I am really blessed with a great boss and he was recently promoted to assistant superintendent of the school district. We always joke about how teachers and especially administrators take fire from all sides and are put in really precarious spots. So for his new office I built this so he could look over at it when he was getting his but chewed on and laugh.

It depicts the siege of Bastogne and I call it "Nuts"

Tank is Tamiya 1:48 Sherman. Paints are Tamiya and Vallejo, with Windsor and Newton oils used for washes and highlights. A little bit of artist pastels thrown in as well. I used Archer Fine Transfers 1:48 generic dry transfers.

The wall is built with model railroad "stone" and the tree that took a shell hit is a hunk off a red cedar from my farm. The boards in the rubble are regular balsa strips and I included some fine gravel from the driveway. The snow is elmers white glue and varying amounts of baking soda for different textures.

This is really only my second or third try at a "real diorama." any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.









PS. I'm sorry for the poor photo quality, I have a cheap camera!

Thanks, Hellbent

cut the taller grass down. Other than that, it's excellent. Really good work on the tank. Looking at DIO I feel as if I'm there. You did a really good job.

Thanks! I was really wondering about the grass. I was going for some taller thick weeds but I don't think the grass came across right. What would be a good material for that?

Thanks, Hellbent

Great title! And a really nice gift for The Boss! Of course he's just gonna' gaze at this all day and not get any work done!

--mike

Personally I would take the grass out altogether. It looks a little out of place in what is otherwise an excellent dio

what came to mind for me was yellowed grass barely coming up out of the snow. So trimming alittle and yellow to brownish coloring. Just my take on it. I still really like it over all.

The big weakness for me is the snow on the tank; it looks like foam from a car wash. Try this (which I learned from Dan Capuano, a master at winter dios.
Get some Woodland Scenics snow which is a flaky material. Also, get some AK Pigment Fixer. Apply a drop of fixer, an enamel based product. Sprinkle the snow on it. Let it dry. Build up depth by repeating the process.

I think the snow looks fine. It looks placed well and not to over done as well as what I think it would look like if it alternately accumulated and melted.

Brrrrr..... I get cold just looking at it!

Nice job. I like the snow, and the snow on the tank looks like it should. Some guys try to cover the tank w snow like it were a flocked christmas tree when in reality it slides off in chunks, melts and referees just as you have there.

I noticed you're from Kansas too .... Needless to say you know what snow looks like piled on top of equipment.

The grass is a little tall but it moves the eye across the scene. Maybe bend the tops over from having been snowed on and then released by the thaw. Really like the blown away tree. Nothing beats the real thing, twigs, rust, sifted garden dirt, crushed kitty litter and homemade mud, etc. No one can challenge the reality of those effects regardless of how hard Vallejo, Tamiya and Humbrol, and Scenic etc try.

The snow looks good also but the drips down the sponsons look a little unrealist to me. It's a vertical surface and unless the vehicle was flash frozen it wouldn't have stuck like that but probably would have formed icicles. Making icicles in 48 scale would be akin to gargling with peanut butter. The build up on flat surfaces is perfect.Leave the one on the turret top however. The mantelet and rear hatch are also perfect.

Although it's too late now,maybe depressing the area a little behind the tracks would add a little to the scene?

All that having been said it's a very nice dio especially in 48 scale. I'm positive your boss will like it just as it is. The hand lettering also adds to the effect. I have enough trouble in 35 scale with Eastern Front dirt and don't do winter. I spent a good part of my life in the top of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where we got 250 plus inches of snow and Northern Wisconsin where the temp went to forty degrees below no temperature at all every year. I'm afraid of frostbite if I start doing winter '42 Russian dios. I have to turn up the thermostat watching "Stalingrad." or "The Winter War".

Thanks all! I really do appreciate the feedback! I do have a hard time knowing when to stop on different effects. It seems it goes "Oh that's nice, oh yeah that looks good... Oh crap!"

After you guys mentioned the grass I do see what you mean by looking around at other folks work.

Thanks, Hellbent

Good to find a neighbor on here, there aren't may of us around!

Yeah, I was actually trying to picture that in my head when I applied the snow. I do find myself looking around at different machinery or nature objects and seeing how weather or use has effected them for my modelling.

well, not shure what strange snow you´ve got in Kansas, but it looks like shaving cream spilled on your dio....
Guess it would be worth a try applying some baking soda over it, to break that foamy look.

the grass (when spread a bit more and toned a bit browner) fits the scene, paintjob looks cool aswell
but just my 2ct

Hellbent 11,

Lovely work, I haven't tried snow yet, but its on the list, I like the setting and the work you have done on the ground work and the Sherman its self is really well done.

I would put some marks on the ground to denote the movement of the crew.... or visitors to the vehicle, if it was in situe for a long time the crew would have been out for a pee or to get food or even just for a stretch. if it is a vehicle that has just got to this point there should be tracks in the snow behind it.....

All in all it is a great depiction of the conditions.

Anto