Diorama

This diorama depicts an Aerosan rifleman shooting a German on the Russian front. Conditions were rough for both sides; however, the Russians were better prepared as they had lived through their brutal winters before. The Germans came ill equipped to deal with the harshest of the Russian weather.

The kit is the Kirin 1/35 Aerosan; the figures are also by Kirin which were available separately. Deauville made the dead German, while the skis and miscellaneous equipment were from a DML accessory set.

A Plexiglas disc (1/8" thick) was used to simulate a spinning propeller. Before attaching it, I put the disc in a lathe and tapered it to the shape of a prop. While still spinning, I airbrushed the yellow tips. To give the effect of motion, I airbrushed fine brown lines on it (also while still spinning in the lathe).

The snow is made of a mixture of microballons (expanded glass beads) and spackling.

This diorama was awarded First place in the diorama category at the2003 Baton Rouge, LA contest.

Photos by Phil Novak