Hi guys

Here is my latest offering......Welcome Cherries depicting an arrival of some new blood at a firebase. The M35 truck is AFV Club's, and the perimeter defence M42 Duster is from Tamiya. The figures and accessories are from various manufacturers, while the sandbags, gates and lookout post are scratched from putty, balsa wood and styrene sheet. Enjoy

The vehicles look gray and the figures look green. Who opened the gate for the truck? Why do you have a barricade perpendicular to the gate? A nice look dio otherwise.

Hi Muhammad,

Just a few heads up!:
The uniforms are a little bit too green. Is the sand bag bunker empty? And why would there be a sign post showing directions to cities (locations on the base would be more appropriate).

A great diorama over all, making those sand bags must have taken a lot of time and effort.
Where exactly did you get the figures from?

Matt, I think the man that lifted the barrier would have opened the gate and moved the barricade to the side.

Regards,

Hi M,

I agree with Vladimir that the uniforms are a bit bright. But other than that I like it very much. Nice composition and carries through the story for me anyhow.

Matt, after seeing how US gates are manned in Iraq and Afghanistan it is not hard to believe that during the day the gates are open and the boom gate and barricade is manned by a piquet, most likely operating out of the bunker and tower. A bit like a normal guard duty. At night the gate would be secured.
The figure next to the gate is holding the rope to pull down the boom. So as Vladimir said, he most likely moved the wire barracade.

Vladimir, I think the cities sign is a bit of a moral thing. Located next to the gate to crush the moral of those coming in and lifting those who are going home. All the sign posts for locations around the base that I have seen have always been located in front of the CP. That's the first place people report so would be the most logical spot to place it.

Just how I interpreted the scene anyway.

Thanks for sharing and it is always good to see SEA scenes done ncely.

Cheers, John

Hi guys

Thanks for the feedback. I have to admit that more wash is needed on the uniforms (to be done soon .

Matt.... as pointed out by Vladimir and John the guy manning the barrier is normally the one that opeartes the gates and the barricade

Vladimir.... I used 5 boxes of Milliput putty and it took over a week to construct the bunkers. The figures are mainly modified from Verlinden, Hobby fan, Tamiya and Dragon

John..... you are spot on with the comments

Wow. I stumbled across this a while ago: http://armorama.com/forums/60505&page=1

It might save some time at least, create half the bags this way and half with milliput?

Lookin' good though!

i like the colouring of the groundwork and the build/paintwork of the vehicles look very nice. though i am not one for symmetrical compositions, your diorama's balance helps convey the feeling the truck is funneling through the gates.

if there are questions about the barrier being moved aside i would suggest perhaps adding "drag marks" in the dirt so that the image that it has been moved is better told.

kudos to all the hours put into the sandbags, it makes for a one-of-a-kind display. one point i have a concern with is the bar gate is not lifted out of the way of the truck, the 50 cal. and gunner look like they won't get under the bar. thanks for sharing this one. cheers, bd.

I like the bunker. I have one that I did, similar to yours. On mine the ladder is on the inside of the bunker. I was wondering if I should mix green sandbags with the tan burlap ones and seems that they look good mixed in yours. I will probably do the same. I used milliput for the overhead cover sand bags but they did not come out as good as yours. Will re-do some of them. After being in the Seabees for 22 years of defensive combat training, I would say that the 40 mm gun is poorly deployed as it has no unobstructed field of fire to the right of the guns. Don't get me wrong......I do like this dio . Very nice dio..............Al

Jared.....thanks for the link. The majority of the sandbags are only half done, and were packed out with 5mm foamboard. Only the ones exposed to view are fully constructed.

Bruce...thanks for pointing out about the checkpoint. I didn't even think about it before

Al.... I used Miliput white putty, which I think have a better finish compare to the other types. They were purchased on Ebay (bulk buy)....which worked out at half the price you pay in the shops. They were primed, hand painted in dark green and light khaki before being drybrushed, and dusted by airbrush

Once again thanks for the feedback guys

I like this one very much; not your typical Vietnam diorama. I agree with some of the critique, you might also consider adding a name to this firebase (on top of the gate) and maybe some more litter scattered around. Great job on the sandbags!!

Best regards
Mark

great job. very creative

Mark and Blab....... - thanks for the comments

hi
is the sign post with all the cities labled is that from platoon because i was waching the film a few days ago and it reminded me of this diorama because there is also a sign post like that one that has all the city names on it. But overall it is a great diorama.