SU-100 – Diorama
After an 8-months stop for work reasons, I finally managed to complete the diorama for this SU-100 model! It shows the Soviet tank destroyer of the late Second World War during a break between the fights on the Eastern Front.
For this work I decided to make a more uneven terrain than the previous dioramas. Moreover, like in the Hornisse scene I chose a relaxed atmosphere.
Due to the white identification stripes, used in the Battle of Berlin, this scene could be staged near the German capital, in April 1945.
You can read all the post related to the SU-100 here.
Building
For the base I chose to use a sheet of styrofoam, commonly used as thermal insulator in housebuilding, put on a black photo frame. I added a Czech hedgehog by Tamiya, kit no. 35027, and two figures from kit no. 35214 of the same brand.
First of all, I figured the footprint of the scene elements, drawing a preliminary draft.
After that, I carved the drainage ditch, using the resulting material to build the reliefs:
then I covered everything with Das modelling clay:
Once dried, I spread some sand and pebbles, except on the road and in the ditch, then I sprayed a coat of primer:
and after this, I used the airbrush to make preshading, base color and light shading:
I wasn't fully satisfied with how the existing pebbles looked like, so I added more of them, made from crumbled plaster. I painted each of them with different colors: light gray, dark gray, pink, brown, light green and ochre yellow. In order to blend everything, finally, I made some oil washes with different shades of brown and ochre, plus the green for the ditch.
The final steps include different tones of pigments, and applying birch inflorescence, that closely resemble dried leaves, and grass tufts for scale modeling (Wasteland Tuft by The Army Painter) . I also filled half of the ditch with a product for simulating standing water, but I'm not really satisfied of the outcome.
The final result, with the SU-100 model inserted in the diorama, is the following:
Photo gallery
The figures wear leather jackets, hence the glossy appearance, though in the photos the effect is exaggerated. I made different tries before finding a position that I liked and which was suitable for their stance.
