I decided it was time to take a break from forums ( other than our local one where I sort of have to stick my oar in being one of the people driving it ) to actually get some modelling done so after three months in the wilderness this is what I've just finished. I've spent the last 20 weeks doing this and working on three others which are in varying stages.

This one depicts a German squad from 12.SS.HJ returning to base after an overnight pass into town, bearing fresh baked goods for breakfast. The intention is to depict the sharp jump from a relatively "normal" existence in Southern France on June 5 1944, to a state of war on June 6. So these guys in the very early morning light are heading along a tree lined sunken lane when they encounter a small handful of British Paras collecting equipment that has landed on a bridge.

A very close engagement leaves one para down after he stood his ground to try and get a PIAT into action to engage the vehicle they could hear approaching, and two Germans down as the other Paras pull back to the other end of the bridge. So the focus at the instant in time that this is set is the Steyr crew recovering a wounded comrade and fighting back.

There's thing I'd change if I could do it again and a few things I'm not 100% happy with, and I'm open to any criticisms if they'll help me do it better next time.

There's bigger photos ( as well as a few others )HERE

Okey dokey, finally got the photos figured out so can add a few more here.

Thats an outstanding little diorama you've got there, really tells a story.

And I love the eyes onthe MG gunner

fantastic dean! really great composition!
:)

Great dio, I like it a lot!

Hi Dean,
What things would you change, just out of curiosity? I think the whole thing looks quite amazing, personally. I love the 2 paras that are down and I think you've done a stand up job on the camo, which isn't easy to do. I'm looking forward to your other projects being posted. Great job on this!

Great looking Dio, excellent work. The faces of the soldiers particularly and the injured/dead para and German officer have very believable poses.

How did you do the MG belt, looks excellent?

The only thing I could think of to do different is that I wonder if Hitler's young Aryan uber soldiers would be having a Jewish bagel for brekky?

Beautiful

The unfired section is just a regular DML Gen 2 belt softened in hot water and gradually bent to shape. The expended section was a little more time consuming. It was made by drilling 50 0.35mm holes along the edge of a 2mm thick strip of plasticard then using a file to "groove" between each link to get the rounded outer shape.

Then the edge was bevelled then sanded then slowly had notches cut between each link to create the tongue. Then finally it was cut away from the plasticard as close to the holes as I could and very gently sanded a bit between each link on the other side.

Next time I have the camera set up I'll try and get a decent close-up. There's also a total of 47 expended cases, four for the MP44, two by the Kar98K and the rest around the feet of the MG42 gunner ( except for five strategically glued between the ejection port and the ground to give the effect of falling brass ).

Superb dio!!! Honestly don’t know where to start … the camo is great and I just love the small details. The only thing that I find out of place is the fact that there are 8 German soldiers, but not enough space in the truck!

Can’t wait for the next one!

Regards,

Dean: superb work!! I remember the planning stages of this and it's turned out really well. I still think you should follow up with a separate dio of the other end of the bridge showing the Brits. Anyway, well done

Happy Modelling, -zon

Congratulations Dean.
It's a very bealtiful work.

I liked the plot.

Regards,
Rodrigo

Mainly I think it needs a bit more space between the Para and the Steyr. I'm also not happy with the colours on the Autumn uniform, I need to work on that. I tried to make it look more washed out and faded but I'm not happy with the end result, it still looks too stark. I think it needs a slightly heavier wash.

I'm also thinking of repainting the sliced off end of the bridge in a darker colour as it seems to overpowering in the light grey.

The Steyr seats 8. I actually thought 8 might be a squeeze but after seeing one in the flesh today at a Military day here I can say they seat eight with ease. I also learnt something I didn't know before, the things in the middle of the rear doors are for mounting the side doors onto when you remove them.

Yeah I'm tempted to. I'd like to do on with an Airborne jeep but that wouldn't really fit this diorama I feel.

This is along the lines of what I'm thinking about for changing the end colour. What do people think ?

Funnily enough, I started counting the figures and wondering how they all fit in the vehicle, before reading further down. Whether its possible or not, is not always known by the viewer, and is something that should be considered when planning!


This was my other thought. I guess thats the problem when finding the threaqd late, all the obvious issues are pointed out!! Now that I see you´ve shown what it can look like, Id agree with it ... definately paint it darker.

Dean, its easy to nit-pick the details in a finished model as we all have different ideas and interests, but none of these take away the fact, this is an excellent dio. Great action and the different camo uniforms are top notch. Great job mate!!

This (easy for me to say )

And definately paint the end of the bridge a darker colour, its a small job for a large reward.

Great dio Dean.
I prefer the darker paint on the bridge end.
Frank does make a good point.I'm just finishing a street scene in Iraq and along the way it occurred to me I had far too many figures that could fit into 2 Humvees.To lose the figures meant losing the the whole atmosphere.Then it dawned on me that a dio is basically a piece of land cut out of the earth,there was no reason the other guys couldn't have come from other vehicles that may have been behind or beside the one's in the dio.Make sense at all?

Tom

This one came out really well.
I would paint the end black

Definitely I'd go with the darker colour, certainly takes the focus away from it.

As for the number of men, if there is only one car going to the bakery you can be guaranteed that every seat will be full and then some.