WWII Luftwaffe Secret Base (late war/what-if?)

The idea behind this diorama was to build a hidden/subterranean base as a store for some of the experimental and prototype fighters of the late war - some of the “what if?” designs which never made it to production.

After having gained the experience of working on the WW2 French countryside ambush and WW2 German Airfield display, the idea of a larger, multi-level diorama hosting several of the advanced jets and rocket powered designs the German airforce was working on in the late stages of the war really appealed to me.

• Two level - upper 'ground' level and a lower maintenance/storage area.
• The upper level will be both 'open', with a runway/taxi-way section, and the 'hidden' entrance to the base in a hill or cliff face. Space for at least one model on the taxi way, and one more in or entering/exiting the base entrance.
• The upper level should be removable so that the upper and lower levels can be assembled seperately
• The upper level should have a removeable cover over the entrance, so that models can be placed and then the hill/cliff/earth cover added
• The lower level will have space for 3 or so fighters
• The lower level will have a suspended walkway leading to a control booth overlooking the maintenance bay
• The lower level will have a narrow gauge rail link, to transport in parts/fuel/ammo
• The lower level will have a crane to offload cargo from the rail cars
• Some working industrial lights (probably LEDs) hanging from the ceiling of the lower level and as wall lights in the entrance of the upper level - to work off the existing LED strip illuminating the cabinet

A very early sketch of the multi-level layout:

The upper tiles have the following features:

• Left tile is a runway, edged by grass and a small number of trees - it needs to be wide enough to place the widest model which I will use; Revel 1:72 Arado AR 555 (wingspan 29cm, length 22cm).
• Right tile has a short length of runway connecting to the main runway and the entrance to the base. The width of the widest fighter which will enter/exit the base is the 1:72 Revell Ho 229 (wingspan 23cm, length 10cm). This means that the entrance 'door' needs to be almost full width - therefore there won't be a support on the front (nearest) edge.
• Right tile is topped with a (removable) grass/earth roof to show that the entrance is recessed into a hill or cliff.
• Entrance door will be made in two versions - completely closed and partially opened; it will be designed to slide in from the side or to be removed completely
• Small section of raised walkway inside the entrance
• Several LED lights inside the entrance
• Another (non-moving) door recessed into the far right wall of the entrance, to indicate a lift down to the lower level

More detailed plans of the upper levels:

Fig. 1: Upper level, left tile, plan view. Fig. 2: Upper level, right tile, plan view.

Fig. 3: Upper level, right tile, side view.

The lower tiles have the following features:

• 'Concrete' floor throughout
• Left tile features section of rail (using OO gauge) for delivery of parts and spares - this is lower than the floor level
• Right tile has a recessed door, to the same dimensions of the door above it on the upper tile - 'off screen' there is a motorised gantry raising aircraft to ground level.
• Lighting suspended from i-beams/girders that 'support' the roof (in reality all weight is transferred down through the 6.5mm Plywood sides and back panel).
• Suspended walkways on the left and rear walls
• Personnel doorways on the rear wall in line with one on the upper tile - 'off screen' there are stairs behind the rear wall to go between floors.

This excellent diorama from uschivdr.com also gives an indication of what the lower level is based on:

Fig. 4: Example maintenance bay from uschivdr.com.

Fig. 5: Lower level, left tile, plan view. Fig. 6: Lower level, right tile, plan view.

Fig. 7: Lower level, left tile, side view. Fig. 8: Lower level, right tile, side view.

Marking out sizes of one of the upper tiles:

Plaster added to upper tiles on concrete runway areas:

The plaster will get sanded down when completely dry to give a smooth, level finish to the runway. Around the edges of the runway will be grass and trees:

Runway surfaces sanded smooth:

Pre-shading around runway / concrete sections:

Interior of bunker/hangar entrance. This was tile grout powder added on to the foam using PVA glue, then sanded and finally painted grey with a black/brown wash applied:

Finishing off the concrete sections with some weathering, panel lining between sections and light brown wash to distress the concrete a little:

Adding dry earth scatter around edges of tiles and bunker roof, ready for static grass:

First layer of static grass (2mm, North Europe) applied to runway tiles and roof of bunker:

Second and third layers of static grass (4mm Spring, 6mm North Europe) to tiles, with a little bit of a different texture added to bunker roof (6mm Patchy):

Runway markings added:

Trees and shrubs:

Adding interior details (roof support girders, ladders, railings, electrical conduits and switches/breaker panels) to hangar/bunker entrance:

Updated image of the two upper tiles so far:

Next for the upper tiles are constructing the interior and exterior bunker doors and other detailing (radio mast? loudspeaker?), as well as wiring for the lights hanging from the bunker roof.

Exterior hangar doors made from plasticard:

Interior lift/bunker door made from plasticard:

Exterior and interior doors fitted and extra weathering to bunker entrance, streaking, grime, rust etc:

Marking mounts to attach side and rear panels

Fig. 9: Boards cut to size (37.5cm x 26cm) and 10x20mm strips added to screw side panels.

Cut-outs in side panels for the front cross-brace which will run from side to side and support the weight of the upper boards. Also made the cut-out for the rail tunnel - the actual shape will be made in XPS foam, as it's easier to get the correct profile than using a jigsaw on such a tight radius.

Side panels now screwed to mounts. After this the entire inner surface of the boards got a coat of PVA glue to seal it.

Fig. 10: Side panel screwed to left lower board, side panels are 6.5mm ply, same as base board. Fig. 11: Side panel screwed to right lower board, side panels are 6.5mm ply, same as base board.

With the PVA seal on the wood now dry it was time to cut out the correct XPS foam profile for the end walls. These will both be 10mm thick as they have recessed doors, the rail tunnel entrance (profile added in the image below) etc. The rear walls will just be 3mm as they don't need to be recessed for any large openings (other than a few grills/vents).

Side wall XPS foam cut to size:

Fig. 12: Cutting out 10mm XPS foam for tunnel entrance and front brace. Fig. 13: The right end wall has a larger cutout for the hangar door lift up to ground level.

Side walls glued in place and the edges of the foam also coated with PVA for added strength - the edges and sides are the most vulnerable to damage/chipping, so it's worth strengthening them:

Fig. 14: Glued foam to left side wall Fig. 15: Glued foam to right side wall

Adding supports and suspended walkways to the lower tiles. These have cutouts in them to allow for wall-mounted ladders to be added later:

Walkways added and held in place with tape whilst drying:

Cutting foam for lower left tile, making room for rails, building the rail tunnel entrace:

Making recesses in lower left and right tiles to add grills for drainage:

First coat of black acrylic before adding glue and tile grout mix to walls:

Adding tile grout to a layer of glue to give a more natural concrete texture. Once dry these will be given a sanding with relatively fine sandpaper (>= 240 grit) to take get it more level, and then sprayed gray and a dirty black/brown wash over the top:

Sanded down and sprayed with grey primer:

Painting a mix of Vallejo Game Ink Black and Game Ink Brown with quite a lot of water to make a dirty, greasy wash:

Left and right tiles with the dirty wash finished, then blotted dry with kitchen paper to get a patchy, uneven finish. Extra wash (with less black, and more brown) was then applied around the walkway supports and corners of the tiles to simulate dirt and stains:

Added some small pieces of styrene to block out the holes for the grils/vents so that they won't get filled with plaster:

Tile with plaster applied, this is approx 3mm deep. The finish doesn't need to be perfect as it will get sanded to a really flat finish when set:

First layer of plaster dried and sanded flat:

Filling in small holes and rough areas with a second thin skim of plaster:

The walls will need washing down and probably another coat of the dirty black/brown washing applying to get rid of the plaster dust. In hindsight I should have done the plaster base first, then the walls, then the painting of the walls. Oh well!

Walls cleaned and some more dirty wash applied:

Applying several very thin washes of dirty brown to the concrete area, blotting most off using paper towels to leave a splotchy, patchy finish much more like real concrete:

Adding handrails around elevated walkways and gluing rails to the board:

Close-ups of the laser-cut drain covers added to the cut-outs in the concrete base:

Weathering effects added to the railings and elevated walkways to simulate rust streaks on the concrete walls:

Adding more rust effects to handrails:

Built a few drainage/water/coolant/fuel pipes using 3mm styrene rod and 4mm styrene tube. These will be painted and weathered and then glued to the walls:

Painted and rusted the pipes:

Built interior bunker/lift door from plasticard. Weathered using Vallejo “Rust, Stain & Streaking” acrylic set:

Maintenance bay markings painted on concrete base:

I sourced a number of images of vintage German propaganda posters and several warning signs based on real images and scaled them down to suit the dimensions of the display. I also found some cutaway diagrams of various later war fighter jets and used them as blueprints or technical drawings which might be used by the engineers on aircraft undergoing maintenance:

They came out rather nicely at such a small size:

Propaganda posters were added to both upper and lower levels, and the technical drawings mainly added at one end of the display - where I plan to add a bunch of workshop machinery and tools:

There are a few more general purpose signs still needed; things like “No Entry”, “Caution” and “No Smoking”.

Added several sets of 1/72 scale fuel/oil drums from https://anyscalemodels.co.uk:

Ladders, access platforms and associated parts from 'Madworks', which can be found on various online shopping sites. There's a big range of these, so a lot of choice of heights, sizes, etc:

… and painted up with Vallejo acrylics - grey platforms with green handrails. A little bit of rust/weathering around the treaded areas:

TBC

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