Hi everyone,
This is a diorama I started, and worked on the side, for a couple months. The scene is a two way assault on an Iraqi or Afghani apartment building by US forces. On the top floor there are terrorists (maybe with a hostage). One assault group is coming in through the bottom with a mrap, and the second is coming through the top with a Blackhawk helicopter. Here is my current progress:





Here it is with a coat of joint compound



Here is the process for the battle damage







Stay tuned!

Hi Conrad - welcome, and thanks for posting! Lots of interesting things you can do from here - looking to see what you do with this!

Cheers
Nick

Thanks for the interest Nick:)

Here are some pics of the Maxxpro from kinetic...











sorry for the blur on some of them

I really like the over all concept. I also like the realistic approach to building take down,IE,the "best way to clear a building is from the top down".
Nice job on the vehicle as well. Welcome to the neighborhood brother.
J

Looking really good.
Nice work so far on the building.
I gather this is 1/35.How do you intend to bring the Blackhawk into it? Rather large chopper.

Tom

Thanks for the warm welcome Jerry

Thanks Tom,
The Blackhawk will be hovering over the roof dropping soldiers with the FAST ropes. I'll try to disguise the armature holding it up as a roof antennae or something.

Hi Conrad - you're MRAP looks good - nice touch with the added wiring.

Thinking about Tom's point - I wonder if you could use rigid steel wire for your FAST rope? Essentially build a rigid steel frame up from the building roof to hold the chopper up? That is, build the wire into the airframe to hold it up?...(yeah, piece of cake! Haha) Steel wire is surprisingly strong - who knows? Maybe enough to work? Maybe a soldier on the rope so it looks "right" ? I'm sure you'll come up with something!

Keep on building

Cheers
Nick

I love the setting already! Great job on the building so far, I'm excited for the following progress!

Hi Nick,
That sounds like a great option, I'll look into the steel wire.

Thanks Nicky

Why can't you use the ropes as the armature?
J

Hey Conrad,
Steel wire is a good idea,but a Blackhawk will need a lot of support.The size of it alone will not hover over the plan you have so far,what will you do with the rotors?
I would rethink the chopper to maybe something smaller or not use one.
Your dio,your call.
It is still looking very good.Just my opinion.
A couple of photos of an unfinished dio from years back to give you the scale of the Blackhawk.

Tom

Hi Jerry and Tom,

I'm aware of the size of the blackhawk, I taped the fuselage together to test the layout, it will definitely overhang the dio base, which is ok with me. I will probably devise a way of holding it up once the building is closer to being finished.

Hey Conrad, have you seen this? This might help you out with the Blackhawk. This model is on board the USS Lexington here in Corpus Christi, Texas.

1/35 Chinook on top of roof.

Great idea and great looking battle damage!

I do have a question though and it will seem rather picky... would an MRAP be that close to a building in order to clear it? The 50 cal on top would be useless and the opportunity to assault it from above seems obvious.

I wonder if you couldn't enlarge the base and work some figures going from the MRAP up the street?

I am looking forward to seeing this progress into the finished product! The helicopter will be awesome above...

Welcome to the forum, BTW...

Hi Pete,
I stumbled on the build log of that diorama while looking for ideas, I didn't know it was on lady Lex though!

Hi Patrick,
Yes, the MRAP would be further away from the curb, but I have the age old problem of a shortage of shelf space. Thanks for the welcome!

Now for an update:

Here is the black hawk fuselage compared to the building, it will be hovering over the right part.



Here is the finished maxxpro:




I just noticed the MRAP is missing its outside handels












and I did the windows for another part of the building...

Just a spoiler announcement...
I finished the doors for the building and the windows for the last part. Glued it all together last night so it's ready for panting.
I'll post pics later

Here's an update!

I built the doors for the building...









And I built up the fist set of figures from masterbox...









here's the first figure painted up...













stay tuned

The truck looks very nice!! The building isn't too shabby either. This will be a stunner I think. I don't think the Blackhawk looks too big but that's just me.
J

Great work on the concept and building so far. The project is coming along quite nicely. One thing I noticed with some of your figures is that on several it looks like the pouches are attached to their waist. They should attach on the vest, otherwise they will interfere with getting into a prone position.

Starting to look stunning already! Maybe I've read over it, but what kind of figure sets are you using or will you be using?

greetz, nicky

Thanks Jerry

Thanks for the info, John. The masterbox instructions were kind of hazy, I'll fix them today

Thanks Nicky, the sets I'll be using are mostly from masterbox: man down, Iraq insurgents, and maybe the new war dog set that's coming out soon. Also I'm trying to find some helicopter pilots

Hi Conrad - lots of good stuff going on here! You might drop a piece of some small material along the two inside corners of your building - it will fill the gap seam and not be too distracting - or, as you're doing a good job, maybe you're planning to do so already!! Looks good -

Nick

Looking really good.
Dragon has a nice set of pilots and gunners,if you can find them.
Still think the Blackhawk rather large.The rotors or going to be way over your base and I personally don't like anything going over the base.Takes away from the scene.your call.

Tom

Thanks Nick!, the tiles for the plaza should cover those holes

Hi Tom, I was looking at the dragon Vietnam heli crew, do you know what it would take to modify them to make them modern crew? Thanks for your opinion on the black hawk. I might locate it more centrally so the overhang is minimized.