The Frozen Chosin SBS

[harrytheheid]

Back in 2017, I decided to take a change from my usual Fantasy, Ancient Greek, Medieval and Samurai stuff, and have a go at a couple of dioramas depicting events from the 20th century.​

First try was an imagined scenario set in the Hurtgen Forest, late-1944/early-1945, using 1:35 injection molded scale models plus a few resin figures from various manufacturers. That one came out okay and will be the subject of a future post in the Completed Figure & Diorama section in due course. So now, with increasing confidence in constructing 1:35 AFV’s and other related vehicles, I reckoned I’d have a go at something a bit more challenging – the epic withdrawal of the USMC from the Chosin Reservoir in Korea, October to December 1950.​

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The diorama was eventually completed and I was pleased as punch with the final result, despite some basic mistakes such as the dodgy hand on a converted figure and the bonnets of the Jeeps being completely covered with snow. Both FUBAR's are highlighted in the photos below. There are more errors, but these two are among the most glaring ones.​

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I recently managed to get my hands on half-a-dozen additional figures from DEF Models that I want to include in the scene...

...and I’m also not too happy about the poor quality photos in the diorama slideshow I posted up on my YouTube channel. So that'll get re-done as well.
Why do I deliberately de-monetize all the MP4’s on my channel? … Well there’s, umm, “reasons”.

Anyhoo, I’m now ready to paint and add the new figures, finally fix the mistakes in the original diorama, learn a new freeware software package I downloaded for making YouTube videos, then take a bunch of new photos and make a better MP4 slideshow. Meanwhile, I reckoned it would be a stunning idea to post an SBS thread featuring the process of creating the original project, plus the additional work I intend to carry out -- which will hopefully enhance the entire diorama.​

Gonna be busy, especially as I'm also working on three more dioramas at the moment, but staying cooped up in my man-cave for the next week or so would seem like a wise choice, and ought to keep me out of trouble.​

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TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST​

 

[harrytheheid]

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

19 to 23 May 2017
My primary interest lies in building small dioramas & vignettes -- and painting miniatures is certainly an integral part of that process, but for this SBS thread I’m initially going to concentrate on construction of the AFV’s and other vehicles – which in this case are all from Tamiya.
I planned to use a previously created winter diorama base, so after figuring out what space was available I commenced assembly of the following:
1 x M26 Pershing Tank
3 x Jeeps + 1 x Trailer -- a 4th Jeep was added later during the diorama build.
1 x M20 Scout Car

Starting on the Pershing, I was surprised to find it can be modelled with working suspension – which was a new one to me. Several metal parts were included with the kit; torsion springs and associated hardware.

The springs for the drive sprockets and return wheels were now installed in the lower hull.
FRONT OF HULL

REAR OF HULL
All construction screws were tightened and then a dollop of superglue was added for increased strength. I would've preferred to use a smear of Loktite, but couldn't find anywhere that sold the stuff. Then again, the shop assistants probably couldn't understand my execrable attempts to speak their language...

The, now spring-loaded, return wheel suspension units were fully articulated and not as complicated to assemble as they might seem, although due care was taken not to over-torque the steel construction screws.

Suspension units for the road wheels were now installed...

...and drive sprockets, return wheels, all idlers and road wheels were temporarily fixed in place. They would be removed later so I could paint the tank hull.

Meanwhile, the moveable MG was assembled into the upper hull.

Retaining plates for the road wheel suspension arms were added inside the lower hull. These were augmented with bits of scrap sprue for additional strength.
The upper & lower hulls were assembled together and a suitable-size paperweight was used to keep everything straight and in place while all the glue was allowed to fully dry out overnight.

Next morning – and hey what do you know? The suspension does actually work!...

The parts for the main gun were glued together and sanded smooth, and the turret was partially assembled. The Pershing was then put to one side for the time being.

Attention now turned to a couple of the jeeps.

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[harrytheheid]

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

24 to 27 May 2017
Working on two of the jeeps simultaneously, both chassis were assembled.

I had previously ordered some sets of aftermarket decals for the jeeps...

So after applying a generic olive drab to the dashboards, I got to work on two of them.

And then tried out the fit of two of the driver figures I had selected to use.
All was okay with these two figures and no need for any alterations.

So, having pretty much finished the jeep assemblies, (apart from the dashboards still to be added), a set of chained wheels from DEF Models turned up in the post.
I decided to try them out on the next Jeep I would build. If they looked good, then I'd order two more sets to replace the kit wheels on these first two Jeeps..

All models that had been worked on so far were then given a couple of coats of olive drab.

Then began painting all the tires & tank tracks.

And oh man -- that was a lot of tires...!!!
The chained wheels on the third Jeep looked good, so I went ahead and ordered two more sets of them.

Meanwhile, three of the nicely detailed dashboards had been finished. They were not installed in the Jeeps at this stage -- still had the weathering to do.

So, why does the initial weathering washes look so OTT?

Well that's because I used washes that are normally used on scale aircraft models.

Unlike the type of washes we would use on figures, this stuff is clay-based. (Although I have been tempted to use them on larger figures just to see how they work out).
See this video, which explains exactly how to use them.


TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[Nap]

Absolutely fascinating to see this build

That's a lot more rubber to paint up ....bet you were tired out ...........I'll get my coat ....lol

Following with interest

Nap

 

[harrytheheid]

That's a lot more rubber to paint up ....bet you were tired out ...........I'll get my coat ....lol
Nap

Don't forget your hat...

There's a lot more to come. Just need to sort through the photos and decide which of them are most suitable for the thread. My next post ought to get onto showing the work on the figures though, rather than me just endlessly droning on about AFV's and Jeeps...
Also, I made a start on assembling the new DEF Model figures today after giving them a good scrub with soapy water last night. Looks like I'll probably make some simple changes to a couple of them, just for shucks.
The three N. Koreans/Chinese should be simple enough to do. Might get them primed tonight, then start painting them tomorrow.
A major drawback to several of these figures is how extremely delicate the barrels on M1 Carbines are in this scale. Inevitably, I have to work around the figures that are already fixed in place and those carbine barrels are incredibly easy to bust off if you're not hyper-careful. No point in even thinking about gluing them back on -- if they get bust, and it's happened to two of them already, then the entire firearm has to be replaced...
Tends to ensure I stay awake though...

 

[harrytheheid]

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

Photos are still from 24 to 27 May 2017
Having made good progress on the Pershing and three of the Jeeps I was now awaiting delivery of the 4th Jeep and the M20 Scout Car. These were coming from a model shop in Hong Kong and there was no guessing how long they might be stuck in the local Customs shed before being released, so it was time to tackle the figures.
I already had the following resin figures in my stash from DEF Models in S. Korea...

2 x of each of these sets 1 & 2 of US Marines as I intended to slightly convert the second sets of figures by changing heads, arms, etc., to provide some variety in the poses.

These guys are also from DEF Models;

I had noticed a couple of interesting resin sets by a company called Paracel Miniatures who are based in Vietnam.
So I contacted them direct and happily the guy I spoke to spoke English, and the order went through with no great drama.

Then there's this wee resin beauty...
I have two examples of this figure, having sourced them direct from the manufacturer in Japan, and used one in my "WW2 Hurtgen Forest" project, so might as well use the second example in this "improved" original Frozen Chosin diorama I'm presently working on.
She's probably 99.9% historically incorrect for this diorama, but when has that ever stopped me? Mind you, who knows? An Army Nurse caught up in the USMC's withdrawal from the Chosin reservoir might well feature in any new movie that Hollywood come up with for "The Forgotten War"...

I'm fairly sure I also used at least one Verlinden resin figure -- the rest of the crew in the original diorama were converted polystyrene figures from Tamiya and Masterbox.
Oh, and quite a few of the original heads were changed out for aftermarket examples from Hornet. Some of them shown below;

The following series of photos are kind of self-explanatory although they're not in strict chronological order.

Having finished messing around with the Jeep occupants for the time being, some color went onto them at last...

Finally for now, I made a start on assembling the new DEF Models figures earlier tonight and had a play about -- getting some ideas for their locations in the diorama.

And got some primer onto them. Hopefully I'll get a bit of color on tomorrow morning.

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[bigtodd]

WOW!!!!!!!!

 

[harrytheheid]

WOW!!!!!!!!

I guess you're enjoying the thread then Todd?...
Cheers
H

 

[sd0324]

Pretty cool dio....needs some tiny tootsie rolls...
Look forward to this one.


Steve

 

[Nap]

WOW!!!!!!!!

Indeed !!

I guess you're enjoying the thread then Todd?...
Cheers
H

Think he and everyone "might" just be doing that !

Thanks for updates H ...a heck of a lot goes into them

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[harrytheheid]

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

28 to 31 May 2017
I guess this thread is more of a WIP than a true SBS, but I'm fine with that as it does illustrate how my dioramas tend to "Evolve" rather than being "Planned".
Anyhoo, the Jeep drivers & passengers were almost finished by now.

And seeing how the M20 kit had shown up at last, it was time to decide its location on the diorama base.
Nope -- didn't like this arrangement.

This looked better though.

Assembly of the M20 was fairly straightforward.
After painting the interior, it was masked off with scrunched-up tissues and the exterior got a couple of olive drab coats.

The M20 Scout Car derived from the M8 Greyhound Armoured Car, and as such it featured an open fighting compartment.
This leant itself to plenty of internal detail. Unfortunately, similar to those really nice Jeep dashboards a lot of the detail would be hidden once the figures were put in place.
Oh well, at least the detail is there.
This shot includes the driver and one of the crew members -- both are highly converted Masterbox figures.

Looking good -- but it'll look better once I've messed it up a bit.

I absolutely love the replacement Hornet head on the driver -- now that is a character...

Meanwhile, back in the present day -- made a lot of progress on the new and additional figures today.

They're far from finished of course, but I'll get there.

I also replaced those M1 Carbines that had got bust and fixed "dodgy left hand guy".

The N. Koreans do need some color adjustment to their uniforms -- need to look more light grey. I'll likely sort that out tomorrow.
All new figures also need to be grubbied up.

I was unsure what DEF Models meant by describing this set as "USMC ANGLICO Team". I initially thought it was an acronym for the hand-cranked generator the guy on the right is operating.
However, there are times when internet search engines are awful handy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Naval_Gunfire_Liaison_Company_(ANGLICO)

I assume the generator is connected to an inverter that trickle-charges the radio battery?
Be that as it may, I'm not convinced I want to use that guy and his gen set in this diorama, but if I do then he'll be taking a rest from his Herculean labors and having a smoke, or enjoying some chow.
Next up? Well, it would probably be a good idea to show how the weathering on the M26, M20 and the Jeeps worked out...

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[bigtodd]

Yes! I am very much enjoying this sbs.

 

[Nap]

Hi H

Cracking update , good pics and explanations as well , glad you sorted that hand out , like the ice work on the base

Following with interest

Happy big benchtime

Nap

 

[harrytheheid]

I really ought to explain the diorama base.
It was originally intended to be part of a modular approach of four separate bases, (each of them around 600mm x 400mm), that would slot together to depict Napoleon's Grande Army and the retreat from Russia. But that idea simply didn't work out so I decided to use the bases in different scenarios -- and this is one of them.

The groundwork was done by my usual method of a basic layer of celluclay with rocks, static grass and various other foliage added. The snow, (and the whitewash on the vehicles), came from my stash of "Precision Ice & Snow" products and the various trash littering the landscape was from my spares box.

The frozen pond was done with "Magic Water" from a company called Unreal Details. Straight out of the bottle, this stuff is literally the viscosity of water and will leach away when it's poured onto any porous diorama base. I found the best solution was to seal off the water area with a couple of coats of "Flex-Paste" from Woodland Scenic. It's like a low-viscosity PVA glue and brushes on like a dream. Leave it to dry out overnight and paint it whatever color that suits the depth depicted. Once the paint is dry you can go ahead and mix the 2-part "Magic Water", then pour it into the prepared diorama A tiny drop each of blue and white acrylic paint added just before the pour will result in fairly convincing frozen water.
I've since gone over to using Woodland Scenic 1-part resin water as it's a bit thicker and doesn't exhibit the leaching problem to quite the same extent, although I still use the Flex-Paste as a barrier layer - just in case.
Interestingly, the leaching problem with "Magic Water" can be a positive property if you want to depict marshy terrain or a rice paddy, as long as you're okay with losing most of the first and even second pour into the landscape. The initial pours will leach through the diorama and will make it look suitably wet. Subsequent pours shouldn't leach too much and can represent puddles in the marshy ground.

I'm getting fairly close to the end of this SBS on the original diorama and ought to have the updated version done over the next several days.
I'll likely post the next set of photos later tonight, (my time).

Cheers
H

 

[harrytheheid]

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

01 to 04 June 2017
Additional sets from DEF Models had popped through our letterbox, so I could now get on with the second set of Marines.

I changed around some heads and arms so they wouldn't all look exactly the same as the first set of figures.

Also changed out the 30-cal MG carried by one of the Marines for one from Masterbox -- cos I reckoned it looked better.

Also crewed-up the M20 and weathered it using the previously described Flory washes and a whitewash from Precision Ice & Snow.

Then replaced the remaining kit wheels on the Jeeps with the additional aftermarket winter chained wheels.

Also knocked together another figure using various parts from Masterbox and Tamiya.

So lets see how this all looked now...

Everything seemed to be okay, so the next step would be adding more details, the additional figures and some snow to the groundwork.

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[Nap]

Hi H

Nice update on the figures , good thinking on any replacement parts as well , the figures look good in position

Once the ground has been snowed up will really bring the freezing conditions out

Cheers for pics and taking the time

Looking forward to seeing more

Nap

 

[harrytheheid]

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

05 to 09 June 2017
Having got the vehicles and most of the figures done by now, I began adding the snow effects. It was at this stage that I decided to add a fourth Jeep to the fun -- this one had skidded off the road and ended up in the frozen pond.

I guess the driver lost control because it's the only Jeep that wasn't fitted with winter chained tires.

I took a hammer to an old CD case and that's what provided the broken chunks of "ice"......once they were given a couple of Magic Water pours, the resin then blended the bust plastic shards from the CD case into the pond itself.

I then added the Medic and Casualty set I had ordered direct from the manufacturer in Vietnam.

And as chance would have it, you can just spot one of the M113's I built for a Vietnam War diorama in the next couple of photos.

I actually went way OTT with the snow on all the vehicles......which is one of the main reasons why I decided to revisit this diorama and try to improve it.
After sitting staring at it for five years mind you......

The Medic looked a bit over-worked to me, so he got some help. I initially thought the second Medic had been a Verlinden figure, but he's actually from a company called Nemrod.

I gave him a pack of Lucky Strikes and showed him handing one out to the unlucky driver of the wrecked Jeep.

And the Medic helmets were deliberately made to look slightly different.

Yeah, that Jeep's a total write-off man...

Meanwhile, back in the present day the additional and repaired figures still needed a lot of work. Not only that, both the Marine and the N. Korean uniforms were crying out for major color adjustments. They'll be the main subject of my next post in this hybrid SBS/WIP thread.

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[bigtodd]

Do you remember what colors you used on marine over coats?

 

[harrytheheid]

Do you remember what colors you used on marine over coats?

Think they were a base of Andrea Field Grey and then mixed in various proportions of Scale75 Olive Drab and Ardennes Green, with a tiny bit of neutral blue.
Tried my best to make every uniform look a slightly different shade from the next, without pushing them too far out there.

 

[harrytheheid]

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

The original diorama was finished on 13-June-2017, so here's a few sample photos.

Like I said when I began this thread, I was very pleased with the results, and the diorama was even featured in one of the hobby magazines, which was all very nice. But over the next two or three years I began to realize it wasn't as good as I originally thought.
I was somewhat less than happy with at least three of the figures;
I had forgotten to finish weathering the wheels on all the vehicles;
The snow on the vehicles was too heavy-handed;
Realistically, the hitch-hiking hound would've ended up in the cooking pot toot-de-sweet; and so on -- these are just a few of the things that had began to bug the life out of me -- there's more, but enough of them and my blah, blah, blah, about it.


So when the additional half-dozen DEF Model figures were delivered recently, that was the proverbial kick up the bahoochie I needed to finally get up off my bahoochie and do something about fixing this diorama.

23-Nov-2022
First problem encountered was the hand-cranked generator. The part supplied in the kit for making the crank handles was just a straight steel rod-- and this thing was so difficult to bend that I seriously considered not using the gen-set in the "upgraded" diorama. However, I found a length of brass rod in the cupboard that looked like a suitable replacement and got it bent into the approximate shapes I needed using a photo-etch bending tool.

The 1:35 scale M1 Carbine and kit figure arm in the next photo illustrates just how small those crank handles needed to be.

I previously mentioned that I didn't actually want the kit figure to be cranking the gen-set. Been there before -- trying to use superglue while juggling several separate parts that need to be held steady while the glue takes a bite. There was no way that 2-part epoxy would have worked and I can't get my hands on superglue accelerant.
Was picturing yet another trip to the local A&E.
Nurse: "Oh hello again Mister Harry. Haven't seen you since the last time. Been gluing your fingers together again have you?"
...
Naah, the guy taking a well-deserved break while enjoying a tab will do fine. Mind you, I didn't know Woodbines came in "Super King-Size Lengths" back in 1950. Must have been exported for the American market only...

Anyhoo, enough of the frivolity as I began to consider the best place to locate him in the diorama.
This seemed to be the best place to have him sitting. Kind of out the way while his buddies call up for air support.

Getting back to the rest of the new characters. The N. Korean uniforms were beginning to look a bit better.

And so were the United Nations Forces.
That's a British Royal Marine wearing the brown blouson by the way. I'm pretty certain I read that a few of our lads were present at Chosin - using US equipment and uniforms although the blouson color might well be wrong. If that's incorrect then so be it. Maybe he bought it down Saville Row before being deployed on this "Police Action".
He's actually going to be the Convoy Manager. The reason why will become apparent in due course.

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST