Hi, I have an idea for my first dio ever, a German command post in a Russian village and a group of Razvedchikis trying to capture a "tongue", since it's my first attempt Im not sure how to start and what to start with, I have already a russian log house and a machine gun half-shelter from bastion, for the soviet figures Im gonna use some figures from MB "whos that" and "crossroad", DML "black sea commando" and Zvezda "Sniper team WWII", so please I appreciate any suggestions ideas about Dio materials or German and Soviet figures to be used.

anyone?

Hi.

My thoughts and opnions more about first dioramas than specifically yours. I am concerned at the number of figures you have mooted - it takes a bit of planing and appreciation of balance to make so many figures 'work' together. I usually would reccomend no more than the number of figures required to crew the equipment displayed in the diorama. So if i offer any upfront advice it would be to be absolutely sure your layout will support so many figures - each one has to be adding to the scene - not distracting from the story.

Now I just deleted about 4 paragraphs of writing because it was probably very discouraging. And we should be more positive. My bad.

SO where to start ? mock ups. pieces of paper and cardboard which the layout is practiced on. use as many of the figures and vehicles and buildings as you can even if you have to tack them together or make cardboard replicas. play with angles and balance. look for voids where nothing is happening and how will they be filled? do all the figures interact and support the main story with their location? draw the plan on the cardboard layout for use later on. try different layouts that tell the same story moving things around - suddenly you might find a new story or way to show off the details. At this sttage take some pictures and show them to someone you trust to give you honest opinion. rather than tell them everything thats going to be going on - see if they can pick the story or the purpose of the layout. Design flaws at this stage are easy to fix instead of near the end when everythings gue down.

Thats a good place to start there so hope that gives some help. If want to know the proper good basics of diorama design and how to avoid the pitfalls - I suggest the book "how to build dioramas" by Shep Paine. has great basic rules to think about. Its a bit dated but the basics never change. For example did you know western people because they read from left to right will view a model or art from left to right - so your story may need to consider your audience and what elements they see first as their eyes move from the left to the right - and then how the details draw you around the board by following lines and back to the left for another try.

Good Luck

Adam.

Have you seen this set?
http://www.mbltd.info/3572.htm
Also you might want to watch this film -
http://www.lovefilm.com/film/The-Star/80082/
Good luck.

thank you Adam for your advices, I added the book to my wishlist. I know that hard work awaits me but Im sure that it will be fun.
thank you callmehobbes, I have the MB set but havent seen the movie before, seems very interesting, I find it on Amazon, I'll place an order very soon.

Good planning is important. A good dio,first of all,should tell a story.The other factors are figures,vehicles and groundwork but the most important is the story because without that,the dio becomes just a bunch of stuff standing around.
The best way to learn is just dive in. Learn from your mistakes and every dio will get better.
J