
Heroes of Leningrad
One of those dioramas where you build the model first, but you have no idea about the story or the composition of the scene. Basically, I suddenly found myself with a finished winter KV-2 from Leningrad and I had to figure out a nice diorama that would become the model’s permanent home.
Leningrad was a huge industrial city during the war, and it endured an extremely long siege. The whole city was basically cut off from the rest of the world for several years. Intense fights, cold, lack of supplies, hunger, it must’ve been a nightmare.
I wanted to keep the diorama simple but at the same time, clearly show that it takes place somewhere in the industrial suburbs. Creating a large factory building doesn’t fit into the “keep it simple” scheme, so I decided to build a collapsed industrial chimney instead.
I try to avoid being pretentious with my creations and war is hell in all shapes and forms, but when we consider the miserable conditions during the siege, everyone who managed to pull through and actually survive this nightmare deserves to be called a hero. That’s why I titled this diorama “Heroes of Leningrad”.