Hi everyone

I would like to know where you guys get your inspiration for some of the incredible dioramas that i see on this site. In particular im interested in pictures of WW2. Im new to the military diorama building, so im not sure where to start looking for ideas.

If you have a particular website or book that you like to use, i will be very gratefull if you could post a link etc

Looking forward to your response.

Regards
Wes

I've used Hyperwar, Prime Portal and Google image search.

Wesley ... very good question mate ...alot of us guys will get dio ideas from just looking up info on a model we have .. say you got yourself a Sherman tank and wanted some battle pics for like crew storage .. you do the classic Goggle search to find pics and bingo mate ,,thousands of pics of that tank and many are WWII pics of the vehicle in combat ..there ya go ..ideas a plenty .. a dio i will be starting in the not to distant future is a Sherman crab crossing a Bailey bridge ,,that started from seeing the Sherman crab in Normandy in 1944 ,,the bridge came up after looking at Luckymodels ( site i get alot of my models from) and the rest is history as you can say then you look at the men with the vehicle ,,tank crew ..ground forces walking along side the tank ..now there will be a light truck ,.Cromwell tank as well waiting their turn to cross ..once you get the idea is pretty easy for the rest to fall into place...planning works well ,,for size ,,cost and layout .. this will give you the idea of what it will look like ... will be a small river..bailey bridge across it ..on the bridge the Sherman crab ..now the bridge i'm using has a walk way along side the bridge so there will troops walking along the bridge as the tank crosses ..on the right side there will a cromwell and light truck waiting to cross ..on the far let will be a abandoned German 20mm air craft gun bunker and in front of that British paratroopers talking with some French civilians.. thats the dio ..simple in size and layout ..nothing hard there at all ..start small and work you way up to the bigger dioramas ,,turst me the bigger you go the harder it gets ..so many more things come into play ..do your search on the model your thinking about and find a pic you like and work from there ..any other questions mate we'll only be to happy to help you out

Phill

Here's some of my favs:

German
http://jtrowbridge5.smugmug.com/

Russian
http://www.o5m6.de/main.html

http://en.diorama.ru/library/ww2-museum/su-country/009/


panzernet.net

Modern
http://picasaweb.google.com/FrenchyHP/HMMWV?authkey=Gv1sRgCISouays6sCR-QE#

youtube.com


But most of my inspiring photos come from the Concord books

Hi Wes

Most of the time I've an idea what dio to make from the kit but sometimes you just see or read something and

I got myself a Universal Carrier and the first thing that sprang to mind was a scene from "The Longest Day"

1/35



Link :
http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/128050#1059124

Another was :



My rendition :
1/72



Link :
http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/117483#967744

As Phil said Google the vehicle and see what comes up.
I go up into the loft and see a kit and go ! I'll do this as a dio and then the next kit I'll think I'll do that as a dio. Half an hour later my head's buzzing with dio's.



Steve C

Wes,
Great question!

I have several books on WW2 that I use. For example, Encyclopedia of WWII, Sherman Tank in action. Tank Destroyers in action. M3 Halftrack. Books like that. I can't quote my entire library, as I don't have access to them at the moment. One of my favorites is Tank Battles in Germany.

Another source is http://images.google.com/hosted/life

If I'm searching for pics on a certain battle, tank battalion, etc, then I use google.

HTH, If you have any futher questons, don't hesitate to ask.

Steve

Hi Wes (and welcome !)

If you're looking for German WW2 perod pics, these albums should keep you busy for quite a loooong time

http://reibert.info/gallery/v/foto_album/

http://news.webshots.com/album/550026933KLJnOl

http://news.webshots.com/album/550833578RUsEmU

http://news.webshots.com/album/554226565oZAPJe

Here's another interesting link for some 1944 Battle of Normandy pics (Allied side) :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosnormandie/sets/

HTH

Frenchy

Wow guys.

Thank you for all the help. Guess ive got lots of reading up to do. . I will be going out to buy a kit this week and then i guess the fun part of researching will begin. Ive built lots of railroad related dioramas, so that wont be too difficult. Its the painting of the tank that will be a challenge.

Looking forward to the ride though. Thanks again for the help.

Regards
Wes

i watch alot of military channel. thats where i get my ideas. or, i may just run into a great photo by absolute dumb luck.
other than the campaign dio i have going right now, i came up with that one just out of my head, but i have another one going which is a P51 mustang based off of a photo of my great uncle that flew over europe.
the next one im going to be doing will probably be another aircraft. a torpedo bomber making a run over water. another one where i just happened to run into a photo completely random.
other than that. ill get an idea and see what i can find on the internet if my mind is coming up with something.