Hi everyone....,

Just wanted to share with you my newest dio, just finished..., depicting a scene from the Falaise Gap during August 1944.
The basic story is a convoy of retreating infantry, seconds away from being strafed by enemy aircraft, and the realization of their situation.





The horse drawn convoy & Opel Blitz truck are both from Italeri. The figures are a mixture from Masterbox, MK35, Tristar & Dragon. Most of them have new heads from Hornet - Frightened & Anxious Expressions & Looking up or stretching forward. These I find now invaluable to help tell a story, & the qualitys usually much better & easier to paint to depict the right expression!!





Added some extra detail to the wagon by changing the original Italeri figure, & adding some stowage on top using Plus Model items & abit of scratch building. The stone wall is simply plaster, coloured with paint & 'poured' into a shallow lid to dry. Once hardened, the plaster can be broken up into pieces & the wall assembled.....slowly....but pretty effectively. It's then given a quick oil wash to weather it alittle.








The trees & bushes were simply twigs, covered with steel wool and/or horsehair & coverered with dried herbs, usually mint. Left to dry & spray painted various shades. The water was melted plastic for the 'flowing part', glued in place in a small pipe, then resin added in layers to build up the effect. Before the final 2 layers, I painted alitle white paint where the water hit the pool to try & add some realism.






All that's missing now is the name plate, on order, & that's another one finished... Please feel free to leave any valuable comments guys, all much appreciated!!!

Cheers for now,
SIMON.

Very nice dio. The story fits well with the figures. My only recommendation, for your next diorama, would be to use higher quality figures. The ones you have, though well done, seem to be a little soft. Just noticed, I can see the seem line on the wheels of the medical truck. Currently working on an Italeri kit(with two part wheels), I've found that a heavy application of pigments hides this well. Of course, you can always use putty. Another option would be to use primer+filler that can be found either in the automotive department or automotive store.

Nice story. I was working on something similar. Nice to see the use of horses.
J

Hi guys, thanks for the replys...

It's funny how you can spend hours, weeks, months on a dio, & when you're finally happy with(almost)everything, you notice straght away on the photos bits you've missed.... and that tyre Matt was one of them... I'd also spotted it soon as I'd uploaded, typical!!!

With the figures, I apprecaite what you're saying. The few from Dragon I wanted to use up from an old model...., but the Tristar ones, dispite being only £7 for the 4, I was quite pleased with once they'd recieved the new Hornet heads. The 2 running guys at the front were to be from VLS Warriors for 2 at £18. But the Masterbox ones for me did the job for half that price, with 3 extra figures to boot! The detail in the resin guys is obviously second to none over the plastic, but with my limited painting skills I struggle to justify the extra expense ...., once painted, most of my guys look similar, irrespective of cost. The Hornet heads, however, are well worth it!!!
Actually on the next model, I'm looking at a couple of guys from 'Stalingrad', just for the poses alone they look worth a treat!!

SIMON.

Simon,
Pretty good execution of a really ambitious project. One of the ways I check my dioramas is taking pictures of them and looking at them a couple of days later. I am always amazed how many little things I find to fix.
Thanks for sharing.

Shaun

Awesome work!

The groundwork detail is impressive!!!

The figures have necks that are too long, and I think that will do a lot to improve their appearance after sanding them down.

Cheers

Hi guys...., thanks for the feedback.... much appreciated!!
I know what you mean about the necks Greg, looking back now perhaps they do seem alittle 'extensive'.... time for alittle surgery.....

SIMON