Hey all,
As a follow up to the review I did, im going to finish this building off and paint it/detail it.

so far, all is assembled, cracks filled, and some bricks rescribed (where I had to fill a few small gaps). I also scribed a little bit of brick pattern on the backside, as I plan on adding floors and other details.

a low light so you can see the details...






stay tuned for more!
Andy

i liked ya review, lookingf orward tho the build!!!

If only I were able to paint one of these
Evan

You should give it a try! All of the kits come with easy to understand, full color, step by step instructions. The best part is they can be basically glued together & ready to paint in about 15 minutes.

Let me know if you guys ever have any questions or comments on the kits. Cheers!

Randy Pepprock
www.dioramasplus.com

Alright, that did it.........I'm getting one of these. Randy, I'll find out how good your painting instructions are, cause if I can do it...anybody can

Andy, I'll link this to the review, so far this is looking great!

I will have to get one of these buildings, i have many diorama ideas running through my head!!!!!

Evan, to bounce off what Randy said, do follow along. I will basicly be using his instructions to paint this (including use of cheap "apple barrel" craft paint.). I may toss in a few other techniques, but this will be a good step by step painting BLOG.

So far, everything has been primed with some Krylon rattlecan flat white to seal the bulding. That is a little different than what im used to, as in the past i used a combination of stains and washes to paint plaster...but I wanted to try Randys techniques out.

I will hopefully have some time tonight or tomorrow to start the next steps...

some more progress over the weekend...

I didnt have the "terracotta" color in my available stash, so I just mixed a brick color with some tans and red, and yellow that I had. Its a little dark, but I think it will be fine after the washes, drybrushing, and everything else ill do to it later.


here it is with some various bricks picked out in some other colors, tans, browns, etc. Subtile...ill do more if I need to later. Concrete areas also painted using Floquil "aged concrete" from the Model Railroad line.




next up some washes...

Hi Andy, if I remember rightly, your tank dio, the one with the grass, flowers and metal on stone wall, was one of the first dioramas I saw when I first came to this site, I thought then as I do now, how do people make plastic look like metal, like bricks, I build and paint until I'm red in the face with effort, and my stuff still looks like plastic, I haven't a problem in building, its painting, using washes, knowing when to stop and basically making something dead look life-like, your brick building, no where near finished, and yet its already looking like another great model. Well done, a great build that no doubt will look even better in time.

Andy, it's looking great so far. I'm glad you're giving my instructions a try. Let me know if you have any questions.

Alec, sometimes it can be hard to make a plastic kit look like stone or brick because the surface is so hard & "plasticky" (made up word!). This kit is cast in hydrocal plaster, which gives a more organic, porus look (IMO).

Cheers!

Randy Pepprock
Dioramas Plus

Alec,
Yes, that was mine, and thanks for the comments! That one was a "warm up" after not doing a diorama in many many years.
I think the biggest key is knowing when to stop. One thing to do while you are still learning that balence is to use the "less is more" technique, and build up layers of color untill you get to what you want. Also layering forces you to wait at times thus you tend to get "fresher" looks of your models when you come back and begin work again. Sometimes we get so focused we over do the color or technique and dont notice it untill the next modelling session. If you to thin layers of color, wash, etc, then you can stop yourself before you go to far. That is how the tank/wall dio you saw turned out. I gave it a base color overall, then just slowly built up color untill it looked right. If you think about it, that is how nature works as well...things are weathered over time, so there may be a "base" color (such as the color of brick), but the subtile variations, soot, grime, dust, and fading happen over time, layered one on another. If you practice that same logic in painting and not try to do it "all at once" you may find great results come more easily for you. Patience is the key.
Im no master, and already im not quite satisified with how the color on this building is looking....but I remind myself that im only at the very START of the process...that stone wall in my last dio you saw started out the same way...I hated how the colors looked at first...but then I just kept layering bits at a time...and slowly what I was looking for came out.
Just keep trying and experimenting! only folks who fail are those who give up!

Thanks Randy, and I have to say your instructions are excelent..very easy to do and understand. I only wish I had picked up the terracota color before I started, as im not liking how red this one turned out from me mixing my own "brick" color. But I will be hitting WalMart today to get some black, so ill pick up the terra cotta as well and see if I cant tone things down...

once i get most of the structure painted, ill start going beyond your instructions and adding details, floors, etc...not sure what im going to do yet (including the roof), but ill probally figure it out by the time Im at that point...

Andy

more progress...
All i did is add the thined black wash. Actully, I mixed a very dark brown, as I personaly dont like using straght black.

next we will start some rubbing to bring out details and texture, then add some details and an interior!

Hey Andy, Looking Good.
I'm curious... What does the interior of the "Dioramas plus" building look like? Is it textured like the outside? Or must you do your own designing of brick and floor patterns, etc, etc?
Thanks for the biuld, will keep watching.

The castings have detail on the front & the edges. The backs are plain. I wish I could do casting on the backsides but the cost would just raise the cost of the kits too much. The good news is you can have these assembled & ready to paint & detail in about 15 minutes. Cheers!

Randy Pepprock
Dioramas Plus
www.dioramasplus.com

hey all...sorry about the lack of posts this past week, it has been very busy! Im hoping to get some more serious stages complete and take some pictures this weekend.

In the meantime, anybody have any suggestions on a vehicle subject for the base? I dont want it to be much larger than square foot or so... so no Kingtigers or MAUS. I have lots of german halftracks...a Pak 40 already built, jeeps, tons of various figures...shermans...

ive thought about just doing a abandoned Pak 40 or nebelwerfer and some Alleid figs marching past...simple to make the building itself the main focus.
Thoughts?

Looking good so far Andy.




Whenever I see a Dio Building with a vehicle sized hole in it it always reminds me of this Shep paine dio



So it's got to be a Brummbar

Ive started pulling together some details...
here is the window frames that come in the kit...stained with oils.


I havent done much because of the need to finish up some other projects, but also im still mulling over what exactly im going to do... I think I am going to do a small scene with this building, a wood fence to the right of the building, some sidewalk/street, and just have some figures or abandoned equipment. Not sure if I want to do germans or Americans..I have both..lots of them.
I have also thought about building a "burnt out" opel blitz using the old italieri kit in the closet.
Ill draw up some sketches and see what happens..
Andy

OK! finaly got back into this one! Below is a concept im working on for the overall dio...
Ignore the truck...its a placeholder for what will be a burned out Opel Blitz or Mercedies (italeri kit).
The figures are some of those prepainted Taymia "assult infantry". I figured i can save some time by using them as a base for addtional painting and detailing to bring them up to standards. I may incorprate some more figures...Dragon? maybe a bazooka guy...the concept is just in the beginning so there is lots of room for adjustment..

Which of the two variations do you feel is the best overall layout? Keep in mind that some of the empty space along the side of the building will be rubble and more busted wall sections. Maybe a wooden fence (that the truck crashed through before burning).

Thoughts?
Andy

option one


option 2

Looks very promising.
About rubble. The only way to make such ruins look real, is to match the amount of rubble with the volume of missing parts of the building. Most diorama's show not enough rubble.
rubble should contain bricks and cement, but also chunks of wood, glass, pipes and anything that would have fallen to the street when that hole in the wall occurred.
Jan

Hi Andy,

the building is looking great.

Al

Evrything is tying in very nicely. The brick looks very realistic. Also, your figures look good; can we have a closer look at them?

I look forward to seeing the end result.

The building looks very good. Also, the figures look good.

option 2!!!!
looks great!