Hi Shaun,

Its been a blast following you SBS, so thank YOU for putting it together for us! The Information you have shared has been most valuable to me aswell as others.

Thanks for the advise on correcting the warp on the base. It has been corrected about 80%, Ill take it!

Gary

Exactly my thoughts!
Shaun, you gave me courage to embark into the "unknown".
I'm using your SBS thread to build my own first diorama.
Your work is amazing with just a few simple steps.

Keep up the updates!

Hi Shaun, I would like to ask your permission to post pics of what ive done with my first real base useing your SBS and a lttle bit of trying my hand at building a wall. Im not trying to high jack your thread. And i understand if its a problem. but i wanted to share with you your direct influance on me to give this a try. Thanks for everything man!

Gary

Have at it Gary. The more the merrier.
Shaun

Hey Shaun,
Just ran into this SBS. I'm curious has to why you went with the real moss? Aren't you afraid of it "browning" on you after a few weeks or is there a way you can keep it from do this?

See ya in the funnies.............

Hi Shaun,

Thanks for letting me share this with you and others. I followed your SBS plus i added some dirt with the cat litter and building a damaged wall from dried lightwieght hydrocal. Ill be putting some grass and a couple weeds here and there. Thanks again for the SBS Shaun.




Gary

Great post, I'm pleased how easy you made it all look. I can tell you have fun with this also, which is the what for and why we build. I'm building a large diorama and always view and look for new techniques and ideas.Carry On . Arbs

Seems like shaun is a great professor, Gary, you really nailed it!

Phil.

Love it Gary.
Shaun

Gary, did you have a mold you used to create the wall? Looks great.

Quick and dirty straps:
Grab a piece of heavy paper and paint one edge with some brown craft paint and let it dry. Take a steel rule and cut off a thin strip.




Cut a length and using white glue and water, wrap it around the helmet.



Wait for the glue to dry and trim off the excess.



Looking at the pictures the goggle straps may be a little too wide. I may start over.

TC ready:

Hi Shaun,

Sweet tip with the paper and paint. Im gonna put that in my bag of tricks now. thanks man! Keep it comeing!!!

Gary

I've got something like that I want to do with a figure. I saw a clip of a Fallschirmjager with zeltbahn or some sort of camouflage cloth tied over his helmet with a belt. Just wondering, would it be easier to replicate that with a PE belt or with your technique?

-Conor

This is the clip btw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTkfioq6zDQ
The soldier I'm talking about comes on at 1:53

Conor, I don't think PE is ever going to look like cloth straps.

I used tissue paper for the helmet covers and copper wire for the retaining strap:


Another head shot from the same dio, used strips of masking tape and long cut rail road grass for the cammo.



Remember I have been screwing up for 30 years and that is the only way I got any better at any of this.

Hoped this helped Conor,
Shaun

Had an issue with my photo sharing site. Trying a new one.

Okay, that was a pain.

So, I decided to leave the goggle straps alone. After I added a flat black wash they look okay.

Hi Shaun,

Everything looks great man! Is the radio man a kit fig or you covert it? i like the pose and the radio.

Gary

Gary,
Stock. From this kit: 1:35 Dragon Advance to the Rhine US 1st Army at Remagen #6271

I really liked the set.
Shaun

Okay, let's get on with this...
Glued the driver in place. I usually use white glue for this so if I decide to move them later it doesn't bark up the paint on the vehicle. I used a bit of sticky tack to hold him in place until the glued dried.



Working on the placement of the dismounts. This is critical so I use sticky tack until I am happy. You want the veiwer's eye to travel around the scene and not get "stuck" anywhere. This diorama is pretty much broken up into three separate points of interest: The three standing figures, the Sherman and crew, and the kneeling NCO and radio operator.







I usually ask my extremely tolerant wife to lot at a diorama before I glue the figures in place and ask her what she looked at first, second, etc.
Some of the figures still need final details, cigarettes, couple of straps etc. so they are not ready to glue down yet anyway.

Back to composition for a post, the whole who, what, where, and when thing. Who and what are a givens, when has to be spring of 1945 because of the model of the Sherman and the faded winter white wash on it. Where is not established yet.
To take care of that I am going to make some German signage.

I rough cut some strips of balsa wood and whipped on a black wash:





Also cut and broke a section of square stock to use as a post. Not sure it I am going to use that or not.



I have to wait for all that to dry before I dry brush it.

One last detail issue: I have the 30 cal painted flat black. How I finish weapons to follow.



Questions? Ask away!

Shaun

fun blog Shaun, lots of well documented steps for everyone to understand and enjoy. i've been following it and wanted to just add a thank you for the efforts you have been putting in. keep up the great job.

cheers, bd

Excellent stuff Shaun!

Finishing the .30cal...

Grab a pencil and an emery board. Shave the end off the pencil until you have a straight piece of graphite sticking out of the end of the pencil and grind a small pile on the emery board:







Put some of the graphite powder on your fingertip and rub it liberally on the gun. Hit the high points like the cooling jacket on the barrel. This helps the raised details stand out.



Get a couple of really small drill bits to drill out the barrel. I have no idea what size I used.
I slept since then and the size varies but what size barrel you are drilling. In any case, use the smaller of the two and drill a small pilot hole in the center of the barrel. I hold the drill with my between my thumb and forefinger and twist back and forth,lightly. Then take the bigger drill and enlarge the hole. The hole does not have to be deep at all. You are just trying to give the impression of depth.



Picture is not the best but you can see the hollowed out end of the flash hider here:



This takes quite a bit of practice. I cannot tell you how many weapons I trashed learning how to do this. Go slow.

Best picture I have of the completed MG here. Better picture tomorrow.



Last one for today, captioned "Man this is taking forever. Is he ever going to get done?" LOL

Nice tutorial on the .30cal.

Instead of using graphite, I dry brush gunmetal on a flat black weapon.

I find that the graphite is too messy... but that's just me

Really love your thread. Doing my first diorama right now by using your techniques.

Cheers!

Sorry for the delay. I had some 1:1 scale yard work to do.
Moving along now the TC and the guys on the ground in front of the Sherman are going to need some maps. Here is a quick and dirty 1/35 scale cartography lesson:
Do a Google Image Search for "world war 2 maps." You will get an amazing amount of results. Copy the maps you want and paste them into a doc and print them out...




Cut them apart and you have maps. You can buy 1/35th scale maps but printed ones suit me, and I am fussy.

The radio guys in front of the Sherman have their maps:


The TC has his map:



And, by golly, I actually have some spring flowers going on:





Getting ready to wrap this up. Have signs to paint and the post to put them on:



Overall pics this week. Again, sorry for the delay. Real life got in the way.
Once again, questions, please ask.
Shaun