Looking good.

I only have one question. If this is supposed to be present day shouldn't the tracks be washed away?

He said in an earlier post the track marks were only place holders for positioning the vehicle. This is a great idea, and I think it may lead to more "found object" dioramas. I could see a similar idea in an Iraqi Freedom setting, perhaps with a modern British or American tank crew finding a British or Italian (or even German) vehicle that would have been supporting the pre-WWII/WWII Iraqi army-- or something in Tunisia maybe? Still think the Indiana Jones character would be fun though. VR, Russ

Anyone like to engineer a figure exchange? SomeJapanese soldiers for two British summer uniform guys? I have Dragon and Tamiya figures... Some weapons as well...

I have in mind the British 8th Army Infantry set from Tamiya... the pointing officer and the kneeling rifelman are my main interests. I have two Dragon Japanese figure sets and one Tamiya... I am mainly using the equipment...

So it would be a 10 for 2 prisoner swap... 10 Japanese for 2 British... please let me know...

I have been using EnviroTex for the bottom layers of water but am switching to a faster setting resin called "QuikWater" for the waves.

There shouldn't be an issue with them playing nice together, should there?

Will be doing waves on Saturday.

I have a plan but unfortunately Indiana Jones isn't part of it. There will a camera crew (from the History Channel) shooting from the hill. A still photographer will be kneeling next to the newly exposed corpse of the machine gunner behind the sandbag wall. A "supervisor" will be standing back giving directions. Barrels will surround the base of the tree to the port side. Artifact table still a question. I am going to keep some of the interior parts of the tank such as the muffler and a couple of pontoon connection wheels thrown up on the back of the tank.

Comments or suggestions?

First,I love the realistic palm trees you have made.Second,this entire project is looking great to me at this time.Can not wait to see how this ends.

Love the idea of old wrecks on pacific islands ,
The palm trunks look real good......the only things i would change is :
Turn the tank around and don't use the terrible looking sandbags

And definitely what Master Rutman said,
using a dremel to cut off about a quarter from the bottom of the vehicles' hull? This will make it sit down in the sand a nice way right from the start? I think after 40 plus years it would have settled quite a bit.

Well, turning the tank around kind of defeats the whole purpose of using it as a shore battery... and the sand bags were just for planning purposes...

I am planning on "settling the tank" in the sand but not quite all the way evenly... previous posts described my plan...

Thanks for the suggestions and the comments on the palm trees! I appreciate any input!

Hello, love your project. My two cents, just go with what you invision and don't worry about anyone elses. Wayne

Thank you, Wayne...

Hi Patrick,

Awesome dio - love the "back story" to it. Following along closely.

Regards,
Kobus

Thanks, KU... I know people mean well. Maarten probably doesn't mean to sound critical, he is voicing his opinion.

And it is exactly that... opinion. But you know what they say about opinions... they are like belly buttons. Everybody has one and most of them are fuzzy...

Thanks all for your support!

Hi Patrick - looking great! You've got quite a project underway! As I read the posts it reminded me of a project Kurt Nuyttens built s few years ago - called The Field of Silence - you can find it in the Features section. It's not a beach scene, but includes discovery of a derelict vehicle - and beautiful work! You might want to check it out. In the meantime, keep up the great work!
Cheers
Nick

Cool, Nick! I'll check it out... I have one more set of figures and supplies to order... need to finish waves/water tomorrow and then set about the tank. Can't buy Dremel until after 22nd of month but we are getting there...

Thanks for your words and advice!

[quote]Thanks, KU... I know people mean well. Maarten probably doesn't mean to sound critical,quote]

No criticism at all to you and your skills ,just don't think Tamiya or any other plastic sandbags look good.

Last pour of beach water... figure represents position of machine gun nest... also opted to not mount lower machine gun from tank as it will have been salvaged already and lying about...



After seeing the placement, I moved the tank back from the waterline to give more space for the sandbagged nest... mind you all this is preliminary.

Now to the second discovery... I was in the mood to experiment with LiquiTex and so spread it on the top of the kit box. Having worked with latex in the past with special effect make-up, I thought maybe this would peel up. And it did! SO, my conclusion is that you could spread LiquiTex on a plate of glass, let it dry, gently peel it and glue it place somewhere else like a tight space or...

Hmmm...

Beach with waves of LiquiTex... we shall see... no pun intended...

Use Chiclets or Dentyne for sandbags. soak the candy shell off with cold water. The gum is the correct size and easier to shape than hard plastic sandbags and plastic bags are fake looking. I have built a Vietnam bunker using Chiclets.
Ken

Thanks... Not all the sandbags are plastic and that's a great idea... 30 of them are from Thachweave...

The water and waves and the sand all look convincing.
J

Thanks, J! The LiquiTex is drying to clear but I took a photo so I can paint it to somewhat match. This morning, I took a look and I thought "Man, I wish I could freeze the process right here!"

And I just want to say that the Chiclets/Dentyne idea is fab... I will take a look at that!

All the ideas and feedback make me want to get this done but we are going to NASCAR this weekend so there will be a delay in building... and then there is this fabulous house that we are to make an offer on this week. It has a built in shop in the garage and a bigger space in an old tack room. By the end of the year, I hope to set back up again with airbrush etc... I am going to ask for a new compressor for Christmas. Everybody keep your fingers crossed for us!

Hi Patrick - your water is looking good - after a mediocre experience with it in my model rr days, I've generally given up on it - but, what you've done sure looks good!

Have fun at the races! And, good luck with the new place - The shop sounds great!

Nick

I wish I could have magically stopped the LiquiTex drying process right here as this is a great look... I took the photo for painting reference.


And 10 hours later...


Your comments are always appreciated. This is the first time I have done water and waves... I guess that is why there are so many photos. And it is my first armor diorama...

Thanks in advance for looking!

Hi Patrick,

I think that the water is looking great. I have always wanted to experiment with this aspect of modeling but have never found the right application nor the nerve to attempt it. It looks awesome especially for your first time working on it. How hard was it to achieve what you have till this point? I plan on building a M1151 that took an RPG round on my dio and I might add fluids leaking from under the damaged vehicle - not sure if I will do that but it's a consideration. Keep up the good work it's looking great so far. Thanks for sharing.

JGphins