Hi all, I just recently finished my Panzer IV diorama with it's tank crew taking a little break. It is modeled after a Panzer IV Ausf. D from the 11 Panzer Division. The setting is Jugoslavia in 1941. I'm not the best with figures, so please excuse the imperfect job on them. I made the tow cable on the tank from scratch, and I made the wires on the commander's headsets. I used pastels on both the tank and crew and used some dirt on the tank as well. This is my last diorma for now, as I am off to college in a couple weeks and I plan on taking this with me. (If anyone could tell me where to get a display case, I would love that.) Anyway, let me know what you guys think. Thanks for any tips and pointers.

-Joe

Your dio looks really nice Joe.

You've pretty much nailed the uniforms on your figures. Flesh and faces are very difficult to do. Most of the members on here say that they don't like their figures but they turn out pretty good. If you want to learn more then I suggest trolling through the site and buying some books on figure painting. I started with the Verlinden Way and have bought more books like How to Paint Realistic Military Figures by FSM.

I like how the crew is all interacting. The Commander talking to the other soldier, the three on the ground with two looking off to the distance like something has just caught their eye.

The Panzer is nicely weathered but you might want to pay a bit more attention to the running gear especially the road wheels. They have some mud on parts of the rubber but the rest is too clean and shiny.

The problem your going to have with the display case is unless you built your base to fit one you'll have to make your own out of perspex or glass.

Best of luck at College and don't forget your hobby when you start geting distracted by "other things" ie College Girls .

Cheers, John

Thank you very much for your feedback John. I shall work on dirtying up the running wheels and such. I shall look into those painting books as I had difficulty with the faces. I tried painting their eyes and suchs, but it just turned out bad, so I left it all a nice flesh colour. Haha. As for the display case, I was looking for something like what one covers their cheese plate with. That way, I can just put it over and around the edges of my base. (See link) I found a website that sold display cases like that, but they were far too expensive (in the $80.00-$100.00 range) Thanks for the good luck wish, I'll try not to let those pesky girls distract me. Hahaha


-Joe

http://www.getethical.com/images/P/cheese.jpg

Nice work but the guy who is who is wearing a panzer M43 cap in 1941 that hat didnt appear for the panzertruppen around kursk offensive.

I had a feeling that hat wasn't time period correct....dang.

dont worry it is a easy mistake to make.Everything else in the dio looks great

I sure hope you don't loose sleep over a hat. Really nice dio and the figures look better than you think. Nice detail but a little lacking in the face detail. Try painting the lower lips a slightly darker flesh tone and maybe use a super thin wash to highlite the wrinkles and eye area. I wouldn't know what hat or boot goes where , but this dio is simple and nice. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys. Also, do you think brushing brown pastel chalk on the faces might "pop" out the facial details a bit?

No, try a light, light, did I mention light? oil wash, of say burnt sienna. Allow it to settle in the low spots of the face creating shadows. The current facial color is more like a midtone. from here you need light and shadow.

Otherwise it appears to be a good clean build and, as stated, well composed.

G

Allright, thanks. I shall try that out soon.

-Joe