This diorama/vignette isn't exactly going fast but that's been down to a change of plan - and finding the solution to the problem, and now I think I've got a plan!
Initially I wanted to have some static grass in the scenery, to give it some colour and "flair" but the more I though about it it felt less and less plausible due to the simple fact that virtually all photos of trench warfare you see are dirt, mud, misery and bodged ditches. No grass. No living vegetation at all!
So last night I filled in the empty areas with more earth and PVA glue and made two loose duck boards (to keep the feet dry) and went looking for suitable figures to populate the empty side of the diorama, and I think I'm on track again.
Here's the what it looks like after adding more soil and initial grey weathering of the wood.
The plan is that the Mk.IV have surprised the Germans, or they have waited in an ambush?
Either way it's just about to happen!
Here are the figures I've bought to use in the diorama.
I'm for sure going to use the guy lobbing the welcome package, i.e. the grenades, and probably the two charging soldiers, but the machine gun man will live to see another day, in the box.
I'm going to add some dead vegetation and some remnants of exploded trees etc. I'm also going to make it look a bit more wet and muddy.
The tank is going to leave deep and muddy tracks going up the mound but I have waited to make that until I knew exactly the position.
I've also revised my earth & PVA recipe so it dries a lot quicker now but still as rigid and hard. Quite simple actually, just leave a flower pot to die and go totally bone dry! Then just rip out the dead flower, remove any large objects and then pour PVA glue all over and mix! No water or anything else. It's really sticky to use without water, but it dries a lot quicker.
The pictures above looks a bit how you do it right now, but it's work in progress and with all the details in place, paint and weathering it should hopefully come together!
The barbed wire in the pictures are just my temporary "first try" one that's going to be replaced with the better ones I've made since. It was tricky to make close to scale accurate barbed wire but with a bit of practise it turned out ok.
This is my first ever diorama so I get to do every fault possible on almost every step