Here is the full view. Sorry about the workshop background. The blue/white board on the right is moveable to either side for a back drop when shooting pictures in that direction. The one in the rear is attached.

I have 30 years background in model railroading and thus making scenery comes fairly easily to me. Its not all that hard and most anyone can do it. If you want further details, send me an email.

The trees are the same type we use on the FRAG battlefield.......made from plastic and available around Christmas time from most arts and craft stores...like Michaels and Hobby Lobby. I opted for these rather than the more expensive and exact replicas available commercially. But if I were going to enter this into a contest, I'd go with the expensive type trees. The purpose of the diorama was to provide a better background for tank model pictures, so I did not feel a need to spend tons of money on the details.

I built this over a 3 month period.........little here, little there. Total time may be about 40 hours. The bombed out building started out as a plastic structure from 21st Century (I think....????). It is removable so I can take it to FRAG battles. I got rid of the obvious plastic looking details and burned up a bunch of bass wood strips for a better effect. I made a rubber mold of some of the walls and cast up some additional ones in plaster so it would look like a more complete building. Then I cut and glued 1” scale doll house brick pieces into the edge of all the walls so they would appear to be made of brick with stucco plastered on both sides. Where stucco was needed up against the brick, I used paper mâché. I also broke up a couple wall sections so the plaster pieces could be used a debris. All of that was coated with dark chalks and sprayed with Testor's Dull Coat, and finished with a coating of fine brick dust and particles sprinkled here and there.

Making blown up buildings look real is a challenge because of all the debris and building/furniture parts tossed around…most not in their original condition. Anything you choose to do could be argued as realistic, but there is "so much" that is needed, it can be overwhelming.............oh well, that's just one of the challenges of our hobby.

You guys ought to give this picture diorama idea a try. It sure beats looking at models setting on a wood workbench with all those distractions. It gives an “eye pleasing” total viewing experience, which I feel enhances the realism of your model.

Panzerpaul