Thankyou Thomo, DJ and Scott. It is really nice to receive this much support.

Jesper and Seb, I'm glad the shell impact now looks satisfactory.

Nico, the first basecoat was airbrushed using a rough mixture of Tamiya acrylic Buff and Flat Earth. Thanks for your comment.

Chas

Hi Chas,

this is one of my favorite topics on Big A. I like the progress you've made and how you show it to us in a step by step manner. Can't wait to see it finished.

I understand your arguments not to add a rope shot by the Rangers, but in my humble opinion it will add some extra understanding of and depth to the story you're showing (which is already clear! No misunderstanding about that!).



Jelger

Ps. with what color do you paint the base on which your dio is positioned?

Hi Jelger,

Thanks for the compliments, I am glad this thread entertains.

I will certainly consider the rope, I will add some as a test and see how it looks.

The section of the base below the cliff will eventually be painted black.

Chas

Chas, you are doing a great job ! I like the grasses the way they are. The reference pics show just the same appearance. The colors are lovely, this will be a wonderful diorama. G.

Just a wee bit of progress. Construction of the rope is in its beginning stages. I will have to scratchbuild the grapple hook using plasticard.

Chas

loving what you are doing with this scene Chas,i think the attachment of the rope/ropes will add to the story.

Steve

They, the Rangers could had fired they're hook and missed it could be stuck half way up the cliff. Stop's the clutter. By the way pure pleasure, start to nearly the end.

This is progressing well. It really needs to become a Model On Display feature. Email me the images (if you aren't planning on sending them to some other staff).

Sure, it would be a great honour!

Steve and Geraint , I can now see that the rope and grapple will be beneficial to the story, I had serious doubts for a moment!

A bit more time today to work on the finishing touches to the diorama. I still have a figure to paint and I will try to get that done tomorrow. Here is the ammunition for the MG42. Still a little flash to clean up.


Work on the MG42, still some painting/chipping to do.

Take care all,

Chas

You've got an uncanny ability to be able to knock up 3 pics out of 5 mn of work
seriously i will wait for your next instalment as usual

Hi Jean,

Sorry about posting tiny progress, but truthfully this takes me a lot longer than 5 minutes! I am a very slow modeller but I make up for it by modelling non stop for about 4 hours at a time!

Sorry, to those offended!

Chas

whats your plan for removing the flash and molding scars from the ammunition?

Jon, simply trimming it off with a knife (I do not own an X-acto so I'm using a cheap Stanley).

Some more teeny-tiny progress, the MG42 and ammunition is completed, just waiting on a figure to operate it!

Here is my scratchbuilt grapple hook (unpainted):

Chas

-Anyone like to buy me an X-acto for Christmas?

Been a while since I posted progress on this diorama. I'm crawling along! Today I painted all the sidewalls and attached the grapple hook and rope.


Here is where I am at with the MG42 gunner.

Chas

Chas,

Looks good.

Could we see a few close ups of the figures though? Would enable us to give better critique. First thing I noted though was the loose grip on the grenade. You may want to tighten that lest the dude drops it behind himself...

Rudi

Hi Rudi,

There are some close-ups of the grenade throwing German back on page 5.

Although I now have Vallejo acrylics, I started the gunner with Tamiya acrylics so I have no other option but to finish it in Tamiya acrylics. Besides, I don't have the right Vallejo colours for German uniforms yet.

Tamiya acrylics are very restricting and I can only achieve minimal highlights/shadows. So I know where I'm going wrong in that regard.

Nevertheless, I'll post some close-ups once I'm done.

I don't really have the motivation for this diorama anymore so I'll leave the grenade as it is. Thanks for pointing it out, I will take note for my next dioramas.

Chas

You.ve been busy. This is looking good.

Keep the faith Chas

chas the dios looking great keep up the great work

Thankyou Scott, Seb and John.

Hopefully I will have more progress posted today.

Chas

Well surprise, surprise! I've actually finished.

I hope you enjoy the completed diorama. Thankyou to each and every person who left a comment/s over the past 4.5 months. It has been great fun running this blog and I hope you have got some enjoyment out of it.






And for those (Rudi) who want to see my painting skills. This is my second face completed using Vallejo acrylics, the uniform was done with Tamiya acrylics.

...sorry about the dust...



But wait, there's always something else! I'm picking up a professionally made name plate tomorrow reading (or should read): 'Defenders of Pointe-du-Hoc' Normandy, 1944. Once that's attached to the base, I can call this diorama well and truly finished!

Are the figures going to get a very faint layer of dust, this may help the diorama by making the figures look like they were there for an amount of time as at the moment they look too clean. Apart from this the diorama looks brilliant and the name plat should finish it off nicely.

Well Chas
Your dio deserve better barbed wire for sure.
The uniform are to clean for me and maybe insignia ??
And for the MG 42 spending cases will be a great addition.

General comment:
The trench and the surrounding are too clean.
You need to put ammo cases, ammo boxes, carton boxes wine bottles, tools weapons pioneer tools, Destroy nets on the rear of the bunker, what else ?? a wounded german soldier at the rear of the trench, or a radio to distract the viewer maybe
But this is my personal taste
Please see what other thinks about this point ??
Cheers
Seb

Hi Chas, have been lurking around keeping an eye on this thread for a while and it's great to see it finished, the name plate should look pretty classy too.

However, while your groundwork is excellent, i'll echo Phil and Seb's points about the figures, they are far too clean looking. This is an easy fix however, all you need to do is a little gentle drybrushing on the fieldgrey uniforms to add some highlights. Add some washes to the uniforms and skin tones. Finally add some pigments to their boots, knees/elbows to make them look like they have been fighting.

All in a great and original dio. One other thing I just spotted; The MG42 ammo box would not have been bare gun metal as you have painted it but painted either field grey or panzer dark yellow.

Great work,

James

chas I also think a light dusting would add that litttle extra too make them less clean looking and look like they hsve been in a fight other then that looks great