En Route to Caen

A short history:
This diorama is set in the outskirts of Caen, some time during the early days of the D-DAY invasion. A British MP is guiding a M5A1 light tank, in British use, through a roadblock set up by the German defending forces. As you can see in one of the pics, there has already be a bit of fighting, depicted by the abandoned MP40, spent cartridges and blood stains (be careful NOT to overdo this in a diorama) near the "hedgehog" road block.

How the diorama was built:
I used a sheet of glass, 18 by 24 centimeters, from a cheap picture frame as a base for the dio. Small blocks of expanded polystyrene were glued in place using white glue, and served as a base for the little slope placed in the back of the scene. The concrete road sections are a printed cardboard item from Verlinden Productions, simply cut to shape and glued to the glass sheet, also using white glue. Polifylla was used for shaping the groundwork, and while still wet, sprinkled with fine sand. After a short drying period, all items to be placed on the ground, were gently pressed into the still slightly soft Polifylla, and then removed after a few seconds. This way you don't risk getting that "set-on-top" look!! But do be careful not to do this too soon, trial and errors are the keywords here. After the sand covered Polifylla had completely cured, patches of un-diluted white glue were applied to the ground work and then sprinkled with static grass. I use the stuff from Busch, a German manufacturer of model train accessories as I find the Verlinden static grass way too expensive! After this had completely dried, the entire ground work was washed with a very thin wash of mat black and dark brown enamel paint, diluted with white spirit. After yet another drying period, the bare ground was drybrushed with various shades of brown and the grass with various shades of brown and green. The final drybrushing of the grass was done with mat yellow as this gives a very realistic look. The hedgerow is yet another Verlinden item. The set is expensive but highly useful, so I can only recommend this set for diorama builders. The "hedgerow" comes as twigs from some kind of plant (unfortunately I don't know which one, if I did, I could save a few bucks) These twigs can be cut to smaller pieces, all depending on if you're make a bush or a small tree. The foliage is colored sawdust; start out spraying the part of the bush/tree/hedgerow which is to be covered with foliage, with 3M Spraymount glue and then simply sprinkle it with the sawdust. The finished item can be left as it is, but I prefer to airbrush it with various shades of green or brown, all depending on which time of the year the diorama is going to set in. The finished hedgerow was attached to diorama by drilling small holes in the groundwork, using a handdrill. The hedgerows were secured using thick CA (superglue). It recommended that you dryfit the hedgerow until you're happy with the result, before you start gluing them with CA! The final touch was given by dusting the entire diorama with pastel chalk, particularly on the concrete road, where the M5 has set its "foot prints".

Other items used on the diorama:
The small roadside shrine is from Verlinden. It was handpainted with Humbrol enamels, washed with diluted oilpaint and weathered with drybrushing and pastel chalks.

The Tamiya 1/35 M5A1 tank was built straight from the box, with only a few weld seams added and some stowage from the scrap box and various Verlinden sets. The tarpaulins, located behind the turret, were made from rolled up tissue paper. Decals came from the Airfix 1/32 Monty's Humber and a few Verlinden dry transfers.

The M5A1 crew and MP are also Verlinden items. The uniforms etc. were painted with Humbrol enamels and flesh parts with oilpaint. The crew has an almost overdone "British look" :^) But a nice set, which will compliment any WWII UK, tank.

The ammo strewn on the side of the road, are 75 mm shells taken from the Tamiya PAK 40 kit (anti-tank gun). All other minor items were found in the scrap box. This is less important, just as long as it fits the time slot and location for the diorama.

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