Trial and Error …

I've always wanted to try and make a – as I call it – prestige piece.; a single figure or diorama. Nothing elaborate or overly complicated, but something worthy of shelf display for someone.

In the past, I have painted pieces that were display models, but these were either large individual figures (as you can see; Hammerstein) or more akin to background displays (Jungle adventurer), rather than a scene or a still.

Even though I have a couple of commissions on the go, I couldn’t help myself and bought a 1/35 Red Army sniper, with the idea of finally putting some energy into a scene diorama.

Apart from the want being at the back of my mind, I was also inspired by the incredible model and painting work of Sascha Herm. As a follower of both his twitter and facebook, I’ve been knocked-out by he detail. So while I take his work as a means to galvanize my own try, just to make something even passable will be – for me – a step in the right direction.

And so …

Before the model had even arrived, I had some ideas as to the setting; pretty simple, nothing too overly complicated: The soldier, making her way through a generic industrial, battle-worn area. First thing that came to mind was realistic brick work. While you can buy pre-made brick textured sheets or even individual bricks, I found a few tutorials online on how to create various brick wall effects with plaster of Paris, or, in my case, filler.

Here is where the title of this post really pays off …

As you can see, while not perfect, the third time was the charm for me. Happier with the brickwork, plus I scaled down the overall size of the scene.

I printed and weathered a Soviet-era poster for the wall, just to add some interest and break-up the plain wall, made some suitably distressed debris – lolly sticks for wood planks and a mix of sand, grit and some crushed-up remembrance of my previous brick trials.