#611 “That is not a toy, my boy!”

A somewhat unconventional diorama featuring an Airfix 1:35 M7 Priest, some MasterBox figures and a bonsai tree!

Notes

I’ve never been particularly interested in armor as a modelling subject per se, I have been mesmerized by the quality and range of techniques used these days for weathering and featuring armor in dioramas.

So when I won the Airfix M7 Priest kit in a contest last year, I got this idea of featuring it as a an abandoned and derelict wreck, with a young boy scrambling over it while his sister looks on. And we see the father approach and bark a stern “Get down right now. That is not a toy, my boy!”

This is how far I’ve got so far…

Airfix M7 Priest Kit

The Airfix A1368 1:35 M7 Priest is an Academy reboxing

Schemes

the kit has decals and paint callouts for two schemes :

• A - Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 Priest C Battery, 78th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Armoured Division, US 7th Army, Germany 1945.
• B - Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 Priest A Troop, 22nd Battery, 24th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, Italy 1944.

I’m going with the Royal Artillery.

Figures

I spent a while trying to find suitable figures. I eventually settled on a set from Master Box: Civilians Western Region, WWII era MB3567

I’m using three of the figures from the kit.

Adjusting some poses and attempting to youthify the “child” from a Master Box WW2 civilians set

First pass painting these 1:35 MasterBox figures. Still trying to knock another few years off the “child”, but pretty happy how they are turning out

Diorama Construction

Building the base

Credits and References

• A1368 M7 Priest - airfix
• A1368 M7 Priest - scalemates
• Civilians Western Region, WWII era Master Box - No. MB3567 - 1:35