Hi guys..new thread for a new diorama...I'm putting the Vietnam dio on hold and going for a bigger more ambitious diorama...it's called red tide...it will be set in eastern European town...there will be snow,some German grenadiers,a king tiger or jagdpanther and a schwimmagen with blackdog resin kit....the Russians will have a JSU-152 and slot of troops...there will be a house with a garden then either two factory buildings or one warehouse and a park....the kits used will be the dragon 3 in 1 JSU-152,zvedza Russian sniper,tamiya Russian army assault troops,dragon winter wiking grenadiers,tamiya king tiger or jagdpanther,tamiya schwimmagen and blackdog resin kit and VLS winter panzerjagers
Any suggestions welcome

P.S sorry the title is wrong I do mean red tide,especially sorry to Bruce as I don't want my poor dio mixed up with your incredible dio!

It will be set at a small ambush in a krakow suburb dpduring the Vistula-Oder offensive...also the schwimmagen is being replaced with a kettenkrad
Any suggestions welcome and a layout plan will be uploaded as soon as I can figure how to do it

Lots of dead fish. Just kidding . Around here red tide is a fish killing algae. You probably don't have that in UK...............Al

Sounds a bit crowded, but the vehicles could be in close proximity if one side or the other's equipment is knocked out. Dioramas with tanks shooting at each other from inches away always look a bit odd (real engagements were usually from hundreds of meters away). The Schwimmwagen could certainly work, as these were used as liaison vehicles in Tiger battalions (people tend to focus on the amphibious capability, forgetting that unlike the Kubelwagen, the Schwimmwagen was a four-wheel drive vehicle).

Err maybe the schwimmagen will make a come back and also I may make the tiger having a track replaced,the troops are providing cover for it when the JSU-152 makes an entrance Also I am thinking of adding a bit of sewer which was hit by heavy shell fire and is open...then there could be some troops in the makeshift trench and extend it into a cellar underneath one of the buildings...just a suggestion although making that may be a little tricky

No offense meant by this, but you are making common beginner mistakes with dioramas. You are going for way over complicated, huge dioramas that are hard to pull off and have too many things happening at once. Again (as in your Vietnam dio idea), it would be better to break this up into a few smaller dioramas that are more focused and can be easily understood.

No offense taken but I wouldn't say I'm a beginner as I have done 3 or 4 large dioramas...just saying

Just because you have done a few big dios doesn't mean they were successful. I have seen many huge dios done by so-called "masters" that were just a large collection of smaller, unconnected scenes that didn't tell a story and didn't work either. I have seen very few large dios that have turned out well. Do you have some pics of the dios you have already done?

hi there, will this diorama be 1/72nd scale? by the sounds of it it needs to be! A 1:35 diorama with all that on it would be around 3 feet x 18 inches? at least ?

As my general manager says - think big, act bold!

Pity you abandoned the viet dio for now. or as we say "parked it for the time being".

I kind of agree with Gino, takes alot of forethought and planning to execute something of this scale. Before I begin a big dio I usually have been planning it for years in my mind so I have some confidence when I start. Even then once you start building it may become apparent there are design issues. It would be great to see some sketches of your plan and a word picture of of the story. perhaps that may allay the fears of some of the critics to see how much planning you have done.

best of luck and if you need advice, we're here to ask! The first bit i would offer though is learn to upload pics!

Adamskii

best of luck with your dio, I'm attempting a big one myself- one thing to consider is where to keep it when it's done

Yep it will be 1/35 and will be fairly big.also yes pat where do you keep it?! It's got to be my office for me although I'm running out of space there too!