I thought I would post these pictures of the finished M4A1 Dio that i built . My last posting on this was when I completed the model. At that time I said I had an idea for a DIO, but I have not posted on it since. My apologies.

For those that did not see the thread on the build and are interested or for those that have just forgotten and wish to review, here is the link.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/157564#1321875

As always, your comments and or questions are welcome.

















It was a fun project and there were many firsts and new techniques for me (this is actually only my second DIO ever attempted). My first try at using water (stream) in a DIO. My first attempt to make trees from scratch. My first attempt to recreate pine needle layers. So I had fun and learned alot.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Dave

Fantastic! The Ranger M3 75mm half-tracks were inherited by the First Special Service Force at Anzio.

Once again great work, Dave. Where are the figures from?

Cheers!
Stefan

PS: What's next? Another halftrack?

Hi Dave,

I love it!
I love the ground work, especially under the trees; those pine needles are great (how did you make them?). The half-track is also very well done (just one thing, the fence seems out of place).

Regards,

This one is a true beauty! To bad you didn't show us how you did the tree's and groundwork.

Beautiful diorama. If you have in progress pictures please share them.

Thanks for showing this great piece of work.

Hey Dave, Just fantastic. You have a dio to be very happy with. It comes together nicely and I must say your ground work came out real nice very realistic. The fallen tree up front is outstanding, perfict fit. Also your mortar containers resting at odd angles (instead of flat) is a good observation on your part. Too many push them down flat, but yours are great. 10 out of 10 in my opinion. Congradulations on this build, hope to see your next piece soon.

First let me thank all of you for your comments. Now to the questions....

Stefan - The figures are composits. Heads from one place, arms else where, etc. Nobody makes a mortar crew that would fit in the halftrack. The crewman getting ready to drop the round had extensive reworking done to the arms. And as for my next project, I am not sure, but I think this time it will be simple..LOL

Vladimir - The fence was a lst minute addition. That corner needed something to balance the Dio. I thought about bushes, etc., but they didn't look right. So since it is kind of a pasture scene, I just added the fence.

Johan - The ground work is pink foam insulation roughly shapped and then covered with Shay Clay. The trees are balsa wood that I roughly shaped and then textures with an old hack saw blade. The limbs are "Caspia," a dried flower from the craft shop.

I don't have a lot of in progress pictures, but here are the one I do have.









Bob - I almost did flatten the canisters, but then though about how empty cardboard tubes would lay in tall grass...LOL

Thanks again for the comments and encouragement.

Dave

Almost forgot...The pine neddles are Coconut Fiber that I spent about two hours one Sunday afternoon cutting into very small pieces. I got the idea for them from Osprey's Terrain Modelling book. Hope I got everyone's questions.

Dave