That’s right. It’s a Firefly in a Jar. This is what I made for my Dad for his Birthday yesterday. A 1/144th scale Sherman Firefly in a Boccage scene in a Jar. This was fun. I’m thinking it wasn’t nearly as challenging as a ship in a bottle would be, but it was certainly fun to figure it out lol.
The sand (from my vacation to Long Beach) is still wet in the pictures below so it looks a bit like mud and I don’t expect it to fully dry for days.
I started with the Revell “Army Vehicles” set in 1/144 that has been hanging around Hobby Lobby for months. I picked it up for the trucks as I want to convert them to fuel/supply trucks for my 144th aircraft. I think it would make a neat little scene.
Okay, okay, on with the pictures.
I made the Firefly conversion myself. I think I did pretty good, except for the loader’s hatch, wich is at the wrong angle. But that’s what I get by going from memory and not looking up a reference picture before starting.
Paint turned out pretty good. I mixed up my own concoction to mimic a Bronze Green and the markings are hand painted except for the star on the second tank. That is a decal. I can’t paint stars lol.
If you thought 144th planes are tiny…
And then it went into the Jar. I planned on putting both tanks in there, but only one would fit and not be pressed against the glass.
To say it was difficult to get pictures of it in the jar would be an understatement.
That is a project I wouldn’t mind trying again. I just wish I could’ve found a lid for that Jar lol. I wouldn’t want my Firefly to escape!
Thanks for looking-in guys. Any thoughts or ideas for improvement would be appreciated.
Nice job on a different dio. I wonder if you could have got both in if the jar was on its side. Would have had a little more length that way. Might look for a jar with the wire bail closure for the glass top in the housewares section. Kind of an older time frame fitting in with the scene.
Yes, I definitely like the wire lid idea! I probably could have found one in an antique shop around here. I was pressed for time though and made do with what was available on short notice. I also did think of laying the jar on its side, and that would’ve been preferred, but without a lid and a month for the sand to setup it would have been extremely diffficult to do. I would have had to make a stand for the jar to lay sideways on. Definitely ideas for the next 1/144 dio in a jar!
You can tape a piece of a paint stick over the bottm of the opening to act as a dam when building the ground when laid on its side. Depending on the lid, if it is inset a little, might have to shape a plug to account for the inset on the lid and seal.
I do so like your idea .Nice little scene[:^)] . Next time try a larger jar and put it on it’s side like a ship in a bottle . P.S. At least you haven’t put a 1/144 tank or plane in a large lightbulb ! You haven’t have you ? LOL.LOL[;)][;)] T.B.
Okay, these are some good ideas guys. I think I will be using most of these in the next Something-in-a-bottle/jar I make.
It was fun to do, but the painting of the tree and bushes got seriously messy. I had some trouble with paint clogging my AB nozzle for some unexplained reason. So it would spray fine, then just stop. That was a messy headache.
But in the end, my Dad was happy with it and he’s taken it to work to put on his desk lol. I assume it looks like he has some king of mini garden in a jar if you don’t look close enough.
Next up from this kit I will be converting one of the trucks into a fuel truck and the other one into a supply truck. You know, for ammo. I’ve got a 1/144 Thunderbolt dio idea in mind for later. Too much going on right now and not enough time lol. You all know how that goes.
Thank you again for the great ideas and for the comments. If I can get another one of these kits I’ll be making a Firefly for myself. I think it did turn out rather neat.
And if you paint it white then it would be “White Lightning in a Jar”…wait, different animal there, but needed after getting the other one in a bottle…
Wackiets SiB I ever saw was where a guy got hold of an old glass water cooler bottle, about 4 gallons worth. He built a dio of J-boats racing in it.
J-boats were a 20s & 30s item, custom orderd by guys like Vanfderbuilt, Rockafeller, and the ilk, 150’ long, 200’ masts, paid crews of 25-30; not your average weekend knock about.
The propostions at the tiny scale used–probably 1/240 gabe boats about 6" long and 8" tall, which used the volume of the water botlle nicely.
The twist, though, dude cobbled up some goldfish out of mylar and the like and had them “swiming” in the dio like it was full of water.
