hi guys

sinds begin february i am trying to build figures and i would like to share some of my work with you all.
i am aware of my limitations. my painting kwalities are still evolving.







and now i am working on this:



thanks for reading, and your comments are more than welkom.

john

They look nice. Better than any of my attempts.

On your first one, I'm not sure how big the back blast is for the bazooka, but the dude on the .50 cal might just be toast!

Jim

The figures look pretty good. I would only change the bazooka cus hes gonna burn the other guy. The front figures are covered and the back not, so the're gonna get killed. And there are to many figures together.

Lars

well Lars this is an enemie view:



@ jim: stranger things have happend

thanks fellows

john

Aaaaaah .... those good old Tamiya sandbags! Every one identical and all neatly stacked!!!

But don't worry John - that's meant as a gentle dig at Tamiya-San and not at you. Seriously, if you've only been modelling figures since February then you're doing really, really well. Streets ahead of my own early attempts, that's for sure.

One thing caught my eye - pay attention to where arms join bodies: Check out the guy by the mortar covering his ears and you'll see what I mean. Prominent joints like that are very easy to eliminate with a touch of modelling filler and bit of gentle sanding with fine-grain sandpaper. And often you can get away with just the sanding. This will give you nice smooth, invisible joins.

Look forward to seeing more of your work.

- Steve

This view tells me there a re a whole bunch of dead men on the American side.
Remember, if the machine gunner has a target, anyone around him is a target, too. Many of these figures are fully exposed and would not last seconds. The guy on the .50 cal is in a position where he'd be firing on an aircraft. The bazooka guy suggests a tank to the front of the position within 400 yards, about 360 meters. In short, these figures just don't work as a realistic grouplng.

G'day John,

Good to see you starting out in the hobby so well. I really recommend you spend time asking questions and browsing Historicus Forma. It can teach you loads about skin-tones, shadows, blending and highlights, all necessary skills to become a better figure painter.

In regards to your first scene, I would say there are simply to many men, all doing different things. The scene appears as a blur of arms, legs and heads going everywhere. Don't worry, in my first diorama, I thought more was better and tried to cram my dioramas with million of men. It just didn't work! It is pretty unlikely that so many men would be crowded in a small sandbagged area as neat and tidy as this. For future dioramas, I recommend off-setting the scene so it doesn't line up with the base boundary. This gives it a more natural look and allows you to show elements around the main focus (i.e in your case, perhaps a crater left by a shell falling nearby the sandbags).

Your second dio again would look more natural if off-set. Your third dio looks brilliant and definitely the best out of the three. It looks relaxed, natural and it includes other elements like the brickwork and the pipeline.

Well done and keep modelling, you will improve rapidly if you take advice from the site.

Chas

thanks for responding guys

@ steve : the sandbags are useless for this sort of work. next time i wil use putty or clay. as for the arms, i am using putty to fill the gaps.

@ al : you are right about the setting. when i began moddeling figures i only wanted to try building and painting figures. it was never my intention to make a dio with these figures. the second "dio" is a fotoframe with some lose elements on it ( just for the picture ).in the mean time i have used the kanon to try some wethering ( and ruind it ) the figures are totaly black after a wash and are waiting on a ovencleaner treatment.

@ cas : thank you for mentioning the third dio ( it is the first attempt to make a figure dio ) it is my intention to use all of my ( little ) knowhow to build this one.

i only hope that i can overcome my fear to paint the faces

keep responding guys.

john

John,
Looking at your third Dio with the British Soldiers it is evident that you have learned quite a bit when you compare it to the first dio with all the GI's. The Historicus Forma section has a treasure trove of info for bettering your figure painting skills. Overall though, I think you are doing a fantastic job and will only get better as you aquire more experience.

Do a search on this site for faces. There are numerous threads and posts on this topic. I've been doing this a very long time and faces are the most challenging part of a figure. As the Nike ad used to say, "Just do it!" The more you practice, the better you get.

thanks for your tips, and your responds guys

the dio is comming along nicely. take a look at the pictures and "judge" for yourself.
i know there is still a lot to do, like the faces. i am learning how to paint them on a few other figures before trying these( and destroy them )



everything seems to be kalm, and the patrol is walking along



or is there something fishy???



what the H... is going on behind the wall.



will he fight ........or will he hide?????


thanks for watching (to be continued)

john