And right now, it is collecting dust! I am so fresh out of energy... but soon!

Thanks for all the looks everyone! I will have my new model shop up and going soon, I hope. I have to clear away all the shell and cartridge reloading stuff that the previous owner had collected as a shooting enthusiast! The room will become much more pacifist... LOL! No more NRA certificates and gun calendars. Just photos and illustrations of... tanks and cars and... what?

I guess I needed to step back for a few days and not look at my work.

And now, when I walk by it, I think "hey this has some real potential! Wish this guy would get it finished! Wonder what is the hold-up?"

Actually, it is kind of cool to get a fresh perspective. I have some photos from May 13 to post (thought I did) with the finished sand dune. Will try to get it done tonight!

I think I am actually avoiding the figures since Cheyenne, Jerry and Stickman do so well with them. But I will never know if I don't try, right?

Hi Patrick - time can be useful! Both to get things done, and not to, and then to look back for that aha! moment.

Figures...yes, good times. They are a challenge for me, but I no longer deliberately stay away from them. Practice certainly helps. I've come to figure out the separate but equal importance of assembly and painting...I know? Stating the obvious?!?? But really, take a look at Jerry's WIP images - he never "settles" for close enough - (that is, an arm glued on "just about" right) his figures are built with purpose - argh!!! How does he do it so well?! As for me anyway, I'll just keep trying!! Now at least, I usually wind up with a few figures that look pretty good, and the others acceptable - in my book, good results!

Build those figs!!

Looking forward to your next update -
Nick

Thanks, Nick...

I am sitting here wool gathering and just realized the lift needs a cable and a power source and control box... all very easily done!

Strange how thinking can do things to the mind!

That's the spirit Patrick , just sit back , look and things will appear in your melon on what you can do to take your work a step further .
Don't be afraid to try anything , if it doesn't work try again .
Just keep at it , I see what you've already done [which is very cool building , your palms rock ] and I know you can go much further !!

Patrick,
I admit, I'm a slow worker when it comes to modeling. I've got several projects that are 2-3 years old now, just sitting there waiting. I look at it this way-- when I have the time, they'll be waiting for me. Seems my entire adult life I've been waiting on something or another-- its nice to have a project on the shelf waiting for me for a change!
VR, Russ

Maybe a simple block and tackle with rope instead of powered... hmmm... I know how to build one of those!

@Cheyenne... good words to think by! Thanks!

@Russ, you read my mind! And I was thinking of sending you a message anyway. I read in a thread somewhere (maybe Jerry's Wake Island) that Pacific islands don't have all the lush vegetation but are more sparse than is thought. Since my island is nowhere in particular, do the little hills need lots of vegetation, some vegetation or sparse? What kind? Scrub or greenery? If I can ever find the time to go to a proper nursery to get a ficus plant, I will have all the cutting from making the fronds to scatter about... beyond that, do you have any suggestions? And thanks for the support!

All suggestions and criticisms welcome!

Photos from May 13... the dune is a little rough in texture right now but it (or the tank) isn't going anywhere... I figure I can smooth it out with a little work...

And some grass got added. Need input on how much more to add and where, please...







Your comments, suggestions and criticisms are always welcome!

Patrick,
First, a short answer for you. According to Zaloga's book "Japanese Tanks 1939-45", the Ka-Mi wasn't developed until 1943 and was deployed to Leyte in the Philippines and Saipan in 1944. Both those Islands are heavily forested (jungled) so you'd be in the ball park if you placed your diorama there with lots of ground cover.
Now for the long answer-- I've traveled fairly extensively in the Central and SW Pacific, and around some Korean Islands and Okinawa, and the terrain varies quite a bit. In my experience, the small Central Pacific Atolls like Wake, Midway, Johnston, Kwajalein (in the Marshall's) and Tarawa in the Gilbert's are sparsely vegetated low-lying coral "desert" islands with just a few palm groves, if any, with lots of windswept sand. Guadalcanal and the Russell Islands in the SW Pacific are heavily jungled with mangrove swamps, grasslands, and Guadalcanal is very mountainous (in fact, Guadalcanal reminded us more of Central Africa than the South Pacific in many ways). Soooo... I guess it depends on where you want your diorama to be. A small Central Pacific atoll would likely have less vegetation. Someplace like Guadalcanal, the Philippines, Saipan or New Guinea would have lots ground cover. You could always claim it's a "newly discovered Atoll" somewhere in the Central Pacific -- maybe "Runamuck Island"? Or you could always just do what looks good to you, and call it a "generic" Pacific Island somewhere. either way, you're doing a great job and it looks pretty good already.
VR, Russ

This is an awesome diorama! I really like it! The skeleton might be a bit out of place, since animals and the weather reduce animal carcasses to bits and pieces spread over large areas in a relatively short time. But all in all, it's fantastic!

Gaz

The skeleton is only partially exposed in the finished scheme as if it has just been uncovered. There will be more figures eventually.

By the way, here on "Runamok Atoll Island" there are no wild animals as it is only a few hundred meters deep and a half mile wide. It is slowly slipping back into the sea as global warming is causing the sea level to rise. The erosion has revealed this hulk and the History Channel has dispatched a camera crew to cover the events as they unfold. Only 187 of the Type 2 KaMi tanks were produced and this is one of the few that still has the pontoons in existence. Very few others have been found in this near complete condition 70 years after the end of WW2 in the Pacific.

How's that, Russ? LOL!

Patrick,
It works for me! What you describe is fairly commonplace for atolls. Don't know if you've been watching the news lately, but there was a news blurb on several small islets In the Solomon Islands (Gaudalcanal) that are being slowly inundated. It's really amazing how many small little atolls and islands there are in the SW Pacific. So your story line is quite credible. Just one suggestion-- think about the way the archeology team would dispose of the removed sand- it would likely be somewhere close by the remains. The color of the sand on the mound above the tank (the light colored stuff) is a dead ringer for crushed coral, which is what most of these islands are made of.
VR Russ

Thanks , Russ... Just haven't got there yet with sand pile!

Russ and Nick - This is very interesting stuff, keep it up!
Nick, great progress, really like the whole scene, excellent weathering on the derelict vehicle and barrels.
Dave

Isn't a Nick project... But thanks anyway!

Patrick, MY BAD, and my apologies!
I became so engrossed in the conversation I effed the name of the originator
Cheers
Dave

No problem!

Decided to fill the hull with sand and add some flora... I know it is all very even cut on the top and I am not sure how to trim something unevenly... do I need to keep going on the grass? The hills will be treated some other way. I am still having trouble finding a stupid ficus plant. It would look so much better with some palm fronds.



Your input and comments are always welcome. Figures might start next week if I can get the apartment emptied and some brass wire purchased along with some putty.

Thanks in advance!

Patrick,
Welcome back! (Not that you went anywhere, but it's good to see you back at the bench!) As for your grass, I'd really go with the more green type, as what you are using seems to be more for desert environments not tropical islands--a little too yellow looking, it might be Ok if mixed with some lighter greens. Woodland Scenics makes some that's a little greener, but not too green. Here's how I cut mine so that it's not too uniform:
1) using some double backed Scotch tape, I lay a length of about 5"-6" on my workbench.
2) taking a "pinch" of Woodland Scenics grass, I lay it across the tape, slightly off to one side or the other
3) I continue down the length of the tape, staggering the "pinches" of grass so they extend at various lengths down the tape, occasionally extending to the other side of the tape so that both sides are "staggered" at different lengths.
4) when done, I cut the tape down the middle with a single edge razor blade, then run a bead of Elmers glue down the length of each piece of tape. Allow it to dry for a few hours and you have ready made strips of "grass" at varying lengths that you can cut into sections and combine as needed, you can pull the double backed tape away from the flexible Elmer's and either "plant" it by drilling holes for small bunches, or you can just glue a strip down and cover the base of it with ground cover of your choice.
VR, Russ

Thanks for the tip, Russ! I was thinking of the tank on the beach actual when I filled the hull with sand.

I will take a look at your process tomorrow. I have been doing little clumps just dipping the ends in white ELmers and sticking it down. I do like the idea. So do you think I need more? And I can certainly try painting some of the yellow and mix more green around it so it looks like there are dead clumps in the green.

I like all ideas and am willing to try techniques from the masters!

Patrick, I have not checked in on this project in a while you are progressing nicely. The work is inspirational and outstanding.

Robert

Thanks, Robert! I am in the middle of a major move that is wearing me out and my interest has been lacking even though the project moved to work where they don't care what I do during the day.

Going to make some modifications to the lift with a couple of blocks and some tackle to make it bit more realistic. And really need to find a source of ficus leaves to get started on palm fronds.

Figures will be next as well as figuring out how to bury Yukuza and then dig him out again!

Thanks for looking!

Russ, and now, after a few hours of consideration, I realize... well, duh, Patrick... make the bottom even and the top ragged. I've been going about it backwards.

Great tip with the double stick tape.

Patrick,
Don't kick yourself over the "grass"! I enjoy modeling and diorama building in particular because it gives me the chance to tackle problems in an orderly fashion (or a disorderly fashion too sometimes!). Often I make a lot of mistakes along the way. I attended a lot of planing seminars in the military (I have two advanced degrees in Strategic Operations and Planing). Those planing seminars really helped me in my career and my hobby by envisioning: 1) What the "end state" or "success" should look like, then: 2) Planing each step in the process to get to the "end state". Diorama building is no different, you envision something, then break it up into steps to get to the "end state". You've done that exactly in this dio. currently, you're waiting on some ficus leaves to finish the Palms-- in the meantime, you've moved onto another step. Perhaps you may never find any ficus leaves-- what will you do then? Is there something else that will work? perhaps paper cut into the shape of ficus leaves? It's challenges like that which keep me modeling-- if it was too easy, I wouldn't enjoy it as much. And as you've discovered, you learn along the way and when you make a "silk purse out of a sows ear" you sit back and think-- "I really did conquer that problem"! I maintain that any intelligent person can do this, but I've also found that some who try (I worked in a Hobby Shop for a few years) are stymied when they don't get instant success, or they can't envision the process to get to the desired end state. You learn, sometimes you fail, but you're always on the lookout for another tip, technique, tool or skill-- that's the fun of this-- and websites like Armorama and the Kitmaker Network are great helps. You're doing great-- and I for one am really enjoying your work.
VR, Russ

Oh, motivation, please come back... too many hours at work and little down time at home. All I want to do is sleep... even the siren call of the approval of peers brings little interest.

Soon, soon... I did get the new workspace cleaned up and it is awaiting the arrival of all the inventory and tools! I have so little time this summer with side jobs and all. I am not complaining as we need the extra income. I just don't have time to do much else!

Somebody got a 5-hour energy for hobby enthusiasts?