of it and after the football have a nice meal in Edinburgh. Wonderland models were out of stock of the model as was the rest of the UK I think. I placed an order via their website and was advised a date as to when they hoped to have more stock. The day arrived as to when this item was in stock and I got an email that this in fact happened and that delivery date would be at the end of the week. This was delivered on said date, I have received a great service from Wonderland Models from start to finish.

I had already started the kit, before my son in law coaxed me into doing this blog, as I have said before I have never done this sort of thing before, so I hope you find it interesting.  So I don't have any photographs of parts and building the U-Boat. Sorry. I will use photographs from the Bronco Models website.

                                                            The first thing that grabs you about this kit is the actual size of the model at almost 1 meter long its huge.  1st look at parts shows then to be clean and crisps lines. I found the quality of the plastic to be good. On trail runs the parts fit together well with what looks like very little work to make the fit properly. There is a very detailed instruction leaflet included with the kit and a copy of the box artwork on a printed sheet. Overall, on first impressions I am delighted with model.    

I will put up pictures of the model in next post as I said earlier the model is almost complete as I did not intend to make a blog.

I have decided to make my model # U2326 as this U-Boat was  surrendered at Dundee May 1945, this is one of the 5 options that you have with this model.

Dockside

Dockside.

Dockside:

I decided to start with the dockside as this would provide the  base for whole diorama.  I had though to build this from scratch but thought that doing this over a 4 foot base board that by the time I got to the end I would be blind.  So it was off to the laptop and our friend Google to see what I could find online.

Right away I found these ITALERI (click in British flag unless your Italian is good) dock units  Dock With Stairs Catalogue # 5615   all the sizes are on the website.  This unit along with Long Dock Catalogue # 5612  are completely modular and can be built in what ever arrangement your want or require. 

 I purchased these Italeri kits from Jadlam Racing Models via Ebay.  I was very impressed with the service that I got from JRM, very quick delivery, securely packed and a good price, no problems at all. Even got a 10% discount for my next order online.

A good look at all the sprues found that Italeri have done a very good job with the mouldings very little flash.  I was very pleased to find that after removing from sprue and cleaning up parts needed very little work to fit together, as this was my 1st return to kit building I thought to myself wow! plastic kit building has changed a lot in the 20 odd years since my last venture in modelling.  These units build up very quickly and really fit well together.

As you can see from photograph I have placed these on top of 2 pieces of 2 x 1 timber, I wanted these to give me a bit more depth for the dry dock. I will plaster the front one and make it look like a concrete base to the dockside.


Dock With Stairs Catalogue # 5615

Here is a closer look at the unit with stairs, a couple of cuts and you can remove the cut out section to allow the fitting of the stairs. Again I found doing this job very easy to do and all parts fitted with very little effort or work to make them fit. Overall I am delighted with both the quality and easy of building for this model. Well done Italeri.






This photograph is an aerial view of the dock side both the docksides have Railway/Tram lines on them as well as Drains and what I would call manhole covers, but in this day of PC correctness I better call them Personhole covers. These tracks are molded into base.  Again I was going to have a couple of wagon on the dockside.

Alan
8th October 2013



In the Begininig

In The Beginning.

This diorama is of no where in particular, its not based on anywhere apart from inside my empty head. Its loosely based somewhere in the south of France, so apologies if you spot something that is wrong. The diorama was intended for my pleasure and to give me something to do, the last time that I did any serious modelling was over 25 years ago. So I thought lets give it a wee go again. I had
given away or sold most of my modelling tools and equipment through the years of not modelling so I have had to start virtually from scratch again with new tools and equipment.

I have had a lot of help from various suppliers and I will endeavour to give them appropriate mentions throughout this blog. I will also list where I bought products from. These products have been purchased by me and none have been given as to promote said businesses. This allows me to speak freely without any bias towards any company our individual.

For those that would like to know I am using a Nikon D40X

The Baseboard:

All made out of MDF, base is 18mm thick, with this being quite a large diorama I thought that this would stop any bending. The sides and back scene are all MDF as well, these are 8mm sheets. The complete base measures 47 1/4" (120mm) x 26 1/2" (67mm) x 24" (61mm). For convenience, I got MDF and some 2 x 1 for frames from my local B&Q store.

With base, sides and back all cut and ready to go, I started with the diorama and attached one side and the back to base, I had decided to leave one end open for the moment as this would allow more scope for some photographs.

Alan

6th October 2013



Brief Overview.

Inspiration For Building This Diorama.

 

 

A few years ago I visited the International Toy Fair in Nurenberg Germany.  I was on a business trip with my employers and whilst having some free time a colleague and I went to visit the plastic model hall.  The Toy Fair is now opened to the public on the last day I think, before you have to have an invite from the trade. It is well worth going to have a trip to Nurenberg on its own and visiting Fair at the same time.  Bit of advice if you are its advisiable to book early with your hotel room (or it was 3/4 years ago).  The Toy Fair Exhibition centre makes the NEC Birmingham look like a village hall.

 

Information on the 2014 Toy Fair

 

http://www.toyfair.de/?L=1    

 

Exhibition centre to give you an idea of the size from entrance gates to the last hall will take you a good 20/25 minute walk down the main corrider (this does not go through the halls)

 

http://www.toyfair.de/footer-menu/die-messe/exhibition-center/?L=1   

 

 

Whilst in the model kit hall we noticed this HUGE diorama of a model of "Das Boot" at a harbour, stocking up on food supplies and provisions.  I was not sure the scale of this model but was bigger than the  1/35 scale model that I am doing.  The entire diorama base must have been about 8` long, with my German not at the best I got some information from the staff on the stand that model was for a model of the "Das Boot", this was larger than the eventual model was going to be. 

 

The model was entirelly scratch built and was to a scale 1/20, The 1/35 Bronco kit is almost 1 metre long.

 

So the following pages are intended to give others some inspiration and make a diorama, after seeing the above diorama years ago I have now decided to have a bash, I promise it will not be to the high standard as the Das Boot one that I saw in Germany a good few years ago.

 

I will post up some photographs as I go along and give you names and address of the suppliers that I have bought loads of stuff from.  Hopefully you will not find it to boring and come back and read some more of my blog.  This is the 1st time that I have ever done a blog so go easy on me lol!

 

Please feel free to send me some comments and if you have got any questions, I will do my upmost to answer them for you.

 

I will apologies in advance for any poor grammer or silly spelling mistake, this blog is intended to be read as a modelling blog and not an English literature blog.

 

Alan

 

4th October 2013