Zis-3 Gun Emplacement (Soviet Field Gun)

This is a group build on another site.

This is the kit:



Unlike the two previous MiniArt diorama kits I've built (Mile End Garage and the base for 'Retreat From Leningrad', the wooden sections for this one were easy to cut out.





Wooden sections mocked up:



In place and primered:



As most of you probably realise, I love winter dioramas and I am oh so tempted with this one. We'll see as it progresses.

You're spending a lot of time on the dark side pal!

Hey Al....Do you know you got this posted twice or are you doing two, 1 summer and 1 winter ??

Good start on this

You are a true machine, Al.

john2308 wrote:Hey Al....Do you know you got this posted twice or are you doing two, 1 summer and 1 winter ??  

Good start on this  

How the heck did that happen? Sorted now. Thanks for pointing it out John.

JohnJ wrote:You're spending a lot of time on the dark side pal!

LOL.... the last one was way back in July John!!!

RetiredMike wrote:You are a true machine, Al.

Always like to have something on the bench Mike.

Love doing dioramas ... love watching them come together too !


Popcorn, KFC, coffee, comfy seat ..... i'm set !!!!

Snake wrote:


Popcorn, KFC, coffee, comfy seat  ..... i'm set !!!!

Get back to the bench lazybones!!!!

Very interesting Al, I hope you go the winter route with it, I would like to see your technique for snow.

I'm leaning that way Gary as I want to try creating a winter 'thaw' scene. Some snow and some wet ground showing through. That's the way I'll go if I can figure it.

Definitely decided on a late winter/early spring scene with snow.

I painted the ground with a suitable base coat and did the shuttering too. That, I think, needs some more wash to bring out the details more.

I'm winging it on the ground and don't really know what to do next at the mo. LOL

i take it that base must be about a foot square?

I didn't like the texture of the 'soil', it just looks too much like well trodden on rock in the boxart to me, so I sprayed it with hair lacquer, and sieved on a load of this stuff:







I then sprayed it with a couple of 'earthy' type colours:



followed by numerous clear coats to 'bind' it. Finally I re-did the shuttering and sprayed it with dull coat:



It looks dark at the moment but will brighten considerably when the snow goes on.

This is the effect I'm hoping to achieve:

Wild weathering Al !

Well, I did a test piece to try and capture the look of the half melted snow but in all honesty, it just looked too toy like.

So I changed tack and did it like this with some earth showing through:

Backside foremost, upside down, back to front, call it what you will but I made an eleventh hour decision that I wasn't keen on the moulded in timber base for the gun, so oot it came!!

Looks better ... scale wise most of all ... you're not going to have a huge gun balanced on a few 2x2 planks in the field are you lol.

Be even better when it's all weathered in as well.

Snake wrote:Looks better ... scale wise most of all ... you're not going to have a huge gun balanced on a few 2x2 planks in the field are you lol.

Be even better when it's all weathered in as well.

That was my thought too Colin plus they just looked to uniform for such a situation.

The next stage will be to cover the underside with a thick layer of Lightweight Hydrocal (modern alternative to Plaster Of Paris) then force it through the gaps with the section of base I cut out. This will fill in the gaps and pull in all together.

Super, Al. Good call on the gun base.

Thanks Buck.

I mixed up and coloured some filler, covered the underside in a thick layer and forced it through the gaps with the cut out portion.



Then blended the whole lot in.



I couldn't get enough pigment into the filler to get as dark a colour as I wanted, so when it's dry, I will clean it up somewhat and 'dye' the lighter mud with thinned paint. Finally it will get a light dusting of snow.

that looks a good bit of bodging

Finished up the base.



Went a tad overboard with the snow though!! Oh well!!



If I can figure out how to make some 'wet' patches, I will. If not it will just have to depict hard frost conditions!! LOL

Al: if Testors stain is available in the UK, they make a wet effect stain that should work for you. BTW, the real wood logs are a big improvement in realism.