hey Chas, I just noticed the very nice thing David Blacker told about my dios on the very funny "Look at this thrilling Dio" thread that has been recently dug out. he's just right there
I fail to have much arguments about veterans. I met quite a few WW1 and WW2 - quite a lot in my family and even one British 8th Army officer friend of the family. They had all in common a frank reluctance to speak about what they lived, that's the unspeakable thing and the thousand yard stare I could feel about some of them when recalled that might have told me I could not touch to real war lightly.
"relieves the emotional pressure that some veterans tend to build up inside themselves" you say? that maybe perhaps a bit a lot to give dioramas? I have never been thinking about dioramas this way..
ah, well, "regular" dioramas, i have nothing against them!! I have been spending some 10 years to build "regular" dioramas, and there are quite a few "regular" diorama makers whose work i truly respect!
have a great week-end too

thanks for this Seb -I wonder if those are easily cutable though? I would fear getting some shards in my fingers, but i will definitely try to find some, much thanks for this tip!

Meanwhile i received those by post today, the Du Chayla looks a lot like the Galilée/Protet and the other pic shows such an extended and flimsy looking bridge on the top of a 1880 era (?) battleship..
I thought you guys would like to see those anyway

here you can see the "hearings" on the Galiliée plans, I don't know if the weird disposition is true, or just an artist view to be able to show all of them on the tiny plans, but i thought I would go for it and twist them like a bunch of tulips, I think it looks pretty good this way



phew.. 10mn + time to paint one, and there were 9 of them!

Ulala, that's again some very special modelling work you are showing us here Jean Bernard. I see that you were able to refill your modelling tank during your holiday.
I don't have the right words to express what i thought by seeing your latest Vacuform experiment. A webcam filming my facial expressions would be better here. In short, Respect, respect!

Nice and interesting discussion over the last days also.

Salut
Claude

I feel honoured by your answer Claude, my fingers were slightly burnt during the vacuform operation though -I should really build a machine

yesterday, Rui "Skipper" Matos kindly informed me that the communication devices were made in brass -I suppose therefore they should have stayed unpainted..
well they were, BUT there is none of the rust plnned, instead, quite a bit of verdigris! It looks fine with the rust on the supports

First a mix between paint pigments, white and black colours and here we go..

"flotsam and jetsam" today, those bits of wood (and the stanchion) will be hanging from the cabin and other places. I will have some colour corrections to do depending on the places they will be put in, as well as maybe some *very* light drybrush kind of technique for the edges of the wood bits to stand better.
tonight the cabin should be mostly finished

Jean, beautiful !!! how was the vacation ?
Everything is coming along quite well. I love the ships wheel, and the other weathering work.
Looking foward to the finish.
Glenn

hey Thanks Glenn, yeah holidays were fine, but they are also damn over you are pretty right the diorama is at 2 weeks of evenings worth of job to be completed now! it shall take a bit more as i will have to leave the diorama alone for 1 week in 2 weeks time oh well, at least my batteries will be charged again for the completion!

So look at this mess, that's my working table, see the camera on the left? yeah right i filmed the whole of the diorama making process! Hollywood it won't be though!


Anyway, (for Seb) I have been finally putting some windows on! I didn't use glassy stuff for binoculars as I feared the tiny shards of glass to end up in my fingers -so i set back to use some transparent paper for printers. It worked well, though the windows were not really very easy to cut at the right dimensions. I sealed them with white glue that dries transparent (no CA as it would fog)

here's what it gives. You spot it right, only 1 broken window, the 23 others are intact


After that i started to fix some of the pipes, especially on the interior



Now here' s the point to which I stopped yesterday night. i didn't have the time to fix some extra planks nor some further details and colour correction. but all the pipes are glued so that the look like a bunch of flowers.

more tomorrow if I have the time!

JBA,
Looking very nice. It's really coming together well. The color and movement are great. I love the way the whole things spills open.

look good I love it
Cover slide are not really easy to cut but they are really realistic

Cheers
seb

Hi Jean, how's the weather over there in France?
Hope it's better than over here, rain for the last two weeks
anyway, i've been following this one closely and was wondering
could you direct me to a thread or feature that tells us how you create
your magnificent painting, does that make sense, anyway thanks, and
carry on with the excellent work

Sweet - pure eyecandy.

Cheers/Jan

Hi Jean !
Just caught your diorama thread today and I was totally BLOWN AWAY by the details, subject matter and SBS posts by your good self !!!! You, my friend, are a true artist indeed ! I'll definitely be looking forward to the completion of this fantastic scene of yours. Cheers !
Kenneth .

hi Scott and thanks

Seb, I suppose I was too lazy to go into town and try buying some. Actually, I've got some trouble with my plastic glasses as of course, plastic s of a different gloss than glass. So i may change them at some point, thanks onee more for your tip

Ollie the weather *was* fantastic until yesterday evening -come on you live in a blessed place
thanks for yopur interest and comments anyway, for my "way" of painting the plastic i explain it here in my Sokol article
Actually, the trick i used for wood is a bit different: first consider that pic:

that's no pizza, it's the place where i put all my colours. I don't use tamiya or Valejo "wood" colours, but am rather doi,ng my mixes as I apply them. The wood drinks water, very well, I first apply a diluted paint coat and then I pile up some different colour screens, but those are not that diluted. At some places the wood drinks the new colour, at other places the new coats replace the old ones.
But usually If i have a trick it's that I always apply colour on wet surfaces.

Jan, nice to see you here again, thanks too

Kenneth, I really feel flattered, an artist I hope one day to become
Speaking of -which means the moment the diorama will be completed, well it is almost, except for the fig. yesterday i did plenty of colour corrections, as well as glued the planks. I changed my mind about the bottom of the steel cabin by actually rust it quite a lot too.

So what's left to do about the diorama itself? first a little bit of colour correcting here and there (some yellow screenings on highlights particularly) I will also add a few tiny nails done out of stretched sprue on the metal railings -the more the better.

then of course I will have to cut a base and to prepare the fig. So Actually I will be quite busy the 2 following weeks on daytime -which means there will be very few updates, so basically next time I post pictures here, the diorama should be mostly finished

last thing, I will have to find another background when i take my pics because a light grey background on a grey-whitey boat doesn't looks too good.

Anyway, you can judge what's the diorama looks like as for today, knowing that very few things will change from now on
First are some detail pics of the stuff I have been working yesterday



And here are some pics of the diorama in its whole.. sorry for the bad quality of light

Hello Jean,

I follow your progress, and gradually your surprised me more.
This is very interesting, I'm going to uncover details detail...

Your work table is like mine, I'm sure that in my table there are things that I do not know .... jejejejje.

You should exercise caution when you want to drink water and not wrong bottle .... jajajajajja.

Strong greeting and keep in touch my friend,
fernando Sancho.

Brilliant as usual. Even unfinished the level of detail is perfection. You, my friend are a gifted, talented "artist" with a keen eye for color.
Way beyond 'model builder' or 'hobbyist'
I'll stop here as I don't want to sound like a teenage groupie but you can count me as a big fan!
Cheers,
Charles

Hi Jean
really I cannot added more words that another friends, I only want express my admiration for your new work:

Carlos

Thanks Fernando You are pretty right when it comes to the water as I had the revelant for the photoetch in a similar bottle nearby during all summer

Charles very happy and flattered by your comments

Carlos, thanks too! btw, one of these days I will return to buildings!

Finally I could do a bit of stuff yesterday night..
First I tried to add a bit of spray on one of the windows. I think it kinda works out though I will have to get a look this morning to see whether it didn't destroy the plastic.
Actually don't ask me about the technique, it's va bit risky and rude.


And then -shame on me- I did some base with Citadel inks painted wood. But so bad it is, I have at least 1 mm of gap at each corner. i wouldn't be able to cut regular wood properly if my life depended on it, and the guys into these kind of things I asked to don't want to do it.. I am doomed
I will try to arrange this during the week end as well as putting on some spray -and maybe one or 2 touches to the water at some places where I think it could be improved.

beautiful work jean, sorry about the weather there, our's has sunddenly brightened up though
also the diorama looks fantastic, one query though maybe you should add a seagull to one of the railing's? just a though, anyway excellent work and keep modelling

Ho Olie, well thanks for your comments -and yes the weather is quite British right now, you know small thin rain ah that seagull question!
Well, no. no seagull. If i were about to put one, the focus of the viewer would be on the seagull and then all the different elements. you know "how, look at the seagull, ain't it cute". The main focus of my dioramas is always the man standing on some corner.
right now it lacks such a hotspot but then it's not disreasonable to think that the viewer will first notice the sunny side of the wooden cabin, then the falling bridge part with the gun (lots of details there) and then finally on the bunch of flowers on the right. And more globally noticing the sea but probably afterwards as it's a bit featureless in the end.

A seagull would destroy this order, it would add a touch of special oddness while the oddness of the scene is in its whole if you see what i mean.

That being said, I will definitely at some point do a diorama with seagulls. But there will be LOTS of them and they will be a real part of the diorama more than some red cherry on the already cramped Italian wedding cake

Even with a workshop background the photo is great.

Is the frame a store bought one or a custom built one?

JBA, every time I visit your thread, my jar drops on the floor. So much detail ! Didn't you plan to add some wreck wood on the big wave ? Tough, maybe this would disturb the scene ?
It's just brilliant, and thanks for sharing your tips. G.

Wow, I will definately have to try this method of painting realistic wood.

Can I suggest you add a kangaroo riding a surfboard? Not that it would distract the viewer...

As for you Nick, strewth, that's bit rude. Next time I see your dioramas, should I sit there and yawn? That was a stupid post. Be fair dinkum.

Chas

Jean I would have to say you are in a class all by yourself a true one of a kind. I have come to look at your work not as a diorama but as a 3 dimensional art form, part sculpting and part painting. A true harmonious blend of artisan and craftsman. To me the artist should not explain what it represents, one should provide that on your own and it should be different for each viewer. My compliments to you an absolutely superb performance.

Gary I should have leave the thread like this, with your reaction at the end, that would have been a perfect end for the Galilée Diorama Blog

Ah but well no, still a few things to do..

Anyway, Chas and Guy thanks for the Diorama Making of the World Unite And also for keeping week after week to pop out and say hello
Chas if I didn't pop out since some time at your place it's that i am actually WAITING to make my mind about your groundcover -though i reckon it looks pretty promising at this stage

err Nick, whatever you meant, thanks for viewing

Scott, that piece of nonsense was home-made and is at the dustbin. I will try to get one done in town Wednesday, I can't bear my own incapacity to treat regular wood anymore!

anyway NAILS, lots of them!! I ahve been doing other things but no time to tell yet!