it may sound a bit wrong, but i'm having two or four dead russians in my new diorama and wanted to know to make the most convincing blood possible and what type of paint i should use? also how do you make convincing bullet holes or bullet wounds? cheers stan

p.s. they are gonna be a couple days/ weeks dead if that changes anything?

After a couple days or a week, you wouldn't see any blood. It would be well dried and oxidized by that point. Dark brown/rusty spots would be best.

thanks for the help gino, but what do you mean by 'dark brown/rusty spots'?

Dried blood isn't red. When it dries, it looks like a dark rusty brown color. The iron in the blood actually oxidizes.

the blood has already been answered.
For bulletholes ..well they probably wouldnt even be visible in this scale 1:35?
But if you wan't to include them I would do it with a exacto knife.

I would maybe give the impression of torn clothing, rather than try to show bullet holes. An exit wound would mainly show on the soldier's clothing, a big tear. Entry wounds would barely be visible, as Simon says, at this scale. Where blood soaks into clothing and uniforms, it darkens the cloth with the barest red tinge, but you could be mistaken for thinking the cloth is just wet. Blood on the ground similarly soaks into the soil or dust quickly, so looks like oil stains. It's really only on the skin it looks red, and as Gino has pointed out, it's not red for long, turning dark brown first then rusty after just a day. I think the least sensational way to show corpses, is to leave the blood and guts out, and to try and portray the stillness of the body. Just my opinion...

yes this 1/35, but after what you have all said, i will probably leave it

I just bought some Hornet heads with sleeping expressions, and I'm planning on using them on dead bodies for a dio. I wasn't going to portray blood as such, but try to suggest they were victims of violent warfare using the props around them - craters, blown up vehicles, that sort of thing... the viewer will see that they are dead with these sorts of clues and their closed eyes and lifeless poses. Don't abandon the dio, keep the ideas coming!

HTH

I pretty much agree with the sentiment of all here, Stan.
If you shift your complete focus to the position and contortion of the bodies you will convey the appearance of the deceased well enough. If you ever need to portray fresh blood, I have found that removing the tip from a red biro ball point pen and using the ink presents a convincing shade.
Brad

The dead don't look asleep except in the funeral home. Here is a picture of casualties after teh Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863 in the ACW).
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Note the drape of the clothing, the initial stages of bloating and the rictus on the faces and hands.

Here's a description of the decomposition process at various points after death.
If you're portraying a winter scene, here is an image the days after the massacre at Wounded Knee of one of the native casualties

i am portraying an early eastern front diorama (1942/1943) and there is a river/ditch kindda thing with quite a steep incline, there are bunch of russians running up it to get the victims above it ( DML's pzkpfw 38t, masterbox munition schlepper and tank crew) these are all at the front bit of the diorama and further to the back, there is a gang of germans in winter dress (DML's stalingrad inferno and ostfront combatants) these are all crowded round russian jeep/ lendlease willys jeep, that has had russian crew in it, this crew has been shot and killed, the jeep then crashed into a tree they fell out/ got dragged out, haven't decided yet (this is why i needed to know about the blood and all) about 20, 1/35, scale yards behind the jeep there is a thin wooden log with one of there helmets on it, these germans are seeing who is the best shot out all of them and who can hit.
And that about concludes my lecture on my diorama that i am creating.

Richard, i had a look at those hornet heads and it is very possible that i might get them to put on my dead figures.

anyway, thanks for all the input guys. cheers stan

Stanley,
I have only done one "killed " figure. The main thing to keep in mind for blood in a dio is "less looks best". Just my opinion mind you. These pictures are not the best, but maybe a darker color than I used would be best for depicting dried blood.

That's a great little dio! Thanks for sharing...