After seeing the dio in question and having read all of the comments, here are my two cents:
From a technical stand point the dio is absolutely superb. I think that Sung Ho's skills as a modeler are absolutely outstanding and his dio shows it. However, I also think that these skills have been lost in the debate over the contraversy. This is a modelling website and, if anything, Sung Ho's skills as a modeller should be discussed and not the subject he chose.
Kyle

Ola People

My 2 Ct,s
Without doubt Sung Ho is a very skilled modeler and his dio is.., When talking about techniques absolutley outstanding. Outstanding paintjob.
Now About the Story...... Yes Sung Ho took a gruesome or disturbing story and I can understand that people are upset or getting different emotions by watching it. Believe me it doesn`t leave me untouched either but nontheless he captured the realism... And did it certainly good looking at the reactions on his dio.
I want to ask you all this: When I started modeling I also started collecting books regarding what I was building/interested in. This is WW2 for the people that do not know me. I`m not only a modeler I`m blessed with a huge interest in History and I just happen to have a huge collection of WW2 Books. I follow almost every WW2 Documentary on Either National Geographic and Discovery. When I started with 1:35 I was about 13 or 14 and I already had some books with general info about WW2 and Yes the Holocaust was mentioned in it too complete with pics. A lot of those pics were really gory and more gruesome then What I saw in Sung Ho`s Dio. Now I know a lot of modelers started at young age and I can`t hardly imagine that not a single one collected books to use as reference at that age. Have you ripped out all the pages with holocaust content??? I didn`t when I was at that age and I still have the books with all the pages in it though I still consider it as being explicit.
When I was 14 I visited the OVerloon War and resistance museum and there they have this section about Auswitsch. Believe me at the age of 14 this was the worst thing I had ever seen. But here in Holland and I think in a big part of Europe WW2 is still part of the History Lessons and it`s almost standard education here. A lot of people here will say that what shall not be remembered could be repeated. Though it is a controversial dio it is not a bad one and it tells a Story........ Good or bad it tells a Story and in my eyes a very true one

Hi Jim

I think the main problem was that those of us too late to see the link had no idea what the fuss was about. And there are too many sites to keep up with these days (Armorama, Track-Link, WW2MM...)!!!

...and in general...
Having seen lots of books full of pictures as a youngster, the imagery in the dio is nothing new. The quality of the work, and the revulsion it produces are noteworthy. A guy in the Dallas area made a compelling Holocaust diorama a few years ago. This sort of thing seems to rub some people the wrong way. Sometimes we modellers seem to want a sanitized view of history. Mr. Sung Ho does a very good job with his modelling technique, and if a Diorama is supposed to tell a story, I think he's done that!!

I think it makes sense to allow people to choose to see the images, and that's the case now.

Cheers
Andy

Whats the matter with you people? I agree that the picture should not be posted directly in the forum, but I think you went too far by removing the links.

I have heard of some horror stories and I think they should be heard by the general public, don't try to think that this may never happen to you, just look what happened at the world trade center in New York, I don't think we should make like we are at wonderland, this is still happenig in some parts of the world and still no one wants to hear about it because they consider it disturbing, and governments of some countries don't want you to hear about it.

I also wanted to share some experience that I had in my history class in highschool; the teacher asked us if we were with or against the war, and noticed that many of them, ignoring all that has happened before( like the holocaust) , were supporting the war in Irak, and their escuse was that Irak sould get a punishment for what they did in 9-11. I thought this was ridiculous, they didn't even know who was responsible for 9-11!!!!

Now, about the Diorama, I think that modeling dios is an art, it is more than just modeling, and it is done with an emotion, and the emotion this Korean modeler feels I totally accept it, even if your religion or your culture does not.
Thanks a lot for reading this and I hope I did not offend you, and if I did please tell me, I won't get mad or anything, I just want to know.
.

Ugh. I have seen said pictures of the diorama, and I have read every, EVERY post here on this subject. Everyone here has made a valid point. Tempers have flared. That's understandable. The Holocaust is one of the worst possible eras in history. There's no denying that. Sooner or later, students will learn about it. Trust me, I learned in it what, sixth or fifth grade? All I can say is, this is history. The Holocaust happened, I have seen and read Schindler's List (In seventh grade), not from school, but of my own free will. Now yes, I realize that I'm probably one of the few 16 year-olds who has done this. I know. I have also seen Escape From Sobibor, a VERY disturbing film about the Sobibor Concentration Camp.

Finally, I would like to say this: This is a MODELING SITE, a place to talk about and display models and dioramas. If a person decides to show a, well, disturbing diorama under the name "Dio with Controversy", then he is automatically saying that this diorama will have controversy. I know this might draw more people in than drive them away. It happens. Now, let's get off this subject and stick some plastic together.

i just saw this dio.
and its Disturbing
how this guy made a dio of the horrors of the war,
for what reason he did it i dont know .buts its creepy
and iam glad it was not on this site

My hats off to MEBM. He is living proof that there are actually some astute Hoosiers out there. Let’s remember what this site is about. There are plenty of places on line to argue about political correctness, the Holocaust, censorship and child rearing. This ain’t it…

Shaun "Hoosier by birth, Boilermaker by the grace of God" Keenan

/Heads to the basement to work on his RMG entry/

I believe this discussion only further proves that the member of Armorama are all intelligent people. Obviously everyone was moved by the subject matter, something I'm sure the maker intended. Although it is not a subject I would choose to model, I think he carries out the story exceedingly well. It is his amazing modeing abilities that make some of us want to puke.

I just want to say I am very proud of the staff and memberships for keeping cool heads and calm tones when intelligently discussing this matter rather than starting a flame and blame wars.

I have respect for Armorama. I have respect for the individual modeler, Sung, for his bravery in tackling a sore subject in world history. I have respect for all of you who build models and post them on this site to be seen by others and the work you all put into them. Why would you all argue the 50 year old politics of a madman and his decisions when you can see the model a man put time into for his own personal reasons. As for gore, has anybody here who has kids seen the commercials (just the commercials) for a few of the video games that are marketed towards our kids? We hear about Saddam and his atrocities every day on the news. We watched an American icon crash to the ground on live T.V. I believe our children are smarter than we give them credit for, and, sheltering them from history 50 years gone is like teachers not informing kids about the WTC attacks 50 years from now.
Now, back to our original programming....

Since the link is removed, and everyone is hunting down the site or getting someone to give them the link, can the thread be removed or can the link be restored. It is apparent that the members are near equally divided on the nature of the diorama and what it depicts. I have seen it and think it is poignant piece that is beautifully made. The reason I bring this up about showing the link or removing this thread, is that this is scale model web site, not a site to debate personal beliefs on what others may or may not look at.

I know I don't post that often and when I do it's usually as comment at the request of FAUST, Stug, or Roo, but I have something to say.

First of all yes, the dio is that of the horrific atrosities that ACTUALLY occurred during WWII, but there is no reason to censor it because of that.

It is Historically based and reguardless of the subject matter, I believe it should be shown.

I had family members on both ends of this spectrum during the war. I am in no way appauled by it nor am I thrilled by it either. I find it to be an interesting and accurate portrayal of the events that happened.

Lastly, those that feel that children should not see this depiction of the truth during WWII, may not realize that children see worse things than this on the news and at their schools on a normal basis.





(++)

this one looks funny... "professional work?" i bet he never did a dio before!

Friends,

You all made your points in this topic. I'm grateful that we showed respect for eachothers opinions and that we where able to "agree to disagree".

Like mentioned before this diorama is controversial, what means that we could discuss this subject for days, if not months, in a row without the possibility to reach a final conclusion. I think the time has come to let it rest. Either we agree or disagree (or a combination of those two) with what was showed on the other site, we made our points and I don't think there is really more to say about it than there has already been said about it.

In other forums moderators close a topic because of the fact that it goes on forever without the possibility to reach a final conclusion. I hope we can be different on Armorama. Therefore I ask you to put this subject to rest. Let us please concentrate on our own modeling again.

I thank you all for the respect you showed towards eachother !

I've seen it myself. Well, we can't change reality however we look at it.

Let us all agree to disagree I started this and would like to finish it . To the powers that be, I would ask the thread be removed, and direct anyone who wishs to view this diorama to contact me via PM and I will supply the link.

Moderator Eagle
I closed the topic in order to respect Nato's whish to be the first and the last in this topic. I think there's no need to delete the post because we gave our points of view while respecting others. There's IMHO no need to hide things. The good thing about all of this, is that it made us think about the things we saw and about what, and how it, can be applied in modeling.

I'd like to thank all of the participants for keeping this a friendly discussion.