Hello everyone..

Wanted to share with you my new project, based on the German retreat from Eastern Europe in early 1945. The scene isn't really based on anywhere exactly, it's just meant to portray the despondency & despair of the men making their way back across eastern Europe, and hopefully, eventually, home.
The base for the diorama was an old one I'd broken up, and started again, hence the road still in the middle. Did the groundwork in 3 stages, to allow for work on each section whilst the plaster was still wet.





First job was to put some plastic card around the outside to tidy it all up. Next I built a small bank on the bottom right using 'Florists Oasis', which is light, easy to cut & can hold shrubs & trees pushed into it. The small piece of pipe form a DIY store was for a water outlet. The whole section was covered in coloured plaster, then sprinkled with sand, small stones, static grass & scatter. The skeleton from Verlinden was carfully embedded in so he looked naturally laying on the ground, but with all his detail still showing.









The roots & shrubs were a mixture of a root from a dead tree in the garden & a bush growing nearby. Once the groundwork is completed, the whole base will be airbrushed so it's all a uniform dark brown colour.









Once the first section was complete & dry, the road section was started. I wanted a natural line of grass running down the middle which tyres/tracks of vehicles would naturally run either side of. Imprinted some track patterns into the soft plaster as well as afew wheel runs. Wanted to leave the puddles as they were on the original dio.







The statue on the top is from 'Plus Models', it was included to give quite an eerie sight to the retreating wounded troops as they trudged along the road. I pushed some more roots into the bank, as well as the piece of natural rock. Embedded the statue into the plaster & added the usual various bits. Obvioulsy the top part wouldn't normally be accessible to anyone, so it's going to look more overgrown than it is. I've afew small bushes to add yet. Want to try using some 'rubberised horsehair' too, but have yet to find a local supplier, may try contacting upholsterers who use it apparently......











Well that's most of the groundwork sorted. Altogether there's 24 figures going here, as well as a Stug 3 & a Kubelwagon. Many of the figures are near completion already but there's still afew to get hold of. The story will avolve around the road being blocked by a refugee's upturned cart, & the Stug commander being non too pleased...... Figures included will be from 'Dragon, Tank & Verlinden', with the refugees from 'Preiser'. Hornet heads will be replacing most of the 'Dragon' ones, to portray a shattered & beaten army.

Any comments, critiques, suggestions as always welcome, will post more pics as I progress. Thanks for looking!!

SIMON.

This looks good and i am eager to see all this figures and cars stuffed into this space!

Cheers
Claude

Hey Simon
I too am eager to see the placement of subjects upon the diorama.
I like the salvaging of the original base components and think you have tied in the three levels well...
Brad

Hello again...,

Just a quick update from the weekend. Airbrushed now the whole base a dark brown base colour to bring everything together before the detailing really starts. There's still some trees, shrubs, long grass, leaves, etc... to add to bring it some colour, as well of course the usual dry brushing, pigments etc... There'll be the small stream running along from the pipe too.











Thanks Claude & Brad for the feedback. The road is quite wide, so will allow for a reasonable amount of traffic, be it human or vehicles. I'll use the lower section too for some figures, the idea being a steady retreat, particularly by the wounded.....

Cheers for now,
SIMON

Yo Simon,

You going fast my friend! But its nice stuff you showing here. Keep up...good luck on all those figures

Greetz Nico

Well Hello everyone.........
It's been afew months since I actually posted, or indeed continued working on this one, abit of a 'modelling break'. Mustered up the motivation needed to continue with it recently, so here's the latest photo's.
Broke the base down into 3 parts, top, middle & bottom sections, the top part is as good as finished really with the hedge, bushes & statue. Working on the road now, added some more grit & grass, ready to airbrush a lighter buff / khaki colour. The bottom part will have the well trodden path running along, with tall grass growing either side to add more variation. The stream will be painted & dusted with pigments, & filled with water.







The graves were simple enough, just afew mounds of milliput painted & dusted with pigments. The thought behind them was to try & add to the despair & hopelessness of it all, most of the figures will be walking wounded mixed in with fleeing civilians. Will also have a couple of telegraph poles running from behind the graves, across the road, to the undergrowth in the right hand corner.





The 2 vehicles to be added to the scene are almost completed, most of the figures too, althogh there's still afew to purchase.
The hedge on top is simply small twigs glued in a criss cross fashion, with 'ruberised horsehair' carefully stuck down onto them. The horsehair is very fine, but very bulky, so the hedge needed trimming & the loose bits picked up afterwards. Finally fine chopped dry leaves were sprinkled over & airbrushed.





Roots from a small shrub & stones were glued into the bank to add to the effect. The green bush was a lettuce root, dried out & topped with wire wool. Dried herbs were stuck on with hairspray & the whole thing airbrushed.



Working on the road now, then the long grass in the front. Still have afew small plants to add along the stream, then the water.
Any comments or ideas will still be much appreciated,
Cheers for now....

SIMON.

Simon -

Your dio is extremely well designed and crafted. It tells the story so well, I am finding it a bit depressing even though it is not yet finished. In my view, the three graves beside a muddy road tell the story well. I'm not sure you need to add anything else....although I'm sure you have planned much more to add on.

Semper Fi,
Dave

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!! I've just finished airbrushing the road now, & have just started on the long grass at the front.
Hopefully once that's all airbrushed too & some more plants 'planted' I can begin to start adding the figures.

Thanks again...,
SIMON.

Looks interesting! Will be watching till the finish, I particularly like the graves.

Regards,

Hello everyone

Well, progress is slow but steady..... Since the last update I've finished spraying the road & finished with oil paint washes. The long grass in the foreground has been added, the skeleton painted & weathered & the abadonned kubelwagon with debris included.
The Stug & the upturned cart on the road aren't permanently stuck down yet. The Stug still needs finishing alittle, but there just there to give an idea to how the final scene will look. The commander of the AFV will be yelling at some poor woman who's cart has turned, spilling the contents across the road & blocking the way. All the other figures will be a mixture of civillians & wounded retreating Germans. The centre of the dio will take centre stage to the woman & her cart, with everyone else around looking on......









The debris from the Kubelwagon is a mix of empty boxes & containers. I made some mini 'Signal' magazines on the computer to try & achieve a messy disorderly retreat. They perhaps still look alittle 'white', but nothing afew pigments can't tone down. Most of the groundworks been done now, however i've still to add the water for the stream & puddles, fallen leaves along the edge of the road & generally a dusting of pigments.
The one thing I would do differently in hindsight is perhaps curve the road on the left more to the front, so that the stream, grass & path along the front aren't so parallel with the road, they all run too straight if you can see what I mean....






Here's a couple of shots of the accompanying cast. Unless the figures were 'Verlinden' or from 'Tank', I used 'Hornet' heads. The civilians from 'Preiser' I think already had there heads attached to the bodies, so were used as they were. The heads I always paint seperately & attach to the bodies when finished, I find that much easier. The bodies themselves still need detailing abit more before they join the scene. The Panzerschreck cart below is from 'Dragon', & will be towed along by a horse. Had afew problems with 'wobbly wheels'........ to be addressed.





Thanks everyone for looking & reading. As usual all comments, critiques & ideas much appreciated!!!!
Hope to update again in the comming weeks, cheers for now,

SIMON.

coming along nicely!
i am curious about what this will look like when your done!

cheers!

Simon, looking real good. Will the Stug be towing that other wagon or will there be a 3rd vehicle? Looking forward to seeing this completed

COOL!!!

Good work Simon!

You may give the rock behind the graves some additional washes and highlights. It's a bit monotone now.

Well done

Claude

This looks like its going to be really cool when done! The only suggestion I would make is that on your figures, the blood is probably way too red unless its fresh, fresh as in the guys just got wounded right around the corner from where they came! Even after a few minutes, blood begins to change to a much darker color and it should maybe include some brown and yellow seepage on the bandages to give a 'wound dressing over time' appearance. Excellent work though and I love the skeleton

Steve

Hello again,
Firstly can I just thank everyone for the positive feedback..... It's appreciated guys!!

Sal - by 'that other wagon', I presume you mean the carts with the panzershreks?? They're going to be pulled along by a horse, part of the Dragon kit. There won't be any other vehicles included....

Claude - you're right about that small rockface, it's on the 'to do list'. It's just a regular thin piece of rock which I painted to break up the bank, but it does need some highlighting. Thanks.

Steve - you're spot on about the blood & bandages. Looking at the photo it's even more evident. I purposely set out to avoid the fresh blood look, but need to go over that again. I tried to make the patches more burgundy/ red brown, had planned to add a touch of dusty pigments to the bandages to dirty them up abit & tone down that red.......!!!! I especially like the idea too of the yellow brown stains, just to add a different colour to the bandage. Thanks for the input.

Hi, A Great Idea and a VERY VERY COOL DIO, Cannot wait to see the end result.. milvehfan

Wonderful work Simon, its quite funny because when I read the background story and saw the initial work without the Stug I had no doubt that the movement would be from left to right - kinda "uphill" - instead you show it the other way around ... Im not sure I think thats the right way - its something with slugging upwards is harder than strolling downwards ...

But again - splendid work !

Cheers/Jan

One of the best diorama bases I've seen. And, I always thought the Germans were retreating in the winter.

Hi again,

Thanks for the last couple of comments guys, nice to hear....... Jan, I didn't consider the idea of running the scene from left to right for the fact that the figures would then be walking away form the viewer, with their backs to the front of the dio. If they're walkiing towards you it's more interesting??

Here's afew update photo's as it's comming along. I've done the cart now with the strewn baggage, the 3 'misfortunate' civilians & a couple of the infantrymen.





The 3 civilians from 'Preiser' originally had the woman pulling the cart along with her arms behind her, with the 2 children pushing form behind. But to give the scene more of a story, I've swung her arms round to the front so she's now trying to pull the cart upright. The suitcases are scratchbuilt form plastic card, the clothing painted tissue paper.





The 2 infantrymen are from 'Dragon', part of the horse/cart/Panzerschreck set. They both have 'Hornet' heads to capture the mood I was after. The horse was painted in oils, as was the rock at the back, after an initial coat of buff paint.
Next to add now are the rest of the characters, as well of course as the Stug with it's new crew whom I still have to get yet.



Thanks as always for looking, cheers for now....
SIMON.

Simon-- outstanding work! The figures are great.....marvelous job
DJ

Hey guys,
Well back again (eventually) after an on/off few months to getting this completed. Well it's now about 95% complete..., just afew final touches to finish. All the figures are now added, the stug & crew have been done, more grass & pigments have been put down, along with the dead leaves.













The 2 stug crew were from 'Tank', the first time I've used they're guys. The detail in them were pretty good, needed alittle filler here & there, but looked the part. Abit pricey compared to some other figures available from Dragon, Miniart etc etc..., but I guess if they suit the scene you're after, then the extra money's worth it....









Pretty pleased with how the whole things finally come together finally. All that needs to go on now are some 'plus models' individual leaves, the water in the stream & the puddles on the road, the 2 telegraph poles which will add alitlle more fluidity to the scene. The edging around the side needs to be painted & the lower part of the kubelwagon needs dirtying up some.





Thanks as always for looking, obviously there's not alot of scope to change many things now, but would appreciate any advice or ideas to 'tweak' anything. Will try to get everything done & dusted within the next few weeks...... then on to the next project

Cheers for now,
SIMON.

The German uniforms don't match the sturmgeschultz or the base. It obviously is not winter. Just my 2 cents.

Brilliant concept and well executed mate! There are so many cool details that I can't list them all. You have really captured the mood of dispair though. The graves and the dead guy add to the tone. I actually saw the photo that Verlindon used to model the dead guy. He was in a drained ditch in Holland.
I love how you remembered the paper stuff and other flotsom of war and the guy taking a dump behind the bushes.
Have you sen the set of wounded guys from MB? Or the prisoners? Just sayin'
Cool dio,
J

i guess if your cold and supply is long gone you wear what you can.
overall nice dio Simon, i loved seeing it come together!