hey all, Im in the midst of building this base here, im not too sure on whats going on it, i did build it with an intention but ideas change ,
im thinking a scwimmwagen, but im not too sure yet.
does anyone see any ways of improving it thus far, i still need to finish detail painting almost everything, the yellow on the wall is supposed to be litchens.
please, leave any feedback no matter how small.






Lpj out.

Cool base! but how will you add the vehical, wont it look "light"?
My only advice is that you should add some flowers to lighten up the scene.
May I just ask how you replicated the lichen?

Regards,

Vladimir, good point on the lightness, if i use a scwimmwagen, i will be using the chunky tyres, and the road is dry dirt, so i'll, bulge out the tyres a little, a possible sand a very small amount on the base where the wheels will go.

the coloured litchen was Humbrol154 stippled on with a toothbrush, it looks a lot less stark under the weathering
more pics soon

James,
Overall a very nice base.
They only things I would say is that the grass looks a bit out of scale to me I know this is difficult to judge with out a figure or vehicle to see it against but it just seems big to me. Also the grass in the middle of the road seems to have been cut and laid out there as if it's drying not as if its growing.
I hope you don't take these points the wrong way I'm just trying to help.
Regards
David

I think it is a little to large too, although, admittedly i prefer the look of the larger static grass, i guess it is a preference thing. i'll hit up some shots to demonstrate the scale.
how would i improve the grass bank, more tall wildgrass? i was aiming for a well used trackway somewhere in europe. i had a bit of trouble getting the middle grass to stand, i laid down white glue, clumped on grass, let it sit, then turned it over and banged a bit to stand it more,
okay, here it is with some more oils brushed on, and pigments.
thoughts.?
also, do i stick with the tree, or put on something else in its place.
ignore the stain, i had laid down some white spirits and more washes on the wall and was rushing to get some pics in light.



Scale shots


and my workbench!


thanks for looking in!

James,
Now I have the figure and wheel to compare it doesn't look too big now it looks like long grass. I just thought the base was bigger than it is!
I thought the tree was fine, what would you put in its place?
As for getting the grass to stand up more have you tried brushing it with a toothbrush maybe?
Regards
David

possibly a stone, or i will try and re do the tree i was happy with the old one, just not happy enough!
im not wntirely sure just yet!

James,

Very nice so far. I liked the tree too. I think what may be giving you concern is it seems to have very little folage. Maybe add some more leaves.

As far as the grass standing up, a trick that I learned was to use a balloon. Just buy a cheap package of balloons and blow one up. Then rub it on your hair and hold it over the grass. The static created by your hair will cause the grass to stand.

Hope these comments help.

Dave

Dave, i have pushed the wires of the tree closer together, not adding foliage, but givving the inpression of denser foliage and it has Imo helped a lot!
i'm also in the act of adding ferns, mushrooms flowers and other woodland plants!
more pics today or tomorrow

Hey, i have taken some more pics,
please critique as you wish!

I see a feww things here :

You have a slight layout problem i think. If a car drivesalong your track (from right to left), the direction points in directly into the wall.
Take your grass in the middle of the road and turn it slightly around to make a curve and add some grass on the left side of the wall.
(if you don't do this, put at least bad herbs under this part of the wall)

There is a lot of grass on this little dio. How about taking away the grass under the tree. Mostly evergreens do not have grass around the roots. Do some other groundwork, perhaps a bush or only fallen needles, anything but grass.

Your wall also has a problem. The vertical joints are nearly invisble and there is no contrast between joints and wall, at least not enough.
Do you have yellow/brown pigments?
Try to run some alcohol around the joints and rub some pigments in them (or tilt your dio and powder the wall with it. Wait a few seconds and blow the rest away.

Hope this helps
Claude

Hey Claude, thenks for the critique, i have toaken these into consideration!
i removed a small amount of grass form under the tree, not too much though, but it is patchier, the curve i am too afraid to change, i also used the innard of a herbal teabag, as roughage, and put some of that and a few tufts along the wall base and i used an oil wash of a mortarish colour to break up the wall, i hope this looks okay to you when i upload the photos
thanks again!

Scene update.
i will be using a kubelwagen, and the evolution figure pouring water over his head in this scene. i have finaly decided.!!
there should be enough room!

lpj out

okay here we go, this looks 16000000x better in real life, but the boekn up grass by the tree needs more earthwork and tidying and overall touchups.
wall looks better in real life too!
better pics would help but its to dark outside.


also the ground detritus blends in better with the eyes!

I think that there needs to be some more "human" elements. Telephone poles would be a nice touch. As for a lone vehicle, I was thinking an SDKfZ 222. It was the perfect scout car of the Germans and still looks pretty cool nowadays. Some Germans could be changing a flat tire while an officer waits, possibly drinking. The 222 is not such a cliche as the Jeep and is pretty much underrated by most modelers and manufacturers. They could also be topping off the gas with a Jerry Can.

Rob, thanks for the input, i like the idea of a 222, but i think it will be a bit too large, and may overshadow other elements of the dio. i dont think the 222 is underrated by manufacturers, hobbyboss, icm, and bronco all releasing some in the last few years. i have built the hobbyboss kit and it was simply amazing.
the idea has evolved to a small car, kubel, staff, or other, with a grandfather clock ( scratch built last night)



and other various antiques or accoutrements in the back.
the driver has stopped for a drink whilst the passenger ( if there is one) will be asleep!

Okay, a little more progress!
i googled " paintings stolen by the nazi's" and found two paintings i liked, so they were integrated into the dio . as well as a rug, eventually, these items will be placed as stowage in the rear of the vehicle.

Does anyone know of a resin sleeping wehrmacht figure that would fit into a kubel?

Nice work so far James, the scene is definetly shaping up. The paintings look really good. Incidentally, I recently used some Fredericus Rex products to create groundwork similar to this and I was really impressed. You can get them here if you are interested:
http://www.skminiatures.co.uk/#/fredericus-rex/4532788244.

As for sleeping figures I seem to remember an article or a feature?? here a while ago about some US Paratroopers sneaking up on some German soldiers sleeping in a Kubelwagen (or maybe a Schwimmwagen?). I seem to remember the sleeping figures being released in resin but I could be mistaken. These ones from Tristar might also be suitable:
http://armorama.com/review/5802.

Good luck with the scene.

Hey James, looking at the road, Claude is right. Easy fix, add more grass along the base of your wall and remove some on the front left edge, like there is a slight curve in the road. You could also add some tall grass clumps here and there to break up the uniformity of it. Nice work so far, just a bit of tweeking needed. Like the clock, good job on it.

I still think my idea of a telegraph line of a few poles and wires might be good.

I found these guys advertised on the border of this site. They do a lot of obscure poses in 1/35th

http://www.tank-model.ru/

Hi again,

Nice clock, and great idea on the stolen goods. I have been planning a diorama with art theft involved.

Here are two links you can check out. I think the first one could work out, the second one might have his legs too spread out but you could do some minor modifications:
http://www.hlj.com/product/LEG3543

http://www.hlj.com/product/RYMRM294

If these aren’t good, or if you don’t find any figure in the right posse you could just swap out the heads with hornet “sleeping head’s set”:

http://www.hlj.com/product/HRN-HH09

Hope this helped,

Due to the size of the base, I would avoid adding any vehicles beyond a motorcycle. Maybe some troops on maneuvers or the 'things to do' set by Verlinden.

Karl! thanks for dropping by, the products do look the part, i use sk minatures a lot so i dont know how i missed those, ill send Steve an email and see how much they are. the tristar figures look ok, but they are wearing greatcoats, so if the driver had to stop to cool off it would look funny?!

Bob, i appreciate your comment!, i have started on correction of the curve, notice in my last micture a clump that was added, also i will remove some of the corner pice, ! thanks!

Rob, i had a good scour of the site there, it actually have me inspirado for my next dio! but i couldnt find anything suitable for this, i propped up some scale telephone pole sized rods on the dio as a test, but i think they look way to big, and wouldnt fith with the woodland nature, I appreciate you looking in!

Vladimir, i have been looking at those figures for the purpouse, as googling only turned those up, they are good, i think the legends one would be better suited, but i prefer the quality of the royal model one. would it be plausible for a SS to ride with a Wehrmacht? thanks for you help!

Matt, i did some measurements and a kubel should fit, with legroom, i did have the idea of bikes in the pot before i chose the kubel, i also dont have the painting skills to pull off a figure only diorama! thanks for looking in