After again several months, I finished the small diorama.

I added a machine gun to the side car, made from resin and featuring a nice brass barrel from Aber. On the floor of the side car two further magazines are visible.

After adding some more dirt and mud splashes, I fixed the bike to the base and added the second soldier:

I fixed the side car to the bike and started to add dirt. The dirt is made from pigments and some enamel colors:

The brass pins in the tires will be used to fix the bike to the base.

And that is how the whole thing looks from below:

The dirt still needs some more refinement, with some splashes added. And of course the MG on the side car ist still missing.

After the side car was built, I started to paint the bike. An initial primer layer of Mr Resin Primer was followed by Tamiya German grey, which was in turn oversprayed with a slightly brighter color mixed from German grey and light grey. I then tried to chip the upper color layer very cautiously using thinner and a brush, but this went not as intended. At least the color looked a bit faded, but I still have to add some chipping later with a brush.

Then I started to paint the details (engine etc.) with acrylics:

The sidecar decals are from the Masterbox kit, the registration plates are self made decals, as the kit decals do not fit onto the PE parts… The jerry can and its mount can be seen on a lot of war time photographs, and I really liked to also add this detail.

Then I continued painting the details, and also applied a pin wash made from dark oils. I also used my oil colors for a lot of little fadings and stains:

I will now continue with applying some highlights on the grey color, which will be followed by a filter to add some warmth to the grey. And then… the dirt…

Since the last post I finished the figures and continued to build the bike. Below are some pictures of the two soldiers:

And now the news from the BMW bike:

After the failed builds of the Masterbox kits, I decided to build the frame of the bike from brass tubes and rods. This turned out to be a nice idea, as metal is much more stable than plastic (and also looks much better). I then also built the fork for the front wheel from brass parts.

I also bought the BMW R75 kit from Italeri. All in all this kit is not very good, but the engine is very nicely detailed, especially the cooling fins on the cylinders are much better detailed than the ones from the Masterbox kit.

The bike itself is now almost finished, apart from some details. The side car is still waiting to be build…

And this is how the bike looks now:

The bike is a mixed build from two different Masterbox kits, some Italeri parts, the PE parts from Masterbox and a lot of scratch built parts made from brass and copper.

One comment on the PE parts from the Masterbox kit. They are made from brass, but covered with a thin coating. So it is almost impossible to glue or solder them. The solution to this problem is visible on the pictures: simply sand the PE parts cautiously, until the coating is removed (at least partly), and now both the  superglue and the solder work as expected.

So after some frustrations at the beginning, the build was fun until now, and I am looking forward to continue with the side car and of course to paint the model. And one more comment: the reference material available on the web from BMW proved to be really, really helpful.

In the meantime I continued to paint the two soldiers. The first figure is finished (apart from the head) and already fixed to the base:

I used predominantly acrylics, with some oil washes added to a few spots (e.g. on the MP 40 sub machinegun). The dirt speckles on the coat are enamels, applied with a brush that was flickered against some solid stick, like another brush or tweezers. I find this method of application much more controllable than blowing air from the airbrush against the brush filled with color.

The second figure is also in the course of being painted, I am busy with the gloves right now:

The first pictures show the highlighted and shaded coat, the last pictures the current state with further details added.

The peasant figure is now finished and fixed to the base:

I also started with the two soldiers. On the first one, I finished highlights and shadows on the coat:

And the bike… Consulting the material from the BMW website, I started crafting the parts for the frame. Next time I will show some pictures as well.

Although I watched many fascinating soccer games this week, I managed to finish the head of the peasant figure. Below are some pictures, the first three taken after the base color and the highlights of the face were applied, the last three show the finished head featuring the Milliput beard:

After returning from my holiday, I finished the peasant figure (apart from the head). The figure is painted with acrylics, earth stains and dirt were added using enamels and pigments. Then I glued everything together and fixed the wheel barrow and the figure to the base. Finally the potatoe sack was glued to the wheel barrow, after earth stains were also added using pigments again. The wooden bucket containing potatoes was positioned in front of the figure.

After some final touch ups I am quite happy with the result. Now the soldiers have to be finished and the motorcycle has finally to be assembled and painted.

Below you will find some pictures: