Hello everyone! It's been ages since I've gotten any substantial modeling done, having been busy with school for the last year and a half or so.

Anyway here's what I've been working on lately. It's based loosely on a number of photographs of a Sturmtiger captured in 1945 in Germany by the US Army, and I plan to add some figures to it yet. The hay isnt yet finalized - some needs removing, some needs adding, and I need to add a LOT of detail yet to the barn/house (why why WHY did I not just block off the back?). I also need to work out the figures I plan on adding to the scene....

Here's the Sturmtiger I worked off of:


And this is what I've come up with... I used the Tamiya Sturmtiger with Tamiya grills and a mixture of Eduard and putty zimmerit. Any comments or criticism are welcome.













I plan on adding a bunkbed to the second floor there.










through the hatch to the partial interior




There's something really heavy looking about Tiger tracks... maybe that's why I like them.



For the figures, I'm thinking of getting some Verlinden ones, and making a scene of some American troops looking at the tank, picking souvenirs, etc, while the farmer looks on with displeasure. I was planning on ordering these figures:

US army officers
farmer and Wife
Souvenir Hunters

Thanks for looking, and as I said before, any comments or criticism are welcome!

Scott,

Really great work on the Sturmtiger, with excellent weathering!
What did you used for the straw? It looks really authentic...
Lets update us with the figure builds as well.

Hi Scott excellent work, that Sturmtiger is amazing, the weathering is fantastic as is the building, great work mate.

Tom

Oh, good GAWD man! It looks more like the WWII photo was of YOUR dio than the other way around!

It's perfect!!!!!

I appreciate the SP guns and this is beautiful. Not much more I can add to it.
Simply stunning and wish my 1/16th Sturmtiger looked this good.








~ Jeff

Looks the part. Might try to weather the wood interior a bit to add some tonal variation in the wood here and there, but it looks good even if you leave it as is. Thanks for sharing. "Q"

I love everything in the scene! The building is just excellent. Maybe the only thing I can find is that the left track rests in the air a little too much for a heavy tank. You've done excellent here

Nice!!! You can take a black and white photo of your diorama and people can be fooled.

Thanks for all the kind and helpful feedback everyone!

Istvan - the straw was made from pieces of jute - a natural fiber rope - cut up into 1/4" lengths. I tried a number of ways of gluing it down, and found that the best was to makea mix of about 2 parts water to 1 part white glue. I added some ground chalk pastels to this to flatten the finish, then added jute to form a slurry that was then applied to the model.

Matthew - Yeah, I've definitely got a ways to go on the interior of the building. Thanks!

Greg - Thanks, I'll see what I can do about that. Even in the photo, the left track 'floats' a bit, but I do have it a bit too far floating on mine, especially at the front. Thanks for pointing that out.

Thanks again everyone, and I'll keep you further posted.

SCOTT

Outstanding work

Hey Scott,
I think your dio looks great, the vehicle is weathered to a believeable state. Love the mud on the wheels.
If you don't mind I have a suggestion and a question.
Suggestion. The helmet fitted to the outside of the tank seems a bit too clean and shiny, it looks out of place.
Qusetion. What has happened to the track that has come off? I am guessing it is the holes in the rear plate that has caused the vehicle to stop, but it shows no damage to the right hand side ( that is visible in the pics)Sorry to question your work but it is just the way my mind works.
I look forward to seeing the barn interior finished.

Cheers
Robbo

Excellent diorama and display of your skills. A couple of points - not only is the helmet too clean, but it and the jerrycan have no visible means of attachment. The missing track needs some explanation as well. Sort those out and you have a potential prizewinner.

Thanks for the comments again! I added some dust to the helmet, so it is flatter, but still a bit of a contrast to the dead flat of the vehicle.

Remearmr - My understanding of the history of the vehicle was that it was abandoned because of the track being knocked off. At some point, the vehicle was shot several times in the rear, causing a fire that was (largely) limited to the engine compartment. The US army took the area, and the vehicle was pushed off the side of the road into a ditch. I think that the track was lost when it was bulldozed off the road. It appears to have been bulldozed into a stack of hay of a rather sizable nature...

That said, without the explanation, the scene makes a good deal less sense. I think I'll put a few links on the edge of the base, to just suggest that the track run is continues outside of the diorama

Here's the reference I was looking at - no tracks visible near the vehicle! Where they are, I don't know.



And Dave - the helmet and jerrycan are attached to the hooks on the side of the superstructure, circled in red.

Thanks again for the comments!

This is absolutely incredible.

Comments and Suggestions: Yes, please stop making such amazing models, it makes some of us sad and want to quit building... haha

Great work and keep it up... thanks steve

I love it!!!

I have always liked the series of pictures. Great job on the dio and I will be following this one to the end. I think your figure choices are good ones.

Scott is absolutely correct about the missing tracks. Just about all the pictures we see of knocked out German vehicles where taken AFTER they have been pushed off the road by engineers. I’ve seen a lot of photos of knocked out AFVs with missing tracks, and most look like they have been pushed off of the road leaving a track run out of the frame of the picture

Really good diorama work Scott. It looks great. I especially like the barn roof

Great work! The overall scene is very effective in capturing the eye. What is holding the jerry can on the side of the sturmtiger? Without straps or brackets, it looks to be floating.

Aside from some of the small suggestions that have been put forward,this is a really nicely done dio. Well executed with a lot of thought going into all of the components. I am really liking this one,specially the building,groundwork and painting.

J

I agree with my fellow builders Scott that this is a really good display. your shading and colors on the Sturmtiger are absolutely spot on! And those cedar shakes on the roof!

The best made roof I have seen on a diorama without a doubt. Very impressive indeed!

I look forward to whatever figures you decide on, but would perhaps suggest that you may want to try some less expensive and more scale accurate dragon figures with replacement Hornet heads, as the results will look better in my humble opinion. Just a thought. I have found the quality and scale of the Verlinden figures to not be in the same league as perhaps the Alpine resin figures or even the Tank ones, but perhaps I have been jaded by the fact that of the four sets of Verlinden figures I have purchased only one of them actually had all the pieces in them when I got home?

Have fun completing this gem!

Dave

Well, I'm flattered and humbled by all of your kind words. Thanks so much.

Matt - the jerry can is hanging from a hook on the side of the superstructure, circled in red in my second posting.

Dave/Pat - The reason that the roof's cedar shakes are so convincing is quite simple, really. I just used thin pieces of cedar, and then stained them with a variety of greys and sludgy brown oil washes. No fancy tricks here!

And Dave, I'll take a look at some Dragon figures, but I'll confess that the only resin figures I've done have been Mr. Verlinden's, and I was quite happy with the one that I finished. That said, the other set I bought featured mismatched legs too wide for the torsos. So it goes. I'll take a look at some other brands, but my unemployed-teen budget only goes so far.

Marvelous project. The Sturmtier looks like it just finished rolling towars the building. Great detail on the model and building, superb attention to detail and the painting and weathering is top notch, one of the best I have seen. The figures would be a great touch. I like the hay effect and the muddy ground really adds to it. Nice dio, buddy.

I have a set of verlinden figures that was missing a leg, I like the verlinden stuff for the look but I think the figures are always too big too thick and too tall... they don't match anyone elses figures... they look like they just came from the muscle gym and are going to give my dragon figures a toilet swirly...

I think dragon is a good choice for the value, a couple replacement heads and they look great... and they have such a variety of sets that you can mix and match pretty well for a variety of late war mix N match uniforms etc...

And Dave, I'll take a look at some Dragon figures, but I'll confess that the only resin figures I've done have been Mr. Verlinden's, and I was quite happy with the one that I finished. That said, the other set I bought featured mismatched legs too wide for the torsos. So it goes. I'll take a look at some other brands, but my unemployed-teen budget only goes so far. [/quote]