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Never Relax

Hi Matt, Really nice dio, with a good use of figures and a nice sense of movement and action, always something that's hard to do. That's a very brave tank commander, I think I'd be a bit lower in the cupola :-) :-) . Is the dead German a remodelled Bren gunner or his assistant? Nice detail on the Commander and you infantry look good, as do the Germans sneeking up to checkout what's going on or attack. Did you use a base or scratch the road. A breakdown of the kits used is always interesting as is a outline for the setting. Thanks for sharing. Cheers Al

Nice dio Matt. Good sense of action and well planned ambush story. As well as the other comments above, you made a great job of filling up the back sides of the old Italeri door and window sets! Is that lentils used for the cobblestones? I like the choice of colours and weathering used for the ground work. Nice one!

Fantastic dio! Very good action plans managed! Awesome! And very well painted too! Congratulations! Cheers and happy modelling! Prato

Very nice, indeed. Great groundwork and rubble. The figures are well done and plenty of detail. The tank looks great and the two SS men lurking behind the ruins are an excellent angle to the story of the diorama - something bad is about to happen. The Tommy checking the dead German is directly in the line of sight of one of the two SS guys - kinda creepy when you think about it. Again, top form, old chap. Mike

Thankyou gentlemen, thankyou... I've been busy with work projects (yawn) so have only just got round to thanking everyone for their kind comments. My thanks especially to Scott for taking the time to make up the b&w shots (complete with background!). Alan: I agree that the tank commander is rather high in the turret but it just so happens that I know him personally and he is very brave (or very foolish, as the old film quote goes). I think the dead German is the Bren gunner assistant, well the legs anyway. I scratch built the road using green lentils, a first time for me and I'll be using split red lentils next time! They should adhere to the tape better and be a more convincing size. A breakdown of the kits used: Tamiya Cromwell OOB with Royal Model Commander, various bits of stowage from the spares box, cammo net is the hessian bandage from a brief hospital visit (no more kids, at last!). British infantry figures are Dragon with Tamiya kit and hornet heads, SS figures are from the VP two figure 'hold it' set slightly modified. Building sections are the Italeri church ruins which I had to 'back fill' with filler and then scratch in the brick and stone detail (never again), Telegraph pole is Tamiya, brick rubble is Plus Model and bits n bobs found laying around and the church roof timbers are Evergreen StripStyrene cut to various lengths and chopped about to resemble wood. Thats about it. Thanks for looking everyone, as you all know it means a lot when people you admire give you the thumbs up! Cheers Now get back to the work bench!

That is a really cracking dio!!! The fugures look incredibly natural. Well done mate!

Hi Matt, The whole scene is very well executed.It's nice to see another dio with some Allies(making an Ally dio at the moment myself)amongst it!Did you use oils or acrylics for the figures? What's next on the workbench?Nice work mate.Cheers, Shay

Hi Shay I used Revell enamels as I never seem to have any luck with Humbrol! I've recently invested in an Oil paint starter pack which I'm hoping will speed up my figure painting a little. I'll let you know how I get on. Next on the work bench is a larger dio for the Normandy Campaign build, this time its British Airborne shortly after a nasty firefight with more SS! I'm sculpting the dead and wounded at the moment and I'm hoping to post up some progress pics soon. Cheers

Hi Matt, Thanks for the reply, I thoguht those legs look famaliar, LOL, LOL. Look forward to the next one - great work. Cheers Al

Matt, very well done diorama. I love the action and the story its telling. Cheers Kevin