Hey everyone......

A new project in the making, abit of a re-do of an old dio I built 8-9 years ago. The cabinet is full to bursting, room is at a premium, & it gets to a point when you look at some of the old stuff you may have done many plastic figures ago, & just think ‘ouch’, those guys/terrain/vehicle etc... are looking really abit tired & ‘basic’ for want one a better word. For instance on these early guys I didn’t even have the courage at the time to even think about attempting painting faces. The detail in the figures is basic, no extra detail on the vehicle, the groundwork is nothing special etc.. etc, & virtually no story. So instead of clearing the space for new kits, it’s time to create a new scene with the old stuff (plus afew newbies), & try and develop some new found skills. Well that’s the idea anyway........
The original model from some years ago....



I like the idea of building a dio on something abit different for a change, I’ve done a book before, have seen things like custom built ammo boxes, so thought I’d try building this one on a piece of tree trunk, cut across like a ‘coin’ shape, approx 1.5” high, by 12” wide. I wanted to make a connection between the panzer, terrain & figures with the tree trunk, so decided on an Ardennes dio, early May 1940, well they’ve got afew trees there....
Measured the area on the shelf for this to fit, it was bigger than the original piece of tree trunk, so cut it in half & ‘stretched’ it by filling the gap in the middle. This gave me the space to allow for all the detail & terrain, panzer & figures I wanted to tell the story. The gap also allowed me to add a slit trench for the French, which would add to the scene. The gap between the 2 pieces was filled with card, polystyrene & glued, before filling in the rest with plaster & ‘DAS’ modelling material. The bark came off obviously during the cutting stage, so will be re-attached before any further groundwork is done. I’ll also leave a couple of cm of the trunk visible on either end of the groundwork to show that it really is a tree trunk. Will probably clear varnish the wood & bark at the end to give it all a nice finish. But that’s an age away.....



Would also like to mention a couple of books I bought recently which hopefully will help things move along, & are an excellent read with tips & ideas. Will use both of these for guidance & help throughout this project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXK8rBI7g9M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddVl-TIdZ0Q




So for the kits, the Panzer 1 is from Dragon, # 6186. This so far I’ve just cleaned it up, removed the decals & tracks, & given it a base coat of grey primer. The 2 original tank crew included with the kit have had new Hornet heads & arms. The other original kit is Dragons #6344 Infantry Div Poland. These guys too have been primed in grey, with a new head for one of them .The new guys are Dragon’s Germania Regiment France 1940, # 6281. These all had new Hornet heads, & was the first time I’ve used any of there Gen 2 series. Ultra detail, very nice, each figure come in 33+ parts. Found them a little smaller in size than there other Dragon counterparts, but nice to put together. Will have 4 MK35 French folk, a farmer & his wife (although there not labelled as such) & a couple of prisoners, same kit just different Hornet heads. Have used MK35 quite a lot, really like there civilians’ in particular, & unlike the Dragon figs, only have 4-5 parts each person, sometimes even less....
Wanted the story to be a troop of Germans coming through the forest track, into a clearing where there’s a small French dwelling (ducks, geese etc...) & a small French defensive position, although not a shot’s even been fired once the defenders saw the tank coming & just surrendered. The invaders are looking to cause mischief & chaos with there newly captured inhabitants, hence the angry war heads from Hornet (# HH38), the defeated expressions of the prisoners (# HH26), & the title of the diorama. I’ll make a small sub section of a building to give the effect that someone lives there, washing on a line etc...
It’s a lot to put on a small piece of log, but I think it’s all do-able, & will hopefully tell a nice story, unless you’re French perhaps...











The final positions for the figures & tank are only a rough guide, depending on how all the other elements fit in. The green tokens are where the MK35 figs will go.

As always, all comments & ideas more than welcome, will start on the figure painting soon with more epics to follow!
Cheers for now,

SIMON

Hi Simon ,

that's quite a story.... I'm not french although i understand the language very well. Between you and me .... i'm glad you did not take the Belgians because we did also surrender a lot in those days . So thank you very much for that.

It looks very ambitious and promising , looking forward to see more.
Good Luck !!

Cheers
Kurt

Hi everyone...
Cheers Kurt....., sorry for the 'slight dealy', thanks for the feedback!

Well its been a while, took abit of a sabbatical since beginning this one, although drifted in & out over the past few months. Anyway, the 6 German infantry are now almost completed, just need the weapons & details finishing. For the first time, spent time with highlights & shadows on the uniforms, took obviously alot longer to paint them, but the difference is noticeable, especially on the 'Dragon Gen 2' guys which have much more detailed uniform than the older 'Dragon Polish Division'.
Changed the layout & figure placement a little too, Decided to have the French farmers wife up on the small hill, between 2 trees, hanging out the washing, to give the dio some human element. The small white plastic rectangle on the left will be where the entrance to their small humble house will begin, with the angry farmer close by. Again to try & portray the fact that the invading force have just turned up & making a nuisance of themselves. The hill was made with foam & clay, with plaster for the road & groundwork. Am planning to have the hill made up of a mix of trees, shrubs, bare rock & grass.









I appreciate the Panzer is missing a machine gun, & some lights on the front, they just have to be put back. Bought some 'Easy Metal Links' for the Panzer too, pretty good, but take some getting used to into getting a system going. As mentioned before, am intending to have upto 12 figures on here, which is alot for such a small base, the 6 infantry, 2 panzer crew, 2 civilians & 2 French prisoners. Hopefully they'll all have a place in the 'story'.....





Thanks for looking....., any advice or ideas more than welcome....
SIMON.

Great figure interaction here, well done.

-Conor

Very nice concept. I like all of the elements that you have assembled for this one.
J

A little linguistic correction:

"links" (with an "s") means "to the left" and "rechts" (with an "s") means "to the right." You need them when used as adverbs and not as adjectives Auf der linken Seite for example, means "on the left side" where link modifies Seite and is inflected.

Genau richtig,glaube Ich.

If Jerry says it's true, it must be!

And it's probably time to point this one out again:

"German for Modelers"

Hello everyone..,

Have to admit Bill, you had me 'a little' confused at first with your 'German for Beginners'..... until I realized you were talking about the pic of the original model I'd done some years ago, & am trying to improve now... I had actually been corrected on that post too at that time, about the spelling, & the nameplate was changed accordingly. Appreciate the info though, at least the name this time round is abit easier to spell....
Conor & Jerry - thanks for the feedback, as my painting & detail isn't upto as much as others on here, I do at least try & tell a story with the scene & figures. Hornet heads as always invaluable for that!!!

Spent this week on the groundwork, using the excellent 'Landscapes of War' book, as mentioned above as a guide & reference, have painted the road, rocks & grass, using acrylics & oils, and some new found techniques... Before I would have just airbrushed much of the groundwork, everything this time was painted by brush, blending various shades whilst they were still wet, to try & achieve some subtle blending.









The rocks were kept a different colour to the main base rock, to add more tones & variation.
Ideally, I would have probably attempted the tree stump before everything got painted, but as usual, ideas develop as you go along. The idea behind the stump is to have it there as something the farmer had used to chop up logs on, & an axe beside it, to add a little more detail. The stump was made with a piece of branch, & clay. The book recommended using putty...., but that was out of stock from the 'Groundworks' box.... Happy enough for a first attempt. Will try a similar thing with the other 'planted' trees, instead of just gluing them into the rock surface.







There's still alot to add to the rock surface, flowers & mossy forest from Reality in Scale, paint the moss a deeper green to the scatter that's been glued on, the tress & figure. There's still some water to add to the puddles on the road, as well a some running down the crack in the rock. All comments & critiques as always most welcome......

SIMON.

Looking good so far. Intrigued to see how the water turns out as this is something I've always been tempted to incorporate into a future dio.

Hey everyone..,

Thanks for the feedback Harry, sorry it took so long to reply, abit of a slow burner still this one, what wonders a week off work can do....!!! As I'll explain a little further in the text, I'm planning on using both AK Interactive's Wet Effect Fluid for some water, as well as Solid Water's 2 part mix. There's not going to be that much, just a trickle coming from the rock face, plus afew puddles.

Cracked on with the small cabin (very small cabin )this week, ideally would have made something much bigger, but size restrictions and all that. It'll just give the impression that the elderly man & his wife live there. Finished pretty much the rocks & vegetation too, with the woman & her washing. For the first time used AK Interactive's Wood Effect Wash, Slimey Grime Wash & Wet Effects. Diluted with White Spirit as necessary give a really nice effect, would definitely recommend......
With most of the figures 90% done, have started on the Panzer now, repainting the one from the original dio. Used AK Interactive washes for Panzer Grey for this one too, definitely not as easy as the videos make out, but worth persisting with..., not my strong point!













Appreciate there's nothing 'military' yet, but it should all start coming together soon..... Looking forward to giving the cabin a go with the new washes, the panzer is starting to have tracks & extras added, & the figures will soon begin to take their places.

Thanks for looking, hope to start adding more pics soon..
Cheers
Simon.

Hi Simon ,

that's a great update and i like the cabin already and the old lady hanging up the washes nice painting work as well , beautiful scene . Very good !

Kurt

Cheers Kurt..., thanks for that, like to try & add some kind of 'normality' into some of my stuff...., hence the washing line.

Hello everyone, abit more work, afew more pics.
Finally got the Panzer finished, although not as good as some of the stuff I've been using for reference pics etc..., still really happy with it, adding the stowage & flag to the original kit, as well as giving it a complete makeover...









Added another 3 figures in place, & a couple of chickens..... Filled in afew puddles with 'muddied' Deluxes Solid Water & the trench at the front needs adding to.











Still 4 German figures to add, plus 3 more from MK35 to purchase. Working on the cabin at the front now, treating the wood to try & give it some weathering. Decided to make it more of a farmers workshop/tool shed as due to size restrictions it's not practical to give it a homely interior.

Have the idea for the next project already simmering in the brain, so keen now to get this one completed... Thanks for reading, more updates soon (hopefully)....
SIMON.

Simon
What a tight lil' diorama you've got chugging along! I fully appreciate how you incorporated some past, present, and future into something so compressed. And some great feedback re new products that I've been curious about using as well.
The idea is sound putting it on an natural base like that while having the villager's attempting mundane chores. It really brings it together, as will the expected forest trees framing it right, left, and rear. Great forest hut too, and that could help balance the presence of the encroaching vehicle.
Dude, Im currently digging, sifting, and climbing thru a couple decades old stash trying to jump back into this wonderful field of art. Like so many others on here too I suppose.
Thanks for what you've got so far, will be looking for more.
Dave

Hi Dave......, thanks for the feedback & kind comments, really appreciate it...

The challenge, as often is, was to try and incorporate as much going on, in as smaller area, with little 'dead space'. The size of the log was determined by the space on my shelf, but pleased how everything took shape. Like to add as much info as I can in terms of products used, like you mentioned, there's some really good stuff out there.
Downloaded for free an iPad app the other day for AK interactive, which as well as other things, includes there 2016 catalogue which has 228 pages of product info with photos and tips....., well worth a look.
Have finished, painted & added the cabin to the dio..., will add afew new pics in the next day or so.. Just awaiting to get the last few figures from MK35 before adding the last few finished guys. Contemplating whether to add anything to the trench, any gear, or leave it as it is.
Thanks again....,
Simon.

I like the mood in this action packed scene that you have created. It's also nice to see an early war dio for once,very nice.
J

Hey Simon no worries, you"re very welcome! And Thanks for the product tip!
Medium, large, jumbo dios and even small vignettes like these can get bogged down. Creating a challenge keeps the interest.

There was a campaign here a awhile ago, "Postcard Challenge". Limitation dims were of a standard postcard, plan view wise. Also one natural item, one vehicle, and a couple other requirements. Naturally it went unfinished, but it was fun cramming so much into a base size of 3.5"x 5" or so.
Watching for the rest of your population to arrive, so you go man

Cheers Dave

Hi Jerry & Dave...., thanks as always for the feedback..., Dave you're right about getting 'bogged down' even on the smallest of pieces, today made a start on the next project which hopefully will be simple enough, but of a personal interest..., so that's all the motivation needed to get this finished.
2 of the final 3 figures arrived today, Mk35 peasant & prisoner..., hardly any assembly needed, so painting of the peasant farmer to do this week, unfortunately only 1 of the required 2 prisoners were in stock, so will have to wait for #2 before painting, to make sure the uniforms match. Anyone any ideas on a colour match for French infantry coats & helmets......???
The cabins almost done, put some logs in, just the figures to finish off now.....









Just changed the head on the prisoner obviously so the second guy who will be in the same pose won't be his twin... Wanted him to look abit depressed & worried, Hornet heads as always match any expression necessary. Took the helmet off the original head to use though..., it's not buried in the ground underneath...







Thanks as always for looking, any advice on those French uniforms would be a great help..
Cheers,
SIMON.

Hello everyone...
Well its been a while since I got round to get this finished, the last project sort of bullied this one outta the way... Anyway, as mentioned before, this is set on the edge of the Ardennes Forest during Germany's invasion of France in May 1940, and I wanted to try & depict some chaos & misery they put upon the locals at that time.







Figures are from MK35 & Dragon, with afew invaluable heads from Hornet to help tell the story better. Once everything was complete, I varnished the bark around the outside to give it abit more a finish, the name plate on the front I got was finished in Brushed Silver with Silver Lettering, which unfortunately isn't always very readable, depending on the angle. Got one with Black Lettering recently, which stands out much more... Ideally the cabin on the left would've been much bigger, but unfortunately the size & space limited that.









Thanks as always for looking, any thoughts or critiques always welcome..... Now onto the next project, first job........ find some more room to put it....

Cheers,
SIMON.

Really really nice concept and base. You did a great job on everything and certainly fitted a bunch of nice stuff in a very small place. Lots of emotion as well.
J

SIMON, This dio came out great. I like how you used old and new items. The tree round works really well.

Robert