Make a Military Diorama: Aircraft Battle

This is a fun project and it can be done in a couple of hours. (Not including making the model airplanes) It is a pretty simple military diorama but it is also a bit different. It is two airplanes in the sky engaged in a battle. Rather than put the planes on a diorama on the ground I thought it would be nice to place them in the sky. All you need is a few simple materials including some wooden dowels and some paint.

This is a companion tutorial to my make a model tutorial where I show you a bit about how to make a plastic model. I use these two airplanes in that tutorial. If you have never made a model before and would like to learn a bit about it you can check out that tutorial here: Making Models And if you came to this page from the web you might want to check out my section on military dioramas

Here is a look at the completed diorama

Military Diorama - Airplane Dogfight

Here is how I made this diorama:

The Base of the diorama I cut a piece of wood for the base and used two dowels for the aircraft mounts. The dowels are 3/16 thick and respectively eighteen and ten inches thick.

I drilled two 3/16 inch holes in the base that I glued the dowels into. Before doing any drilling or cutting you should hold your models up and move them around until you find a configuration that is pleasing to the eye. One above, one below, both even, move them around and find a configuration you like.

Glue those dowels into the base.

Drill holes in the Airplane

Next I drilled holes in the bottom of both model airplanes.

Take your time with this. You don't want to damage the models. What I did was first drill a small pilot hole then drill a little bigger and a little bigger. Each time I switched to a bigger drill bit until I had the size I wanted.

Hot glue the planes to the dowels

I placed the models on the dowels and found the position I liked then I used a hot glue gun to glue them in place.

Paint the diorama

The diorama is now pretty much done. All you have to do is paint it. Typically painting the dowels black will look really good. Black is sort of like an invisible color in this case. I painted the base a nice sky blue.

The next pictures shows a nice little addition I made to this diorama. I added missiles in mid air shooting from the Tiger to the Stuka. How I did this was to superglue two lengths of fishing line from one plane to the other. Then I cut and painted toothpicks so they looked like missiles and glued them to the fishing line. And I added cotton balls to make the trail behind them. Nice little special effect. It takes a little patience to get it all glued nicely but it is worth it.

Close up of the missiles

Resources, kits, models and more

Airfix doubles Airfix A50036 1:72 Scale Dogfight Double - Messerschmitt Me110/ Supermarine Spitfire MkIX Twin Set Gift Set inc Paints Glue and Brushes

1-72 Scale. This dogfight scene between the all time classic RAF fighter and one of the Luftwaffes twin engined aircraft can be displayed using the stand included in this gift set. This set also includes 8 Humbrol Acrylic Paints, Humbrol Precision Poly and Paint Brushes.

Airfix A50068 1:72 Scale Dogfight Double - De Havilland DH-98 Mosquito/ Messerschmitt Me262 Twin Set Gift Set inc Paints Glue and Brushes

The only Luftwaffe interceptor that stood a real chance of catching and destroying the Mosquito was the first operational jet - the Me262. This dogfight can be displayed on the stand included. This set also includes 8 Humbrol Acrylic Paints, Humbrol Precision Poly and Paint Brushes.

Airfix A50038 1:72 Scale Dogfight Double - Junkers Ju-88/ Hawker Hurricane Twin Set Gift Set inc Paints Glue and Brushes

Junkers Ju-88: L278 x W199, Hawker Hurricane MkIb: L170 x W133 Over the skies of Britain in 1940 these two aircraft were often to meet in deadly combat with the Hurricane being more than a match of the intruding light bomber. Display stand included. This set also includes 6 Humbrol Acrylic Paints, Humbrol Precision Poly and Paint Brushes.

Tamiya 1/72 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 D-9 JV44

1/35 Jeep Willys MB 1/4Ton

1/35 US M41 Walker Bulldog

1/35 German Hanomag SdKfz

1/35 US Army Infantry

1/48 P51D Mustang

Lots of Military models in the 1/35 scale made by Tamiya

Do you like making projects and exploring a variety of hobbies?

Sign up for my free newsletter. I give you regular updates on hobbies and projects you can make. it is totally free and I don't share your email with anybody.