Diorama sketch!

My friends, this diorama will be called "Savior". Or maybe "Fallen Savior"? My original idea was "Big Game Hunting", but because the A7V was nicknamed Heiland, it all makes better sense! But hey, here's the important stuff... 

These photos show how the composition evolved, from the final form to the initial sketch roughly based on the inspirational photo. I kept messing around with angles, trying to show as much of the tank as possible, reducing the size of the base, keeping it rectangular rather than square, etc. I ended up with a blank space behind the tank (as usual, haha), so I was thinking how to fill it. A small hill, why not? But what then? Another destroyed tree? That was already in the 1917 diorama... a bombed church, just a small portion of a wall, eh? Would it be immediately recognizable as a church? No, it would need a small cross or something. Wait... how about a large cross? The tank is called Savior, and adding a cross, oh, the irony! 

It immediately reminded me of an old diorama made by Per Olav Lund with a crashed German plane in a trench, and behind it a bombed cemetery with a large metal cross. Subconscious inspiration? Maybe! :) 

You can also see how the figure layout changed. My initial idea was two soldiers posing in front of the tank, hence the word play about big game hunting, but the scene looked lifeless. I changed one figure and now they sort of interact over the trench. These are from a large 5-figure set from Stalingrad (90 euros for the entire set!) 

So this is the final layout. I already cleaned-up the sides so they can be laminated with 0.4mm veneer, but first I'll have to construct the wicker walls for the trench. And before that, the ground around the tank, because it has to sit on the ground nice and tight!