The picture above is from the Finnish war movie Rukajärven tie (Ambush) and it involves a tragic love story. This is my reference.
In my dio the Ltn is just getting on his bike to get back to the field, from which he may never return. The couple has already kissed goodbye and exchange final looks at each other.

I have used Tamiya´s German bicycle guy with the bike which will be converted t a Finnish soldier and bike. Head is from Hornet, so will be the hands. Suomi SMG is white metal from Wiking models. Tamiya bike detail is disappointing, so it will need some scratchbuilding.
The water element is still a mystery to me but I´ll make the figures first and then decide the base design. This scene could take place on a small bridge over a small streamlet perhaps.
The colour scheme will be grey and dirty, addind to the sad athmosphere.





More pics will follow soon!



Toni

Toni

That looks like a promising start dude. A romantic story mmmmhh can`t wait to see it finished. Quite an original concept.

Damned that reminds me that I have to start my self too on a dio mmmhh

anyways great job so far

wow man !!

that' s a dio i really really like !!!

congrats for making such good work

with kind regards

dmd

I can swear I saw figures like this... Perhaps Coree, SOL... Verlinden.. hmm..




Have you thought of nearby fountain? It could be nice...

Mario M.

Here.. not quite what you wanted, but...



Mario M.

Cool idea.
I really like the out of the norm ideas you have. I'm sure the water will come right in.

Maybe a fountain, small side of the road drainage, leaking water tower/container spilling and pooling - who knows Im sure youll come up with a cool idea.

Thanks for the input!
Yeah Maki, if I was to make exact replication of the movie scene, those Verlinden figures would have been very nice...

What I´m trying to catch is the moment of separation. The instant after you kiss your love goodbye is for me the saddest moment possible, just because you know that from that point on the waiting time before seeing again is the longest....
What will be most challenging is to draw the attention to their eye contact. #:-)

Get ready for close-ups of wet eyes...

I won´t give this scene a sense of false hope by putting flowers or beautiful vegetation in the terrain. I´ll go for a very plain base.
A sketch with general poses:


Thanks,
Toni

Great concept!
A wonderful idea that dares to delve into one of the more morose sides of war.
Keep us posted...

Envar, that's a great start !
I just love the story, the sketches... it's nice to have you show us these good ideas !

Toni,

It's been a while since we've last met...... and what a great dio-idea to re-new our contact again.

Looks very very promissing !!

Danny

Thanks a bunch...
Danny,
yes it´s been some time, you know how it is, there are times when too much is going on and some activities suffer from that.
I´ve been here all the time, trying to keep track on what´s happening. Just haven´t had the time to post... I hope it will change in the near future!


Trying to have some building done tonite...

Toni

Update!

Ltn. Perkola is getting his shape. German jacket is converted to Finnish summer tunic, only the rolled sleeves are missing, they will be made of Milliput. I used pieces from sparebox and legs from ICM East German motorized troops (yucky white plastic, but works well for scratchbuilding purposes).
Straps are made of wine bottle foil, attached with CA glue. There are some glue stains to be cleaned...I´ll propably change the hand too, these look clumsy and there is no real grip.
The front wheel of the bike was pointing straight forward OTB, and it´s not a natural pose. So I made the support stick of brass wire. There is also a dynamo with wiring...
Wrapped cloth over steering rod is made of tea bag paper. I don´t like the thick plastic wheels of this kit but I won´t go for PE set, it looks better in real life.

A funny thing was that the Hornet head resembles greatly the actor Peter Franzen, who plays the role in the film. Hair style and everything. There is a real challenge painting the face now...




Costs so far:
Head- 1 €
Figure- 1 €
Suomi SMG- 2 €
Bike with stuff- 2 €
Base- 1 €

Total: 7€


Comments are welcome as always!


Cheers,
Toni

Toni

That`s a great conversion job you are showing here. You have really put in a lot of details n this one. I love the care of detail such as the dynamo.

I really can`t wait to see it finished

Hey Tony...... great concept and well done for gettig started..... maybe thats the push we need. One thing ........ maybe its just perspective or the photographs ..... maybe its just me ........ but the soldiers right arm looks huge! It seems to be very long! It looks like this in both the front and the back. #:-)

Plasticbattle, now that you mentioned...
You´re right. It does look huge. At first I thought it was just the position of the elbow that made it look like that, but the sculptor of this Tamiya figure clearly had problems with this arm, perhaps to make it reach the bike´s steering rod.
I´m about to replace the hands so I can fix the arm lenght at the same time!
Thanks for pointing that out!

Toni

Nice job, I like the gear that you have given this guy, it looks like it has come straight out of some of my reference books. Nice touch on the front wheel.

I think that it will be a real great and story telling scene when completed. It should look nice, and really bring out the "love" side of war. Its differant to see something like this and I think that it will be a very welcome sight.


Chip

Hahah..yeah rite guys, ..the love..but..
U know when i have done the mines (details at Danny )
Those were "junior town" figures called "Kiss goodbye"
Thanx God i've turned'em to happy love, like "Good to be back home"

Huh guys ?
:-) But i'm sure this will be a great project too. Take it easy

Details at Danny for sure !! Just have a look at what LM2 is talking about :

GREAT JOB

Very impressive!

i just cant wait to see the final dio, and the process as well...

cayalah!!

Hehe, love is a wonderful thing...and it has caused more suffering than all the wars together...
Anyway, there´s some progress. I reworked the right arm and it looks better now.
I primed the figure and started with the face. The basic expression is there, I just let it dry now and concentrate on the torso next.
Why oh why did I attach all those straps and equipment on this guy before painting the details! It´s gonna be helluva job now...
Ltn and the final look...




Toni

Hi Toni,
It sure is looking great so far... :-) :-) The guy kinda looks like Adolph Galland before his bad plane crash. I can't wait to see the rest of it.

...and even more updates!
The figure came out ok, I just snapped off the gun temporarily and the painting was a lot easier. The picture is quite bad but shows the colour balance, if not the accurate colours.
I used Lifecolor acrylics for the clothing, humbrol enamels for boots and some oils for butt of the gun. Everything was dirtied with pastels.

Next...going for the bike.





Toni

Excellent Job Toni, you really are quite the artist.
My biggest beef with figure painters is that they try to make too much contrast in color with the face. I really like how your figure has turned out, it looks quite realistic.
Enjoy building the rest of the dio, this one will be hard to beat.

Andrew