WOW !!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Roger (indeed everyone)-

As a newbie to dioramas, and having looked closely at the photos of this wonderful installation, I have a query.

Is there a philosophy, per se, about military dioramas? The layout of this project for me is reminiscent of a railway setup (notwithstanding the coincidental subject matter).

I think in many respects these scenes would overlay onto a working railway set up, but I know the individual pieces here have been given much care and attention as separate builds.

Do you think it's the nature of scenes like this that may mirror or borrow from fixed layouts of rail networks, e.g., station, mountain scenery, tunnels, and similar details, where such setups have been the mainstay of railway hobbyists for decades?

Is it the case that all dioramas share 'degrees of incident' whether through balance of units/kits, or other detail that draws these individual pieces into a panoramic whole?

Apologies for rambling on (I don't do rail modelling by the way).

I have never been into railway modelling but I try to use any technique that I think is useful. Railway modelling has been around for a VERY long time (much longer than 1/35 military modelling).Many of these guys have developed incredible techniques when it comes to scenery. Railway modellers often get little respect as scale integrity tends to be weak which is a mortal sin in military modelling and those perfectly clean, shiny trains get smug smiles from us armor guys but their scenery deserves a lot of respect. They really know their stuff and anyone doing dios that doesn't take time to learn from these guys is making a big mistake in my humble opinion.

Simply amazing. Excellent, excellent work.

-Joe

It is rare to see mastery in all the components of a diorama. You have achieved that!! Vehicles, figures and groundwork are all done to an outstanding level!!

Big congrats from good old Vienna to you Sir!!!!!!!

Make our days and post a lot more!!!!!

Cheers

Romain

If you look in railroad modeling magazines (or just put "model railroad weathering" into Google), there is a lot of attention being paid to enhancing the realism of layouts through appropriate weathering techniques; the clean, shiny trains give way to grungy, rusted workhorses as enthusiasts get more serious about their hobby just as 'fresh from the paint shop' vehicles become 'rode hard and put away wet' combat veterans as modelers become more serious about their hobby.

Hello and thanks for the kind comments. I have had a lull in the model making for the dio as I wait for a couple of things to arrive so I thought I would do some groundwork. really put it off as I knew the corduroy road would be quite an undertaking as each branch is about 1/16inch wide and the dio is 14 feet long. That's a LOT of branches. It's almost done however. The ditches are about finished and ready for the artificial water but I have to get the banks finished first. Has a bit of the feel of a botanical garden right now but I can mess it up later.

Insane. The photos can't do it justice. Can't wait to see more.

Here is the general layout prior to the groundwork being added. LOTS more to do but that's the general idea so far.

This is really most impressive! I saw something very similar to this at Nats in Orlando. The same premise, but there were P51s strafing it.

That is just too cool! Those types of roads were used a lot by the Germans in Russia but I don't ever remember seeing one built in a dio before. Great job! It looks quite realistic as well.
When Sherman marched north from Savanna to North Carolina his army built hundreds of miles of these roads through the Carolina swamps.
Another excellent addition to this brilliant dio.
J

Hey Roger, tremendous quality in your work. All the little things that just make your dio pop out are beautiful. If I tried to add any better words to describe how outstanding your craftsmanship is, I would have to dig out a thesaurus. My hat's off to you.

Thanks for the kind words. Always a lot of improvements to do but I appreciate the compiments. You are right Jerry. Some of the corduroy roads built during the civil war that you describe in the USA still exist. Depending on soil acidity, moisture and the type of wood used some of these corduroy roads could last a tremendous amount of time. From my research, corduroy routes were built everywhere in the Soviet Union where German troops were. They were essential for transport especially in the spring when the snows melted and dirt roads would be virtually impassable. I have rarely seen them in dios either and I am not really sure why considering how common they were. The corduroy roads the Germans made were a clever idea but I bet they made for a mighty rough ride!

There is a good reason there are not many dios with the cord.roads....they are difficult and time consuming to build! And you are one of the guys that also has the requisit amount of talent and historical knowledge to pull this off!
Another cool idea to model would be the narrow gauge railroad the Germans built in the swamps around Leningrad ON TOP of a cordoroy road. Logistics is always a lady.
J

Yo Roger,

thats a massive diorama! You guys know sure the way to build larege dioramas here...

Damn good vegetation...nice work from the ref pic...

Keep up!

Greetz Nico

Thanks again everyone. Jerry, you read my mind! I have a few Russian ww2 resources with some really excellent photos of the narrow guage rail you mentioned. I have never seen the photos published in the states and consider myself very lucky to have found them. So it's already in the works!

Progressing on the water.The droplets of water in the spray are just an illusion. They are tiny foam particles which are imbedded in the soil on the far bank. When viewing the dio from the front they seem to be suspended in the air over the cascading water while the overhang of the corduroy road hides the particles when viewed from other angles

Although this Dora is big, the 1:6 scale version fills a driveway.



Build photos at:

http://www.vonabt.co.uk/models/Dora/index.html

AWESOME !!!!!!!
What a Fantastic Project.

milvehfan

Fantastic.....

Bravo....