1/144 Scale 8th Air Force Airfield

[Army_Air_Force]

For some time I've been working on a model railway for a customer. The railway is set in 1943, and has many military features, one of which is part of a US 8th Air Force airfield. This is centred around the technical site, a couple of dispersals and the perimeter track around the runway area. This section of the railway is 8 feet long by 2 feet 6 inches wide, most of which is covered by the airfield while the tracks run below. As far as dioramas go, this is quite a big one for me.

The perimeter track is 1mm styrene, scribed to show the concrete slabs. In the background is a T2 hangar which is corrugated styrene over a sheet balsawood structure. It is hollow to allow an aircraft to be parked inside. There is also a mechanism in one end to move a parked aircraft in and out of the hangar.

In the centre of each dispersal area, is a ring of tie down points. These were metal loops concreted into the ground. To represent these, I've drilled holes to represent the depressions in the concrete around each ring. The concrete area in front of the hangar was completed, along with the concrete joining it to the perimeter track.

Edited October 6, 2014 by Army_Air_Force

[Army_Air_Force]

Here's the road to the Control Tower, fire truck shed and blast shelter ( all scratch built ).

At the other end of the board, is the loading platform and technical site buildings. The Nissen huts are polyester resin castings made in a silicone mould, which in turn came from a styrene master.

[Army_Air_Force]

All the concrete was given a coat of grey primer, which was flatted back once fully dry. Several concrete sections were then masked off to be sprayed darker or lighter shades of grey. This would help to simulate the mottled effect of the concrete slabs. After the masking was removed, the whole area was given a speckle with the airbrush. Once that was dry, the hangar door runners were masked and sprayed dark grey, and some general random dirtying was done to the slabs, especially where aircraft would park and drip oil.

The scene is beginning to come to life with a bit of colour. It should look great once the grass and a bit of mud is applied, then the vehicles and figures. The next stage would be ground texture on the rest of the airfield surface.

[Exhausted]

People seriously don't know what they're missing here! Great work. I hope more people start checking out the diorama.

[Army_Air_Force]

Thanks. Many people think the smaller scales are limiting and you can't detail as much, but it's not entirely true. Detailing is hard at this size, what what you can do is tell the bigger picture. A two foot square base would just fit a 1/48th bomber, but in 1/144 scale, it is a huge area for telling a story.

Here's some of the characters in this story.....

An 8th AF Catalina has dropped in for repairs. It must have been serious for it not to return to its home base and to have been hangared.

The C-47 has seen some action, possibly in the CBI theatre, but is now a station hack at the bomber field.

[Army_Air_Force]

Here's three of the B-17's, two operational, and one hangar queen, slowly being stripped for spares. The complete aircraft are Minicraft kits, the hangar queen is cast in resin.

Returning from a night raid, this RAF Lancaster couldn't make it back to Lincolnshire, and force landed at this US base. Unfortunately, with battle damage, one landing gear collapsed, dragging the aircraft off the runway. There will be a crash crew dealing with the clean up.

[Army_Air_Force]

Other players include a number of US vehicles and dozens of figures. The white metal vehicle kits came from 'Minifigs' 10mm wargaming range. Seen here are GMC CCKW353's, Dodge WC62's and Jeeps, which include a "Follow Me" Jeep.

The figures are N scale Modelscene passengers and workmen. Painted in US aircrew clothing, Officers 'Pinks' or enlisted men's HBT overalls, they look the part.

[A-10 LOADER]

Pretty cool, nice work. This should be quite impressive when completed.

Steve

[weaselone]

Very, Very Nice!!!!

[Army_Air_Force]

The base ground surface around the technical site buildings was covered in builders first coat plaster. The wood was painted with dilute PVA glue first and a little PVA also mixed in with the plaster. On top of that, once dry, I sprinkled fine sand, applied dry. Once this was all in place, I sprayed over the whole area with a water/detergent mix to break down the surface tension in the water. The last step was a water/PVA glue mix, dripped onto the wet sand until it was all wetted out. It was then left a couple of days to fully dry, giving me a nice fine textured surface to paint. Texture on the blast shelters would come later.

It took a while to cover the whole of the base as the whole board is 20 square feet in area. At the far end of the loop dispersals is part of the 'Firing Butts' for testing of the bombers machine guns. In the middle of the hangar floor can be seen the top mechanism to push the Catalina out of the hangar.

[Army_Air_Force]

So, here's some details. The slot down the centre of the board is for the Catalina movement mechanism, the start of which can be seen in front of the board.

Here's a close up of part of the screwjack mechanism that will move the Catalina in and out of the hangar. There are two pieces of square brass tube, one sliding inside the other. A screwed rod drives the inner one in and out.

[Army_Air_Force]

On the end of the inner rod are two pieces of square tube to lift the height of the linkage up through the base board. On top of this is a thin square tube which has two vertical pins soldered into it. These pins locate in holes in the bottom of the Catalina.

An old R/C servo is used for the geared motor to drive the screwed rod via bevel gears.

[Army_Air_Force]

Micro switches are used to limit travel. The micro switch is wired up in the normally closed position. As the ramp on the sliding bar moves towards it, it slowly breaks the circuit, stopping the motor. The diodes linking the terminals, prevent the motor from running any further, but will allow current to flow when the polarity is reversed, so allowing the motor to run the other way, pulling the sliding bar back again, even though the microswitch is still open until the ramp clears the button.

Here's a close up with the ramp engaged in the micro switch.

There isn't much clearance for the wing tips for a Catalina in a T2 hangar, so the driver who is towing better go slowly, and I'll have some men watching the wing tips when the final detailing starts.

Here's a video of the system being tested -

Edited October 7, 2014 by Army_Air_Force

[Loach Driver]

I like airfield dioramas but this is ridiculous (in a good way). If the standard of work on the aeroplane models is anything to go by, this is going to be amazing. Keep up the good work on this.

LD.

[Army_Air_Force]

Thanks. I'm just about to upload a few more pics.

[Army_Air_Force]

Because the Catalina model will move, the plastic landing gear wasn't considered strong enough and the wheels also wouldn't turn. I replaced them with brass wire. The bracing struts were bent into a V shape, and a blob of solder added into the corner of the V. This was then filed down and drilled for the main leg.

To avoid melting the solder, the landing gear parts were joined with cyano before being glued into the fuselage. The nose leg was also replaced with wire, and was also fitted with a tow bar.

[Army_Air_Force]

One of the B-17's would be motorised. I found these tiny geared motors online for around £10 each from memory. As you can see from the AA battery and steel rule, they really are small.

The motors were wrapped in masking tape so that they matched the diameter of the engine nacelles in the wings and were glued in place.

[Army_Air_Force]

Here's a close up of the Jeep attached to the Catalina's tow bar.

The airfield fire truck is a scratch build. The cab and chassis is from a scrach built GMC CCKW 353 I made some time ago. Instead of the canvas body, I made a water tank from styrene. The wheels were spares from a couple of Bofors gun white metal kit.

[Army_Air_Force]

This is the start of the signal square; a visual aid to landing for aircraft with damaged radio equipment or no radios at all.

At the other end of the board, the firing butt was grassed on top, but the side that would be fired into was left a rough texture.

[Army_Air_Force]

The ground drops away behind the firing butt to one of the railway lines where is goes into a tunnel. Near the tunnel entrance is a small siding supporting a pump house. I think the Pump house kit is by Ratio. These photos show the completed and weathered building on a styrene base, waiting to be attached to the layout. The kit was built pretty much out of the box.

[Army_Air_Force]

Once the sand had fully hardened, I started to add some colour. This was done with water based house hold emulsion, purchased in 250ml sample pots.

Several shades of green and brown were mixed on the layout with plenty of water to blend them.

[Army_Air_Force]

The first brushed coat complete. A sprayed coat will come next to even out the tones a bit. It's really starting to come to life now.

Grass powder and sand, mixed with dilute PVA was painted onto the sides of the blast shelters. This gave a more unkept, overgrown effect for the grass on these areas. Once dry, they would be painted so the colours blended with the rest of the ground texture.

[Army_Air_Force]

Here's the hangar queen and other airframe wreckage attached, and in the background, a number of trees were added. The trees are made from 14 strands of multi-core copper wire, twisted together at the base, and separated at the top. Onto this, Woodland Scenics Clump foliage was added.

The blast shelters still need the internal walls painting here, and the trees have had some additional foliage added, which is still wet in this shot and shows up a lighter shade.

[Army_Air_Force]

Nissen huts were glued to the bases beside the hangar, and the hangar had blocks fitted inside to allow it to be screwed to the base from below, as I figured it was better off removable.

Once the black was dry, the rest of the signal square was masked and sprayed.

[Army_Air_Force]

Behind the 3D hangar, I also painted a 2D version, along with some of the airfield perimeter track.

Here's the second hangar in place on the layout. I seemed to spend a lot of time fitting and removing the backscene to check how it looked, but I think it is a necessary step in producing a scene that works with the foreground.