almost finished. 95% done. let me know if you want to see more photos. having trouble with camera. thanks

That's pretty cool. Or should I say cold? Those soldiers better get out of that river pretty quick. I like it a lot. Did you make it?

Jim

yes I did Jim. Thanks for the positive feedback.

Wow, very cool. My one critique that jumps out at me is the guy standing still in the middle. He's to still, everyone else is 'under fire' he seems to relaxed. If he's dazzed, a better position would be rifle down. Or maybe you can title it "What's going on?????" That way there's no mistaking it, that this guy is a bit confuse having lost his cover and it team. I'd like to see more gloves too.

The water is great, splashes and all. The snow is good. The white wash is great.

More photos would be good.

Apsolutely awesome! Everything is done very very well. I would also have to agree about the guy in the middle, however. He is too still. Guys are getting hit all around him and he looks like he is just looking at butterflies. I would also like to adress the .50 cals. The one on the jeep does not have ammo belts or boxes. Other than that it is very well done!

-Mike

Great job, i love any diorama where water is used well. i hate to see someone walking or running in water with no splash, you did a great job, i would love to see more pictures of this if you can post more or send them to me if you don't want to post more.

thanks for sharing,
Gary

thanks for all the comments. the guy that is standing still is in shock after the guy in the jeep is hit. In fact, the kit comes from verlinden titled HIT. As you can see, the man is hit, while the other is stunned.

The water effect does have some splashes, I know they are hard to see. Maybe, not enough splashes huh?

And the machine gun I know is not finished. I am about 95% done on this dio. Also, the jeep is missing the JERRY CAN. Had no time to add it.

more photos, sorry for the blurry ones. more on the way. can only download a couple at a time.

more photo's

Quite nice. Good use of the water, nice figs.

A couple of things that jump out at me, good things, include your painting of the figs, the water, the snow, all look great. Thanks for tying down the rear stowage on the Sherman.

Some criticisms:

1. There shouldn't be hull applique armor on an M4A3 75w.

2. The backpack on the side of the jeep, is it tied on? I can' t tell. It's also a British pack and unlikely to be on an American jeep.

3. You didn't fair in the spent shell port on the Sherman turret. There's still a big seam there, but it was all part of the turret casting.

4. The tank could use a few other tweaks such as the engine hatch rests on the upper hull and raised weld seams.

5. The snow on the top run of the Sherman....to me, it looks like it drove into the water, which means at some point that top run would've been on the bottom, and therefore that snow would have been wiped clean. I suppose it could have just slid sideways though, as I've seen in videos, so it might be okay as is.

6. I don't think I've ever seen US troops with white painted helmets. I've seen them covered in white pillowcases, but not painted. I'm sure it happened, but I can't ever remember seeing pics of such.

7. The figs all look kind of shiney to me. Always tough to get them dull enough, I know from my own experience.

8. Leggings (the kneeling aiming guy) were pretty rare by this point in the war.

9. The jeep has an antenna but no radio.

10. No ammo for the .50 on the jeep, so why was that guy manning it?

That's it. Seems like a lot, I'm sure, but these are all relatively minor things, which I've learned over time b/c other people have given me plenty of feedback just like this. Hope it helps and doesn't hurt your feelings or whatever. It really is a fine piece. To be honest, had you chosen an M5A1, half of my criticisms would not be here....I just happen to be a Shermaholic.

Great work.

Rob

I hope you weren't offended i guess i may have been unclear, i was complimenting your use of water, and the splashes. i was saying others didn't give the splash effect where you did, i think it's great.
gary

And some more. Enjoy. Again, sorry for the blur.

1. There shouldn't be hull applique armor on an M4A3 75w.

2. The backpack on the side of the jeep, is it tied on? I can' t tell. It's also a British pack and unlikely to be on an American jeep.

3. You didn't fair in the spent shell port on the Sherman turret. There's still a big seam there, but it was all part of the turret casting.

4. The tank could use a few other tweaks such as the engine hatch rests on the upper hull and raised weld seams.

5. The snow on the top run of the Sherman....to me, it looks like it drove into the water, which means at some point that top run would've been on the bottom, and therefore that snow would have been wiped clean. I suppose it could have just slid sideways though, as I've seen in videos, so it might be okay as is.

6. I don't think I've ever seen US troops with white painted helmets. I've seen them covered in white pillowcases, but not painted. I'm sure it happened, but I can't ever remember seeing pics of such.

7. The figs all look kind of shiney to me. Always tough to get them dull enough, I know from my own experience.

8. Leggings (the kneeling aiming guy) were pretty rare by this point in the war.

9. The jeep has an antenna but no radio.

10. No ammo for the .50 on the jeep, so why was that guy manning it?

Hey Rob, thanks for the comments. I'll try to answers some of your questions.
1). Your right about the armor plating. This was a mistake made by the tamiya instructions.and should of not been on there. However, glue is not very forgiving. Did not know this until it was too late.
2). The back pack is tied on. Hard to see. I dont know about the british pack. This part was an add on from my stock pile. I have never done a british model. So, I dont know how I obtained it. I thought it came from an old testor's M7 kit.
3). I built this OOB. So, some detailing was left out. Not sure if know what your saying about the turret casting seam
4).Again, OOB. No more on detailing. Just a few ammo crates and a tarp.
5). You can say that the tank "slid" A little heavy on the snow. LOL
6). I believe the troops used the paint from the white washed tanks in the field.
7). Sprayed the hell out of them with dullcote. No luck. Also used flash on the pics.
8).Was not aware of the leggings period.
9). The jeep came with no radio. OOB. Again, still working on this.
10). Yes, again still working on the jeep. Machine gun not very detailed. But I need to fix an ammo box to it.

It was pretty darn cold then, wouldnt the river have been frozen over? I love the Diorama but thats for sure a thought? great work
David

Hi David. Its a brooke or creak. I have seen photos with snow and a running stream. I did think of that before I put in the water LOL Thanks!

very cool effort, you showed already a great courage to model snow and water in one dio.
The result is convincing for the eye. The scene is well done.
I think what you did is having fun with dio making and not caring to much with accurate details (OOB) . And that is sometimes the thing to do.

Good job

Cheers
Claude

Gday Sean
I love the fact you have attempted this, especially a full-action, under-fire scene...
I have something similar planned for a Sherman of mine in trouble, (but will be bogged or mined) and at one stage was looking at purchasing the Verlinden bailing out figure sets. Did these go together well?
Bravo on the resin water. It is quite effective. What did you use to 'wall' it in for the pouring stage?
The stowage is effective, and in light of all the other feedback I hope it encourages you to try another Sherman but with the tweaks attempted

Good stuff
Brad

Gday Brad!
All of the verlinden figures went together great. No fit problems. Very detailed.
To dam up the water, I used thin sheets of plastic, cut them in strips and glued them on the sides. There were some small gaps, so I used putty to seal it. Thanks for the positive comments. Take it easy!

Thanks for the kind comments Claude. It is nice to build something OOB. I will continue to build OOB. And continue to send photos. Cheers!

Hi Sean, just a quick word (no time to read the other posts, sorry if i am redundant!) to say i quite like your dio, the wide angle of the scene is perfect to show a tensed situation, and I like the scattering of the different elements throughout the scene; the only thing that i would add would be a fair amount of matt varnish spray over the figs
there's really a feeling of movement with the water and the 2 guys running, they are a really nice touch for a first plan, they're kinda out of the scene, but it really works well!

Very impressive dio. Something you might try to take the shine down on the figures would be to use a very dilute (1 part paint, 9 parts thinner) earth tone mixture and mist it on the scene, with a bit more on the figures than the snow or water.

Thanks. I do not know why the figs are shiny. I tried dullcote and it seems that it is not working. Thanks for the tip.

Hi Jim, thanks for the feedback. The figs are shiny, but tried the dullcote with no luck. I will try your method on the next dio. Thanks again.

Sean-- what did you use to create the water. Very nice woork.
DJ

what I like most about your project is the fact that you show "action" and thats a big plus...keep up the good work rR