Hi gents

Here are progress. The newspaper that you can see below is the Crete New dated from 24 May 41, this is the one I've put down the wall.

Avant d'aller me coucher
Wonderful paint job for the writing, it already addsa lot of character to your forlorn little scene, i wait for the next instalment

NIce work mate.

I love it! Nice details

Wijnand

it's details like that newspaper that make a good diorama into an amazing one.
good work

Hi gents. Thanks for comments.

little update with the door, (I've finally redone it cause the red one was bad) and finished paintjob on the ground.
Hope you like, the end is near
Best,
Alexandre.

Outstanding!
That is without a doubt one of the finest scale structures I have ever seen, very convincing. Well done Alexandre, well done indeed!
razorboy

Hello Alexandre.

Very excellent work! I wait for continuation.

Peter.

Amazingly realistic door. I am learning so much from your work.

I can't wait to see the next instalment.

Chas

Truly stunning work Alex! Love the way you created the buildings and placement, looking fantastic!

A great inspiration to us all, you've made it look easy! Thanks for sharing your creation.

Cheers - Tim

Alexandre,
This name will have my second child-or Alexandra if it's girl.
I can admit that I felt moved when I saw to my surprise the word "ΚΑΦΕΝΕΙΟΝ" written on the building.My grandpa had one in my village,written with the same aerial and had the same color.
In my humble opinion,in a place such that I would advice placing a wavy tin roof over the door preventing the rain,made by foil pressed among something cylinder,let's say toothpicks or thick tender sticks(for ear cleaning?)and use some for e.x. verlinden or miniart railing motives to hold the roof,and replace or convert that SUPERB door to one with a 3/4 glass in it.
From Monroe Perdu you can find some fantastic laser cut old style caffe tables and chairs but also be prepared to add to the sitting part something that looks like made of straw.
Worn out straw seat can be made of thin srteched plastic rods of sprues,or thin thread in a square with 4 triangles pattern.Confused ah?
Keep it as it is.....simply fantastic.
Look forward to watching the next steps.
Regards,
Zisis

Hi all, thanks folks.
Dave, I'm so flattered, thanks for your kind words.
Chas my friend, we both learning of our work I hope. And I'm glad to see you're back in diorama forum and wait to see the next instalment of the 'No Heroes dio' .
Hi zisis,
I can only be grateful for all the advices and involvement you put in this diorama.
I currently trying to scratch kafeneion chairs.. I'll seriously think about your door idea, but the former idea was to suggest the entrance of the kafeneion beyond the arch. So I have to think about it. My only goal is to get this authentic feeling, colors tone and atmosphere. Greece is a passion for me.
Thanks again, new pics soon.

What a superb diorama! The attention to detail has really lifted this out of the ordinary. I particulary like telephone/electricty cables under eaves. The colour and texture of the scene is also wonderful expecially the groundwork and the masonry. The door is I think exceptional!

One question did you have a reference for the building? I ask this because the corner of the building closest to the door does not look right. It is normal to overlap stone or brick coarses in a building At a corner the individual bricks or blocks will interlock. The simplest way to demonstrate this is to interrlock you splayed fingers of each hand as children do when they form a steeple. This is essential in buildings as otherwise each of the four walls are seperate strvutures and the building has no way near enough strengh.Of course that doesnt mean that a house wouldnt have been built such a way and so I wondered weather you based this on a building you'd ectually seen?

Sorry if this sounds picky but Im an engineer so Im probably picking up on something that most wouldnt question. If you based it on an actual building iI'd been interested if you had pictures.

Anyway congratulations once again for what I have to say is approaching a work of art!

Alex how did you get the archway. Is that frame metal or cardboard? I simply cannot tell. Marvelous job my friend. YOU make this look so doable.

Hello my friend, I'm sorry for not visiting this amazing topic as regularly as usual. You know I'm very occupied finishing my C-47 for a D-Day campaign on another forum. But what a great job you're doing ! The text on the wall is done so nice. The old peeled off blue door looks superrealistic...
Battle on Alexandre, this is becoming a true highlight in the entire diorama section !

Guy.

Well done Alexandre, this looks great. The door is looking good despite that the sanding paper slipped away once

Sometimes, this simply add to realism. Don't tell me you made this on purpose

Claude

Hi gentlemen,

Jason, thanks for following! You're absolutely right. That's a matter I was aware since the early cork stage, due to the fact that I ve done each side separately. In fact, this will be hidden by a gutter., so I hope it won't be so noticeable. Thanks for this keen eye and kind words.
I've done this house using dozens of reference buildings, and no one got this overlap trouble...Mea culpa.


James, all the structures of all the builds are made in cardboard, or heavy paper, or wood for the "under-roof". No metal here. I've done it for shouting "NO MORE PREBUILD HOUSE", it's easy and fun to do. So I can only warmly recommend you to try. Thanks for comments mate!


Guy my friend, I know you're busy, but I know also that you don't forget my topic I'm flattered to have you onboard since the beginning of this diorama, long time ago..I think this dio is close to finish now.
BTW, the clock is Ticking, and the D-Day is near now, I hope you've managed to do your C-47 in time.. Want to see pics of it once it will be done. And can't wait to see back in Dio forum, with Wilkommen, but you know it.

Claude, hahahaha you're so right. In fact this is the print of my nervousness, it wasn't made on purpose, but after all, that's not so bad...Sometimes random's god is with you....

Hola
doing a little work so good that I can contribute, I can only recommend the tools and accsesorios for houses that have the mark Historex, there are some that you might very well

greetings
Domi

Hi gents,
Thanks domi

Little update on the dio, the painting of the figure.
Jaguar, hornet head Very nice sculpted, that's a great one for everybody interested in Early Fallshirmjaeger.



Comments welcome, come one HFM guy's!


Alex.

Alex, your building and groundwork are superb, however I have one problem; your colour for the ground itself is far too light in my opinion.
It looks nearly the same shade as the building and is far to white-grey. I have been to crete twice and just checking my holiday snaps I can tell you that the soil is much browner (almost red in places) and this seems to be fairly true of the north and south coasts plus the lattishi plateau in the middle.
It could be your camera, but I would suggest adding a bit more earth colour to the floor, this would add more depth to your scene and help make the building more pronounced. At the minute the two are far too similar, and given the lighter colours you are using it looks a little 'washed out'.

Everything else looks great, this is just my opinion.

James

Alexandre,nice figure selection mate.Look forward watching for his partners.
I will agree with James about the earth color,but also can't disagree either.It depends on the place,hour of day climate conditions.Although figurative,a bit darker or reddish would catch the eye!

My friend James,for the history and only, the place is called "LASITHI" and is prefecture.It's capital is "Sent Nikolaos" and it is in the eastern part of Crete.Another small town in the same prefecture is "SITIA" where I will be possibly transfered in a couple of years.There, is the famous palm tree beach "VAI".
Regards,
Zisis

The figure look brilliant ! What paint did you use Alexandre ? This is going to be so beautiful ! G.

Hi Alexandre. I must admit that I not was a fan of these work when I see it for the first time, but now I see that I was wrong. You have a very good work and very good sample of cork work and disposition of different volumes in a building diorama.
Congratulations! a very good work in my opinion :-)
Cheers
Carlos

Well, James, there are things in need to be focused on here.
Do you ever care of atmosphere in your builds? I mean, feelings, perceptions?
That's what I focus first.
When your eyes see something, your perception of it will be influenced by your mood, by the temperature, luminosity.
The matter here is'nt to depict an holiday diorama.
Diorama making is all about. When you deal with concepts as abandonment, dereliction, empty feelings, then your palette will turn white grey. Then the colors will appears used, washed.
There's no way to turn it on a postcard style, cause that's not my feeling with Merkur.
Desaturate the color range is a way among other to display some thought.
Cause I don't live in a world where the earth is brown, the grass is green and the water is blue.
The very only dogmas in diorama making I think are atmosphere and composition. No more.
Nothing that tells : "for a good diorama, be sure you do the same as in your coloring book, be sure that your grass is green."

BTW, thanks for your opinion about it, I just wanted to share mine. I hope i'll still get your thoughts.

Guy, thanks my friend, I use Prince August (vallejo) acrylics. A lot of colors, cause shadows of green are mixed with blue and purple, and highlights are mixed with yellow and orange. I prepare you a pics with all the palette.

Carlos, thanks a lot for your kind words. Your opinion means a lot to me, so I'm flattered, really. Thanks again.
Best,
Alexandre

Alexandre, you are spending to much time with Jean Bernard. This could be one of his quotes!

Greets to both of you

Claude