passing through was a diorama I completed earlier this year, the point is the part hidden body among the weeds in the roadside ditch, unnoticed by the men on the road concentrating on planning their route, in a way it was an attempt at telling of the waste of war and how human wreckage mingles with other wreckage in the same way.

Able Baker one, we've found the gun.


mistakes do happen when large armies are called up, pulled together to do an important and hard job in wartime. The chalk cliffs and pits of Southern England saw some classic mistakes

and cased.

Sapper Wicks. Another one I completed earlier this year, as Eight Army crossed over from Egypt to Libya, the Germans were Booby trapping anything left behind.

through the hedge and at em. Inspired by the movie Fury.

I'd like to see more photos of the first diorama. Thanks.

Would like to see a bit more weathering and wear on the tank coming through the hedgerow. This was a tank that came ashore and then went to work.

All your work is great but just a little too clean in appearance...

Great subjects and good execution!

sure I'll dig them out, in the meantime, called this one "what year did Babe Ruth leave the red socks to join the Yankees"

a question asked to verify an American crew in the Bulge during German Grief operations.

I don't normally place deceased or wounded figures in dioramas, it's usually bad taste, just plain does not work or looks unnatural. But this scene cried out for one, subtle and part covered, with it's lines softened with surrounding materials, this picture was taken during construction, and as such is not how it ended up. But I was happy with how it finished, having a point to play out.


a general view of the whole diorama.

some desert rat ones

Dude these are awesome, nice volume of work there.
There's a few pieces nicely weathered, and a couple of dffrnt subjects. The fallen gun w/ soldiers is unique, almost a low-key story.
I like the pre-story. You mentioned the important and hard jobs. I remember seeing a documentary on how a B17 was excavated in England from its few meters deep resting place (disinegrated). The poor crew was lost while trying to form up w/ their formation. Errors were inevitable...

Sincerely
Dave

Hi Dave

Great stuff, I echo all the above comments – I really like your approach. It wouldn’t take much to dirty the vehicles and then a good dusting of brownish powder paint or pastel chalk to finish. With figures I usually give them a couple of dilute blackish washes and let them dry upside down, to get “shadows” on the upper side of creases and general grimeness (is that a word?) and it can help on hands/faces too – experiment. Those GI’s look like they’ve just come out a Laundromat.

Couple of other tips – check all 4 wheels are convincingly in contact with the ground (the desert truck), and backgrounds can be a problem depending on circumstance - check out Kurt’s Ardennes dio in this forum (“In the cold morning etc”) look what he did with a plain black towel. Amazing, creativity knows no bounds – a big pale blue one for example?

Interesting view of portraying the deceased; to me it’s a bit like believing John Wayne-era war films and westerns were how it really was. OK if that’s what you want, but if you are trying to show it how it was I think “taste” is a bizarre criterion.

The low view-point shots are always the most effective, with the bonus – as you’ve shown – that out-of-focus figures can look like they’re moving.
I too would like to see how Passing Through looks now, very well done!
Cheers, Tim

thanks guys I really appreciate the supporting comments from you both. I agree, more weathering needed.

this one was a light hearted Diorama about a war Bonds drive, the scene was suggested, as it often is, by imaginitive figure sets, masterbox and miniart are great at that.

another single vehicle diorama suggested by the figure set by MB. they cover the real aspects of life in the field left by other makers.

the final layout in it's glass case

far more light hearted in nature "Enzo Girls" was a diorama suggested by the car itself, it lacked human interest, but figures for cars in 1/24/25th scale are few and far between. A german company provides naked males and females in multipose kits, you have to make the clothing with modelling clay/putty.


cased up, the model was purchased from me by the Farrari enthusiasts museum in the UK.

my modelling tastes are varied, just finished glassing up this 1/40th scale Royal Barouche coach by 1950's kit maker Paramount.