A 1/700 SCALE SHIP DIORAMA OF AMPHIBIOUS SHIPS PREPARING FOR AN EXERCISE (Part 5)
In the early stages of the diorama the layout was decided. After that the base was masked off with tape. An area was also masked off for the name plate. A ¼” border was masked off as well in order to be able to place on an acrylic lid.
After the masking is finished, paint the base the color blue you are looking for, shading areas for depth from light to dark. Now the base is ready for the ships. Using white glue to fix them down, gives time for making adjustments.
One way to make a sea is too use acrylic gel mediums. They come in different thickness of body as well as different finishes from dull to gloss. They can be tinted if desired to show depth. They can be brushed or spread on with a trowel or spatula. The first coat was placed on with a trowel, and then the rest of the coats were brushed on for this diorama. While brushing on the gel you can give shape to the wake or the rolling waves of the sea. After four to five coats, it was time to start applying washes. Using Future as a gloss coat and blending it with some black paint give the water a dark murky effect. Then using the same technique but with blue gives that bluish tinge of the sea.
The last steps in this project are to make the name plate design and print it out on decal paper. The last step is to add the flying CH-46s. Unfortunately steel wire is needed to keep them suspended in air. There are three of them, all at different heights, in order to give the assumption of just leaving the LPH.
Personally, I am very happy with the end product. This is the largest diorama that I have yet undertaken. In it I used washes for the first time, the designed the decals, and painted over 400 crew members... and it was a lot of fun!
For some images of the final project got www.modelwarships.com. Here you can see this project and others projects of John C Goodacre.