So I'm considering putting together a fairly straightforward diorama idea that would allow me to learn-as-I-go respectively with armor and figures. 1:35 in scale and the setting is Camp Pendleton, California in the mid-90's (1994 specifically).

The idea revolves around a personal experience I had while in USMC Infantry School involving a LAV and a not-so-aware private in my Company. Funny story too, we were training on embarking/debarking LAV's and normally there are just wooden ones to train with, but we were lucky enough to be training with the real thing. They would take 4 or 5 of us for a ride and we would get out, form a defensive perimeter, and then get back in. Rinse, repeat. Well on my turn, there was a guy with us who was the tall, gangly type, and he usually had alot of trouble fitting into the neat tidy Marine Corps spaces. His name was Craig Johnson from Minnesota. I remember him well because we used to have football arguments. So we all get out and form our perimeter blah blah, get in line to get back in and he is the first to go.The instructor, Sgt. Avery, gave us the typical "get on my friggin vehicle!!" and Johnson headed for the hatch. Fortunately for me I gave Johnson some room because he did not duck far enough to get his head in when he thrust himself towards the hatch and he hit his helmet on the underside of the hatch outline and basically knocked himself out, fell backwards lifelessly and landed on the deck with a resounding whump. It only took him a few seconds to regain consciousness but Sgt. Avery had him lay down and wait for a corpsman.The rest of us were practically hysterical with laughter, including the stoic Sgt., who stood up promptly and commented, "Gents, that's what called a 'peacetime engagement'. Unfortunately for Johnson his head lost that one. Do not hurl yourselves at hardened steel, gents, I can't graduate you from a sick bay." Something like that with more of the typical Marine Corps sarcasm thrown in.

What I'd like to do is get that moment right after Johnson hits his head on the hatch opening as the instructor is ordering us in. I realize it may be difficult to get the proper action pose from the figure, but I'm willing to take it slow and get it right.

I made up a crude layout:



The big round green thing is a tree, I thought I might have the LAV driver cleaning out some broken tree from the stowage.

I was thinking of doing the Trumpeter LAV-25 kit, I have some left over figures from awhile back that have the proper gear (h-harness), and I was going to get the resin upgrade kit for the LAV by AEF unless that's not a good idea. I'm stuck on the wheels though, I'd like to get a good set of wheels but it seems there's a few options out there and I'd like to get the best one.

Any ideas are welcome and even anticipated.

Trumpeter and I thought Blast Model bring wheels for the LAV out.

The idea for you dio is nice, but as far as I could understand (it was a whole story ) you are trying to make the scene he hits his head. I don't think this would make a nice diorama. You know what's happened and you can laugh about it. But other people don't know anything about it and only see a man with his head in a hatch,

Lars

intereasting idea the story is quiete funny lol

why dont you have it parked up under the tree and them diembarking like doing the drills you mentioned?

it would be hard trying to get the right pose and the how your going to show hes hit ?

never the less give it a go =]

I think the structure and composition are fine. I have to agree with Chris, it's a very personal and specific story and many viewers will not get it. So, if you're ok with that and are ok with a small set of people understanding it, it's a doable think (you did say a learn as you go).

So, I would focus either at point of imact or even later when the corpsman comes to get him. My reason for either of these points is this: POI is easy to duplicate, figures will just be standard out of the box figures. It will be positioning that makes the story (head on steal.)
After that all of you 'awake' guys were laughing and having a ball (so to speak) which could be hard to duplicate and pull off effectivly. By the time the corpsman gets there you guys have calmed down and were more natural and probably just standing around (easy to duplicate.) Plus when Craig was laying there in a heap it would be a scratch build (probably.)
If you are present, you can tell the story from a point of "you should see what happens next" or "man you should have seen him drop"
If you are not present, viewers can more easily make thier own story lines.

Just my thoughts, ask more questions and go for it. Ask about any techniques and make sure you sift through the reviews (for figure sets) and features for techniques (trees, painting, scratching gear etc).

That's a great story Chris.

As mentioned it really is a personal story. So it's really up to you to decide how much you want to make the dio like the the real thing.

If this story is really important for you to model, maybe you should leave it on the to do list and just do some practice on individual figures and vehicles until you get your skill base up.

The top guys here actually sculpt the figures themselves so they get exactly the poses they want.

You could also use this project as the output of your trials / learning experiences. Take each figure one at a time, learn about getting the poses you want, modifying figures, and painting the camo, faces, etc, and put that figure aside for your dio.

Same thing with the LAV (I'm using the Trumpeter kit for an ASLAV I have on my bench, it's a nice kit). You may want to start with another kit first, once you learn the basic's and your skills improve, get started on the LAV for the Dio.

Just some thoughts Chris, the guys here are a great resource for all sorts of questions and constructive feedback. Use this forum as much as you want to improve your skill set.

Cheers

Paul

Thanks guys for the constructive input. I'm on my way to work right now so I don't have enough time to give detailed responses, however I'll say right now that I struggled a little bit with people "not getting it" but I thought if I made the title reflect the action somehow, that people would be expecting something lighthearted and comical. If I can get the Craig figure to work it should be good to go. I think I may have him hitting his head on the LAV straight on, instead of upwards like he did, since it would put his head on a lined match with the top of the door, physically representing the action, while his body, which would be contorted (arms flailed, head tilted backwards) would also reflect the resulting collision.

THanks again for the responses guys, Cheers.

Nice story and a good dio idea, but like the others stated only you and who ever read this post would get the meaning of the dio. I to have found memories of Camp Pendleton but only I would get the story if I put it down in a dio.
The idea is there you just have to work on the layout.

Semper Fi
Rob
Cpl 7th Eng,1st FSSG

hey folks, thanks again for all your input.

Lars: See, that's the dilemma I'm facing, Blast or Trumpeter. The box plastic wheels look crappy, and from what I've read so far people building LAV's seem to not like Trumpeter's rubber wheels. If there's anyone out there reading who can shed some light on this subject that would be grand. Also, I appreciate the encouragement.

Scott: How you explained POI was exactly what I had in mind. Along with the viewer, the other characters in the scene are not yet aware that Pvt. Johnson has hit his head and will subsequently fall to the deck in a heap. That way the viewer sort of gets to share the comedy moment. I have "sifted" somewhat through the build logs and features. I am not going to try and get an award winning diorama out of this one, its for me to learn as much as I can about modeling techniques, especially figures. I really like the idea of sculpting the action pose for Johnson's character. I realize it may take some time and possibly a few figure sets, but like I said I am willing to spend some time in order to learn spot-on techniques. Thanks for your feedback.

James: I thought of just showing the training exercise but in my mind it looked really boring and uneventful, plus I am looking forward to doing some advanced figure modeling.

Paul: I was planning on tackling the LAV first, then moving on to the figures. I have good experience putting kits together, but I never had the focus as a teenager to do good detail jobs, so that's pretty much where I'm picking up. The LAV kit should go together no problem, though I do intend to do a step by step blog so you all can help me iron out details. SInce you are building an LAV kit could you give me some advice on the wheels? (see above)

Rob: Semper Fi.

I'm going to post some more of the details I had in mind concerning the main figure.

Ok heres the crudest representation possible, however I think it illustrates a way to convey the action to the viewer. The trickiest thing to me seems to be getting the body to bend properly while keeping the gear on the figure in-tact. Any figure modelers see big problems here?

Hi Chris.

My ASLAV build is in this thread:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/120708&page=1

It's got lots of great info on the Aussie version of the LAV.

The wheels I'm using are the Mouse House Resin Aftermarket ones here (plus the Trumpeter XML tires):

http://www.mheaust.com.au/Aust/Reviews/MLM/XML2.htm

Now this stuff is NOT applicable to the US version.

Maple leaf also have a resin set for the US LAV:

(see down the page a little - they're expensive though)

http://www.mapleleafmodels.com/Modern.html

Hope that helps a little

Cheers

Paul

Thanks for the links Paul, tons of very helpful stuff. My question to you then is, do you think its worth the extra hassle to get the resin wheels, or should I just use the plastic ones trumpeter makes with their tires?

Chris,

Thank you for sharing your story. It is interesting and amusing. The thing that stuck out for me with it was the phrase 'peacetime engagement'. In my view this the scene would work well as a two man vignette with a wedge of the back of the vehicle. A wedge as I am sure you are aware is a section of a model that has been cut. In this case maybe just the rear ¼ of the APC. To have a whole LAV would totally dominate the scene and the focus would be lost.

Furthermore, what is very important here is the facial expressions on the poor chap who has knocked himself out and the secondary character that is following him up the ramp responding to the incident by wincing for example.

Obviously there would be a degree of sculpting to get the figures right, when someone knocks themselves out they go limp and the shoulders drop, while the following character would tense up in response to witnessing the collision. Have a look at the hornet head range the have some great expressions on their faces, even some sleeping figures that might suit some one who has just been knocked out. The website is as follows:


http://www.greenwichgateway.com/hornetandwolf/Hornet/headsets/pages/HH09.htm

Hope this is of some help

Regards,

Jerry

Jerry sorry it took me so long to respond, I didn't realize you had posted in the thread until today. I'm glad you liked the story. I was planning on calling it "Peacetime Engagement" since that's the one part of what the instructor really said that I remember correctly. I remember laughing my ass off though.

I am sure that the vignette would work much better with a wedge of the back of the LAV, however I have invested some money and I really want to do the full vehicle for some needed experience. Especially in the areas of wheels and PE, two things I've never worked with before. I have four of the five figured done already, as far as poses go. I've decided to do the Johnson figure just as he's hitting his head on the bar, so that I won't have to do much in the form of sculpting, though I did get some experience because of some uniform issues with the figures.

I've picked out the heads, Hornet and otherwise. I think I've got it pretty well ironed out so that the viewer will be able to pick up on the action pretty easily. The tree is not going to be included since it was going to be a distraction.

I'm starting a new thread in the dio forum for this one.