P38 - Missing in Action, a World War 2 Pacific Theater diorama.
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- čas přidán 8. 04. 2022
- When I started back modeling during the lockdown, I went back to building aircraft kits, it’s what I knew.
But then my wife bought me the venerable Tamiya Panther kit, and I reinvented myself firstly as an armor modeler, then pretty immediately afterwards as a diorama builder.
This diorama combines everything, in the form of an aircraft diorama, featuring Tamiya’s excellent P38 F/G kit in 1/48th scale.
I decided to super detail a crashed and abandoned Lightning aircraft on a tropical beach. This meant chopping off the nose and replacing it with the Eduard Brassin gun bay aftermarket set.
This is where it got scary. I had to take a hacksaw to one of the best engineered kits in aviation modeling. I removed the engine nacelles and replaced them with 2 Black Dog Resin Allison engines.
I learned a lot during the painting process. Initially I sprayed the aircraft silver, intending to build up layers to be revealed later. As you can see this included a rust layer. However after doing more research, I realized that as the skin on the P38 was alumininium it wouldn’t rust, but would corrode instead. Repainting was in order.
Next I moved on to constructing the base. It consisted of a block of pink insulation foam, sprayed with rattle cans, and covered in sand. The rocks too, were carved from foam. They were painted grey, given a black wash, then dry brushed with white. The jungle layer consisted of dried coffee grounds, with static grass on top.
The next step was a test fit…making sure that everything was going to sit correctly.
And what’s a beach/jungle scene without a little wildlife?
One of my favorite moments of a diorama with a water feature…pouring the resin. I first painted the seabed 2 different shades of blue, then added 2 part resin, tinted with a drop of turquoise paint.
Another favorite moment towards the end of the build, is taking some test shots in black and white, just to see if the diorama is starting to look realistic.
Finally the P38 went into its final resting place.
A second layer of clear resin was then followed by creating waves using artists heavy gel.
I then mixed white acrylic paint with Mod Podge to make wave crests.
Next I used a piece of sponge dipped in white acrylic paint, to make the foam between the waves.
And that was it. All done.
It was really interesting to do the research into not only crashed P38s in the pacific, but also studying the effects of corrosion on aluminium over time, then trying to recreate it.
It felt good to build my first modern aircraft kit in 35 years, I’ll definitely do more. I think I have another 3 in my stash, but I think my next 2 dioramas at least, will be back to armor.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my journey, and I hope you’ll hang around for more.
Feel free to follow me on Facebook and Instagram under the name Emdee Scale Models. And of course on here as Martin Drayton.
If you subscribe and hit the bell icon, you’ll get notified whenever I post a new video.
Thanks for watching. Take care.
Martin.
Kit by Tamiya, gun bay by Eduard Brassin, engines by Black Dog. Vegetation by Sky and Landscape.
Music:
- Intro by Black
- Resident Evil Soundtrack
- Flute improv tracks by my daughter Maya Drayton - Zábava
Hello, sir! This is not just a model diorama, this is a pure work lf ART! i'm so glad i've found this gem of modelling!! 💯💯💯👍👍👍👍
Thank you so much that is really kind of you, I really appreciate that.
Good Day Modelcomrade.
This is a nice damaged P 38
Exelent Diorama and Flora and animals.. Good work 😊
Many thanks 🙏🏽
Looks amazing homie. All about the pacific theatre, so anything about that immediately has me hooked.
Thanks, so glad that you like it!
Amazing my friend you are a pro best channel on YT for dioramas with music SFX and the beautiful dark and white pics and your daughter plays the Flute very beautiful keep it up bro can't wait for the next diorama.👌👌🙌🙌👍👍👏👏
Really appreciate your comments! Keep watching, many more in the pipeline! 👍🏾
VERY NICELY WRECK DONE ! all the best jy
Merci Jean-Yves! 👍🏾
Awesome job! Very well done, and Congrats on first place!
That’s kind of you…thanks again. And awesome job on your ship!!!
🇨🇵🙂Vous êtes mon maître. Je suis tout petit devant votre puissante magie de votre travail. ❤
Merci beaucoup Pierre, vous êtes trés gentil 🙏🏽
Ooo very cool! I love the b&w test shots, they looked so real.
Thanks so much, I love taking them!
You are on a streak Martin! Second brilliand dio in a few days, once more fantastic job done! Spot on weathering and great attention to details. Thanks for sharing, take care and keep up the good work my friend.
I truly appreciate your words! I’m having so much fun building right now…more to come soon! 👍🏾
Mayday mayday, have found a wonderful and inspired work here, love the scenery : top notch vegetation, weathering, atmosphere...and I do like the seagull, nice touch!
So glad that you liked it! Thanks Phil.
Hi Martin. Well, I'm no modeller of 'wingy things' but I do appreciate a good model, whatever it is, and this P38 wreck is absolutely superb! I think you've done an amazing job on the corroded aluminium and the general 'rot' caused by a salty sea. The sea, the waves, the froth and foam, is faultless and the diorama made me feel physically warm! I actually feel like going for a swim. I love the 'greenery' on the P38 too, whether it's land-based, or sea-based 'slime'. It's like a battle is going on to see which plant-form wins the prize. On that subject, I'd have liked to have seen more of the 'jungle' growth, because that looks fantastic too, at a glance.
You implied that you made an error by adding the rust layer, but actually I'm a huge fan of 'layering' and then removing layers, applying more, then repeating several times, to achieve super realistic 'weathering' effects, and that's exactly what you've done here. The original rust layer, partially removed, kind of darkens the underlying silver in a non-rusty way, and reapplying silver over the rust means that the rust acts as a kind of 'pre-shading'. Then, the act of messing about with several different layers introduces more random variation in colours, shades and tones. I once 'pre-shaded' a British Quad Tractor and 25pdr field gun red (from beneath) and then yellow (from above) before spraying all over with dark green, then 'rubbed it back' with a stiff damp brush in places (kind of like dry-brushing all over without any paint on the brush) The results were extremely subtle, but the dark green had a bronze-like quality to it that would be impossible to achieve with a bronze-green paint. You've done the same by 'accidentally' adding rust then having to remove or hide it.
I hope you don't mind me saying that I am not a fan of the tropical birds though. To me, they just aren't realistic at all, and look comical, detracting from what is a magnificent diorama. There are some very large sea birds - I'm thinking frigate birds, albatross, etc, that just MIGHT be available in model/3D printed form and they might be more suitable replacements as they will be easier to paint and look more realistic?
Badder
Thanks so much for your feedback. I really appreciate it.
I’m not a wingy things either! This was just a diversion, and to be honest, I used armor weathering techniques to do it.
It’s funny people’s tastes… I’ve had more people complimenting me for adding the birds for a splash of color, than anything else! I am going to elongate their tails to make them look less pigeon-like.
Thanks again for some great feedback 👍🏾
Espetacular! Perfeito! Magnífico! Obra de arte! Receba meus parabéns. 😀👍👋👋👋
Thanks so much Sergio 🙏🏽
Great diorama - absolutely beautiful. 👏👏👏 The weathering in particular is awesome. Bravo mate! 👍
Thanks so much Andrew.
2 P-38s from the 475th FG 5th AAF have been recovered from the jungles of New Guinea. White 44 and the Scarlett Scourge, both are in restoration to flying status. None of the other aircraft that survived the war exist as all of the surviving aircraft were stripped of engines and guns then crushed and buried at Clark Filed or Kimpo Field. PUTT PUTT MARU met this fate. This was Col. Charles McDonald's plane
Cool…thanks for sharing this information.