ONE OF THE THINGS I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED ABOUT SCALE MILITARY MODELLING IS THE ART OF THE DIOROMA. Be this a small vignette or a large expansive model, the creativity and skill to bring pieces of plastic, resin, etch and other materials together and mould them into a believable scene has always impressed me. Some modellers will create a diorama just using their imagination and ingenuity, whilst others will refer to wartime photographs for inspiration, and today we are blessed with plenty of references readily available through books, magazines and of course on-line as sources to turn to. Also, the materials available to the modeller to create a scene are endless, with accessories by the score, from buildings, banners, street ephemera, rubble, grass, trees and streetlamps, the list seems boundless! And of course, if a particular piece is hard to find there are plenty of resources to show you how to scratch build one! This month we have not one, but two dioramas from Robin Gilby as a case in point, with his Operation Striker Denial’ and ‘Lighting Up Berlin’ scenes, where he uses a plethora of sets from a number of manufacturers, as well as some scratch building to produce what are quite involved dioramas. I hope these will give you some inspiration to have a go at creating your own scene. Elsewhere this month we have two exclusive ‘how-to’ builds from Matt Edwards and another from Snorre Sandviken. Elsewhere Iwan Hughes tells the story of Mariya Oktyabrskaya and builds the 1:35 Revell kit with the ‘Fighting Girlfriend’ slogan. Also look out for Joao Pereira’s ‘Puppy and the Panther’ and Kayhan Kayar’s Aerosled.