It's alive! (Patreon)

My friends, the diorama is laminated, the tree bridge constructed, and I'm almost ready to start painting. 

Laminating wasn't as difficult as I imagined, it just needed a bit of planning. It's easier to wrap the 0.4mm veneer when the woodgrain is pointing vertically. Then you just need a lot of PVA on the styrofoam and glue it one small section at a time using a lot of superglue. 

The tree bridge was the real deal and I barely found enough material for it! Literally picked up every twig in my garden and used them all. The result ended up being more "cluttered" with small tree trunks compared to the inspirational photo, but I was limited by the diameter of the twigs I could find. The inside is mostly made from styrofoam and I only constructed the front face of the bridge. 

When it was all dry I placed the IS-2 on a small strip of styrofoam that would keep its belly at a reasonable height, removed the suspension, cut off the locating knobs on the hull and glued the wheels according to the terrain. 

Now I just need to add texture, grass, and a figure on the right bank of the river and it'll be ready for painting. 

There's a mound of earth falling down from the shell crater in the wall, so I added it as well, but this feature doesn't work so well with the overall composition as it blocks the view from the front. Makes the scene more claustrophobic than it should be, so it was a valuable lesson!