# Europe 44



## Els

Hello all,
I am going to build an Easter egg diorama. Since there are several different techniques involved with this, I decided to do a quick in-progress build. I will be using the Hasegawa P-51 and FW-190A egg plane kits:









My idea is for a low level dogfight over some European hedgerows sometime in 1944. I know this isn’t realistic, but they are eggs so I can get away with it. For this I will have to mold/cast a part, build a base and display two aircraft in-flight. If anyone has any tips for a better or easier way of doing any of this, please let me know.
Since the FW does not come with a pilot, I am going to copy the pilot from the P-51:








I know the flight gear should be different, but when viewing through the canopy, the pilot will not be that visible. I will be using a product called Amazing Mold Putty. It is a 2-part putty that you mix equal amounts together. After mixing, place the putty over the item that you want to make a mold of. After about 30 minutes the mold is done:

















Since the pilot will not be that visible in the cockpit, I will cast the German pilot out of Durhams putty. It is a powder that you mix with water and when it dry’s it is hard as a rock: 








After about an hour here is my copy, not perfect but with a little putty here and there it will be fine:








Tomorrow I will work on the base.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


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## SJF

Looks good. Didn't know you could do a quick and easy mold like that. Thanks for posting this, it was very helpful. 

Sean


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## Els

SJF,
Thanks for the feedback. This mold putty works really good. Especially for items that are flat on one side.

Some work that I did today.
The base was started off by cutting a footprint shaped piece of 1 by 6 from my wood scraps pile. It was stained dark for looks but also to seal it against the wet Durhams putty that I will be using. Pieces of cardboard were glued where I want the hedgerows to be. More Durhams putty was used to make a dirt road and secure the cardboard:









After that was dry, some bird cage sand was mixed into more Durhams to make furrows in one field and landscape in the others:









This cord will be used to make some dried grass/weeds. Just chop off a section, unravel it and there you have it. Very easy and can be dyed with thinned paints if you want different shades:









Here is the basic base after washes and various scenic products:









It is a bit bright/clean right now but tomorrow after all the glue dries I will airbrush some thinned coats of paint to dirty it up a bit. The grass will also be chopped back so that it doesn’t look as wild. I think it might be a little out of scale but it is hard to tell with eggs.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


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## Els

Here is what got done today.
The base was darkened and trimmed up a little bit. Some of the cardboard was left showing to look like wood fences. I am not sure that I like it though. I might glue some more foliage over it:

















The control surfaces for the FW were modified. Hopefully this is correct for a climbing right turn:









The P-51 pilot is finished. Hasegawa provides two sets of eye decals and they look pretty good on the figures:









Tomorrow I will paint up the FW pilot and try to figure out what to do with the props. I like to use Propblur, but I don’t have any. I will try to figure out something else.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


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## bucwheat

Nice work,look forward to it.


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## Els

Bucwheat, thanks for your comments.
Even for a kit as simple as an egg plane, it pays to look closely at the instructions.

This kit comes with 2 schemes, a blue and silver and a green and silver. I had other plans for the blue/silver so I went for the other version:









So the plane was painted and about 85% decaled when I noticed these little beauties:









Since this plane was from the wrong theater, it was either strip the decals or build another kit. Luckily I had another in the stash so it's another P-51 build for this dio.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


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## Els

The FW is finished. The pilot is barely visible; I probably could have just put a round blob of brown putty in the cockpit, called it a pilot, and no one would have noticed:

































The new P-51 is half painted and should be done tomorrow.
I think I can see the finish line now.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


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## onesixfour

awesome base! love the weeds and the road especially.


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## roadrner

Can't wait to see the finished version! :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


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## CODY614

Sweet...Just saw this on the front page ARC!


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## Els

Thanks,
I like the ARC's annual Easter egg post. Hopefully next year there will be even more eggs.
I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Here are some pictures of the finished dio.
































Thanks for following along on this build. I appreciate the comments.
Els


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## John P

Neat!


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## SJF

I love it! Very nice job. 

Sean


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## machgo

I think that is totally awesome. Never seen anything quite like it, and you did it beautifully. Excellent pictures also--and nice work on the cast pilot!


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## Els

Thanks, I appreciate the positive feedback. I think that these 3 eggs have cured my egg craving for a while.
Els


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## Jafo

great idea and execution!


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## Hooty

That is so cool! :thumbsup: Love the base!


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## BOXIE

unusal subject but nice work


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