Diorama-Project 1.3. Scenery & Dioramas.Part 1

The third part is dedicated to the design of dioramas. Four renowned modellers show their skills: Shinpei Nohara, Frederik Astier, Fabrizio Pincelli and Rodrigo Hernández Cabos.
The dioramas "On the Riverbank", "The Broken Pitcher" and "In Single File" show scenes from the Second World War and the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). From the idea to the concept, the construction of the base, the terrain design to the construction of the buildings and the design of a diverse plant world, all steps are again explained in detail and of course perfectly shown with pictures.

On the riverbank
One of the scenes shown here is set on the Eastern Front at the end of March 1943. The snow has gradually melted away, the ground is breaking up in places, even the puddles are starting to get smaller, except where a spring produces a small trickle of running water; most of the grass and bushes have withered after a hard winter. A German Tiger I - one of the first the Soviets were able to capture intact - is being tested by their armoured engineers, leaving its track marks in the damp ground as they test drive it. After a brief stopover, the vehicle's crew suddenly finds itself in an unusual situation: a flock of geese, with their peculiar temperament and boldness, defies the mechanical behemoth. The soldiers, equally surprised and amused by this adversary, goad the birds even further into a frenzy and have fun at their expense. Only a few months earlier, this tiger had ruthlessly destroyed enemy vehicles. Plant motifs dominate this diorama, so it is important to see how its individual elements are connected and how the vehicle's colour palette is reflected in colour and intensity on the surrounding rocks. Cut tree trunks and stumps sunk deep into the ground were common around Leningrad, especially on the riverbanks. This successful composition entitled "In Goose March" is by Rodrigo Hernandez Cabos.

The Broken Jug
When an army marches through towns it has conquered, scenes often occur in which the traditional local architecture is defaced by enemy vehicles and soldiers. This is the backdrop for Frederick Astier's immensely symbolic composition in which Japanese troops enter a Chinese village unopposed during the Japanese-Chinese War (1937-1945).

In single file
Finally, Shimpei Nohara's diorama continues the story of the two previous scenes: the war is over and the abandoned remains of vehicles are left to rust and oblivion. In the process, we meet a boy who is enjoying himself fishing - who knows, maybe he is the orphan of one of the soldiers killed in this very tank, who will be denied a normal life due to the past and still following effects of the war.