OK,I will try to remove my boot from your dark spot. I was wondering what was up with this as it looks so good. If you want to take time to regroup,that is perfectly understandable to me as I have been there many time brother!
J

Hi model builders -

Wow - it's been three months since I had a "real" post for this build - although a bit burned out, I have not given up on this build - and, now, after that time, am back and looking forward to keeping this moving - please take a look:



In case you were wondering what burned me out...above represents two bags of Woodland Scenics tall grass....I've used at least 8 of these so far....good times...



And, above, twice as many! each bundle gets cut in half, and ready to be "planted"!



Slow going or not, I like the results.





Part of this that was pretty interesting was figuring out how to make the grass looked knocked over, suggesting the GMVs drove through....hope you all think so too!



As you can see above, the goal was to make the trucks look like they are convincingly in the grasses....so far so good.









In most places shown above, more foreground grasses and ground detailing will be installed, plus three more trucks and many figures - so the focus will likely be different when this is done.



As you can see above, I still have more to "plant"...but...it's getting there.



Above, you get a better sense of the grass I installed over the weekend - and, I think a nice view of the knocked over grass, representing the GMVs trail.

I ran out of grass, so, I've ordered more, and anticipate, another few days of grass! Next, I'll focus on detailing the ground plane. It has a long way to go. I want to add pebbles, sand, dirt etc and variation and colors. In the mean time, I need to build a few more figures. In any event, I'm once again optimistic about this build!



thanks for checking it out

Nick

Hey Nick!
Holy crabgrass! That is some remarkable groundwork ... emphasis on "work!" You're really nailing down the feel of this scene ... gives me goosebumps!!!

—mike

Hi Mike - glad you're liking it so far! That bit of optimism helps - many a blade of grass lay ahead of me on this!

Thanks for checking it out

Nick

Hello there,

This is great. Modern subjects aren't really my thing but I really like pretty much everything about this.

As has been mentioned, some of the photos could pass as real.

Nice work

Cheers

Sean

Nick , Mike [ justsendit ] turned me on to your builds , beautiful work man .
Your other dios are just crazy cool too !!!

How did I miss this one? Very inspirational vehicle builds, I love your GMVs, and all the little differences you made to each vehicle. Fantastic stuff.

I like the idea of the setting. I'll be following closely.

Well done,
Mario

PS This owuld make an amazing feature for the site once the diorama is finished. Interested?

Yep,I agree,some of those pics could pass for the real deal! Easily.
J

I too agree with the accolades Stick....awesome once again...

Wow, the amount of effort, work, and resources you poured into this vignette is incredible. You have ventured where few armor modelers traveled: two GMWs and a Warpig all with extra accessories and all in one setting. Kudos!

Hi guys - thanks for having a look!

Sean, thanks, and glad you like it! Since I've presented on armorama, I've worked pretty hard on getting dio photos close to "right" - a lot of you guys have good eyes for details - so, the pics become pretty important

Hi Cheyenne - thanks for checking this out - Mike is one heck of a builder, and is excellent with figures - he and Jerry - man! Makes me try harder to up the work quality!

Hi Mario, thanks for the comments and dropping by. When I started this, you we're in the process of building your over the top GMV - wow heck of a build! Somewhere in the post I mention your work as aspirational! As to the feature, yes, as long as I manage to keep the quality high....we'll see - Still a long way to go!

Hi Jerry - well, your firm kick squarely in my butt got this going again! Thanks! I know my figures are still not great, but your WIP photos have helped a lot! Thanks! By the way, that rock cliff you're building looks great.

Dave, our never sleeping, model building friend from the Great White North! Thanks you hoser!

Hi Peter, thanks! Yes, this build is based on an actual event - which, as it turns out, is fairly well chronicled. As such, the reports spell out the circumstances and equipment fairly clearly. Regarding resources, if you go back through the post you'll find a lot of scratch building - I just didn't want to spend a fortune on conversion kits. The HMMWVs are Academy's version, which happened to be on a big sale - so, four cost about the same as one (much more detailed) Bronco kit. Next I lucked out finding clearance sales on all sort of stuff - resin figures for $5, and tires etc at great prices!

Ok - right now, I'm waiting for the postman to deliver....more grass!

Happy model building!
Cheers

Nick

Yup, I'm still at it, but somehow lost the GMV mojo in the process.

As for the feature, we'll keep in touch. I'm always looking for high-quality content for the site. Your work is definitely in that category...

Mario

Hi guys --

I'm still at it, planting grass that is....another two bags of Woodland Scenics grass...good times....you might not even notice the difference! It is there though, lots of little clumps added. You will though, begin to see something of a cropped trail area, and where I'll eventually need to pay more attention to ground textures and colors - just not anytime soon!









Believe it or not, I planted many, many clumps of grass - just for fun - I planted a backhoe I built a while ago - so not a what if? a why not?

take a look:





Ok - that's all for now -thanks for having a look!

Nick

Nice backhoe! Wow, this diorama looks great!

It may be tedious now buddy,but it will pay off in the end. It already looks really really nice. The outside pictures will look awesome.
J

Hi Nick

Thank you for the inspiring work - I'm absolutely blown away.

The hard work planting the grass is really paying off - your trail looks convincing and, with the right background, most people will think your photos are the 'real thing',=.

Keep up the good work mate - you're almost there.

Regards,
Kobus

Coo u koo koo, coo u koo, koo.... No sure if I spelled that, or punctuated that quite right, but....

Nick, you have more grass there, and taller, than I may have on the course this year. Our meagre snowfall, and El Niño influenced warm winter... coupled with last years lack of rainfall are all conspiring to signal a very, very, very dry spring, summer, and fall for the upcoming season.

But enough of my problems... Loving the progress sir. The trampled down grasses are especially nice. And your vehicles are sick, Nick. Take off eh? Beauty!

Hi guys - thanks for having a look.

Peter, as you know, I do have fun with scratchbuilding things - that backhoe just looked like a great opportunity to start cutting up the evergreen on! And, the dio - it's getting there....and the backhoe, maybe a dio for it someday too, but not this one.

Hi Jerry - yes, Mr King-o-Building-Until-it's-Done!! Thanks. I've been making a few more bundles of grass each night after work. Once that's done, on to gravel, sand, etc to get the ground plane taken care of. Thanks for the good word! That said, an observation you made quite a while ago is unhappily for me, coming true. While this is a relatively big dio, I'm getting a bit nervous that it might get a bit crowded...hmm. The grass is doing a remarkable job of "visually defining the trail" - in other words, the once "giant" base, isn't so giant anymore...again, hmm...

Hi Kobus, thanks for the encouragement - that said, it will be a while before I decide on another grassy meadow!! In the meantime, I will finish. Thanks again.

Hi Dave, King-o-the-Greens!!! And model builder dedicated to the long haul! You know how it goes, keep on building and keep on building until there isn't much more to build. It's getting there. Thanks for tuning in

Ok, until next time - cheers

Nick

When you finish planting,take a few days and don't look at the thing. Then you can make a reasonable appreciation of the scale and size of the base? You may be too"on top of it" right now.
This may be a bit late but....I have seen in the past guys use fake fur fabric with the suitable heigth to the fur for large pasture areas. They airbrush it,etc. Mucho easier.
J

Hi Jerry - yep, too late this time for alternatives to the grass I'm using, and, it's almost done now! which, by itself is good news!

I will though, when the time comes, step back for a day or two - in order to have a clear head when the time comes to start gluing figures and vehicles in place.

IN an effort to not plant grass, but to keep the project moving, I worked on the last few figures - I'm sorry for these pictures! The figures look better in real life! these were shot two days in a row, on my way out the door for work. The first two images are pre-primer - you'll see plenty of cutting up, resulting in plenty of putty. The next two include a few layers of colors - uniform base, some camo, and a few details. Please take a look:





And below, with some paint. In this picture, they look like they're doing a crazy dance - haha - they're not - they will each eventually wind up doing some task around trucks. You might remember one of the GMV has the hood open, so one of these guys will be stretching into the engine area.





Ok, again, sorry about the fuzzy pictures! they don't look nearly as bad in real life -

thanks for checking them out!

NIck

Lookin good Nick , can't wait to see these boyos in the field .

Put a bonfire in the middle of that bunch and they could be doin the voodoo thing.
J

Hi Nick ,

nice progress on the figures and they're good ! Between you and me ; as they are standing now , are they trying to do the Sirtaki ???

well done !

Kurt

As always, very impressive work. This is an awesome diorama and everything looks very real, just needs a pictured backdrop and it's the real thing. Awesome, thanks for sharing.

JGphins

Hi Nick, I have been keeping up to date with your posts, but very quiet to this point. The reason for that, is because as a Diorama n00b, I am just gobsmacked at the brilliant, realistic depiction you have created, and are creating. I have Armorama as a bookmark at both work and home, however this build I have as a standalone bookmark to inspire me to try a dio for some of my builds. You have done a fantastic job, and just remember, there IS light at the end of the tunnel.

Remarkable work.