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Dioramas: Techniques
Diorama techniques and related subjects.
Hosted by Darren Baker
HG Division+Ferdinand, Italy 1944
panzerconor
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Massachusetts, United States
Joined: February 08, 2012
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Posted: Monday, October 01, 2012 - 10:23 AM UTC
Here we go, kids. I'm putting any scale modeling street credit I have on the line, and am building this for the Modeling a Photo 2 campaign:

Yup.

Hopefully this build log will help you guys catch a mistake before I do anything horrifically stupid.

I've already done the guy way in the back:


I modified this figure

Into this:

DON'T JUDGE HIM! D: He's not that important to the scene & I know he's not too good.

But I've started our main character:


I bought the 352nd Volksgrenadiers kit, and the HG Division kit. I butchered the poor guys from the HG kit, and came out with this:



Added a spare arm that "Last Battle" Gen2 kit, picked a head, filled gaps with putty, carved part of the torso, and then used putty to rebuild it. Not quite the bionic man, but after primer, this is what I've got:

My primer is brush painted on, and it looks a bit odd. Any tips on that?

So that's where I'm at, and I would love to get feedback before I do anything else, because there's bound to be a crapload of screw ups that I missed.

So please, help a kid out

-Conor
jrutman
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 02:24 AM UTC
If this is your first conversion with a figure then you are doing a lot better than I did on my first one. The guy is pretty close to the one in the pic,just needs the details to be tweeked. I would go with spray primer in a rattle can. Fast and easy.
Hold the fig under a strong desk lamp and move it around. The shadows will show you any problems and then,if it doesn't look right,remove it!
Michealangelo said about sculpting that he looked at the block of stone,saw the finished sculpture,and then removed anything that didn't look like it.
J
panzerconor
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 05:53 AM UTC

Quoted Text

If this is your first conversion with a figure then you are doing a lot better than I did on my first one. The guy is pretty close to the one in the pic,just needs the details to be tweeked. I would go with spray primer in a rattle can. Fast and easy.
Hold the fig under a strong desk lamp and move it around. The shadows will show you any problems and then,if it doesn't look right,remove it!
Michealangelo said about sculpting that he looked at the block of stone,saw the finished sculpture,and then removed anything that didn't look like it.
J


I've done a few before this, but it's probably my most ambitious. I took baby steps with prior conversions haha. I carved into him a bit more after these photos were posted. This guy hasn't been a headache, but I need better putty. Maybe Green Stuff or Milliput.

I've fixed part of the trouble with my primer, but I've definitely got to get the spray can primer. Right now I'm trying to figure out what paints to use to get his jacket right.

-Conor
FAUST
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Noord-Holland, Netherlands
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 09:19 AM UTC
Nice project you have on the bench. Is it going to be tank and figs? You are well on your way with those figures. That coverted dude comes together nicely although a bit rough in some spots. You mention you are on the lookout for other sculpting materials. Might I suggest magic sculp. I use it for all my conversions and sculpts. It is supereasy to work with and you can almost 3d paint folds and creases with a brush moistened with water. I don't want to highjack your thread but maybe you can visit my gallery here. I have several converted figures in there. The kettenkrad folder even has 2 full sculpts and a kitten.
panzerconor
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 09:53 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Nice project you have on the bench. Is it going to be tank and figs? You are well on your way with those figures. That coverted dude comes together nicely although a bit rough in some spots. You mention you are on the lookout for other sculpting materials. Might I suggest magic sculp. I use it for all my conversions and sculpts. It is supereasy to work with and you can almost 3d paint folds and creases with a brush moistened with water. I don't want to highjack your thread but maybe you can visit my gallery here. I have several converted figures in there. The kettenkrad folder even has 2 full sculpts and a kitten.


Thanks, & yup, the Ferdinand's gonna be the icing on the cake. I've been looking into magic sculpt, seems like it's the best product out there. Nice figure's you've got in your gallery, I can really see why you recommend magic sculpt hahaha, you put it to use quite a bit!
Thanks for looking

-Conor
gerrysmodels
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 11:42 AM UTC
Conner

Not much of a conversion guy myself and I take my hat off for your efforts,

I am really looking forward to this one as I have seen the picture before and I did think it would make a good diorama subject.

Model on.

Cheers

Gerry
panzerconor
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 01:52 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Conner

Not much of a conversion guy myself and I take my hat off for your efforts,

I am really looking forward to this one as I have seen the picture before and I did think it would make a good diorama subject.

Model on.

Cheers

Gerry


Thanks Gerry, I've seen all you're builds and they really are, as a New Englander such as myself would say, "wicked awesome." Hopefully I do justice to those guys in the picture.

As of last night I used sheer courage and will power to get a jump on this guy:

Then after puttying and carving and sanding and shaping and rearranging, this happened:

I like him. In fact, he might be the best looking kamerade yet. So I did a bit more with the fine details, and:

LOOK! It's my never-quite-finished Korsun Pocket diorama. That could end up being a life-long project at the rate it's going... But I digress. You might not see a difference in him, but I think I did. I think.

So that's where I'm at. I mixed tan and mustard yellow and got that color. Probably not exactly right, but it's probably close. I always hear that the unwritten rule is to completely build the figure, then paint. I don't always do that. In fact I have no process at all Oh well...

Thanks for looking

-Conor
Karl187
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 10:09 PM UTC
Connor- this is an excellent project your doing here, its a very interesting picture to work from and the figures are coming together nicely. I would definetly echo what has already been said by Robert and Jerry- i.e. definetly check out Magic Sculp and try and get some rattle can primer- I use Tamiya- I find if I'm doing conversion work it is really handy as it picks up any imperfections very easily. Good luck with the project!
Navy95
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Val-drOise, France
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 10:29 PM UTC
Hi,

There are 2 very good figs from Jaguar that would perfectly fit with your scene



Used them for a dio with a Panther from I./Pz.Rgt.4
http://navy.95.free.fr/?id=1&album=Diorama_Anzio_1944
ejasonk
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Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Joined: October 14, 2007
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 10:33 PM UTC
Elefant, not Ferdinand
panzerconor
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - 07:24 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Elefant, not Ferdinand


Good point. I didn't even think of that hahaha
panzerconor
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - 08:17 AM UTC
Thanks Karl, magic sculpt is a must-have I guess hahaha.

Yvan, the figure with the MG 42 has to be modeled after the gunner in this picture, they're exactly the same! Wish I had seen that before I started on him.

-Conor
Tanksami
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - 09:39 AM UTC
Hi Connor,

Very interesting dio to do!! Ditto to what everyone else has said about using magic sculpt & as some new to using it & trying to convert/ sculpt figure poses for the first time I can say it is great to work with & very forgiving!!

Keep up the good work

Cheers mike
panzerconor
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - 09:46 AM UTC
Hmm. Magic sculpt is not cheap...
panzerconor
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - 01:57 PM UTC
Yvan! I just realized how valuable that picture is. Now I know how I should paint them. Thank you!
panzerconor
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Posted: Friday, October 05, 2012 - 10:07 AM UTC
This guy left me with some creativity, as you can't see what's in his right hand. So naturally, I decided to be modest and choose a Gewehr 43.



As for the tiny details, they don't exist yet. YET! Be patient, it's difficult balancing college and models(even if I prefer the latter ) But anyways here's this:



And this:



Yeah, I attempted to paint the camo pattern on our machine gunner. That went fantastic So I'm going to give that another shot over the next week. Tips? Suggestions? I know by now nobody wants to see this get screwed up

-Conor
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