Ok, just about to start on my first diorama, just cut out one of my buildings out of drywall plasterboard, quite easy to do.

Got a M2a2 bradley and some other stuff to go in my dio, what I'm wanting to know is how I'm wanting to put a figure that has been shot and is sat against a wall bleeding out.
1). What's the best colour combi for blood?
2). Does anyone sell modern US figures that are sat down?

something close to tamiyas desert yellow =]

bloods hard to paint but its got to be dark and very glossy

Yes i believe Verlinden has a nice humvee/LAV crew in 1:35 scale, 3 crew members all seated.

Happy 2009!

Thanks for the suggestions, I've just found that Dragon do the US Marine Tank Killers set, the guy sat down looks perfect for what I want.

Will post some pics of before and after....

Stay tuned.

Verlinden has a set of wounded OIF Marines (could also be built as Army Soldiers too). Both are seated. One has a head and leg wound with torn pants and a bandage. The other has a slight head wound.

Thanks for that suggestion Gino, but the only problem with that Verlinden set, is I want my dio to represent an action scene, where a team have gone to go into a house and have been ambushed, with 1 guy having been shot and managed to scramble round the corner, but his team mates can't get to him.

Here are a few pictures of my bradley for my dio,







Any constructive criticism welcome

A few scratches, worn areas, and faded paint areas with a little dust will make a good vehicle

Blood is easy to paint, I use Tamiya transparent red, without shaking or stirring .Tilt the jar & fish out the thicker ,darker red pigment on a brush then apply over a reddish brown area painted on the figure. If you´ve seen a few episodes of CSI then you may realize the importance of spread pattern,quantity of blood loss,trails ,smears & splashes. For best results I always start with the reddish brown application first & then the transparent red to slightly overlap the first coat . A useful reminder is to start off with a small application to see how it looks & then increase the surface area to an acceptable result because it´s very easy to go over the top the first time & make it look like a total bloodbath. Now because the thick red pigment is difficult to work with , after scooping it from the bottle,I put it on a piece of tinfoil then apply with a finer brush moistened with the appropriate thinner onto the figure & the surrounding areas. It is easy to do but a sensible approach would be to do a practice first. I don´t apply much blood these days because it´s difficult to estimate the boundaries of decency & realism for effect.

Nice diorama idea bro, im inspired to do the same with the current events.

good luck!

Thanks for the comment Coldwar, I've had a bit of a read of some articles on other sites and have decided to change my dio a little.

I have decided to take out the wounded coalition soldier, and replace it with a couple of dead insurgents. I don't want to disrespect anyone who gives there lives to protect others and these guys are doing a great job, so I think removing the dying coalition soldier shouldn't upset anyone.

But I also know that in war people do get wounded or worse, so I might leave it up to the last minute, plus at the moment I've been scraping round my house and workplace for things to use in dio, lack of funds at this time of year mean certain things I would like are waiting.

Some things I ordered before xmas are due this week so they will take place in dio,

Bradley is looking pretty good. It needs some weathering though.

It has got some weathering, the photos don't really show it. I used my camera phone for them, will try to take some more on camera.

I didn't want to do too much until I'd finished the diorama.

What best way to update bradley so that it is around 04'. I know I probably should have done this before adding the finishing touches.

Thanks for your comments

A complete rebuild or start over. There are quite a few changes and additions that need to be made. This article by Vodnik will give you all you need. The ODS upgrade addendum is really what needs to be done to bring it up to about '04 standards. The rest are to improve the basic kit. It will pretty much require a rebuild though.

That looks to be a LOT of work, and my scratchbuilding skills aren't upto something so intricate at the moment!

what year will the below one last till? 2003?

The Tamiya M2A2 ODS builds up into an M2A2 partially upgraded to ODS standard used by 3ID in the initial invasion in March of '03.

I've been researching today into the Bradley, I can get the Legend ERA/Conversion kit quite cheap, so was thinking of getting it and upgrading as best as I can?

The Legend ERA set will get you a Bradley that looks like one in '04. It will still be missing all the ODS upgrades listed in the article though. Just depends on how accurate you want it to be.

Good luck.

Ok this project is back on the go, think I'm gonna get the Legend ERA & Conversion kit, and then leave it, my scratch building skills aren't up to much yet, so this will have to be the level of detail.

This leaves us with the base, I've made a couple of walls for the courtyard, these need priming then painting.

My current issue is what is best for the ground coverage, I can either use fine sand (playsand in UK) or can try another method?

Any advice would be grateful.

ok, whilst I'm waiting for some stuff to arrive for my bradley dio, I've started an M1a1 dio.

What I'm after is does anyone know where I can get details of the EAPU that is on the rear stowage rack? (After the dimensions as I'm gonna try scrathbuilding one).

ok,

Here's a picture of my newest dio....





trying to replicate.......



Need a few things to change my Abrams but made a start.

Paul,

If you are trying to recreate the OIF scene, the Abrams shouldn't have the rear hull-mounted APU (the box on the right rear of your model). Those went out in the early to mid '90s. It should have a turret mounted APU, although some tankers removed theirs in Iraq.

This should be a cool dio with the canal water, mud, sand and palms!

make shure to pre shade both vehicles.

Jeff,
the rear APU will be removed. I'm just scratchbuilding an APU for the rear stowage rack, but it won't be showed fully as it will be submerged in water/mud.

Erik,
pre-shading is a bit of an issue as I don't own an airbrush, so any tips are welcome on pre-shading without an airbrush.

thanks for comments guys, will post more pictures when I get the groundwork done.

Don't worry about it. There is no need to pre-shade. It is just one of many weathering/artistic techniques you can use. Personally, I think it looks fake anyways. I have never seen a vehicle that is darker along panel lines and the like. I say don't do it. Its up to you though.