How to make a proper Booom

[Hieronymus]

You asked for it and here it is: How I did it!

“Booom”

Scale: 1:72

Building time: 119hrs

This time I came up with a completely different and controversial idea, I wanted to build an explosion in a diorama, a fiery explosion and it had to look as real as possible! During the last years I have tried to achieve several goals while building models but this one remained unsolved so far. Building an explosion seemed to be an impossible task, especially if it should look really realistic not only for the onlooker but on a photo without the use of any tricks as well. The reason why I wanted to solve this problem was because I really like to build unusual dioramas. For me a dio is nothing else but a 3 dimensional photograph and I always have the intention to build sceneries, which are a bit different. Depending on what I have in mind this scenery is a calm, peaceful picture or perhaps a very dynamic or even dramatic scene.

What I had in mind for this dio was to depict one of those typical bombing missions carried out by US Navy aircraft during the Vietnam War. I wanted to show the aircraft in low level flight after releasing its deadly load, the typical Southeast Asian landscape, a target which should appear as one of those infamous “suspected truck parks” and of course the explosion. Since I wanted to create one of those specific explosions created by Napalm, this one had to be a very nasty, a fiery booom. I’m not sure if I was aware of the fact that this alone made the whole attempt somewhat more difficult. Thanks to some unknown reason I started to build this dio “the other way around”. Instead of trying my hands on the explosion first, I decided to start with the base and the ground work (the whole dio is actually groundwork but what the hell). Hadn’t I tried to start with the explosion, well I’m afraid this whole dio would never been built but read on.

I started by using a wooden base about 90 x 40cm wide and added some Styrofoam to it. After that I used some of my favorite materials for building almost any kind of surface, toilet paper and wall paper glue! They’re cheap and, forgive me, handy. I think everyone has at least one of them at home (Please, tell me you’ve got). With this I cover the entire base and soak it with the glue. That way within a very few hours the whole surface including the river ,the little brook, the swamp area and the 2 rice paddies were easily made. After the whole affair had dried, which will take perhaps a day or two, it received several layers of colors. For this I use whatever is available: water colors as well as oil or acrylic colors, sometimes I even mix them as soon as the former coat has dried. Then the actual ground work started. This is something which takes much more time. I start with the lowest and smallest parts: grass, next came higher grass, some small plants, even higher grass, small bushes larger plants and so on, between that I put some rocks and other bits and pieces and finally the trees. These are made of simple wire bundles which I twist as much as necessary, create lots of branches the same way, after which they got covered with some kind of acrylic modelling paste. This dries in short time after which the whole tree can be colored and finally the foliage can be added. For this I use different stuff which I buy at the local railroad department. I took me the most of 3 month to create the entire ground work on this dio step by step. The “water” in the river and the little brook was made by using liquid resin. While doing this I experienced some trouble because I ran out of that material and couldn’t get the same brand once again. So I tried with a new product which turned out badly. While pouring one of those rice paddies, that new material went from liquid to rock hard within seconds instead of the promised minutes (At least the instruction leaflet said so.) As if this would not be enough the color looked as if a major oil spillage just had happened and would you believe it? I bought another brand of a similar stuff, made another attempt and met the same disaster again!

After that I decided “to hell with that 2nd rice paddy” and built that hut instead, thus giving the aircraft something which could be called a proper target. The hut was made completely of wood, except the roof for which I used the hairs of a large, cheap brush. After the final details like the small footbridges and the locks for the water trenches were added, a bicycle and an old motorbike took their place on the dio; I turned my attention on that aircraft.

For this I used the Airfix Skyhawk. It was built mostly OOB. I used only a few extra parts; the inside of the cockpit itself had to be reshaped to accommodate a pilot figure, the bomb load came from the spare box as well as the decals, because I wanted to depict an aircraft which was actually used during the Vietnam War. Coloring was done by using acrylics and some washes with oil color, at the end all was sealed with “Future”. To show the aircraft in flight I drilled 2 small holes in the port wing through which 2 steel wires ran which were fixed in one of those higher trees. With some tricks these were covered with foliage and color to make them almost invisible.

With this finished I called it done and went to work on that explosion plume. The idea for this is very simple; I used chicken wire which was formed into a ball. I did this by using a small bowl and wrapped the wire around it. After removing the bowl I formed a small cylindrical part which would act as the base for the plume. Both parts were attached to each other by using soft steel wire. After that I took a whole package of cotton and stuffed small portions of it into the chicken wire, thereby creating the explosion plume and its column. This whole structure was then colored by using rattle can’s, yellow first then some orange, a bit of red and finally black, the result looked….terrible. It was out of size, out of shape and the colors looked out of this world. Believe it or not but I built no less than 18 of these things until I was satisfied. Over the course of building them I learned a few things: Size matters, bigger is NOT better, it should be not an equal and consistent form, make it uneven and it will look much, much better. Stuff only small portions of cotton inside the wire and make the outside look round, that way you create an very uneven/even surface which makes it look even better and it gives you the chance to create depth with the color. For the color I start with yellow, lots of it, then a little bit orange and almost no red at all. Apply the black in small, very small patches and try not to create an even pattern. Along the lines were the small cotton balls touch each other the light will go through much more easier, thus creating “cracks” which appear later almost white and this is what makes the explosion thing look so intimidating real. When I finally had built the ultimate or should I say most pleasingly plume there was only one thing left. I drilled a rather crude hole in the diorama through which the electric wire leads. In my case there are 2 wires because I created another much smaller explosion quite the same way as the first one. I wanted to have the look as if someone kind of part broke free after the impact of the Napalm canister and is hurled in the direction of that hut. For lighting I use LED bulbs and make sure NOT to use anything else. All other light bulbs are getting pretty hot and you do NOT want a REAL fire on your dio, don’t you? Contrary to them those LED bulbs are staying rather cool and consume much less power, which makes sure your electricity bill stays low.

I really hope you all enjoyed this as much as I do, now go ahead and try by yourself and please if there are any more questions, let me know (and since I revealed my secret of how to do it, let us/me see you attempts too)

Part 2 coming next

[Hieronymus]

Part 2 with some more photos:

Part 3 coming next

[Hieronymus]

Part 3 with even more photos:

Next is part 4 with photos of the aircraft and the "booom" thing

[Hieronymus]

Part 4

1 more posts and I'm finished

Edited November 21, 2013 by Hieronymus

[Hieronymus]

One more post with some picture under constrution

That's it Hope you like them

Cheers

René

Edited November 21, 2013 by Hieronymus

[PlasticWeapons]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

[Devilleader501]

Wow you 18 efforts aren't for nothing. I am still amazed this thing is a model. It looks so real. If this isn't a 1st place showstopper then the judges need their eyes checked. Fantastic job on this entire dio.

[VMFA314Knights]

Booom is right! - Man, that is a show-stopper of a creation - absolutely brilliant!

Thanks for the walk through of the build - we were all waiting to hear how that was created without any photo-editing.

OUTSTANDING work!

Cheers, :cheers:/>

David

[DET1460]

Outstanding! The blast effects are incredible!

Great work!

DET1460

[B-ONE27]

That is just crazy 'sick' Sir!!! You definately nailed it...amazing work...great perspective too!

[Ace Combat Zero]

So, you took chicken wire and rolled it up into a ball, and started wrapping cotton around it in the shape of a mushroom.