I have built my first diorama of an an Academy Gulf War Sheridan.

Looking for comments and tips. I think I am going to repaint the edges because the tan colour does not work well I think. Maybe a darker brown.

Unfortunately I can't seem to figure out how to upload photos. It keeps saying that "this category does not accept photos" or something like that. Any thoughts?

Here are some links to the pictures on my Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=305372&id=100000629798422

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=305373&id=100000629798422

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=305374&id=100000629798422

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=305375&id=100000629798422

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=305371&id=100000629798422

Your code is displaying some kind of automated system info, notice how it is the same for each picture.

Have you tried right clicking and choosing "copy image location"?

I figured it out and here are the photos for constructive criticism.

Just a couple items. Camelbak's were not around during the 1st Gulf War and the IBA (Individual Body Armor) is new also. OIF/OEF time table.

Not bad for a fist effort. A few pointers though. Like you said, the sides of the base need to be redone. I recommend getting some sheet plastic or thin balsa wood sheets and placing them on the sides, trace the outline of the hills, and then cut them to fit. Paint or stain them a solid color and glue them in place. It leaves a nice, solid, finished-looking side. Next, the groundwork looks good, but the sand in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, where the ODS (Operation Desert Storm, '90-'91) was fought, is much finer and not very rocky at all. Very fine play sand or the type made for bird cages is a better option for covering the base.

The Sheridan is a good start, but needs to be sprayed with dullcoat. It has lots of shiny areas. It could also use some weathering. Vehicles get very dusty and covered in dirt in the desert. You also need to paint the rear lights on it. They should look like below with only the upper left oval red and the others as black slits.



The figures are the weakest part of the dio, and usually the hardest to pull off. First, as noted above, they are not ODS figures. Their uniforms and gear are from more current operations in Iraq, OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003-?). Yo also need to work on painting them. They look half-painted with grey vests, faces, hands, and boots. Look in the Features section here for some articles on figure painting. For their uniforms, during ODS, the DCU was a 6-color "Chocolate Chip" pattern (1), not the later 3-color DCU pattern (2) that came out after ODS and was worn until April '08, when it was replaced by the current digital ACU pattern. Dragon has lots of great ODS-ear figure sets that look good and have the correct gear, weapons, etc. for ODS.

(1)


(2)


Don't take the above too hard. Like I said, its not bad for a first effort. Concentrate on improving for the next one and it will be even better. As long as each one is better than the last, you are doing great.

Thank you all for the great comments! As mentioned I just started doing this (end of July... two months...) and have a lot to learn. So far I have built a Blackhawk, an M113A3 and an M966 TOW. Each one is gettin gbetter but my favourite so far is the Sheridan.

In terms of the dull coat, how is this applied? A:lso, my next project is a Leopard 2A6M Canadian, and have been looking at a number of photos and see a lot of dust on them. How is this carried off in making the model?

I find the figure painting is the hardest and using the right and finist rushes are the tough part.

Thanks again.

For weathering tips, check out the Features Section as well. There are lots of how-to tutorials there.

Here are just a few that will help:

Washing and Drybrushing Armor
Weathering Heresies
Mud Technique

The best bet is to just practice the above techniques and don't worry about figures and dios for a while. Perfect making models that you are satisfied with first, then you can move on to more advanced things.

Good luck.

Robert.....there was some good advice given here. Just by improving the base the model will look much better. This was a very nice try for a first diorama. Even the best of modelers have little mistakes here and there on their models. Keep up the good work and happy modeling.......Al......