5B Productions: 'Heavy Tank Showdown' Diorama

Background History

In World War II, during the summer of 1943, the German army launched Operation Citadel near the Russian city of Kursk. The Soviets believed that the operation would come in the form of a two pronged attack, one in the North and another in the South, in an attempt to surround the city and the Russian forces there. To counter this, they began constructing an elaborate line of defensive fortifications in both areas of the front. On the 12th April, their suspicions of the locations of the offensive were confirmed when they received a letter at their command in Moscow from one of their spies.

The attack in the Northern sector would be executed by Germanys Army Group Centre, while the South would be left to Army Group South, with both armies planning to attack their sectors at the same time. The attack took place on the 5th July 1943, after being postponed for a month to allow for the arrival of newly developed German vehicles, Panther tanks and Ferdinand tank destroyers, to the front. With a knowledge of the planned time and date of the offensive, provided by captured German soldiers, the Soviet forces launched a devastating artillery barrage on the German preparation areas moments before the planned attack. This artillery bombardment disrupted the offensive for a short duration.

With ferocious fighting in the North and Southern sectors, especially around the villages of Ponyri and Prokhorovka, both German and Soviet armies suffered heavy losses of men, vehicles and aircraft during the fighting for the Kursk salient. Operation Citadel ultimately ended in failure for the German army, with most of their armed forces being pushed back behind the original launching points of the operation by early August 1943. Operation Citadel was the last large-scale German offensive on the Eastern front.

Development Process

The idea for this diorama was inspired by a pair of surplus tank models from two separate kits. The model tanks were KV-1 (model 1942) and SU-152, produced by Pegasus Hobbies, in 1/72 scale, which clearly indicated that the resulting diorama would be set on the Eastern front in 1943. With these details in mind, I began to design the potential layout of the diorama in an A5 sketchbook in a series of rough sketches.

01. Possible layout sketches

Clearly visible in the sketches are my ideas for the possible layout of the models and their positioning on the diorama base, but also, the types of models for the opposing German forces within the diorama. The idea for the first design on the page was to recreate a small section of the battlefield, featuring the surplus model Soviet tanks and a single German Tiger tank, separated by a central trench line. For the second design, I decided to focus the potential model on the opposing vehicles of the battle, looking into the idea of having an example of each type 'facing-off' against it's opposing equal (for example; KV-1 vs Tiger I, T-34/76 vs Panzer III, & SU-152 vs Ferdinand).

Eventually, I decided that the former design would be best for the diorama as I felt it would be more visually interesting to recreate a section of the battlefield, featuring several vehicles of that battle in a head-to-head 'face-off'. With the Soviet armoured vehicles already chosen for the diorama, I turned my attention to their opposition. For this model, I opted to have the Russian tanks face-off against a single German Tiger I heavy tank as it was a definitive equal (if not superior) opponent to the Soviet KV-1 heavy tank and SU-152 armoured vehicles. The Tiger model used for this diorama is from a 1/72 scale Italeri® kit.

02. 1/72 scale KV-1 & SU-152 models

03. 1/72 scale Tiger I model

Before starting with the base, I constructed and painted all the tank models that would be placed in the diorama. This assisted in determining the dimensions of the base as the model tanks could be positioned on the material for the base in the correct locations for the layout. This resulted in the base dimensions being 34.7cm X 22.8cm.

To create the base, I used an electric foam cutting tool to cut-out a section of polystyrene packaging foam to the specified dimensions before placing a layer of ModRoc plaster sheets on top of the foam for added strength. Once these sheets were dry, I painted the topside in a brown basecoat to reflect the colour of dirt. When this had also dried, I placed the models on the base once more in their layout positions and drew around the edges of each of their tracks. From there, using a hot glue gun, I created several trails of glue ridges to create the illusion of tracks churning up the ground. I also used this technique with the glue gun to create the raised area of the bomb crater, however, to make the edges of the crater more realistic, after the first ring of glue had cooled and solidified, I placed another layer on top, dragging the edges outward with the tip of the glue gun to create a 'spiked' edge appearance.

To achieve the detail and texture of the terrain for the base, I collected some dry dirt from my garden in preparation for covering the churned-up areas, and used a mixture of Woodland Scenics® green and earth blend turf for the grass areas. These were stuck to the base using the Woodland Scenics® cement and spray bottle, first covering the base in the cement and pouring the mixed turf on top. As it dried in place, I poured the excess turf blend off the base and sprayed the remainder with the cement once more. Once this had dried, I repeated the process on the churned-up areas, this time using the ground-up dirt from my garden instead of the turf mixture.

04. Diorama base with turf & dirt attached

05. Secured balsa wood border

With the edges of the base in a rather messy appearance, I found some left-over pieces of balsa wood strips from a previously completed university project, which I had no other use for. To avoid wasting this material, I opted to try them out as a border for the edges of the base in an attempt to mask the visually unpleasant sides. To achieve this, I cut four strips from the wood measured to the lengths of each side of the base. These were then glued to each side with a hot glue gun before carefully cutting them down to their required heights, following the curvature effects created by the terrain. Using the same technique, I then carefully used a knife to bevel the top edges of the wood to blend with the sides of the base more effectively.

With the base complete, I then placed the model tanks in their specified locations to see how the full diorama would appear when complete. By doing this, I felt there were several elements missing from the diorama that would help to improve it's feel and appearance. These elements were a line of foliage around the front of the knocked-out SU-152 SPG (Self-propelled gun) along with both Soviet and German infantry. For the former, I bought a bag of Woodland Scenics® Light Green Lichen™ foliage pieces and, using the Woodland Scenics® Scenic Cement™ and a hot glue gun, attached several to the base and the front of the SU-152 model. As well as adding the bushes around the front of the SU-152, I decided that it would make for a more interesting diorama if the vehicle was knocked-out. To do this, I once again used the electric foam cutter tool, this time piercing the side of the model to create a hole with a melted outer appearance. I also used this technique to remove the end of the barrel to make it appear as if a tank shell had cut through it. After making these modifications, I placed black paint around the hole and the barrel tip to create the illusion of scorch marks.

06. 1/72 scale Russian infantry figures

07. 1/72 scale German infantry figures

For the figures of the diorama, I decided to purchase two sets of Airfix® 1/72 scale infantry (one set WWII Russian, the other WWII German Infantry). To paint these figures, the technique I use is to paint the skin tone areas first (with Tamiya XF-15 'Flat Flesh'), as they are often the hardest to reach without catching other parts of the figure. Once these areas are dry, I place the overall base colours on the figures. These elements can be done in a variety of colours, while ensuring they are similar or match the historical context of the pieces. For the Russian infantry, I opted to use Humbrol Matte finish No. 94 for the base colour, black acrylic paint for the boots and Tamiya XF-65 'Field Grey' for their helmets. I used the same technique for the base colours on the German figures, this time using Tamiya XF-63 'German Grey' for the uniform of several models and helmets, and Humbrol 94 and Tamiya 'Field Grey' for the rest.

After the base coats of the figures had dried, it was time to focus on the detailing of the figures. This mainly included colouring the equipment and weapons of the models which was achieved using several sets of Winsor & Newton Promarker™ pens. The metallic silver pen proved highly effective at clearly indicating the metal components of the infantry weaponry. As well as highlighting the equipment details of the figures, the pens proved very useful at creating the illusion of camouflage pattern for the German infantry, by simply adding multiple coloured dots on top of the base paint colour. With all these aspects of the figures complete, they were ready to be attached to the base. To achieve this, I carefully cut the base plates off the figures feet before placing some glue on the bottoms of the boots and attaching them to the diorama base.

08. Battle of Kursk diorama (Work in Progress)

09. Battle of Kursk diorama (Work in Progress)

With practically all the components of the model complete, the base, the model tanks and infantry, I felt it was the right time to piece them all together. For this, I decided to glue all the figures and the SU-152 SPG in place so there would be no possibility of them moving or falling over, however, I decided not to secure the KV-1 & Tiger I tank to the base. This is because I felt it would make for an interesting diorama if it was possible to change the opposing armoured fighting vehicles, for example; the KV-1 with a KV-1S, and the Tiger I with a Ferdinand tank destroyer. For this to be possible, I purchased a Zvezda™ 1/72 scale Ferdinand tank destroyer model kit, piecing it together and completing it with paint, marker pens and decals. To finally complete the diorama, I decided to paint the balsa wood edges of the base with black acrylic.