"Goin' Home" Diorama.
Hozzászólások

Ben, It began as the other album I have here now, but I wanted to post this as the Dio build apart from the B-17G that is the centre piece, and it is currently, "A work in progress" of the dio.

Hi Soeren, Thanks for coming for the ride mate. 🙂
I have got until the 20th of August to have it finished, as I am entering the dio in a comp here.;-/

Thank you one and all for your encouragement and interest, and I need every word of it. 🙂 👍
Just a bit of history here.;-/
I have, over the years, seen umpteen dozen dio's of the B-17, and most of them are where it's all crashed or torn to bits, and all of them fantastic examples of modelling to be sure.
But, I have only ever see 1 instance where there was something happening that involved the engines, and that was just recently.
And as I love being like all you people here.............."different", and to challenge one's self and ones willingness to 'have a go', I wanted to see if I could make one that looked really 'busy'.;-/
So, like John Cleese said many years ago.............."And now for something completely different" 🙂.
Cheers 🙂

I have posted an 'almost done' image for those who are wondering what the hell I am doing. 🙂
Now you know ;-/

James, Thank you my friend, and I will add here, I have had so much fun putting this together, not to mention that I am in a bit of a panic at the moment, waiting for my 1/48 jeep and bicycles. 🙂 👍

Good morning Mat, And thanks mate.
I am totally consumed by it at the moment.
Now I have to figure out where to store it, or, maybe sell it !!!
Cheers mate. 🙂 👍

Hey Kerry, have you renamed your "Goddammit volcanoes" dio into "Goin home"?

Kerry this is really impressive you really mange to capture the busy action of the photo and made it in the diorama.
Well done

Kerry, you probably know for yourself, what a pleasure it is to observe such a busy and immersive diorama compositions. So I'm here just to confirm that you're creating a real treat fro the eyes and the mind, all your efforts and thoroughness turning into an amazing scenery that will captivate any viewer for quite a while.
It's a real pleasure to follow your hard work and to anticipate the upcoming result! 🙂

OMG. !!!! I am just overwhelmed people. :-O
Holger, You are quite right mate, and the dio turned into it's own person really, and "Goin' Home" is the new name for the "GDVolcano's", but the dio 'build' is what I really wanted to focus on, and the model was the 'filler' you might say.
Antonio, I thank you too my friend. 🙂
Soeren, I am grateful that you like it mate. 🙂
Christian, it is that happy medium of 1/48, but you should see the PE bicycles from "Flightpath" I got today, so small, I could start my own flea circus. LOL 👍
Pavel, I am grateful for your observations and great comments mate, as I have always wondered why some modellers don't 'busy up' their dio's, after all, you are looking at a fraction of a second in time. 🙂
Marko, Thanks mate. 🙂
Jens. What a thing to say !!!, but thanks. 🙂 🙂
Cheers mates. 🙂

Wow Kerry this is already looking fantastic, all the delicate detailwork ! A real joy to look at !

Hanno, I really appreciate your comments my friend, thank you. 🙂 👍.
Holger, I am wanting to put in a fence and some livestock, maybe some sheep or dairy cattle, and I am not kidding mate. 🙂
I have had a look at some footage from the era on Youtube, and as I have changed the scenery to make it look like England, I see that there were even crops of wheat or barley really close to the dispersal areas like I have got. 🙂
Do you have any suggestions as to what may look appropriate please Holger. ?
I have been pondering all kinds of 'textural' differences and I do have till the 20th of Aug to finalize the dio, so any ideas will be most welcome.
Cheers 🙂

"Take me down to the paradise City where the grass is green and the Girls are pretty!" 😄8)
I would like to recommend that the grass is too green. Will say - some more tones and shades of green would be nice...😢

Holger, I really appreciate your feed back mate, and I do agree it is too green.;-/
As you can see, I have made the edge look like 'muddy' water has pooled and or flowed causing that brown effect, and I was thinking of making the grass look 'muddier' and maybe some vehicle tyre tracks through it with the mud/soft earth 'squish' effect. ?
I have painted the truck to look like it has been driving through muddy 'run off', and I just can't leave it at that hey. !
Thanks again mate.
Cheers 🙂 👍

To liven up the grass you might want to just spray it around with a different hues of green or brownish - ever so slightly, a patch here, a patch there. Maybe a bit darker around the tent and the walkboards to create an artificial shadow. Maybe dip some of that flock in yellow and light brown paint, let it dry and then sprinkle it around to suggest some dry or dead grass, some wildflowers if the season is right. Also, some grass peeking through from between the concrete slabs could be a real thing. Some minor things like that. 🙂

Pavel, Wonderful suggestions mate, and I will be able to do that, as I can powder up some pastel brown and mix it with the spare grass, dampen it and sprinkle. 🙂
I like the 'shadow' idea too, because I was just about to put some 'mud' on the planks as well, but the 'peeking grass' has me fascinated. LOL 🙂 👍.

Beautiful work Kerry. Very detailed, like the wooden boards going from the insanely well-made tent is a nice touch! 👍
This isn't a diorama people will just give a look at, but a long stare.. and probably lots of questions!

Kerry, when the bike is to small you could try to use a bicycle intende for gauge0 railway modelling.

Vegard, I hope your right about the long stare mate, as I am hoping that I can put it in a position that will allow the public at the comp to take in all the 'activity', and as we do, tell all interested people 'how it was done'. LOL 🙂🙂
Christian, I have just received the 1/48 bikes and to use superglue on them is almost impossible, but they are just the right size and instead of using the white metal 'tyres' that come in the kit, I was thinking of looking for some actual rubber "O" rings that would be even better.
Thanks for your suggestion.🙂 🙂 👍
Cheers lads. 🙂 👍

Kerry, you might try to dampen some areas of the grass and weed it out with a pair of pincers in order to give it a more battered look. You could then spray these areas with a sand or mud colour, as well as applying some pigments diluted in spirit,to create muddy areas. There' s a tutorial on Uschi's site about this, you might want to take a look here:uschivdr.com/product..isplay-old-concrete/

Hanno, How cool are you mate.??? 🙂 🙂
Thanks for the link to Uschi mate, and I am so glad you guys are looking out for me.
I am stoked. 🙂

I'm glad you find this useful, there's no doubt that you make the most of it ! 🙂

Hanno and Company, I had a good look at the Uschi site and this is what I have come up with, and as we all know, England was a wet place for a good part of the war. :-/
The flecks of 'grass' on the pad will be removed as I "Emu bob" the area. 🙂
BTW, the canvas over the 'glassed' area was to keep the sun and heat down on equipment that had seen better days.

It is certainly taking up much of my time since I started it, but I'm not complaining, and there is just more and more that keeps happening to it. 🙂

Hanno and Marko, Thank you both, and I will tell you how I did it.
What I did was put some water and metholated spirits into a flat bowl, and powdered some dark earth pastel into the bowl.
Then with a broad brush, I just 'loaded' up the grass and made 'mud', then I thinned down what was left, added some black pastel and 'washed' the concrete squares.
Thanks to Hannos link to Uschi, I saw how it was done and just tried to copy what I saw.🙂
Did you both see the bike. ? 🙂

Mat, the bikes are by "Flight path" and I got them from www.djparkins.com.
They are 1/48 and you get four bikes per pack.
djparkins.com/produc..p;cat=250&page=3

The bike looks cool, did you try it out already ? 😉 that must have been pretty fiddly work.....

G'Day Hanno 🙂. My nuts are really sore now, as I slipped off the pedals twice. !!!!🙂 🙂LOL
Very fiddly work Hanno.:-/
If you look closely, you will see I bound the wheels and tyre together with some ultra thin copper wire to get the correct 'alignment', as the tyres are white metal rings, and to try and do it with SG first created all kinds of problems.
So, using the tie wire worked a treat, and I then went back and applied the perfect amount of SG so 'seal' the assembly, and now I will remove the wire.🙂 👍

Roberto, Thank you my friend, and it is the biggest challenge I have ever presented myself. :-/
It all took shape in my mind when I saw a photo of a B-17 in Italy getting all it's motors replaced after flying through the ash cloud from the 1944 Mt Vesuvius eruption, and it went from there. 🙂

Truly astonishing details, and it all looks so realistic! Great job! 😄

Camilla, I am so happy you like what you see mate. Still so much more to do though. 🙂 👍

John, I appreciate your comment mate.🙂
I am not going to give the rivet counters much to play with here, LOL
It's been a real hoot to work on. 🙂

As always I follow your work with the upmost excitement! 🙂 The bicycles are really cool!!

Colin, If you happen to be in Brisbane on the 23rd Of Aug this year, I will have it in the QMHE competition. I am looking forward to this years event, as we are at a larger venue and there should be a whole lot more on the table. 🙂

Yes Camilla, I have everyone working hard, and the bikes are coming along well, and in fact, I will do some close up's of them as they are built.🙂

Wow, a few days off and you finished it nearly up. Very nice and convincing work Kerry.

Christian, Thanks to you, I could entertain so many more scenarios within the dio, and ALL the figures you gave me have been used, a million thanks mate.
Camilla, I have your number 😉
Miro, you are most kind and I am most grateful my friend.
Cheers. :-0 👍

You are all so kind and I do appreciate your comments Mates.🙂 👍
Cheers. 🙂

Hey Kerry! That is ... huge! Very cool project, and it is obvious that you spent much time on this! Nice work on all the details, keep on the good work!

Thanks Maik, 🙂 It has been a lot of fun and I will be happy to move on to a other subject too. :-/
The help and support I have received for this build is just fantastic.
🙂

Christian, 🙂, as I had said before mate, I am so very grateful to you for your sending me the extra figures I needed, as it helped me create a much more active scene with them than the few I all ready had. 🙂 🙂 👍 👍 👍.

Ulf, not too close now, as your likely to end up with really muddy boots in this diorama. LOL 🙂
Thanks for looking in on the progress mate. 🙂 👍

I like it even better as it is now mate. You've got a good story connected to the diorama. I liked the Vesuvius version and my initial reaction when I saw the first photo (when I still believed it to be the Vesuvius verson) was, "where's the scorched grass and ash?" Why, well the only grass you'll find in Italy during the summer is on the football stadiums, now march isn't technically summer but it's all begun that south in Italy by that time, moot point as you've elected to go on the other end of the scale with a usually wet England, I heard that there was a day in May 1977 when the sun shone but the rain was back again the day after that, it could be a rumour though. Fancy an umbrella...?
Youtube Video


Hi Kerry! I missed this one for what reason ever so far, but.... This will be another of Your masterpieces as well. Great idea, fantastic skills... Nice as all Your works seen here on SM. Applaus, Applaus 🙂

Gentlemen, I am overwhelmed by all that my mates are saying about this project and it humbles me to know that such gifted and talented modellers such as yourselves say so in such glowing terms.
I thank you one and all. (embarrassed) :-/
Mat, it won't be too long now before it will have that stamp, "Finished" all over it. LOL 🙂
Christian..Thanks mate. 🙂 👍
Urban, I did change my mind on the end product so to speak, but when I read about her history and how well she served, It just had to be done differently from the Italian theatre to her final "Hoorah" and making it home in one piece. 🙂 👍
And Mr Meyerhoff, !!!Your comments leave a big mark on me my friend, and I am truly grateful for them mate, as your work always leaves me speechless. 🙂 👍. Thanks 🙂

Kerry, I would've done the same thing mate! Who doesn't love a good story?

Urban, That comment brings a big smile to my face. Thanks Mate 🙂 🙂 🙂 👍
No room 'for an argument' there. LOL 🙂

This is looking great. I'm loving the attention to detail, even the planks to and from the tent.

I have tried as best I can, to "Be there".
I have downloaded heaps of images and printed them out to be on the work bench with me as I have worked my way through it, and it is as close to what the images show as I can get.🙂
One of our mates here on SM sent me a swag full of 1/48 figures that I could and did use, altering them where I could to 'fit' a position for them, like the guys working on the 'fire walls' and some crouching down behind the engines.
I was so pleased that he sent them and it really gave me so many more 'options' to work with.
This is really a product of everyone's input and suggestions and hints from day one, so I credit all those guys for what I have done with it.
I fenced off the airfield today and placed my cows(Yet to be painted) behind the fence,(yeah, wire strands and all. 🙂
I got my jeep from Tamiya yesterday and painted it to look really dirty, like the truck, as it was forever raining in England and the run off muddied up all the vehicles on these air bases, and I have a second jeep arriving this week, just to 'round out' the whole scene.
I also made a water tower today,with two white 44's on top of the frame outside the tent.
I will be entering this in the upcoming comp in Brisbane in August, so I need it to look convincing.
Wish me luck mate. 🙂 👍

The whole diorama is coming alive Kerry and you are capturing the organised chaos that really would have been going on. Looking forward to the photo's of you holding up more awards!

LOL, Oh wow, That comment makes me feel really good mate. LoL.
It certainly would be nice for sure, but there are some very very talented guys that I am up against, so we will see. 🙂 👍
Thanks mate 🙂

Kerry is this the same kit you used for the volcanoes diorama or have you somehow managed to do two huge kits in a short amount of time?

Wow...just totally stunning work, sir. I can keep staring at this all day.

Ben, it's the same kit but he just happened on a better story and went from scorched grass to soggy grass in the blink of an eye.

Ben, Urban has just answered you question beautifully mate.🙂
Yes, it is the same model, just an update on her story/history, as she was affected by the volcanic ash in Italy and was deemed "worn out", or "war Weary" and was sent home after being flown to England, re-engined, stripped of any excess weight, such as guns, and fitted with "Tokyo tanks" for the Atlantic 'hop'.
Mr Fogel, I am so pleased it has had that effect on you, as I do that now mate, and I have just sat and "looked" at it for some time, thinking, what else can I do. ?
I think I have made a busy scene with it. 🙂

Only one Diorama, but two stories about one aircraft that compliment each other.
If you Google B-17G "Thunderbird", it will all be there and I have relied on all these facts in case any rivet counters at the comp challenge me on the story. He He He, as it has happened before. 🙂

Clifford, I really appreciate your comment mate.🙂 👍
I really have had a lot of fun doing it, as it really has been a collaboration of minds that got me through it.🙂
I got a fantastic amount of support and help and ideas from all my mates here, so this is really an extension of all them, and it has been a real joy and privilege to know I have everyone's admiration and respect.
I love living here. 🙂

I know what you mean, it really makes me feel good when my mates like my work.

Your not wrong there mate. 🙂
I have never had this level of support or interest before, even from the guys in the club I belong too.
I have had a lot of pleasure looking through all the albums here, and your lot are a 'stand out' lot mate, and I will always remember you Mig-15 and I thought it was a wood mock up.
I will be here for a while to come Clifford, as I have been involved with other forums, but SM really is "heads and shoulders" above anything else I have looked at.🙂

I agree. I am getting ready to start a 1/32 Mig 17, I hope it turns out as well as the Mig 15.

I am amazed that so many say that Ivo. 🙂
And you know what. ?!! I do the same here, as I keep looking at it wondering what I have missed putting in it LOL 🙂

Clifford, who is the Mig-17 by. ?
As that would be a big kit and stunning to see mate, 🙂

This diorama deserves the medal of honor. Stunning work mate! Prepare yourself to get a prize in August 👍

I do know that it will attract a lot of attention, but a prize, well, I can only hope the judge got laid the night before. ha ha. 🙂

Oh God , you guys I love. LoL
I really don't know what to say from down here on the floor. LOL 🙂 🙂

Vegard, you MUST get "Skype".
I use it all the time to talk to my son when he is out at sea, and it is easy to download, it's free, and it costs nothing to use.🙂

Kerry, what a fabulous scenery you have brought to life here ! I was always fond of dios and the little stories they tell, and of course thats what we are all out here for, making a small depiction of what excites and inspires us. Making Dios is yet another and higher level of skill and you have mastered it glamourously. I' m sure, your work will be "best in show " !
I would really love to see some more pics of this gem, maybe from a more " scale"- like " position ?! 😄

Marc and Hanno. Gents, I thank you both most humbly. 🙂
Hanno, I am planning on having it in natural outside light and photograph it from all different angles and posting the whole "album" here on Scalemates.
I have had some wonderful advice and suggestions from all my mates here, and even though I built it, it was my friends here that 'made' it in a sense. 🙂As I would have just blundered ahead and screwed it up thinking it would be ok. :-/
I am most grateful for having a venue that Tim has provided here to facilitate that discourse, THANKS TIM. 🙂
All my mates here, I salute you for your ongoing support, encouragement and respect.
Cheers. 🙂

Christian Bruer posted this stunning dio for me to look at and it is just stunning in every way mate.
It actually looks like a 1/32 scale, but surprise surprise, it's a 1/48.

Ben, I am excited. !!!
I have done something good then. LOL 🙂
Thanks for that mate, as I was inspired many years ago by Shep Pain and his fantastic Revell dioramas and always wanted to something like what he did, a big ask let me say. 🙂 👍.

What's with the micrometer on the bench? Your not supposed to be measuring your privates while you model, you might get glue on it!

That's just a caliper, not a micrometer. Sorry but I'm a former CNC operator.

At my age, desperation calls for desperate "measures". LOL LMFAO 🙂 👍

Well a vernier caliper can't be more exact than 0.05mm. Forget that a digital one gives you 0.01mm as that's not correct due to it's mechanical precision in 0.05mm. I've encountered many that have been fooled by the reading on the display. They've stod their ground until I challenged them with an micrometer proving that they're misled by the two digit display...

Both Imperial (Inches) and metric (mm) 0.05mm.
And I am still growing. ha ha ah. 🙂

We're men, therefore we don't stop growing. The growth only change the direction...

Kerry, I have pretty much decided to take my present projects and make dioramas around them. These'll be pretty much imaginary as opposed to originating whole cloth from a historical photo like yours, but hey, next time.

Ben, WOW. What a time you are going to have mate !!! 🙂
I have only ever done two dioramas, one being the B-17, the other one was of the Dragon1/6 German Flak38 in a winter scene, mud and snow and scratch built earth mounds piled up behind thick boards.
In fact, I will post an image of it in one of my albums called "Help files only".
It was based on a photo I saw of a gun crew having breakfast, with a wood fired oven they were standing around, all dressed in winter clothing.

I go away from models for a little bit and you go and do something like this lol, just fantastic.

Mary ! Mary, How pleased I am to see you back in Dubbo my friend.🙂 🙂
Thank you so very much for your compliment. 🙂

I hope to be able to start a build and turn it into a diorama sometime during the upcoming winter. It'll be my second ever diorama and to complicate things more it'll also be the most stupid undertaking from my desk as well on the same time. But I've not built anything at all this year, at least if one don't count sanding and testfitting into that so I do need to get my rusty building skills in gear again before I start my insanely stupid project...

Urban, each time I start a project, It always starts out as something simple, but then, something happens and I find myself thinking bigger ideas.
Thankfully 99% of the time, I just stick with the kit subject as I am really pushing it for space to store all my stuff let alone a diorama.!! :-/
Dio's are ok, but most of them don't "Tell as story" and the ones that do are always more fun to look at and build.
But good modelling when it happens for you, and I reckon you will do a ball buster mate. 🙂 👍

Smart arse !! 😄
and just to be an even smarter arse, doing nothing aint a project😉

LOL. From my seat, doing nothing is one hell of a project, as I really can't sit still and do nothing, unless I force myself too. :-/

My mind is always active, and I dread the day when I can no longer do anything mate. 🙁

Well, I have the build built already inside my mind so it's just a matter of making it happen. If you or somebody else look through my stash for a possible build with the title "The Graf wants us to take point 312" you'll understand.

Thank you both so very much for your warm and encouraging comments, they mean a lot. 🙂
At the competition, I was truly happy to see how much time the people who looked at it spent so much time over it, and I just had to laugh quietly inside when they started turning their heads to all kinds of strange angles to see more. I love it. LOL 🙂

I was so pleased to know that I made such an impression on the general public, the most critical judges of all in my books. :-/

Thank you all for your supportive comments. I am most humbled but proud. Thanks again. 👍 🙂

Just found this, wow, what an amazing piece of art you have created! Well done!

Thank you Boxcut, it was a lot of fun making it all come together. 🙂 👍

Thanks for that Michael, Barts Felixstowe got the Committee's choice and Gold for the Dio-1 section, and I was a stunned mullet when I heard my name called for Peoples Choice. !!

Cocrats on your win mate. It's not an easy thing to do at QMHE. ;-/

But Kerry, wasn't it obvious that this dio was the People's Choise here on SM all the way you've been building it? 🙂 Congratulations on your achievement, acknowledgement, award and that sweet sweet feeling of appreciation 😄

Hi Kerry,
your Dio is an amazing piece of art.👍 I love the way you arranged all those tiny details. The bicycles in 72nd-scale are simply breathtaking.
Very well done my friend.

Pavel and Ulf, Gents, your kind words are deeply appreciated, very much so. 🙂
I have learned, from bitter experience that I take nothing for granted, and it was on this occasion it was true.
I thought I would get some recognition from my peers, even a "well done", but zip was the result.
But the People said I did something well. 🙂
Ulf, the scale of the whole thing is 1/48, and that includes the push bikes, and they were the most difficult part of the whole thing, true. !! :-/
Again, I am so grateful for your appreciation of my effort.🙂
Cheers. 👍

It does look AWESOME!! Just, where are you going to put it? Do you have a museum open for us to gaze at your master works?

Because I messed up the scale you used...
I should have remembered it correctly.

Just as long as you liked what you saw mate. 🙂 👍
Sorry for the late reply, but my monitor took a dump and I have only now just connected the new one.
Cheers. 🙂

I am happy with the results, and I was even more delighted when the "Peoples Choice" was announced. 🙂 👍.

Arne, I am not aware of where that image was taken, but I added it to my album for information for the viewer, so that all of you could see just how "Busy" all the American airfields were and the activities involved.
But seeing the B-29 and the single "Mountain" in the background, I would say that it would be close to the mark mate. 🙂 👍

Ok, I guess so too, that it is Iwo because of the Suribachi-Mountain-Looking-Mountain.
The rows of P-51 and the B-29 AND the different types of tents tells a really busy story.

Thank you so much for the compliments gents. 🙂 👍, and in truth, I was not all that hard to do. ;-/

An amazing piece of art work Kerry, the attention to detail and the story telling is most excellent.

I am honoured by your compliments gents, and I always try to make my work interesting, a feast for the eyes you might say.
Like your WW1 dio Andrew, with something new to see all the time, 🙂 👍

Awed. You certainly excelled in your attaining your stated objective. Sets a standard to be admired and emulated.

My goodness me. !! What a wonderful compliment sir. I am most humbled indeed. :-/
The whole concept came about because I had never seen, in the way of dioramas, the B-17 undergoing some serious ground crew work, and the ones that had been done all seemed to be repeats of others crashed or shot up birds and I always wanted to do one like no one else had done, because, and also, I had never seen one undergoing any sort of 'maintenance' or ground crews in attendance, save the ones being 'bombed up' for the next mission. I had a ball, and a lot of help with extra ground crew figures that helped 'bulk out' the scene. 🙂

Kelly, I am grateful for your kind words mate. 🙂
I was even more impressed when I actually finished the bloody thing, as I thought it would never end at one stage.!! LOL 🙂

Björn, I am pleased you like it mate.🙂 I did have a heap of fun though. 👍

Now I am getting embarrassed. 😉
I always try to think of something that has never been done before, and I guess that is the same for all of us, but ain't it fun when you get a good result. hahahaha 🙂 👍

Yoy are probably tired of replying to all these pludits but here is another - amazing and lots of interest going on in a well known subject.

Michael, LOL, I have looked at your albums and I am most impressed by what you have accomplished. Thank you so much for that wonderful compliment, and I must say, my ego can take all the pumping it can get mate. 🙂
I now have this dio all under cover and even today, as I sit with my coffee, I can always think of something else I could have done with it, but as for the subject matter, I was always disappointed when I looked at the many dio's I have seen over the years of just torn up and crashed B-17's, as that was all that was being produced, like everyone was thinking, "I can do better damage than that" !!!, and Shep Payne was the one who started that with his famous "Damaged and off the runway prang" that has gone on inspiring every modeller I have ever met. But I really wanted to build a dio that was 'Busy" and no wreck in a paddock type of thing, and then I saw images of the 17's being re-engine for the "scrapping flight" back to the US and I was inspired, and with all the amazing after market stuff that is available today, the whole thing was easy to 'see' in my minds eye.
I was really pleased when Revell said it was an impressive dio and actually posted my build on their website, a day I will always feel "I have made it".
I am pleased you stopped and had a look. Thank you. 👍
Cheers. 🙂

Absolutely incredible sir! I can see why Revell recognized it.

Choppa and Donald, Hi Gents.🙂
Thank you both for your kind words, and I am always humbled when masters like yourselves pass on their most welcome praise. 🙂 👍
Cheers. 👍

Hello BOB. 🙂
Thanks mate.
I just hope that Shep Payne would have approved. 🙂

That is very reassuring Lee. 🙂
Thank you for that kind word. 👍

Well guys. I entered the image of this diorama into a competition on line to 1001 kits and I won. Yahoooooooooo.
facebook.com/1001mod..osts/595192987346099

Maybe the best B-17 dio I have seen so far! Shoulder-clap, Kezza! 🙂

Would you believe, It was actually my daughter that submitted the image and she told me today, "We won a prize Dad. !!! And she told me what she had done. LOL
I was blown away. hahahahaha 🙂

Congrats, Kerry. It is well deserved, That always was an awesome build.

Wow ! That makes it even more special Kerry. What a nice thing for her to do. Great kid !! 👍

WOW! Just amazing dio. It is inspriational for us and shows all of us its not to hard to accomplish.

Yes Robert. Over the years we have had out 'troubles', but she was always sitting beside me as I worked on my ideas. 🙂 👍
Simara has claimed the Sherman, and rightly so, as this will be her third kit, the first two total F Up's. LOL 🙂
Thank you one and all for your most generous praise and comment's.🙂
The best part of being a 'Scale Mate' really. !! :-O
Album info
The B-17G named "Thunderbird" has a rich history.
“Thunderbird”, A B-17G of the 359th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, was one aircraft that had been deemed “War Weary” and was to be flow back to the United States.
It’s first mission was on January 29, 1944 (Frankfurt, Germany), and the last on March 22, 1945 (Gelsenkirchen, Germany), after which it was retired as "war weary", to be returned to the United States.
After the war, it was sent to Kingman, Arizona, where unlike it’s LSFM counterpart, it was to be scrapped.
It is reputed that 538 different airmen crewed it at various stages of it’s deployment, none of whom suffered an injury aboard “Thunderbird”.
This aircraft was consequently grounded, and fitted up with four reconditioned motors and superchargers, had all it's guns removed as it was going to fly the Atlantic, non stop and needed to be as light as possible, and besides, there was no enemy aircraft that could pose a threat to any aircraft heading due west.
It was also fitted with "Tokyo Tanks