I thought for my next project I'd travel forward in time from WW1 to WW2 and the battle of Kursk 1943 with the Life Miniatures Russian Infantryman release,this was another bust similar to the trench raiders that I definitely wanted to paint and tell a story,like the trench raiders I had the scene set out in my mind right from the start and this bust was exactly the same,i imagined this soldier praying in a quiet corner of a town or village chapel,asking for forgiveness and safety before the heat of battle.
Before setting out the scene I scoured the web for pictures relating to European churche's and their interiors,i also took a visit to one of the village churche's near to where I live to try and get a feel for the project,after some research I had the scene set out what I wanted to achieve.
I've always been fascinated with church stone construction and the stained glass windows and I definatley wanted to incorporate some of this into the scene as well.

I set out by creating the walls which would provide an 'L' shape,these were cut from 12mm thick plaster board from my local B&Q,plaster board is really cheap and will last ages if stored correctly,i now have a piece which will last me quite a while and lots of scenes .
Its best to cut this outdoors as it produces lots of dust,the beauty of plasterboard is it can be broken to look like realistic brickwork and can be scribed to replicate stone or brick.
Once the 2x sections of wall were cut and shaped I removed the plasterboard paper from one side with a Stanley blade,i then sanded it smooth and drew horizontal lines to replicate the stone spacings,then I did exactly the same with the vertical ones,once this was done I sponged it down with a damp sponge and left it to dry.
The small altar was made exactly the same as the walls.



I added balsa dowel to create a stone pillar effect where the 2 walls meets,i also added balsa profile to create the stone window frames,these were cut in a mitre box and fixed to the walls,i then added wood filler to dispel the gaps during construction and once dry sanded smooth.

Once I was happy with the construction of the scene I finished the backs and sides with 030 black plasticard,these were fixed with epoxy and once dry sanded down smooth.
Using the same balsa profile I added the inner stone window frames and glued these in place,gaps were again filled with wood filler and smoothed out,once all these stages were complete i primed using Halfords grey Primer in 2 this coats (15min drying time between coats) and left 24hrs.



I forgot to mention that before the priming stage i added wear and damage to the brickwork,this was achieved by just picking at the plaster with a sharp tool until i liked the result

I now set about the stained glass windows,i wanted the impression of broken windows,for this i used Reality in Scale - Stained glass windows which i picked up at euro this year,these retial about £7 a sheet but are well worth the money,after measuring these out i added these to pieces of white and then black plasticard which were cut to the window dimensions and fixed in place.

I now decided to add the crucifix to the wall,this was an old Andrea kit i had from a few years ago,i used the Christ figure but not the cross as it was too big so i made a smaller one from balsa,i primed and painted this along with the Christ figure and assembled them together with epoxy.



I then painted the church walls in various GW acrylic colours using khaki / Stone / Sand shades,the grouting was painted using darker colours and washes from the GW range.



Shadows were added with oils as they look more realistic than acrylics IMO ,stains were also added and the crucifix added to the wall,at this stage i added a resin Altar cross which is produced by Czech model company Plus Model,i undercoated it in GW acrylic metalics and finished with Windsor and Newton silver ink on the high points,i then fixed this to the stone Altar,i also added a bible which the infantryman may have carried with him,i made this from miliput,shaped and painted in acrylics and finished in oils.

View attachment 173029

I now added the primed bust for some final thoughts before the painting begins,i also did some dry runs earlier in the project,i'm very happy to where I've arrived at,it only leaves the final painting of the bust to complete which i hope to achieve in the next few days.





All comments and criticism welcome,hope you enjoy the pictures.

Brian

Amazing potential with this Brian.
As Carl says how do you continually come up with these little gems.
I guess you just cannot sleep with your head buzzing planning for the next project.
Looking really good.
Cheers
Keith

You are one seriously talented man, my friend . Kudos on creating this extremely evocative vignette .
Cheers!
Kenneth.

Brian, you are a truly artist, the vignette-diorama is fantastic..But if you allow a very personal opinion. I am afraid that the diorama-scene will grab more attention that the Bust itself, IMO these kind of vignette is more appropriated to be use with figures than busts..

But is just my opinion, and who cares....

Great job so far, looking forward to see the bust painted.

Regards

Rodrigo

Many thanks Carl,it's a nice little project

Many thanks Keith for your kind comments,funny enough I havnt been sleeping well lately but that's another issue,glad you like it so far

Many thanks Kenneth for your comments,always appriciated

Many thanks Rodrigo for your comments and views,I find it's just as important to put as much detail and painting into the backdrop as the figure or bust itself,I appriciate your honest views but please understand this is only depicting a corner of a building,I was a diorama builder many years ago but a couple of years back I decided I wanted to do something extra with busts,I felt scenes shouldn't just be restricted to figures,however I appriciate your comments,it doesn't pay for us all to be the same in our thinking as the world would be a boring place,but as I said many thanks for your input and taking the time to look.

Hi Brian, really nice project, it takes me back, I attended a church service by 3 Para's Padre, held in a passage way on HMS Intrepid the night before we landed on the Falklands, as we were stepping into the unknown, I thought it best to sort things out.

You are one creative fellow !

Joe

Great work Brian, really evocative.
Best wishes, Gary.

Great work again Brian, great story telling looking forward to seeing him finished.

Ian

Mama Mia where did you geta that Idea

Interesting take on the plaster board Brian, IE stripping off the paper , do you know you can get it in 9mm as well as 12
Im gonna try that

Ron

Another amazing concept Brian on this one , look forward to seeing the finished bustorama.


Cheers Davie

Great idea, it takes some thought to display busts like this and pull it off. Well done so far.



Steve Deyo

Very nice setting for this bust.