This diorama is my other big project which was put on hold last year as I returned to my Del Prado Victory upgrade.
At this point in time the model is about half way to completion, I would estimate that I have approximately another thirty figures to make up, about half and half British and 'Yankies'.
The figures are to the standard 1/72 scale and are composed of both stock plastic (polythene)figures from the IMEX American History Series and hand made white metal copies of those same figures, the construction of which I'll go into in detail later. The hand made ones make up the great majority of the total and will be an even bigger majority by the time the diorama is completed. The easiest way to tell which is which is by looking at the bayonets - those with thin offset bayonets are hand made, those with slightly thicker more 'in line' ones are the standard plastic originals.

I have long had an interest in this period (18th Cent) an interest which was greatly helped by the feature film "The Last of the Mohicans" and even managed to survive such historically biased drivel as Mel Gibson's "The Patriot" (read the historical records of the War of Independance and you'll soon see who really acted like Nazis!) I've always thought the redcoat uniforms and tricorn hats look so much better than the later Napoleonic period!

Before the first photos, a short history of the Battle of the Brandywine (or Brandywine Creek as it is also known). The battle was fought in the state of Pennsylvania on the 11th September 1777. The British were commanded by General Lord William Howe on the right with his subordinate, General Earl Cornwallis on his left. A smaller diversionary force was commanded by the Hessian, General Knyphausen. The rebel army was commanded by one General George Washington.
Washington had convinced himself that The British would launch a frontal attack across the Brandywine at Chadd's Ford and had positioned his entire army apart from a few hundred men covering the north, across the river where, he was confident, his muskets and artillery would anhililate the British as they tried to ford the chest deep river. Lord Howe however, didn't like getting his feet wet and under cover of darkness marched two thirds of his force silently to the north with Cornwallis and crossed the Brandywine at a shallower ford eighteen miles further up stream.
As Howe's regiments marched into their battle lines, the American's left to guard the north sent urgent dispatches to Washington who, still convinced that nobody could outmanoevre HIM, dismissed the warnings out of hand. By the time his right flank companies could see and hear the approaching redcoats for themselves Washington was issuing orders by the dozen, most of them contradicting the one sent before it! Eventually he did manage to turn his force around to the right to form two lines facing the British but by then the first ranks had fired their muskets and seeing the British bayonets gleaming in the sun had decided that revolution wasn't such a jolly idea and legged it back into the second line which was still forming up. As the British opened up, driving the disorganised rebels into a full rout the sound of gun fire was heard by Knyphausen and, as previously arranged, that was his signal for the frontal attack across the ford, most of the defending rebels having by now been conveniently stripped away by Washington to face the oncoming Howe/Cornwallis attack. Needless to say the battle was an overwhelming victory for the British, the complete destruction of the American army and perhaps, the whole revolution, was only averted by the approach of dusk and Howe's one failing - he didn't have a modern 'killer instinct', he was a soldier of the old school, winning a battle meant driving the enemy off the battlefield, not slaughtering them to the last man. Washington and his 'patriots' would later prove to possess no such qualms. Are you listening Mr Gibson?
The diorama represents the moment when Howe's lads crested the summit of Birmingham Hill to be met by the sight of the Americans forming up, instead of forming up themselves the Redcoats fired a volley into the blue ranks and charged in with the bayonet, scattering the rebels before them.
Hope you enjoy these first pics and apologies to all the Yanks out there!!
Please excuse the line that looks like a scratch, its actually a very fine COBWEB! I didn't see it in my workroom and the outdoor sun showed it up in the photo! I hang my head in shame!

The final three photos of this first post show a close up of the flooded ditch in the centre of the diorama, although not very clear in this shot, the ditch is actually full of a solid 'water' effect resin, it should be clearer in future pictures (I hope).
The last two photos show the entire diorama so far, it only measures 8" deep by 10" wide, the effect of space and distance in the photos is very misleading (but just what I wanted!)

Aw Shucks! Thanks for that Rob! I'll get back to her someday I promise!

Absolutly fantastic.
Thanks for showing us.
Best regards.
Mark

That photo was supposed to be 800x600 like the others! Sorry about that.


Below are the first three stages of the basic base construction.
The first phase is to construct the hill side as a 'contour map' effect with layers of the foam board pva'd one on top of the other, I did this over a couple of days leaving each layer to dry with a book on top to ensure an even gluing.
The second pic shows the simple sculpting of the hard edges from steps into a smoother slope, at the same time I also used the hot wire tool to excavate the spring and sunken ditch.
The third pic is the smoothed off final finish with the cutter. This was then given a very thin coat of the WS Foam Putty, rubbed well into any badly cut areas and especially into the ditch to round off the edges and sides. If you look at the photo above, you can see how little of the putty was used, for small dioramas like this that small pot would last for years!

Hi Kev and Ger C
Glad you're finding it useful, I've got to take a load of photos now for the next bit!
See you soon!

i want one
i have often looked in admiration and awe at such exhibits

Personnel interest would be Napoleanic period (child hood memories of plastic soldiers)

Red tunics for the goodies and blue for the baddies (not true)

Please keep this diary going
Thanks for taking the time and effort for sharing
looking forward to the next installment
Cheers m8

Great tutorial, thanks for that.

I had a search on Woodlands Scenics SubTerrain items & it's pretty nice stuff.

Never really been into trains, but want to build a train layout now!

Bought one of their training kits, N gauge diorama cost £50 odd quid but worth it, it doesn't have to be build as per instructions & would suit anything upto 1/35 scale. Sounds pricey, but with the contents you can build a 2 foot x 1 foot diorama & once you've done one, most of the parts could be sourced elsewhere for a fraction of that price.

Thanks for tips. Great!

Wilfy