Hey everyone,

Just wanted to share with you all my latest project....., finally got it done before the end of the year, it's been on the go for the last 9-10 months, on & off, so it's nice to clear the sprues & the paints away, ready for the new year's build...

Have wanted to incorporate a railway line into a dio for some time, the size initally was abit off putting for the size of the base, but it all fitted in nicely.
The track is from 'Trumpeter', the sets are all 'Miniart's': Soviet Officers at Briefing (2), Soviet 57mm ZIS-2 Anti-Tank Gun w/Crew & Soviet 57mm Shells w/Ammo Boxes.







The groundwork was made from the usual, plaster, covered with sand & small stones, static grass, moss & finely chopped dried leaves. The cabbage field was added to vary things up alittle, the cabbages were made from milliput & painted.







A couple of small twigs were used to make the little trees, ballast was put between the tracks, & everything was painted with enamels, oils & spray painting.







The 'Miniart' gun kit with crew was enjoyable to make, but I did swap 4 of the heads with some Soviet ones from Hornet. The jeep was from Tamiya I've for ages...., the driver sitting on the bonnet was adapted from the figures that came with it. I use a thin drinking straw for the food tins the crew are holding as nothing came in the kit for them. This is the first time I'd white-washed anything before, I used the 'hairspray' method, & it turned out really nicely. The gun was initally sprayed a very dark green, before I sprayed it with hairspray to give it a coat. The white was then airbrushed on, and when dry, slowly & carefully brushed of in the hard wearing places to reveal the green.
It reminded me of a time when I did a similar thing with a plaster building, but running it under warm water instead at the same time as scrubbing, & the glue melted, sending everything crashing into the sink..... Needless to say,that building ended up having 'alittle' more battle damage than intended!!!











I only used 2 of the Soviet Officers from the box, with the head of the guy from Tamiya's Jeep. The whole scene before the figures & gun were added was sprayed with hairspray & baking powder was sifted over to try & recreate a heavy frost. Didn't want any snow, just some frost to compliment the white washed gun.

Thanks everyone for looking, any comments, critiques most welcome......
Cheers

SIMON.

Superb, congrats!

Oh... Somebody's gonna have a bad day down range when they cross that rail road embankment and take one in the flank!

The B&W pictures are really nice!

Very nice little dio. The B&W images are amazing. Looking at the figures, you should maybe add more depth to the details ... highlights and shadows. The uniforms look a bit too "uniform".

Looks fantastic. Glad you got it finished!

At first glance, I seriously thought that the first B&W photo was one that you had used for a reference! Simply amazing work!

Very well done Simon!

Groundwork is very good. You should work now a bit more your face and figure painting

Claude

You have done some very very nice work on the groundwork,foliage and gun/jeep. The positioning of the figgies tells a story and makes sense as do all of the little details that you added.
I agree with what some have already said about how great the B&W pics came out. That first one was just superb!
As a small observation I would point out (as an old retired combat para)that stopping a vehicle at that point(on the high ground)is a no no.
I also concur that there is room for improvement with the figgie painting,IE more contrast on the uniforms with highlights and shadows and on the figgies' faces as well. That is the hardest part for any of us that build dios.
Please be assured that these are just constructive points and that I am very impressed with this dio and all of the fine work that you accomplished in it.
J

Wow....., firstly thanks ever so much on all the positive feedback you've all given. It's much appreciated!!!
Considering this project was supposed to be kept quite simple, the story tells itself etc....., without having to have so much going on, it's good to hear sometimes less is more!!
I agree 100% with you all on the figure (& face) painting being needing more consideration...., probably the groundwork is what I find easier as it probably has more artistic licence that's more forgiving!! Definitely need to work on them uniforms!!
It's amazing what you can do with 'Photoshop', & alittle spare time Good point about the jeep being on the high ground Jerry, never thought of that...., I'll get him to move it right away!!

Thanks again guys,
SIMON.

Yo Simon,

Splendid work...nice story.

Good groundwork and layout...

Keep up!

Greetz Nico

Awesome dio. I agree with the others on keep improving the figures, but the B&W photos are perfect!

Simon,

I go along with what the others have said. The layout (except the jeep ) and the ground work are really good. Once you get the figure painting to catch up with the rest you'll be producing some awesome dios.

Hi Simon,

simply love your terrain bits on the dio...and you are right that groundwork in general is a little more forgiving than figs. That's why I'm more into terrain myself!
Keep up the great job m8!
Cheers
Romain