On the Border Diorama

2003-8-31

The subject of my diorama 'on the border' began with the aquiring of Synergy Dio Products 7in. Insta-Rama, the building being called 'the Bookstore'. Synergy Dio Products was born in the mid 80s and thrived on into the early 90s. Synergy Dio Products achieved great success with innovative designers and with the developement of a new technology that permitted a higher degree of quality in details. Comments were made from Verlinden quote; "I cannot compare to this work put out by Synergy" and from Shep Paine quote; "The chapter on buildings in my new book has been made obsolete by the work Synergy is producing".



The Diorama
Upon opening the ration size box the contents are neatly and precisly laid out between sheets of bubble pack.The 7in. base includes the coblestone street,sidewalk,building foundation and all of the rubble. The building includes the front,2 lower outside walls,2 lower inside walls,2 upper outside walls and 2 upper inside walls. There is also an upper floor/ceiling with beams in between,which is all one piece.A little trimming and sanding is required,but was a very easy base to put together.





The building was then painted,a dark grey for the trim and window sills and a black wash for the rest of the outside of the building.The brick work was painted a red brown,washed in black and highlighted with orange.The inside walls were painted with an acrylic gloss green and washed in black.I added a hydro wire post to the upper right side of the building just under the overhang and glued a couple of dangling hydro wires to it.The second story floor was painted brown as were the beams while the ceiling was painted with the green.The rubble was painted with just a wash of black,this produced a very nice effect coupled with drybrushing and a little rust coloured pastel work here and there.The road was painted the dark grey as was the sidewalk,then heavily washed in black and drybrushed.Here I added a signpost with signs from the spares box.

The jeep is the Italeri European theatre SAS version,built straight from the box.The only change I made was a crew preference of a 50cal. mounted on a swingarm up front.The jeep was painted a dark olive overall,numerous articles of gear and weapons were stowed and after painting,maps were added. The jeep represents an advanced Recce party probing the French-German border.Figures were from Tamiya and the spares box.

Some German gear and weapons were added to the upper and lower windows. Pastels were used on the road,vehicle,signpost and building to simulate dust and dirt.Black was used on the building to simulate burned areas.


click images for larger examples



Summary
In ending I would like to say,having never used buildings of this nature or made of this material it was a fairly easy and fun build,one got excited as things progressed.

I have had the great pleasure to be able see 'the old Synergy Line' of products first hand and was most impressed at what should be available come this fall.The array of products range from a rather large European stone bridge to a Normandy bunker,a Russian farmhouse to a two-story Belgian building with all the trimmings.


If you would like more info you can e-mail Grant McIntosh at bccowboysinger@yahoo.com or myself Russ Sharp at russsharp@hotmail.com.

Expect a full report about the Synergy range in the not too distant future. In the meantime, don't forget to take a look at some more examples of Russ's work in his own section of the User Gallery.