To make a long story short, I started this a little over two years ago, and if you want to see the small beginning, you can see it on the ARC here.

But the reason I posted it here is my question is about the building's rooftop layout. This is probably the best picture that I can find (I'm away at college, 5 hours away from this dio...)

In the back right corner is the roof access, and the back/mid left are the fast ropes with the troops coming down. The soldier in the front is around the position of the forward most soldier. (I apologize for the background)



And then here you can see where all the figures are going to be in reference to the helicopter...



I feel like the roof is also lacking details like a satellite dish or some sort of "little things" for a middle eastern setting. So then I pose to you, what do you think? Also, is there something glaringly obvious that I missed? (did I mention this is my first actual diorama?)

Take care,
Austin

Good idea!
You roof appears a little "empty" to me though...

How about a central air-con unit, could also add a TV antenna & satellite dish as you said.

It all depends on what kind of building it is though.

Hello Austin, I like your dio idea, but I agree with Donovan that the roof looks empty. Most buildings have some sort of a/c units or a small structure housing them. Air vents would also be likely, as well as the satellite dish you mentioned. You could also add a billboard along the front of the roof. Be careful not to overdo it though. If it is a housing unit, you might add some sort of chicken coop, or something of the sort. Al

Lookin good. Another item, in addition to the above mentioned ones, commonly seen on Middle Eastern roofs are a couple water tanks or cisterns. Most of the water systems there are low pressure and use gravity to boost that pressure. You cuold also put some chairs and a table up there. Most rooftops are used as an outdoor living space in the summer, esp. at night when it is cooler.

I'm sure a stair well would be usefull,

I think a chicken coop and/or rabbit hutch, a pergola for shaded area & of course a barbie would be good.

Or maybe some laundry drying...


Here is one with an A/C unit, water tank (red barrel), satellite dish, and living area.


A few more examples.






It looks like laundry and a settelite dish are required fixtures.

Hope those help.

Thanks! I found that one with the Tin roof particularly interesting...

For the laundry, would it blow off the line from the rotor wash?

Another cool thing I found while in a quick google search was a set up for the two water tanks, the higher one (I think) is cold water while the lower one is heated via solar panels that could be hanging off the side of the roof.

Like so:


Another thing I should probably show is the de-swamper that I made to hang off of the back of the building...


Since the picture was taken though, I've sprayed it black and attached the screen to the top "square" which then was glued to the rest of the unit.

Take care,
Austin

edit: fixed img tags

Some potted plants like peppers or flowers maybe. Like your idea.

Alot of Iraqis would sleep on the roof at night, so some mattresses or sleeping pads might fit also.

For more roof ideas , check out the third Bourne movie . Great rooftop chase in Tangiers.
Also all choppers I've seen have more ropes , 2 or 3 each side . Is this SOP or is that a Hollywood thing ? Jim

Jim is right, there would be 2 on each side. Also, the pose for the one guy you have mid-rope is not accurate...when you go down, you're holding that rope like a fireman going down a pole.
Not a huge deal, just thought I would throw it out there.

If they were rapelling, yes. When FastRoping, there is one FastRope per side.

FastRoping w/standard 2 ropes.




FRIES (FastRope Insertion and Extraction System) rig on roof of MH-60L. The two red rings on the quick releases are the attachment point for the FastRopes.


Rapelling w/4 ropes.

In addition to Gino, you could have just one fast rope, but then my model wouldn't balance...



Take care,
Austin

Okay, so I go home in two days for spring/midterm break, and well, I can't wait...

I've been messing around with both pencil drawings and photoshop to get ideas of how to fill the roof. This is starting to feel right, but doesn't feel 100% right. What's your guys' opinions...

I'm resculpting two figures on the ground as of now (hence the 1 and 2 in the picture). The door will be made from flat toothpicks in a manner similar to the picture. The roof of the stair access will be corrugated steel with rust, and next to it will be two 55 gallon drums. Next to that will be two bed frames/mattress springs. Then in the front right corner there will be two laundry lines with the clothes flapping in the rotor wash. Then in the front left will be a satellite dish.



Figure 1:


Figure 2:


What do you guys think?

Take care,
Austin

Looks like it is coming together. Can't wait to see it done. Now get to work on it!!

I like the concept.




Having done my fair share of fast roping, I can tell you that dish will be gone.

So looks like I don't have to worry about scratching a satellite dish. Makes my life that much easier. I'll be home in about 14 hours, so update on the actual dio later today (thursday) or tomorrow. But I was able to finish up some stuff on those two figures. I'm easily 100 times happier with these than my original two...

Here are their heads awaiting helmets + goggles...






Take care,
Austin

Looking good so far! Can't wait to see progress.

Update time...

I built the rooftop door from flat toothpicks, then used guitar string for the hinges and aluminum foil on the corners. It is bluetacked to the wall. I plan on staining the door to make it darker/weather it, but not paint it. I will paint the metal parts a rust color though...



Then moved on to the helicopter. Here's the ugly start to the HIRSS (the top of the right one was missing, so I'm building it up with styrene to fit) and I scribed where the two pieces would meet as it isn't a seemless spot.



Then I started to work on the tail. I added wires to the c/f dispensers and some PE screens, some mods on the tail, refined the RWR, and then added the towel rack antenna. The antenna on the tail I think is a used E string from ernie ball super slinkies. They are pretty much the thinnest wire I could find...





Comments and Critiques welcome!

Take care,
Austin

More stuff added. I'm thinking I could possibly be painting this on Tuesday, assuming everything falls into place...

The mesh from a tea bag.


Here's a better pic of the mesh:


On the other side of the tail, all I did was add a vent that is below the HIRSS, near the bottom of the A/C.


Then I scratch built the exhaust of the HIRSS which is missing in the Italeri kit...


And finally, I drybrushed the rotorhead in a dark grey mix. The photos I have show that the rotorhead isn't shiny, but dull (unlike the aluminum mast), so I figured alcalad steel wouldn't be the best option. I'm happy with how this turned out.


Take care,
Austin

Wow, the bird looks really great! The figures are incredible too!

Thanks! The helo goes in the painting stage tomorrow...

Here are two teaser pics...





Take care,
Austin

Seeing as I haven't updated in a while, here's some pics...











Now for everything together. The tires are in the corner just to give it some more "junk" up top for right now while I acquire the correct resources for it...







And one final picture for s&g's...



Take care,
Austin

Great idea to use the ropes as a support for the helo, and yours 'fall' so naturally that the illusion of flight is actually strengthened by them.
I would remove the tyres though - I seriously wonder if anyone in their right mind is going to haul unwieldy and dirty tyres up onto the only place where he certainly is not going to need them - the roof. Have some household items up there. Buckets, a mop, a broom. In hot climates sometimes people also sleep on the roof. They do in Morocco - that much I know.

Keep it going - great action scene!

Hi Austin,
Great to see your work here too!! Love your sculpting, especially the amount of detail you're able to create in such a small scale. I have one question though: would the helicopter actually get down that low to the roof? I know it's easier to get it to balance on the two ropes that way, but was just wondering.....

DBIO