Thank you Darren I was very concerned that you would be ticked at my taking too many liberties.

As to the towing clevises, I am afraid the other gentleman is correct: if one were to hook the clevis through the looped end of the tow cable and then bolt the clevis into the mounting tow point on the Konig's Tiger that would be the correct usage.

It has to be said Darren, considering the huge amount of work you put into contributing to Armorama, I'm not sure how you did find the time to do this.
It looks great, I particularly like that last photo - the way they're trudging along behind looks just right.
I go along with your thoughts on the snow too; some types of snow can be sticky and rather than falling off, have a tendency to build up instead. I often think that modellers have a slight tendency to play it safe with mud, snow etc. for fear of "covering up the model" and it's nice to see an example where the effect has a bit of commitment to it, as it were.

Looks great Darren, very nice work indeed.

Ant

A very fine diorama you have there Darren- I like the composition with the soldiers trudging along behind the KT- their poses give a nice sense of them trying to battle the cold. The KT also makes a great focal point and lets the viewer look direct to it before sweeping down past it to the figures behind. Excellent stuff!

As with most of us I suspect I tend to be over critical of my own efforts, and so it is good to hear when others tell you that for the most part it looks right. Thank you.

Amazing details on the figures, also the snow! I can get the feel as if infantrymen said "No more snow, please..." LOL Very incredible touch Darren, congratulations!

Nice one there Darren, snow is very convincing!!
Phil.

Sorry. I should have given you positive criticism as well - it's just that you already got lots. The concept and execution is excellent, and the snow very realistic. It really looks like 20 - 30 degrees below zero! I tend to be overly-critical and look for errors

Thank you for all of your comments.

Biggles negatives can be good as well due to the ability to learn. You have corrected me on an incorrect long held belief, Thank you.

Excellent, Darren!

Very nice Darren. Great job on the figures and snow. The KT doesn´t look half bad either.

Some very important points have been raised in this thread, that all we dio builders should take heed of. Michael Koenig raises a very important point with colour temperature. His photo manipulation shows a huge improvement over the originals. Painting a scene like this, we should take the temperature into account and paint acordingly with colder colours. Its one thing being able to manipulate a photo, but I see too many winter scenes with warm rust and warm mud colours in real life. Adding some dark blues and purples would change the hue appropriately. Makes the scene more realistic to the eye as well.

Several guys have also mentioned ground work. I would include composition in this as well. If the base was smaller, its enough to show snow in the immediate area. But with a bigger base like this, a thick layer of snow hides the possibility for 2D details and drags down the overall scene. We have to accomodate for this, by adding more 3D detail for effect. The first image with a tree in the backgound goes some way towards this. Varying heights would have been another method to accomplish this.

This is as much as a "note to self" as I write this, but they were my spontaeneous thoughts while looking at the images.

Just a thought:

There would be room for a wrecked/flattened jeep, kubel or swimwagon covered in snow on this dio and it would create the 3D affect you mentioned above.

Frank thank you for your comments which do highlight things to consider.

Michael I did consider placing a small destroyed German artillery gun in the scene, but it seemed to much to me.

On the subject of size; it is large because I have ordered a glass case to go over it and so the base had to be large enough to accomadate that main gun and the figures.

Just happened to come across this photo from another dio. If one were going to pre-connect the tow lines to the clevis this is how it would be done.

Regards

So for my understanding of AFV terminology, the cable is attached to the shackle which is attached to the towing mount.
The clevis being the C shape connector not seen in this
photo.

Correct?

Cheers,
Joe

The clevis IS what you are calling the shackle. Either name probably fits just as well.

Thanks Michael