I thought something looked a bit off — thought my eye was playing a trick. After closer inspection, I believe it to be the POW's right hand. A thought ... maybe it would help if the head was rotated right and downward in order to cup the face.

Regardless ... lots of beautiful work here to admire!

—mike

Hello all..., thanks for taking the time to leave the comments guys, really useful.

Karl - You were right about the research, but it was all really interesting, you really felt for the Polish who suffered immensely, having there hopes raised, particularly by the soviets, only to then be left to it on there own. To be ultimately defeated by the Germans, & for the Russians to then just stroll into Warsaw in early 1945 & claim it for themselves, thank you very much !

Jerry - Haven't you seen the new Miniart kit, the one with the German infantryman with 2 heads, it's quite popular..... Hopefully the next few newer photos will explain all, & make sense of the scene in the cemetery.

Bob - Thanks for the 'new figures' advice, that threw a spanner in the works! Have never come across that make before, & looked up the figures of the children. Thought I had everything (& everyone) sorted, though there was no place to put them, then thought they 'could' go in the 2 smaller rooms at the back of the building, warning the guys outside of the Germans breaking in......but I would have to change the heads (facial expressions)....,& then 'my' head hurt....

Mike - Hopefully as I explained the POW with 2 heads makes abit more sense now, but thanks for the input....!

So the update now is the addition of 6 more AK guys. The ones in the blue shirts are Miniart's German Tank Crew, but with changes to the poses, new arms & a new head. The 2 in the cemetery, with the rifle threatening the POW & the one on the gate are MK35. There's a slight size difference between some of them, but I guess that would be a natural thing anyway.











I still have bits to do, fill up the halftrack with more provisions, put some oil filters on the rubble etc.... As for the cemetery, I sprinkled some fresh grass, added more flowers. Still need to cover up afew RIP's, as they weren't appropriate to the location. Painted the cemetery sign a lighter grey to hopefully make it stand out more.









Really pleased with how this last guy turned out, his facial expression, his demeanor really suited the scene. MK35 really do some nice civilians.
Going to start working on the building interior next, just the 5 more figures to add (perhaps no running children Bob ) Thanks for reading, any more advice, ideas as always welcome.....

Simon.

Very cool.

Absolutely love it Simon. Everything looks awesome!!

Randy

Hey again everyone......

Thanks Clayton & Randy for the comments!! Very appreciated.....
Well finally, after some 10 months things are almost finished!! Wasn't very happy with the layout of the blockade, & the guys sitting there, so 'robbed' an MK35 figure from another dio & put him in there with a new Hornet head showing some alarm. Changed the legs on another one to try & break up the uniformity that was there before. Repainted the uniforms & I think it looks alittle more dramatic now. The idea being there's a skirmish going on in the building, & the 'newbie' has heard the commotion....







Find it's when you use the macro setting especially is when you separate the really skillful modelers from us amateurs, all the tiny flaws shine like a beacon, unlike the stuff that looks almost like the real thing no matter how close you get......

Added glass to the windows, all the rubble to the buildings interior, along with some limited furnishings. Pretty pleased with the final results. Added fragments of broken glass, & the scattered 'ultimatum' leaflets, air dropped by the Germans, urging the Home Army & insurgents to surrender whilst they still could. Doubled the size of the leaflets from the originals, as they were a major part of the idea in the first place.









All that's left to do is give the plastic base & boarder a final coat of black, add the name plate, finish the fight going on in the ground floor room, maybe a street sign... Please feel free to post any comments, even ideas to improve things further......
Final pics coming later in the week

Cheers for now...
SIMON.

Nice to see you entering into the home stretch. This is one of the best ideas for a dio that I have ever seen and it is lookin good!! You really pulled off the feeling of the "rat warren" aspect of that battle with the sewers,barricades,etc.
J

In an already brilliant work, your instinct to make this change has really paid off. The area looks more realistically like cramped quarters now, and the figures have a very nice animated look to them. ... I like this section of the dio a lot!

A suggestion ... maybe add some sewer rats!

Overall, this is truly an amazing diorama — something to see at every turn!

—mike

Hi Jerry & Mike, thanks for the comments......

Mike, I already had half a packet of rats left from other dio's, Plus Models ones, which as someone already mentioned once before are identical pretty much to the Matho Models ones you linked to. I've got only a few scattered around, a couple at the front where the woman & child are, & one 'flattened' one in front of the AVG. Could still add one or two more though, especially with that sewer cover left open.....

Forgot to mention before.., for anyone interested in this subject & period, I bought a superb Polish made film called Miasto'44. Pretty good special effects, inspirational & motivational,a real eye opener to what the civilians were thrown into as the Russians approached, believing they were about to be liberated. Definitely worth a watch, here's a YouTube link to the trailer......:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eMPlYYpT_I

SIMON.

I really like the groundwork in the cemetery. Different kinds of plants and colors really work. What did you use for the grass? Looks very realistic.
Cheers,
Chris

Hi Chris....thanks for the comments...

The grass was from 'Expo', light green flock, static grass. The small coloured flowers were from 'Green Line', really nice product. Tall field grass from 'Woodland Scenics' & alittle lichen & seafoam. First time I'd used seafoam & it's really great stuff, really versatile! Sprayed alittle with green shades from the airbrush.
Hope that helps!

Simon.

Hey everyone..., final installment

Have added the name plate, finished the building debris, added the final figures & detail, & painted the boarder.







Made the street name using plastic card & homemade transfer paper. It is (I think) the street running up the side of the cemetery in Warsaw, although the actual street/building/cemetery set up is fictional. Have tried to be as accurate as possible with the historical side of things here, from the weapons, clothing, story, etc....., but of course to try & compress as much as you want to portray in such a confined space is a challenge. Ideally the Germans would have been entering the building much further down the street, a distance from the barricade. Unfortunately that would've made the base about another foot long, & another 12 months work.....!!





The fighting figures are MB Soviet Marines & German Infantry 35152, with a tweak to some body parts, heads & weapons to suit the time period.













Thanks as always for looking, please leave any comments, critiques & feedback. All appreciated!

Now, onto the next one.........
Simon.

Nice finish to a unique and very ambitious project! Nice to see some one actually get the amount of rubble right as most dios don't included nearly enough.
J