SEAL beach diorama complete.





More images on my blog

That looks quite nice, especially the paintjob on those soft DML figures. Where did you get the CRRC boat?

That looks really nice. Great job on the beach sand and the dune as well. Ditto on the CRRC as well.

Hi Matthew,

Nice small diorama.

Which colors did you use to pain the guns?

Thanks in advance,
Angel

Nice dio..

I really like the detail with the pants.

K&S resin have it http://ksresin.com/

The figures look like they were a lot of fun. Great job overall and excellent job broken down. One of the best figure focus works I have seen.

great work matt! i saw this at QMHE on the weekend, but didn't get any pics as i forgot my camera!

Nice dio and great painting. I really like the way you captured the sand on the wet uniforms.
J

Very well done all the way 'round!

In addition to the other complements on the figures, the terrain work is great. I really like the little bit of sea foam in the corner. The changes in elevation work nicely and create a sense of "logic" to the figure poses and composition.

The presentation is excellent, too, and adds a lot to the figures and terrain - very clean and "professional" looking.

Very attractive and a pleasure to look at. Thanks for sharing!

Also Italeri has the old frogman kit # 327 which can still be found. A bit of work and the raft will work as a CRRC.

Thanks guys for all the positive comments. Of all the older DML figures these ones are quite good. I also work over each figure with a scalpel to sharpen up the detail. Heads are replaced with Verlinden items. The soft moulding of the boots was disguised with ‘sand’.
As for the boat I really can’t remember where it came from, I think I picked it up at a show years ago. That said it was one of the worst models I’ve ever seen. In the end it had all the surface detail sanded off and re built, the motor and motor mount and fuel tank made from scratch and much of the inside disguised with stowage.
I’ve now got a set of drawings for a proper CRRC so I’m thinking of making a resin model if anyone is interested.
Guns are painted 2 or 3 shades of dark grey (lighter on the top darker underneath) then rubbing on some graphite with an old paintbrush.

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for your reply.

Which greys did you use for painting the guns?

How did you painted the boat and the engines to make them look so real? I have an Andrea's boat and would like to know how to achieve your result.

Thanks in advance,
Angel

OUTSTANDING

This is a really nice and well posed scene, there's plenty to see and the painting and finishing is top class. Congrats.

Looks great, but for OpSec reasons, I really think you should blur out their faces.

nice diorama, how did you do the sand?

Ok, Colours on the figures are all Vallejo , for the weapons I typically us colours like Black, Dark Grey and Black Grey. Once dry I then go over the guns with Mig Gun Metal pigment with a soft old brush.





The boat was a mix of airbrushing and hand painting:
I always start with Tamiya primer.
Preshade all the seams, detail and undersides with Tamiya Black.
Then Tamiya NATO Black sprayed on in light layers leaving the centre of each panel a little light.
All the detail like seams and handles is then outlined with Vallejo black applied with a really fine brush.
Sand was created with plaster. Once the basic form of the ground is made up you can mix plaster to quite a watery consistency and poor it onto the base. It seems to smooth off all the detail and even gets its own flow lines etc. Even before painting this looks just like the way beach sand looks as the tide goes out. Whatever you do don’t use real sand, it looks way to course and unrealistic.

Thanks Matthew for your reply and the images you posted.

Best regards,
Angel

Matthew,
I stumbke upon your dio while making some navy seals search. Real fine art. The sand is terrific, in fact the whole setting is just splendid.
Bravo
Best,
Julien

Matthew,

Perfect job on that little scene!!!!!!
Really impressive!
Congratulations Sir!!

Cheers

Romain

Very well done!

Hi Matthew,

Excellent work, a very well executed scene with great detail. My only observation is that you might want to wet the bottom of the boat, it may be that I just can't see it in the pics but it looks very dry.

Everything else looks spot on.

Cheers

Al

Wow - great job! I really like this!

My thoughts exactly.

Tom