Hi all,

This is my 3rd diorama...not sure of the title yet, but it is depicting a small group (4) of misdropped members of the 82nd AB on Sicily on the first day of the invasion....hiding and getting ready to ambush some members of the German HG division.

I've included a few "in progress" pics as well as the completed ones. A few tidbits of information:

1. Building is Custom Dioramics Italian Barn, with a few slight mods.
2. German infantry are from the HG Tunisia DML set and the Gran Sasso raid DML set....Tank commander is from the Tamiya Grief.
3. Americans are kitbashed from the DML Airborne Normandy set, with parts from some other sets.
4. Tank is the Italeri Pz IV H, backdated to a relatively late G.....shorter barrel is from Tamiya Stug III Fruhe, tools from the On Vehicle Accesory set, spare tracks from DML, a few tool holders made from lead foil. Smoke launchers from same stug kit.
5. All foliage is homemade from tree roots, spices, jute twine, etc.
6. Rock walls are homemade from polystyrene foam, rocks from my driveway, spackle, and then painted.
7. Base is thicker polystyrene foam sanded to shape, with wood all around (which I painted black b/c I messed up the staining....I'm happier with it now anyway).....groundwork is spackle mixed with dirt and rocks.


Sorry I don't have any good closeups of the figs...I tried but they just came out blurry. That's about it. Comments and questions welcome...I made some boo-boos I know about, but had to kind of wrap it up so I can move on and hopefully learn a thing or two for the next project. I started this in May, I think, so it took a while (I worked on some other things simultaneously). It should make it's first public appearance at the Baltimore-Washington IPMS Show in mid-September. Thanks for looking.

Rob


The Tank


The Wall


The Beginnings


Continuing


With Groundwork started


With most vegetation done


Completed:

Great looking dio Robert! The base is very well done. You hit everything very well. Story, units, painting, detail, etc. Congrats!

-Mike

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Well it is nice but can be better
just add some washes to the base and the dry brush because the ground look to uniform to me
for the roof dito and the walls you should add washes with dark brown and
add some pigments to the tanks
according to the date and place july in Sicilia it is really dry and dusty so the plants are to green for me.

just some small modifications and it will be really great

Congrats in advance.
Keep us update
Seb

Watch the Godfather some time, or google search for photos of Sicily, as I did. There's plenty of green on Sicily.

The building was washed rather heavily, as was the ground....it just doesn't show well in the pics. As for pigents, etc., it's hard to take a dark yellow tank (for me anyway) on a yellowish base and then pick the right colors to use for the weathering and not have it all look totally washed out and the same in color. Like I said in my description, it could have been a bit better, but I had to call it quits.

Rob

I like the way you changed elevations. The building is a nice alternative to what I normally see in desert related themes.

All right Rob
It is your call but for what i can remember for my last trip in Sicily at that time of the year greeny plants are most unlikely just put some dust on it.
For the washes, ok pictures are not good.

Good luck with the contest

Sebastian,

Thanks. I was mainly going by photos I have of the 82nd on Sicily from the photo history companion book to Phil Nordyke's "All American All the Way", since it obviously shows Sicily at that time. Looks like plenty of trees with leaves. For the grass, I used at least 3 different colors.....one batch I did in a flat green, one in more of a brownish green, and the last batch I just left in the color of the twine, which is a tannish-brown color. And then I just mixed and matched where they went. Groundwork/foliage is definitely one of the tougher aspects of diorama building for me, but I hope to continue to improve. Thanks again for the constructive comments.

Rob

Great dio ! Keep up good working !

I really like the lay out and the story. Thanks for sharing.

Great diorama. You hit a home run on that one.

As already pointed out the layout is great and the story really good.

Thanks for sharing

im no expert but, its too clean, i say add some mud and say some more tracks like a previous vehicle has already driven over the road, but other then the "cleansliness" its cool.

cheers
smithy

one of the most in depth / yet simple stories on a dio I've seen in a long time. The guy with the bazooka know's he has to make it a good one and they're in real trouble if he cocks up, so the tension is great! Nice one!!!!

Hello all,

Thanks for all the comments, positive and criticism. It's the only way for me to improve.

This morning I've given another wash to the groundwork to bring out some more of the detail and give it more of a mottled look. I've also done some light drybrushing to the bricks on the building and added another dark wash to the roof tiles. I've tried to add a little more of a wash to the tank as well.

So I think I'll take some new pics and then post them in a separate message (would people be interested in this?) as long as the new photos come out significantly different.

A side note: I've had this idea of paras on Sicily either evading or engaging a tank for about 3 years now. I've drawn schematics from different angles, switched 3 times the vehicle I was going to use (I was incredibly disappointed to learn there were no M13/40 or M14/41s on Sicily, as that was my original plan), added German infantry to the plan, tried to figure out a way to make the rock wall, developed the story more after reading Nordyke's "All American All the Way" and Ed Ruggero's "Combat Jump", focusing on the smaller unit actions, etc......so this was a labor of love to a large degree. In the end, it only took me about 3 months to do while working on some other projects concurrently (the whitewashed Sherman I posted a week or two ago being one example).

So again, to everyone, thanks for the feedback.

I really like this dio. Good execution & great story.

What do you mean that there were no M13/40 or M14/31 tanks in Sicily? Didn't the Italians have armor to try and defend Italy? Did they all get wiped out in North Africa & Russia?

Jim

...who knows ? For example, the last LT38 (or LT35, I don't remember exactly) was knocked out guess when ? In the spring of 1945, in the Berlin sector.

I did find out that the M15/42 was used in Italy both by the Italians (against the Allies & the Nazis) & the Germans.

Jim

I checked first over on ML and then in some references I got subsequently, including 2 squadron signal books as well as Zaloga's US Tank battles in N. Africa and Italy. They had VERY LITTLE armor on Sicily. Some Renault R-35s and a few other SPs and armored cars. But that was about it.

Great work.

I echo the others. Very well executed.

Simon

cheers man, id love to see some extra work

cheers mate
smithy

;)

Robert,

I guess Sicily isn't really armor country. What's ML?

Jim

Missing Links. Considered by some (no offense meant here) to be the premier armor modeling site.

Rob