So indeed. Shall those malevolent tentacles be from the Old Ones? Or is it just a fire hose? I'm getting the creeps already

as in old nick ?? another good possibillity !! i'd say fire hoses though as it has a water ellement !!

Soooooooooooooooo... its a seashore, which means the guy in the ball is dead (OMFG!!!!!)?

JB,
I don't think I've ever asked but do you paint traditionally ?Like oil on canvas? You have such a feel for color and lighting and so easily translate it to 3 dimensional, it seems like you must have some background in the understanding of colors and how they work. Just amazing.

Putting the poem together with the photographs it assuredly creates a somber scene. Something most people couldn't (wouldn't) be able to pull off. This just further proves how well you have mastered your craft, not only technically but from every aspect....technical, emotional, ascetic, composition.....it's all there.
And what is more amazing, you can create this atmosphere with just three small pieces, the fuselage section, ball turret and base. Speak about minimalist.

Cheers,
Charles

JBA. You have created something special. It is really coming to life now!. Im really intereasted to see what the water does to your diorama.

Im looking foward to whats next.

I am in awe. You are very brave for attempting such a horrific scene. One that was no doubt common during the war. I like this because it feels honest. Nothing has been glorified. It just shows the price of conflict.

I'm guessing here, but was there a fire at some point during or after the crash?

Matt

All things that I can say are writen for people that know best that me english idiom. I suscribe all posts ,especially the Charles Reading opinion.As others I await your finished work.
congratulations

Paul thanks! What you describe is the story I meant indeed. And extra congratulations, because indeed the water effects will be the one coming out of the hoses and..

.. doing some sort of tentacles- like shapes on the ground, hurray for John-Paul!

gee, so many medals to give

Joris it won't be a seashore but more an airfield, if you see some sandy colour on the ground it's more a lightning effect I try to do -just like some portion of the diorama is lightened either with sun ray on the morning or a projector. Uh, only by the end will i know if the lightning effect is succeeded!
But otherwise, yep, the gunner I am afraid the gunner is a late gunner

Nope Charles, I don't paint on canvas. Well, I used to do some miniature portraits for girls I liked when i was a teen but no more than that. real 3d is my thing, let's stick with what i do the best
But then yeah, my mum used to make me spend my holidays at the louvre museum when I was a kid! Like she says "I wanted to give you a classic culture, but you turned out to be so *decadent*"
btw, there's one word I like you used, it's "ascetic". You see everybody here loves that movie "private Ryan" and I don't. I think that whatever the amount of good scenes you have in it, I can't bear those antics like the guy weeping in front of the tombs at the beginning and other stuff like that, for me it has no dignity, it's pathetic, and lots of dioramas trying to show death are just like that.
When you show death you have to do it coldly like it is and the graphic "unsuitable for kids and modellers" element should not go between you and what you feel as being truth.
well, I hope, I am clear, but indeed my scene is minimalistic and ascetic

Thanks Jaymes! yep my water will be more future than resin this time, but I think the diorama will get to life with those water effects, hence justifying the kitmaker tag

thanks Matthew, well, brave, I am not sure about that but when i have an idea I don't let anything get between me and the idea, the fact it might end up being reasonably well done will save me from the harder critics eh.
But yeah, no glorifying for me, if I show war, it's an evil reality like it is, if I show the aftermath of war and the rusting debris, then I can allow myself being more well, poetic or whatever.
yes there was a fire on landing, i need that for the water effects

Nice to see you here Carlos! Always an honour

Rant of the day, that Inglourious err Beggar from Mission Models that wanted me to pay 20$ to send me his bloody '50 bullets, hey I need that to cover the ground. next time I see a bad review for the crap he puts out I will open a beer.

Anyway, I want to thank Arnold that proposed me to sell me back his own packets, James, that offered me to order the stuff and send then back to me, and finally Mr O'Meara himself that actually sent me 2 of his own sets..
Be thanked forever Dave m'friend

So here are the 2 GrumpyOldman sets as they arrived at castle André:

needless to say that I preferred using the Voyager sets than the Mission ones

uuuhhh, how to paint those?
oh yeah, the spent bullets will be burnt out and near the hull -I saw there was no outside ejection for the guns amidships. And the full ones behind the ball turret just like it spilled its content at one point
I used inks to paint then -and my Hobby colour metal colours for the tip. Inks are great to keep the original glow of the brass but are not really easy to apply on bare metal.


See this?

I have been buying this stuff more than 15 years ago, this is rubber and is supposed to be used in aircraft modelling for wires, or hoses I don't know. Well, I don't regret not having dump them as they proved really cool to use as the oxygen hoses for the gunner


Well, more pigment on the ball turret, a mix between my Windsor and Newton and some Mig ones I bought. I was boycotting Migs products on the grounds that i don't like him calling his oils Abteilung something, i think it doesn't smell good, and that selling stuff doesn't excuse everything.. But there you go, I mellow up with age
But Mig man, your pigments are sure the ninth wonder of the modeling world, your postage is both expensive and not that efficient, as i finally got the Fx pigments I ordered *after* completing the pigments work, so sorry I can't comment on the metallic ones. It's no use to pay so much in postage to get the stuff more than 1 week after you order it.

Anyway after rubbing the surface with some pigments mixed I got that..

So incredibly incredible JB!

This topic provides me with an excuse to log on every night. Those bullets look so good by the way. Good on you Grumpy.



Hey man, I would kill for postage service like that to Australia!

Keep safe.
Chas

Cracking work JBA.. Its coming together really nicely, the pigments are really making the base come alive its going to be an intereasting contrast with the water... As for the beer I will have to join you on that one and excuse is good for a . The hose looks great your like my mum she doesn't throw stuff out no wonder our house is full of crap .

Keep it up good buddy.

there's a postal strike here i have now been waiting nearly 2 weeks for a leopard 2 i won on ebay , i could have walked there and back by now to collect it in person !!

The contrasts of colors and textures is fantastic.
This project in particular is a really big lesson in contrasts.

It's there and people see it, but I'm going to point it out. The use of paint and pigment to define a light source is all through this project and are some of the reasons why it has come to life. Note the scraps on the ground, light pigments where the light shines, note the shadows throught on the correct side.
Just wonderful.

JBA
How did I miss your new build ??
Truly amazing, as usual, great work nice attention to detail

Congrats,
Now I have to read all the post I was just checking the pics
Cheers
Seb

Wonderful work, it really is fascinating to watch this progress and come to shape.

I'm really impressed with the base and the painting on this also, lovely colours and great blending from light to dark.

Can't wait to see this finished!

Ive just enjoyed sitting here and catching up again with this one JB, love your boldness to go with the very vivid colours mate they should prove a very dramatic effect. The ball turret looks very striking situated in the centre of the scene and gives great focus, gives me the impression of a `tomb` with the dead guy inside.

All the best mate,

Steve

JB, my friend !
I am SPEECHLESS !!!! That is one AMAZING concept for a diorama piece. BRAVO !!!! Now I'm really impatient for a view of the final "product" from your masterful hands . Cheers !
Kenneth .

P.S. Thank you very much for the encouraging comment on my little diorama. I have taken your advice about the lichen and replaced it with more suitable foliage . More pictures tomorrow showing the "new" look of the base. Also, you should have mentioned that you needed some 50 caliber rounds, JB; I could have sent you some gratis !

Chas thanks!
The thing you forget: If i was takig the car right now, I would be by dinner time at Mig's trying to make him pay me a cerveza to apologize for the late at which i got his products, while attempting the same thing you would have the white sharks saying "yummy"

Some scary thought for you Jaymes, I probably have the same age as your mother I lost a lot of stuff in moving homes those last 10 years, it is still a miracle I had those. As for beers for a Bodington lager in a Manchester pub yeah! . Thanks for the comments

Paul, same thing from Lyon to Mig!

hey thanks for this Scott I had to work a lot the first time I really tried that, but now it's there and honestly it didn't take me for than 2 hours to get this, that's still a reasonably flat area..

OÏ Seb, I was wondering when you would show in . thanks! here you come on a diorama close to completion!

Jon thanks too, that one will be finished by next Wednesday i suppose.. That' s this old story, how a diorama should bring its own light with like a real painting

Steve, I have been telling elsewhere how the only ever Figure fair I have been in was a depressing experience and how every one of those "'artists" even the so called Italian masters were in fact painting their stuff with the same shades of grey. I don't know, there is a full array of paints and shades at our disposal, just look in real life, colour is everywhere, even in the grimmest suburb, but you can't see this much in diorama making. I like your tomb impression, thanks mate

Hi Kenneth friend! Your own diorama is the very good surprise of this new administrative year for me, it's so fresh, such a pleasure to look at, you are going to have a hard time trying to paint it with the same insight as you put in the planning and sculpting of that lovely little thing.
Yep, wipe out the lichen, Claude is right About those '50 rounds I have been yelling and shattering in the "tools and supplies" forum for quite a few weeks Thanks for your offer!
Not a long time to wait now

Indeed here are water effects

First some water run offs, spreading in the rocks.. I first painted the surface with a diluted darker shade of the same tint so and then I used diluted future to add a bit of gloss at the center of the "stream".
That's one of the reasons why I used pigments in some places, those are so flat (opposite to gloss) that a single bit of future run off on them suddenly brings the whole to life.


After the initial coat of dark paint, I adde diluted future, but I screened and screened again with more coats of future so that the outer borders would be scarcely gloss while the place where the turret will stand is really glossy.


how gross



Please note that this last picture is too clear compared to the real thing (I just noticed that) in fact the blood is less red than this

Looks like Cthulhu is around the corner

hi one short word " wow !! "

as for the boddingtons it is not a lager it is in fact a light coloured " bitter beer " unfortunately the brewery is no longer in manchester the brewery and the brewery pub were demollished long ago !! so now has no connections left in manchester

the pub at the front of the brewery was a staff training pub and got its beer pumped into it direct from the brewery

although proper mancunians like myself drink the stronger holts's beers

I'm quietly sitting in a front row and i can't stop staring. What a great "movie" i can't wait to see the end so i can pick up my jaw.

JB, my friend, I have only one comment : AWESOME !!!!! That is one AMAZING use of colour and contrast, my friend; I'm impressed and learning a lot here ! Thanks for the free tutorial . Yes, I suppose I've set myself up for a real challenge in that my painting had better match the potential of my diorama's concept. Do wish me luck here . BTW, I've posted new photos of the revamped groundwork, so do take a look and tell me what you think, JB. Thanks and cheers ! Looking forward to the final stages.
Kenneth .

Hi, JBA, this is very very interesting stuff, hard to find the words, so simply hut off.
Cheers
Libor

JB,
Well, you know what I think as I've written it here too often. Studying the thread, I am struck at the emotion that you are able to evoke with such a minimalist approach. There are so many aspects of art that you have mastered (or perhaps your a 'natural')
In a way, this reminds me of Roy Hunt's piece, Storm Child, based on the tremendous emotion the viewer is struck with on first seeing the piece and how amazing it is that they are both very minimal in size and content
Your talent and understanding of painting and color is evident from the first diorama you posted on your blog site. Each progressive piece gets better.
I envy those that will see this piece in person.

Kudos,
Charles

Chas I like that.

Jba the blood looks rather convincing but yea it is a tad little to light can't you darken it a little?. Im really eagor to see the water effect now. BTW I don't drink Bodington's
im a Guiness man

Great work

thanks Paul. well last time I went in Manchester the Factory was still open. Yet I often hum that song from a well known Mancunian (well, Salford) singer which goes like that "hang the diorama maker, because the diorama he constantly does, it means nothing about my life"

Thanks Adam The film will be over very soon now!

Kenneth, good luck for the painting

thank you Libor!

Thank you Charles as always That's a great compliment to compare this stuff to Roy Hunt's "Storm Child", This year's BOS at Euromilitaire proves that nobody that wants can be Roy Hunt. And well, the place is desperately vacant.. Bob Tavis maybe?
Yep, if you were about to see the piece right now you would think that as usual I threw up the base in 2 minutes and that I could have put a bit of black paint on some edges where the glass cover scratched the plaster
I dunno, there is Kaiserine who saw it close to completion, he could tell ..

Loved your map Chas yet i would like someday to go where the big NOTHING is..
Where do you live? near Danni Minogue or near Convicts?

yep Jaymes the last picture is too clear in fact. look at the one before the last one to see some tint approaching the real one. the final pics will be taken against a grey background so you will see for yourself.
When i spent some time in Ireland (95 - 96), I was also a Guiness man

On to more water effects, here are the basic ingredients: Vallejo paints and Acrylic gel.


A dark grey + a bit of blue mix. You have to be cautious because however dark is your paint mix, it's going to look a lot clearer when set.

let's apply that gel, a lot of coats will be needed..





there still lack some thing.. here the stuff is basically not set anyway, but still something lacks..
despite the fact the stuff is not set, I think the colour is not right
In case you didn't guess, that's fire foam of course