Battle of the Somme Groupbuild
Few people know that 1916 holds the historical record of being the first year when tanks were deployed into combat.Even fewer people know that they were referred to as being landships because nobody would take the time to find a suitable name for "an idea that will never work". The shores of the river Somme would be the ones carrying these metal beasts into combat, into what would be later known as the Battle of the Somme.
100 years later, the awesome community on r/modelmakers started a group-build with a WWI theme for celebrating the actual french-soil battle. The group-build was scheduled to end in November. I missed the deadline, of course, but I will finish my submission soon.Talking about my project, I plan on doing a post battle diorama, with a tank parked on top of a dirt mound and a medical crew taking care of a wounded soldier.
For this, I'm using two kits:
1/72 Master Box Mk I “Male” British Tank for the Somme Battle period, 1916
1/72 Zvezda British Medical Personnel 1939-1942
Of the bat, you could say that the WWII medical crew has no place on a WWI diorama. I agree with you, yet for this specific build, I am not that much into historical accuracy. Plus, by researching some photos, the uniform differences between the periods are minimal.
The Tank
So far the tank went through a simple paint job. I used an airbrush for the base coat, afterwards applied some darker streaks with a large brush, to simulate mud. I did a crappy job on the British red-white stripes, but I plan on reducing the effects with weathering.
The Crew
This crew set is part of a Zvezda strategic board game. That white dot you see is me filling a hole intended for a flag. Why a hole? Well, you guessed it, it's a snap-in kit. Quite good actually, as you can't see any of the holes and pins. Fun build, I foresee a challenging paint job.
Painting and weathering
I started the weathering process on it by doing a small pin wash. Luckily, WWI tanks are rivet-central, so that turned out pretty good. After cleaning it up a bit, I decided it was about time to try out something new.
Over the years, I read quite a lot on oil paints and how cool they are, but I never really expected to be this amazed. You basically get so many options… using small drops of paint to do washes, filters, grime, scratches… it just never felt easier. And because they take ages to dry, if you don’t like how it turned out, you can just wipe it off.
For the Mark I, I only used oils for doing the mud and rust streaks, but what really got me excited was applying the oil-dot filter technique on my work-in-progress Maultier (coming soon to a blog post near you).
After clear-coating the model, I applied some pigments to the tracks. With this, the tank was pretty much finished. Onto the diorama!
The base
My first ever scratch-built diorama, what an experience! Starting from a regular kitchen cutting board, I traced down a diagonal road that would split the scene in half. On one side, a medical crew would be tending a wounded soldier. On the other, a bomb crater would be waiting for rain, wind and time to bury it back in the depths of history. Somewhere along the road, the army have used their shovels to raise a road block for supply transports. The tank would have no problems in going over it, though.
DAS Modelling Clay White 500g
Using some modelling clay, I started sculpting the elements for the diorama. Applying water and carefully stretching the paste, I managed to make it completely cover the wood. If you’re curious, I used a brand called DAS Modelling Clay, the white version. It worked well, although it stunk the room for well over 2 days, until it dried off. I also bought some Mr. Diorama Clay that I will definitely try out in the future.
So after the sculpting was done, I carefully imprinted some track marks along the way. Also, using a sponge, I gave the field surface a rough texture, to contrast a bit with the smoothness of the road. Like most things in modelling, in the end-result this will be hardly visible, but I will know it’s there.
After letting it dry for about 3 days, I applied paint and pigments until I was happy with the result:
A coating layer of Vallejo Model Color Camo Black Brown
Several dry brushed layers of gray, light brown and sand colors (applied using a brush and a sponge)
Several shades of pigments
Talking a bit about the medical crew, even though they initially had their own base, I decided to cut them away from it, as it would look weird on the diorama. The paint was much easier to apply than I initially thought. A bit unhistorical with the green, I admit, but I really like the contrast it has with the tank itself.
Some patchy static grass and it’s finally done. One of my favorite projects so far. Enjoy the pictures:
