Exhaustion was on everyone’s mind. Everyone was on the verge of breaking down from the lack of sleep and ration. They are running on adrenaline now. Peter knows what now seperates the dead and those still fighting are will power, albeit even that is wearing thin.

‘Curse this wretched war.‘, Peter muttered under his breath. At the same time, he glanced over his shoulder and noticed that his brother Dieter dozing off as they took temporary cover under a broken collapsed roof ten minutes ago.

‘Godammit.‘, Peter swored as he gave Dieter a nudge, shaking him awake, clutching his MP40 tighter. Well, at least he is still alert.

‘Come my brother, we need to move on.‘, Peter urged, signaling as he took point in running towards the church.

A loud single crack rang out soon after they left cover. Sniper! Following that the sickening thud of a body fell, Dieter’s body. With reflexes that even shocked Peter, he dragged and pulled Dieter around the corner of the church, praying that the shot was not fatal.

But he was too late, the bullet went straight through the heart. Dieter is dead. Even though Peter is used to the sight of death, tears rolled readily down his cheek. His only brother is dead.

Peter never understood the reason for fighting except that he needs to answer to the call of his nation. But now he understood even lesser. Never-ending thoughts ran through his mind as he hugs the now lifeless body of his brother. Why do we fight?

There was no answer.

Rationale

Having seen many dioramas in publications and online resources, they all seems to be telling the same thing about war. They seems fun. Dioramas depicting tanks fighting, wreakages, people joking are, well, nice but goes to prove my point above.

What about the death and destruction that war really brings? It seems so ironic that very little of such reality is presented while we pursue realism in modeling. This is my rationale in building this diorama, to present the harshness of war.

Figures

Head.
Construction began with the modification to the excellent Tamiya 1/16 Wehrmacht Infantry. I needed to conduct some drastic surgery to the figure in order to change the face to one of agony. This was done by careful seperating the lower jaws and creating a cavity for the mouth. The teeth was from a suitable scrap piece of plastic shaving with the right curl. The head was then further modified with Milliput to close the eyes and to represent wrinkles formed by the expression.

The second figure’s head was more simply modified with Milliput to shut the eyes.

Body.
Major changes to the body was also required since the original figures were made with a standing pose. I seperated the upper and lower torso and gradually build up the sitting poses by first fixing the articulation of the legs. Once the legs are in their final form, the lower torso area is simply filled and formed with putty.

More work had to be done to rebuild the lower part of the uniform shirt to accomodate the sitting pose. Only the front pockets were retained and the skirting-like part of the uniform shirt was formed with Milliput.

The boots also received additional detailing as the sole would be exposed. The hob-nailed pattern was replicated by pressing the blunt end of a drill bit into soft Milliput.

Diorama

Building.
Since no suitable 1/16 buildings was available. The entire diorama background had to be scratchbuild. The building was casted from plaster for which a simple mold was constructed. The mold need not have the details of the final building but a very rough outline of major details.

The mold as shown was made from dense 5mm styrofoam. This allows the mold to be easily broken down when the casting is to be removed.

Base.
Creating the rubble was quite a challenge because I had never done it before and doing it on a 1/16 scale had to be harder.

The rubble was build in layers. The first layer is a mixture of plaster, large pieces of dried plaster, sand and small stones and wood strips. The second application consists of white glue and small stones to rough up the texture. Lastly, small random pieces are glued individually on the base.

The Nazi flag was scratchbuild from thin rolled Milliput, painted and weather before attaching to the base. The inclusion of the flag breaks up the monotone of the scene.

Last words

Despite the various difficulties involved in the project, I’m glad I completed it in the end. I always feel that a diorama should tell a story, be it humourous or thought-provoking, and not ‘just another’ fighting scene. Through the portrayal of the cruelties of war, I also hope to inspire people to realise how fragile human life is.

Additional Images