Hi Jerry,

now that's what I call a perfect camouflage!! Congratulations m8!!

The only thing wrong...is the reddish mud on the wheels!!

Only joking!!!

Cheers

Romain

Top notch, I'm even learning on this one, adding to the 3D bushier effect makes a lot of difference. The fern is flat by nature and gluing the smaller pieces fixes a lot of the 2D effect.
- John

Well done! The 3D effect on the fern really is great, like everyone else has said. Top notch work sir, love the look of it. The figure inside fit perfectly.

Glad to see you back at this one!

-Conor

Love the look this gives to the vehicle- plus it looks very convincing and natural- I think I'll have to get some of that stuff.

Hi Jerry

Very beautiful work,all is excellent,the plants,the soil,the vehicle and perfect colors

@Romain-thanks for checking in buddy. Yea,I know,no red! Next time I will know better. I am getting near"burn out" on this dio and so didn't want to go back and hand paint the red out of the mud. I was afraid the whole project would get shelved as I have a bit of ADD.
@John-your stuff has really helped me a bunch with this dio and the GI gun crew vignette for sure. It won't be the last either.
@Conor-thanks for keeping with this long long thread buddy

Thanks buddy,
I am not totally satisfied with it but I think it's fairly close. I least I got over my fear of doing natural cammo,thanks to John.
J

Thanks my friend,very generous of you to say,
J

Got to agree with the rest of the lads Jerry, this has become a textbook on how to do things right! The groundwork, the vehicle, the figs.. All perfect ADD? I feel your pain, brother! I get bored halfway through one figure, so I can only sympathise here
This should definitely be a feature. Mods, please take note!
This is going to be a classic!
All the best buddy,
Gary

Very nice things to say Gary. I could say the same for your blogs. I need to take notes from you on how to get that putty so thin. Do you roll it? Or do you just slap a blob on the fig and then sculpt away? That is my current,albeit heavy handed technique.
J

The road crew in charge of distressing was out today and started to work on the N33. Cracks were added as well as some more layers of track/vehicle patterns.



I need to get this road looking like it's misty and damp though. Need to figure that out next maybe?
J

Hi m8!

could it be that the road is too light in colour for "damp" and "misty"??

Looking great nevertheless!!!

Cheers

Romain

Well, what about a thorough wash with oils then..???

A bit scary I admit, but..!!??

Cheers

Romain

I will give it a test. I copied the color of my street in the front and that is the color but I suppose it needs to be darker as it needs to be wet?
J

Coming along very, very nicely, Jerry.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all of your figures finally together on the base along with the SPzW.

In regards to the road and making it look wet, I think you have to use both color and sheen combined. The water intensifies the color saturation. It seems that the sheen is not usually uniform, but varies across the surface from reflective standing water to wet aggregate to areas standing above the surface that are just dark. The clouds and mist tend to make the whole scene darker in rainy situations, too.

(Whereas snow covered scenes with melting snow and mud can naturally be brighter overall, as if the sun is out, with some elements being sun-dried and not wet-looking at all.)

FWIW, I'd suggest going to Google and typing in "wet road images" and peruse the pictures that come up.

I think this is a very difficult look to carry off well, and IMO, the problem that most guys have is that they make the glossy sheen too uniform rather than vary it naturally. Wet sand doesn't really look shiny, it looks dark but with a sheen at some angles, but it may have a shiny puddle next to it.

The problem is with the scale lighting effect, I believe, and achieving a natural looking levels of scale reflectivity / sheen across all the various elements in the scene - models, terrain, vegetation, etc.

Anyways, this project is already setting the bar very high, and I'm sure you'll amaze us with the results.

All sage advice my old buddy. You are correct about the wet road thing being hard to pull off. Maybe that's why I never did one before?
I see a weekend of experiments coming on. Luckily it rained this last week.....a LOT!!
J

I was trying to add some interest to the side of the dio. As this part of the N33 passed in front of the chateux and is a little bit towards LeGlieze,it was the spot where Maj McCowns' Bn temporarily blocked the road with felled trees and mines. They then withdrew when set upon by a scratch force of Grenadiers,couriers and clerks from the Bn and Regt HQ. They took a few wounded as casualties and lost a few men as POWs,including Maj. McCown. So I thought it would be quite logical to have a spot where one of the POWs was searched. I tried to show his combat gear and some personal papers that were discarded by his searchers as they looked for combat info and intel. This kind of debris was also found around dead bodies and is often miss-labeled as the dead being robbed.
Anyway,here is my poor rendition.

Nice touch! You sure did do all your research, not a single detail overlooked. I like the busted rifle too. Seems like every possible detail is getting put in. You got all of the info on this from "Duel in the Mist"?

-Conor

Thanks Conor,yup,it was all from Duel in the Mist.
J

Kept everyones' advice to mind and put some layers of stuff on my road. There is a black oil paint wash as per Romain and then a variation in wet,wetter and dry spots as per Mike. Also put some clumps from passing tracks,etc. It was hard to get a good pic as the light tended to make the shiny spots "overshine". It looks better in person. At least,that's my story and I'm stickin to it!




Starting to see that light at the tunnels' end now.
J

Even if we consider the obvious limitations of the photos, I find the result very convincing indeed! The road looks definitely wet!!!!

Well done buddy!!

Cheers

Romain

Looks great to me, I'm with you on the photo's, angle 1/2" one way or the other and everything seems to change.
I think I take 10 pics for every one I use.
- John

Romain and John,
Thanks for the comments and for looking in. Since I have no idea what I am doing with a camera,it's sort of hit and miss for me. Some days it just works,other days......
I wish I could get a better pic of the busted rifle though. I was kind of proud of the busted wood part. Didn't photograph too well.
J

Gave the camera another go. Still not what I wanted but some good shots in here maybe?
I managed to get the commo wire attached so you can see how the pole and hook worked to retrieve the wire from the trees.





And the money shot...