Inspired to build this diorama, I was by the movie "We were Soldiers". During a visit by one of our dealers, I saw the new figures-set "American Spezial Forces" in 1/72 (Italeri); I could not resist, because the idea for this diorama took place a longer time before. Now the time has come to realize them, and so I bought the figure-set and a Hasegawa-UH-1H Iroquis in scale 1/72.  

The construction went quickly and of the passing I was convinced positively, despite the age of the kit. So the entire project was pounded from the ground within 3 days. Actually the necessary time to drie the the paint was longer than all other. 

Let's come to the construction of the helicopter, it was quickly and easy. As an accessory I have build two control sticks fort he pilots, but unfortunately they ar nearly invisible after completion. Further I have created in homemade the benches for the MG-Crew. After painting the interior with Humbrol colors, the assembly continues. I have pre-treated the canopy with „Clear“, this method should prevent scars one the part. After fixing the parts onto the fuselage, I have masked the outer side with Tamiya Tape. 

In the meantime, I have primed the figures with acrylic-colors to get a base for the following painting with Valleyo colors. I take these colors to figures, as they brings a dull finish and dry very quickly, so you can make rapid progress.   

The painting of the helicopter was made by airbrush, using Gunze-colors, in this case olive Drab. The details were painted with Humbrol-enamels and acrylic-colors. 

For the base-plate I used a picture frame,  by them I removed the glass. On the back of the frame  I sprinkled with gras-material from the model-railroad-demand in a wood-glue bedding. The higher plants, that you can see on the dio, consists of an old shaving-brush and an old painter-brush. These were fortified with cyanid-glue on the surface. After drying I have removed the figures from their base using a scalpel and install them on dio-base by using cyanid-glue.  

Altogether an interesting diorama, his construction was quickly and have made much fun. And although this scale is not my standard - I rather works in the 1/48 or if possibly in the 1/35 – I can recommend these models. Maybe I will build something similar in bigger scale one day, but until then, I wish you much fun by looking the pictures.  

Happy modelling

Andreas Dobinger