Gidday folks, (lol)

I have been very very sick this week and still am suffering from the effects of a virus (something akin to malaria! - Ross river virus) a mosquitoe born viral infection that causes fever and chills alternatively, and aches and pains with lack of energy. I only say this because it has destroyed this weeks plans of model building completely. I have been able to tinker at the edges so to speak and this morning is first morning I been able to sort of do anything value adding to the project.

So heres some updates.

The MIG productions street lamps have always in my opinion been too short, so I added an extra length to extend them by over 30%. Now the lights are at least above building level.



Another thing I have been slowly working on is painting the street again. this is very very difficult to get the colours right as asphalt is charcoal grey but the streets are saturated with dust that is anything from light grey to sand, and there is building dust included, and have to remember shadows and preshading for effects. either way its a work in progress. I also started putting the gutter rubble in the street as that cant be painted afterwards. some painting to go but this is where I am at.





None of the buildings are glued down yet. so cant put rubble up against the walls yet - but that's ok because wall rubble will be a slightly different colour anyways ( building colour not street color.)

I need to build the wood frame this weekend. I am not a carpenter so might prey to JC for some insight.

Now.

some GOOD NEWS

I have been using alot of accesories on this build. ALot. some have been crap. some have just been amazing. Here is a very quick review of some of the most brilliant things I have used yet.

MONROE PERDUE STUDIOS
these guys are my second favourite all time resin aftermarket producers, and my top diorama accesory aftermarket producers. They only have a medium small range, and only a few things suitable for me to use, but everything I bought, when I got it, I immeadiately ordered a second set!

The prices are very sensible. Postage is just outrageously cheap! I got charged 50 cents postage for a bag of resin parts and printed sheet from America to Australia air mail! I have seen ebay sellers trying to charge me almost $50 us dollars for the same thing.

The castings are extraordinarily clean with no apparent inclusions, no apparent bubbles, no apparent flash, no apparent warping, no apparent casting block! that last bit always impresses me when the manufacturer has taken the time to design the casting to be sans block or so small that sandpaper removes it and no need for razor saw.

Heres what I bought
North African street scene accesories. I have two sets so there are double wicker baskets show, you only get 3 baskets, 4 pots and the square brick thingy. The pots are fantastic because they have that middle eastern shape and are small. they are smaller than the Verlinden ones , much smaller which is good. had I known of these before I did the shop, I would of exclusively used them instead of the western jars. The square wicker baskets are also a perfect acceseory for this dio.


woven mats/ carpets
another fabulous street accesory. I have again pictured two sets, the first set I got I have started to paint, the second set is still raw, but i have not touched so you can see there is no casting block to remove! under one of my buildings these will line a wall... perfectly cast.


Moroccan street signage
it has arabic writing on it so I bought it. I am trying to collect every single printed thing like this. but this was a surprise. It is printed on a piece of gloss photo film and is exquisite. printed at the highest resolution it is virtually photo quality and certainly as far removed from laser printer/ scanned rubbish I have bought from others in the past. Oh yeah the best bit. It costs $2. Some other manufacturers should wake up to the smaller guys who are embarassing them.


Also I bought a beach umbrella, but it will be unsuitable for my dio. But once again this paper and card construction looks fantastic. and several of these would make a great market street scene work well. downside is when viweing from above it blocks the view and I want people to see so will forgoe the reality of an umbrella...


i highly reccomment buying products from Monroe Perdue studios if everything is as good as this.

PRO ART STUDIOS

I am not going to go on too much about this pro company. Just to say I got my very first set from them and am very please. perfect quality. no bubbles, no warping, small casting blocks etc. downside I think they are pricey, but I guess I will always pay for quality. I bought the modern canisters and drum set. here it is on my porcupine being painted. highly reccommend this purchse.



Now a bit of a technical update to the blog.

heres a very quick technique i tested while painting the pro art containers. the yellow 20 litre plastic drums i painted with tamiya "yellow" acrylic and boy did they look plastic. they are supposed to be and if you have seen these in real before they are quite translucent. SO i decided to test that translucent appearance by preshading.

First i will only do the two at the ends ( I paint most stuff on the sprue like this so it all gets the same treatment) the key below explains the picture
A - the 5 tubs in their natural yellow. I have added a brown wash but its not really visible on the sides.
B - masked off the middle three, and then masked off the liquid level inside the end two, at different heights.
C - sprayed the drums black acrylic
D - removed the masking of the end two so you can see the black preshade level where the liquid inside might be
E - respray the base yellow over the top again - you can see a dark line there now
F - bad pic due to light in the background, but all tape removed shows the end two have a slightly more realistic appearance and a little more added detail.

What would look good if one was painted at an angle and the drum sitting tipped so the water line was horizontal..

Anwyas some updates for until later

I am supposed to be figure painting this week and havent started - just been filling gaps and removing seems...

Adamskii

The water shade inside the cannisters is simply amazing!
Great job Adam and wonderful explanation.

Moreno

Excellent work, your painting method for those drums is amazing.

Adam -

You may have answered this before - once you are finished - will this diorama go into a museum ?? Your work is museum quality and I cannot wait to see the final product.

You mentioned a blog - have you thought about a publisher and making the construction of this remarkable diorama into a book?

Here's one -

Ampersand Publication -
Contact information
Phone: (561) 266-9686
Fax: (561) 266-9786
Email: [email protected] / Jeff Kleinhenz (sales)

Address: Ampersand Publishing Co., Inc. / 21 SW 1st Avenue / Delray Beach, FL 33444

These guys publish MMiR and put out some outstanding books on the Tiger, Sherman and many other AFV's.

Or maybe??

Kalmbach Publishing Co.
21027 Crossroads Circle
P.O. Box 1612
Waukesha, WI 53187-1612

Just a thought -

Hi Adam.
I think Frank has a great idea.
I wish I had the that option.People are going to making dios of this war for years to come.It would be nice to actually have a book on your build instead of going back page after page on a PC.Plus you could make some cash.I would get one in a second.

Tom

looks like a great idea put me one the list to if this comes out
henk

Adam, sorry to hear you were sick. That doesn't sound like a good time. Hope that wasn't what your little one had too.
Some excellent info and progress, every time I visit your thread I learn something. The airbrushing of the yellow cans is just one of those why didn't I think of that. I think your idea about doing one on an angle is really good, may I also suggest one laying on its side and perhaps make it look like it spilled right to the fill hole??
Do you think that sqaure block thing could be a base for well? I love those wicker baskets and I almost expect a cobra to come out of one of them.
If you get a minute could you look at my thread again as I had a few follow up questions, thanks for all the help already, Pat

This is me in the middle of the night when I was sick and unable to sleep. Making too much noise inside waking everyone else up so had to go to the games room and basically I "played" with my tanks .. LMAO!

maybe someone will get a kick out of these pics. Of course I could plant these two tanks there right now and call it a finished diorama.......

anyways, heres some of me being bored and unable to sleep.

enjoy this lighthearted distraction.












If you cant tell Im bit bored now (waiting for paint to dry )

Adamskii

Adam, wow those pictures look like you are just right in the action in this street while a tank is pointing on you... Just amazing! Keep playing and all the best for a quick recovery!

If only we could hire a tank and go for a cruise down rundell street.... lol

adam is the reason i got back into modeling about a year ago i mentioned i was interested in getting back into it... A few months later i entered my first completed humvee in a comp (missed out on third place by 1 point). The challenger in the above pics was quite the show stopper...

I'll see ya on tuesday Adam

p's i'll bring my camera

I love what you have done with the canisters, brilliant!! The diorama looks great until now and I am sure the finished piece will be awe-inspiring!

Regards,

Really getting worried now. Lost another planned day of construction. This time turned out was sicker than I wanted to believe and spent a day in hospital being rehydrated. tick tock tick tock, The sword of Damoclease hangs over this build if I am to have it ready for June.

That said I took a stack of painkillers and hit the hardware shop and my makeshift workshop (very much against doctors orders). I finally got the base built.

The theory behind the base is I like a big thick base thats is made of laminated MDF so it is unlikely to warp. I have seen plywood, chipboard, especially pine, and redwood warp over several years of display. Warping on such a large diorama is lethal so it is one of my prime concerns in ensuring longevity. Mdf will warp and hold shape, but only when placed under a bending stress (like a shelf with heavy books ). I have not seen it warp upwards. Also mdf is reasonably inexpensive and easy to work with. Just to be sure though I like a solid thick base. Also I believe a diorama of such magnitude deserves a good frame.

The top two layers are of 12 mm mdf, upon which the street and building layers are added (approx 10 - 15 mm extra). The bottom two layers of mdf are 16 mm. The total overall height of the base therefore is 65 - 70 mm. I have used this design on 4 previous dioramas and it seems to be a visual success. downside is it gets very very heavy. My bridge diorama was so heavy from the base that while 1 person can barely carry it, it really needs 2. So this time around I figured I make some improvements to weight reduction while maintaining strength.

So the top layers are already built, (the street is made on them), so the bottom 2 will be like a cradle. I will build it up and around the street. This is important to do now before the buildings are glued down as the street will be held at precarious angles while test fitting etc. This bit of the blog is about the bottom 2 or the cradle.

All the materials I need, two large 16mm boards, some 60mm board, some molding for decoration.

Firstly I cut the two 16mm boards to the same footprint as the diorama top boards. Then i draw roughly some shadowlines where I want to cut out some wood to lighten the sheet.

the cut sheet with the ribs remaining.

do it a second time with other board, and glue/ nail together

first test fit of the laminate


start wrapping the sides

remove top street layers to prevent damage

buildthe box up 1 piece at a time each of the side boards are mitre cut at the corners I hate mitre cuts. The only advice i will offer is always buy spare timber for when ya stuff it up


the cradle/ box finished

second test fit


add some moulding to the box for decoration and a more profesional appearance.


fitting the last piece. all these were mitre cut too.

and a good test fit.




There is still a "gap" from the top of the side boards to the top of the road etc, but thats by design as the road level changes in height. I will use a different technique to flash off that variable ridge. I was unable to stain the timber tonight as some of the wood putty used to fill in the tiny bullet head nails was stil drying. also where some of the mitre joins were not perfect there was some putty used sparingly. It doesnt matter because the top layers lift out of the box/ cradle and I can therefor now glue the buildings down and get on with the street as a whole rather than individual buildings.

Thats this weekends update.

Definitely lots more to catch up on this week.

Adam

This is a golden age for dioramas. This looks brilliant and I echo the call for this to be put into a book so I can sit and enjoy it away from the PC.

looking great Adam and sorry to hear you were so sick. my nurse says "Bedrest and CoD Black Ops" gets me feeling better everytime... two prestiges and call me in the morning sort of deal. get well quick. cheers, bd.

Adam;
In your second career you can teach online classes to the rest of us. OMG.

Another day off from work due to illness. cant shake this.

I did manage to do a few minor things over last few days, so thought would drop a midweek update. Illness or not.

been working on the scaffold and truck. scaffold has been totally bamboozled as to how to paint it and have it look real. its going to require texture, spilt concrete/ render on the joins etc, plus rust, plus worn off rust, plus wear and tear - and its fragile. still working out that one. built the ladder though.

the truck's load. Even though I have enough stores to fill 3 trucks (at least), I think a less is more approach will be better with this one. Im guessing that the contractors might not necesarilly be fully stocked with everything they need plus spares. In a war torn country, hardware might be hard to come by.

So just did a basic load. I tried my hardest to tie a truckies hitch but be dammed if I could get the rope to sit right so just tied a simple hitch.


The plaster/ render bags. The guys have to get the plaster from somewhereso I suppose a load on the truck is appropriate. And a few on the ground. The problem is that they are small, usually only 10kg bags, so much smaller than a sandbag. But also as there are so many of them, hand painting all the graphics is something I dont have the time for. That would be a chalenge to be consistent for sure!. So I made my own decals with the new inkjet printer. the bags are made from two part epoxy putty, slow cure type I got from a figure modeller.



A- the inkjet papers package
B-the designs tested at the scale they were drawn at, on normal white paper
C-the design is shrunk to the same size as the bags (5mm wide, 8mm long), and test printed on normal white paper
D-the decals printed on the decal film (trimmed from the A4 sheet)

Close up of the decals (some bags are larger as they are 15 kg bages)


needless to say this was an exercise in frustration. Big tip, apply decal softeing solution AFTER all the decals are added.. so your fingers dont smudge them as you apply the others...

Anyways while the decal setting solutions dry overnight, heres some test shots. bags need dusting down, and also spilt powder in the floor of the truck.






that was the easy bit - now have to make empty bags..

Adam

Adam
I'm usually not a big fan of large diorama with plenty of vehicles and figures but ... you're doing a masterpiece!
The work you did on all the details of the dioama is incredible , nicely done and rarely seen.
I hopes that AFV modeller or other magazine will put this masterpiece on paper for eternity.

Thanks for sharing it!
Stéphane

Awesomeness!

Adam, you are the MASTER!

Your plaster bags are lokking soooooreal! Welldone, congratulations.

Utterly amazing thread

I'm oficially 'into dioramas'.

Adam, I think you and "Angry Dog" should team up on some diaorama accesories. He is hoping to start a "garage" business and is doing some great work, with your added elements I think you guys just might have a winner. Cheers.

Yo Adam,

I'am not posting very mutch here...but still, I follow your work!

Keep up, splendid work!

Greetz Nico

-------- just speechles great job
henk

Hi Adam,

Just an amazing piece.
Please consider the book.
As for MONROE PERDUE STUDIOS,did you just get lucky on the shipping?I tried ordering yesterday and for a $36 order they wanted $21 for shipping to Canada.
There's no way i'll ever pay 2 thirds of my order in shipping.

Tom

hi Tom, Sorry to hear your experience is not as pleasant as mine was. All i can say is I paid 50cents postage for a small envelope sized padded bag with several small resin kits in it. I was truely pleased (still am). i cannot comment much on your postage quote other than to speculate it was either bulky, heavy or awkward to post ? I didnt notice a handling fee at all, you could always ewmail them and ask if the postage is actual shipping charge or has other built in costs like packaging etc. Also could ask if there is cheaper alternative postage - the quote might be express or first class priority or something.

In general I do not understand postage withing the USA. I have no idea how they justify their postage charges in general. I want to buy the verlinden middle east ruin on ebay, for around 12 - 15$ us . THE POSTAGE IS A WHOPPING $35 on top of that, and some place without hesitation by default will charge over $50!. Its like they put absurd prices on postage so they dont have to deal with overseas purchasers or something. I tried to buy a tamiya stockyard set of animals - postage for that tiny lightweight box varied wildly from $12 to over $50! thats right $50 for that box. Like I said I do not understand postage from the USA.

So I empathise with you in your annoyance at a quote that is more than that of the actual item. Live in Australia where everything pretty much has to be imported and I can tell you I have spent more on postage for all my accesories than the items themselves. At least our dollar is stronger than the greenback at the moment so it takes the sting out a little.

Adam