Mark, it's 13 feet in scale off the roof. It might be a little short, if anything but here's my two reference photos that I used.





Rob, the tires are just there for spacial visualization, i.e. when I'm doing my drawings/photoshopping I'll be able to say 'hey, I have this much space/compare it to the tires.' If you see my first photoshop job, the items are larger than I thought they were going to be.

I'll be putting this diorama away for the next two months while I'm at school, and I'll undoubtedly think about it, and finish up the sculpting, so I guess I'll update in early April when I come home for Easter, and then again in late April/early May for summer.

I had a good idea (or so I thought) for getting the beds/mattresses up on the roof. Okay, so appearantly the Russians in WWII put bed springs on their T-34/85 Late models. And DML just so happens to have a kit in 1/72. Maybe, just maybe, I can track down the kit and well, use the bed springs for their INTENDED purpose...

Thanks for following,
Austin

Great looking Diorama, keep us posted with your progress!

Great dio so far



The "Bedspring" armor wasn't made from actual bedsprings, it was wire mesh welded to angle iron so it resembled bedsprings. For some one of your obvious talent at working in such a small scale it shouldn't be a problem makeing some bedframes from mesh and plastic stock.

Thanks guys!

Pat, you saved me 20 bucks and a T-34 model that I wouldn't know what to do with I'll experiment when I'm home over Easter to find the best way to make the bed springs/mattresses...

Anyways, I had some time before the weekend to sculpt, and today I finally got around to taking pictures. So here they are:











Take care,
Austin

And some more sculpting updates. The heads are blue tacked on, so they won't look good yet. There's some stuff that needs touching up, like one of the figures proportions (short legs, long torso), and a few of the facial details need work. I also need to replace the hand that I knocked off in the process of taking pictures and fed to the carpet monster...









Like always comments and critiques are very much welcome...

Take care,
Austin

I'm home again, on Easter Break, and so far I have primed the figures and resumed painting them.

For the photos though, I took them on the garage/machine shop/store building because I'm still undecided as to which building to use. I'd redo the roof access for the store, as I just used the one from the house for the pictures...

The PE M240 is from OKB Grigorov.











Thoughts/Comments/Critiques?

Take care,
Austin

this is coming along well. Be careful with what 'stuff' you put on the roof, rotor wash will make a 'mess' of loose objects.

Thanks! I don't think I'm going to put anything else up there. That said anyone have any good references of the front of a shoe store/small machine shop from Iraq/middle east? Do they have the names on like bill boards, on hanging signs, spray painted on? Also, when shops are closed, do they have 'garage doors' that shut over them (as portrayed by my building). Some of the stuff is still blue tacked in, namely the doors. My google search is lacking.



I plan on having more corrugated sheets for the roof access, with one or two bending with the stress of the rotorwash. Not sure how those would be attached to the walls, though, however, the building will be the last thing I finish, because I am really indecisive about the house or the shop. I like the shop because its more confined and therefore not as distracting as a house with a lot of windows to look into.







Take care,
Austin

Okay here's an update on the building. I need some input regarding the door up top and some other stuff on the roof. I'm thinking that the door needs to be stained/weathered, but I'm not too sure how or what color... Also, should I stucco the inside of the roof's walls?









TIA,
Austin

Looking pretty good. I would stucco the inner walls. The buildings I saw had either all exposed yellow sand bricks, or were completely stuccoed. The door would be better in steel too. Most common homes had steel doors since wood is a premium and luxury item in the desert. The A/C units look great.

Nice update.
I agree - stucco the inside of the roof area, no question. I think the steel roof door will really benefit the look and authenticity. The AC unit is constructed really well. I personally would add a 'dirty' wash on the whole blue piece to give it a used look.

Overall really nice, keep it up.

Thanks Gino and Scott.

I made the necessary changes and here are the results. I also resculpted two of the figures as I thought their height was a bit too short to fit (didn't help that I planned to have them next to the largest one in the dio). They are currently primed, and hopefully I can get this thing done by this weekend. I am repainting the camo M4/M203 to just be a black one because it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.











Take care,
Austin

hey there austin
this is a great looking diormama
lots of potential

what material have you used to scratchbuild the figures??
my hat goes off to you for scratchbuilding those blooming small figures!!

ill keep my eye on this

tony

Thanks Tony.

I use "green stuff" to sculpt now. It's marketed by games workshop, and I think it's originally kneaditite.

I need a couple more coats of varnish and such on the base, but it should be done in the next couple of days and I should be able to post better pictures this weekend, but here's a couple for now.







Take care,
Austin

Hi Austin, Fantastic job on your dio. Your step by step was nicely done. Looking forward to the finished photos...Vince

Wow

A beautiful diorama! With a lot of work on the modell and of cause on the figures! Modelling the 1:72 figures yourself is fantastic. Looks really great! I like the scene you build with the garage doors and the cooler.

Greetings Daniel

Thanks Vince & Dan. Dan, thanks for also bumping and making me realize I never posted final pictures...













Cheers,
Austin

You have done a great job.

Austin,

FANTASTIC!!! This has to be one of the best and most in action 72nd scale builds that I have had the good pleasure to see here at Armorama. Very well thought out and executed. You could almost hear the rotor wash and boots hitting the roof, those guys are on there way to ruin a bingo party!

If I had not seen your post listed on the home page under 'In Forums - Active Build Logs' I would have missed it. That would have been my fault and my loss for rarely if ever opening the 'Dioramas' section. I didn't even know about the Small Scale discussion group there until just a little while ago.

Austin, if I may ask? Could you possible post your finished build photos over in the Armor/AFV > Braille Scale section. I know its not an Armor or AFV but the braille scale group there would sure like to see this one. A link back to your step by step build log here would be nice too.

Thanks for sharing and posting your diorama. Hoping to see more of your work.

-Eddy

Thanks guys!

Eddy, I know this is the internet, but I still would feel a bit db-ish if I do that. I might post a pic or two when I finish up my AH-6 dio though, that should be done fairly soon, and there's a ground vehicle in that so I can get away with it

Long live braille scale

Great job, Austin. A really nice diorama with a lot of nice and dynamic action. The idea of balancing the Black Hawk on the ropes is very good and looks natural.
Great work on the figures as well.

Thanks for sharing

A few more pics using your night vision mode on the camera would look great when the dio is complete, especially if you could match a bit of back ground scene from a photo.

Love this

Nige

This came out great Austin. I love how it looks. You should post it over at the Aeroscale Rotary Wing Forum too, along with your AH-6 Dio. Great job.

Thanks guys. I think I might just have visit those night vision shots again...

I posted the AH-6J dio over at Aeroscale, and I'll probably post it over in the armor section under braille scale with a couple pics of my MH-60K as well, that way, as Eddy suggested.

Next up in this line at least, is my MH-47 diorama...



Take care,
Austin