Back in the days of backyard wars with my buddies, I had an Airfix Ju52 transport that was one of my favorite aircraft. I liked it so much, for one thing, just because the paint had gone on so smoothly — thanks more to serendipity than to anything I had done on purpose, I’m sure. It was a clean coat of grey on top and sky blue on the bottom. When you’re 11 years old, that means a lot.

As my adult model-building hobby era has continued apace, building a new version of this old favorite was on my to-do list, and here I share the results of building Heller’s version of the “Tante Ju,” imagined on a snowy airstrip. The mood of the photographs is rather brighter than might have befitted a depiction of Göring’s failed air bridge to Stalingrad, say, but that is fine with me; with this diorama I’m not specifically trying to portray that moment in time.

I also love the fact that my six-year-old boy helps me with these productions! This is his plan for the first shot, along with the resulting photo that includes a zebra-camouflaged Centurion tank.