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I
have always been enthralled with the
South Pacific, specially during WWII. The
opportunity to make a diorama presented itself when a Japanese friend came home
to visit us. To my surprise, he carried some WWII photographs his dad had given
him before passing away. This diorama was based on those pictures. Please
bare in mind that I am not in anyway pro-Japanese and could not find any other
subject that attracted me.
Aircraft
kit used is the Tamiya 1/48 Rufe. All the figures came from Monogram and Tamiya,
some used with and without modifications.
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| You
can see the photo taken of me supporting my wife used as body position
to modify the pilot and helper! |
That
was the easy part, now problems started to pile up when I could not find any +
or - 1/48 palm trees! Verlinden makes a species in 1/35, but they were based on
the African palm tree that has a wider and shorter trunk. South Pacific species
are taller and smoother. So, I had to sculpt one based on photos. Unfortunately,
the casted resin used was of the stiff type and even when using hot water to
bend and shape it to my liking, it returned to its original position. After
poking around I could find a flexible resin when cured, but it stayed sticky and
it was annoying to handle it! I made a test leaving one palm tree bended for a
week and to my surprise, it started to upright itself!
Finally I decided to stick an electrical copper wire in the middle and
started casting a bunch of them. Bending them was now easy and they stayed
crooked! To my relief, when priming them, the stickiness was no longer. After
resolving this, the leaves were next. Obviously, the Verlinden photoedge ones
were of a different type. After searching, found someone that could make several
PE palm fronds using one that I made out of paper clippings.
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The
huts were made using balsa wood, reeds and little dry plants that grow here in
Mexico.
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The
lagoons water was simulated with clear epoxy resin. The bottom layer was painted
dark greenish blue, diluting the same shade on overlapping layers until the
surface was finished using pure clear resin. 12 hours lasted between layers to
avoid heat build-up.
The
advantages of using epoxy over polyester resin are many, but mainly you avoid
heat that can distort the aircraft and the figures. The other are the toxic
fumes! With epoxy resin you are also sure that it will not shrink from the
boxlike base. This resin takes, if mixed correctly, 12 hours to cure, so I
tested doneness almost at the end to produce the small beach waves and almost
smooth surface that characterizes lagoons.
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To
tie everything up, an artist friend, painted the cyclorama or more commonly
known as backdrop.
Eli
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