During WW2 the Germans built tons of bunkers and fortifications. From calm and peaceful Atlantic coastal villages to the more chaotic combat zones around Europe and Northern Africa bunkers were built. Many were of concrete or rock, some came prefabricated and some were more hastily constructed using timber. In the most hectic frontlines even a earthen dugout would be referred to as `bunker`.
I wanted to make a diorama showing an example of those wooden shelters somewhere on the Eastern front. I didn`t have a clear idea of the layout or if to use figures or vehicles yet, but knew I wanted a two layer cut-away dio.
My very first step was a visit to the florist shop where I picked up a bundle of flower sticks to us as timbers, some Oasis florists foam for groundwork and wire for vegetation. After a flick through Osprey`s German Field Fortifications 1939-45 I knew what layout I wanted and how to proceed.
I put lengths of flower sticks together with PVA whiteglue into sections of bunker walls and roof ,and smeared a layer of Green Scenes "FlexiBark" to them. When this had dried and received a light sanding it had a nice bark-like texture.
Since the bunker would be underground a stairway was made from balsawood and enclosed with timber walls and roofing. I wanted the stairs to descend in an angle but the size of the frame I had chosen to build this on (20 x 25 cm) limited the options a little. I needed to complete the underground section before I could move on with the top layer so I continued by giving the logs different shades of brown. For this I used random mixes of paint from Lifecolor, followed with dark washes from Mig Productions.
In the inner corner of the bunker I made a sleeping quarters with four beds and sleeping grenadiers. I built the beds from balsawood and stained them with Mig washes. I saved myself some work by making a cloth cover from a teabag to hang in front of the bunk beds, thus needing only to paint 3 pair of feet to mimic the sleeping soldiers. The same went for the fourth sleepy head, only the boots were showing as he wrapped himself in a teabag bedcover. I put up a shelf over the bed and filled it and the walls with equipment,bags,pics and posters to make the corner look a bit "lived in".
For a while I didn`t know what to do with the space in front of the beds, but landed on a table with a lamp hanging from the roof above and a large map on the wall. I made a dinged up lampshade from a piece of candy wrapping and the light bulb is a working LED.
In the entrance I hung another shelf with some helmets on. Beneath it a few greatcoats and jackets tailored from teabags were hung to dry after a day to the frontlines.
Teabags are very easy to work with, once soaked in PVA they form like you want them, and drapes like the real thing. They dry really hard and gives a very realistic thickness in the cloth. There is a subtle texture to it as well.
Having done the main work on the bunker I could fix it to its final position on the base using epoxy glue. I built the framing walls of the base,giving it a height between 10 and 13 cm,and then started to box-in the bunker and stairway with scrap pieces of balsawood sheets and plasticard. With the surface roughly shaped by the scrap material I could begin working on the groundwork.
In front of the entrance leading down to the bunker I pictured a earthen walkway,which I then made from Oasis florists foam. I cut sheets of the foam, soaked it with thinned PVA glue and sort of "stabbed" it in place with the end of a broken flower stick. This breaks up the foam and creates a nice earth looking effect.
I made a stamped earthen floor in the chambers below too, using the same technique. Towards the left of the base I placed a small log observation bunker which I raised ca 3 cm from the walkway and I made a Oasis foam floor in it. Between the two bunker doors I built a palisade of raised timbers separating the walkway from the layer of Oasis foam "earth" atop the bunker while the observation post got a timber roof.
When the Germans built their fortifications they knew it was very important to conceal them properly and went to great lengths in doing so. Often big camo netting was stretched over installations. Paints were applied, or implementation of natural rocks to break up smooth concrete surfaces. Of course Mother Nature provides good camouflage, so when possible grass, moss and plants were dug up from areas behind the lines and replanted in the freshly turned soil around trenches or on top bunkers.
This was a fine excuse to try making a convincing groundcover. Great fun. I found the Lifecolor paint jars and painted all the earthwork to hide any glue, green Oasis foam or other unwanteds. Ground scatter was made up from torn pieces of ModelScenes "Grass Matts" and Reality in Scales "Forest-in-a-Pot" which I modified to a more autumn tone by adding crushed yellow, brown and orange herbs all found in the kitchen spice rack.
This was fixed to the base with PVA whiteglue spiked with a little brown Vallejo Model Color.
To add further to the autumn feel "Grass" from Armor Farm was randomly glued amongst the scatter and along the walkway and palisades. Some shrubbery were placed here and there, and for this I used "Bushes" also a Armor Farm product which I super glued in place and with some wire I made a few saplings to place along with the shrubbery.
At this point I realized I needed a tree. A big one.
Florist wire formed the basic shape of the tree and for the finer branches I had no choice but to dissect a headset from my MP3 player. When I was satisfied with the look of the branches I wrapped the main trunk and branches with masking tape. Then I started from the top covering the wires with acrylic resin working down the tree making sure to cover the overlaps in the tape.
Next I went over it again with CA-gel filling gaps and making knots and texture before I sprayed the whole thing with grey primer. (note to self, do this in well ventilated room..) I painted it in a dark grey-brown but soon decided it to be a birch instead, it would bring more color to the scene.
It being a autumn setting I only placed a handful of PlusModel leaves to its branches and lots of leaves on the ground and I planted it behind the observation bunker.
With the base and groundwork ready I could give the figures a go.
I decided on eight figures, five from Dragon, one Miniart, one Tamiya and a General from Alpha Image. During a weekend I had cleaned up and sharpened the details of all the figures getting them ready for a splash of paint.
I wanted subtle variations to the color of the uniforms and used random mixes of Vallejo Model Colors German Field Grey 830, German Uniform 920, Extra Dark Green and Military Green 975.
For helmets and other green colored equipment I used Reflective Green 890,Russian Uniform 924 and Military Green 975 also in more or less random mixes. To add highlights I added German Camo Beige 820 and Green Grey 886 to a thinned base color and glaced it on top of folds in the garments and so on. For shadows I thinned some base color and added German Camo Black Brown 822.
The general is wearing a Gebirgsjäger windbreaker so I painted this in a beige color mixing German Camo Orange Ochre 824,German Camo Beige 824 and a drop of German Field Grey 830. I added Brown Sand 875 to the mix fo shadows and Sunny Skintone 845 for highlights.
I went the easy route with the flesh painting. I base colored heads and hands with Sunny Skintone 845 and Salmon Rose 835, adding more sunny skintone for highlights and a SIN Filter Dark yellow wash for shades. In the end I applied a pinwash on each figure with Migs Dark wash.
From a Alliance Model Works decal sheet I cut insignias and added them to helmets and uniforms before matting the figures with Humbrol clear matt.
There were several rifles and submachine guns to paint. I base coated the wooden stocks with mixes of Vallejo Sunny Skintone 845 and Brown Sand 876 and covered this with brown oil paints which I `dragged` off with a soft brush to achieve a natural wooden look. For the steel parts I used Black 950, Oily Steel 865 and Gunmetal Grey 863, all Vallejo paints, and following this up with dark washes and a rubbing with a graphite pencil to highlight. Slings were added off a photoetch fret from Eduard. To complete the figures some pigments were dusted on to the boots and uniforms.
Closing in on the completion of the diorama I added more details here and there. In the observation bunker I placed extra binoculars, close defense weapons and maps. A milk churn and some tools were placed along the palisade wall. Underground a few crates and boots were stoved under the beds and along the walls and behind the table a blue chair from Monroe Perdue with a soldiers belt with combat gear slung over it. By the entrance I felt it was natural to place a gun rack with Mausers and a Soviet rifle and I hung another "Schmeisser" submachine gun to the wall here.
The very last step was to just position the figures and fixing them in place with epoxy glue and dusting some pigments around the boots to hide the odd spill of glue, and blend it all together with the groundwork.
On each side of the table in the bunker I placed the dressing soldiers from Dragons kit #6574.
Moving to the surface I occupied the observation post with a scissor binoculars and the spotter from Tamiya`s "German Observation group" and the NCO from Miniarts "German Soldiers w/fuel drums". The Miniart figure was suddenly to tall for the roof to fit so instead of ditching the figure I took a few wooden coffee stirrers,weathered them with dark wash and used them to give the walls enough height. Snag averted.
Finally the general and the rest of the Dragon figures (kit #6702) found their place on the little road where they are having a chat over breakfast and a morning ciggie.
I really enjoyed making this diorama, it sort of just fell together on its own and the vegetation part of the project was what I enjoyed most.
It is a fairly large scene and I hope I managed to pull it off with just figures and no vehicles. Now it is time to find somewhere to put it as the display cabinet is 2 cm too small and then start a new project.
Happy Modelling.
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