Tutorial 9: Prepared Tank Position Diorama

The prepared tank position makes an impressive display for a diorama. It can show how a tank is hidden ahead of a known battle, and provides for all kinds of improvisations. In this picture, you can see the crew of a German assault gun loading up the ammunition for a tough fight ahead. The techniques used in this tutorial can also be adapted for making trench scenes like those in the First World War.

To make the basic foundations for the deep trench, I surrounded the edges with plywood sections that will provide the outer “walls” of the diorama. All the added wood sections are glued with a strong wood glue, and clamped if necessary. I use a combination of hobby store bass wood (pine) and balsa. The wood pieces are efficient in filling the dead space, and provide a strong base for the plaster. Please ensure that there is enough space allowance for the plaster or your trench space will become too narrow.

Once the wooden pieces are properly set, I apply the plaster (I use light spackle paste) and sculpt it to suit the desired soil texture. Next, I apply wood strips (available in model railway supply section) for the walls of the trench while the paste is still wet. In order to get the proper indentation of the tank tracks, and also for the vehicle to “sit’ into the ground, I spread kitchen cling wrap over the wet plaster. Then, I carefully position to model in place just long enough to make the impressions, and then remove the model. The cling wrap is also removed after that.

Once the plaster is cured, I spray paint the base in the following order:

1. Overall Tamiya NATO Black on all soil surfaces. For the wooden strip walls, I only shade the edges with NAT Black, as the natural pine color is already best for wooden walls.
2. Shades of varying intensity of Tamiya Red Brown XF64.
3. Slight shades of Tamiya Dark Green XF61
4. Small deposits of Vallejo Russian Splash Mud 73.802 along the lower edges of the wooden strip walls
5. Vallejo Wet Effects 73.828 on the ground within the prepared space, giving it that glossy wet shine that you can see in the picture.

Lastly, apply shades of grass powder on the undisturbed soil surrounding the trench onto thinned white glue. The display base is all ready for the tank to move into.