I just finished the dio of a T34 that was knocked out while attacking in a wooded area. Now, the German tank hunters use it as cover for their counter-attack.

I plan on taking this dio to a contest this weekend. Any comments are welcome.

Looks like a great dio.
Tell us how you do.....("Come on Dave give me a break.... One break coming up!" Van Halen, Unchained, 1981)

wow, awsome theme, just awsome, only one thing, the tank doesnt look blown up (that was your plan right?) what you did in the back looks like it should be done on the turret some (the side adjacent to the back). put something on the tank that makes it look like its been there for a while, like branches or something..
overall, looks cool

Very tight and well setted scene. I Wish there were some more pics from different angles. From what i can see:

1) If the tank is knocked out by a Panzerhaeger or something like that the syrrounding plantation on the spot of explosion would have dissapeared or at least burned out
2)The back side that i suppose the explosion took part looks like more rusted to me , some direct blackish smoke leftovers are missing if we suppose that the attack took place some minutes or hours ago.
3) The plantation in fron and very close to the vehicles tracks is standing neat and proud where should have been demolished by the metal beast .
4) The weathering and finish of the tank looks very nice and realistic
5) The broken tree trunk on the left side of the tank is a very nice add on the scene.
6) Your different types of plantation look very good and i d be interested to see more info on them. Also your trees construction look very good and i also would like more info on them .*** One touch there the tree trunks look a bit reddish brown coloure similiar to ground 's colouring. I think they could take some more gray brown colour, to divert alil of it and be more realistiv..

Very nice scene in all. And shows that u have worked a lot on it
BRAVO

From the photo I would say nice overall job. I'd like to see more photos to make more comments on the diorama itself. I think it will stand up well at the contest.

The comment I feel comfortable making is that I would like to see the frame smoothed out and touched up a bit.

Just found more images in the gallery -
The layout is great, I love the elevation. The group of three figures looks nice. I like the vegitation.

Pine trees - one hard subject to model. I would add a wash of sea foam green covered with drybrushing of dark green. The bark is a little to monotone for me. One thing I always recall with pines is that near the bottom 6' down there is usually some kind of green 'stuff' on the trees.

The other thing is that the 'point' on the top is to short. They taper to quickly, the taper needs to be at least the top 1/3 of the whole trunk. The top bows could stand to be shorter. Next time.

Wow! Very nice work. The groundwork is very good and the trees are awesome, the height of them and the elevation change of the groundwork really brings the thing to life. I didn't even notice until i looked at the extra pics but is that a railroad line? It sort of looks like the T-34 was a relic blocking the line and was pushed off the tracks and down the bank. The tank itself is nicely weathered, the figures look good as well. This isn't your typical average scene (very creative!) and I hope you do well at your competeion

Burik,

sure looking good, but I have got to second Scott on the frame. A diorama is good when all ingredients have been finished in a more or less equally good quality. The dio looks good, but the frame drags it down I bit.

Just my two cents.

Thanks everybody for your responses. I appreciate the feedback both negative and positive. Let me explain a little more than I did last night as my wife bugged me to get off the computer.

Mech Maniac: I did not take enough photos, but the projectile entered the rear plate and the resulting fire was localized to the rear of the tank. This is not a tank that was totally engulfed. I wanted to be able to show the complete turret and driver compartment without fire damage. This allows the crew to survive the initial shot. The vehicle rolls down the embankment and the turret is rotated a bit, but then the crew has to abandon.
So, the rear most roadwheels have the tires burned off. Finally, the vehicle has been there at least a day or so and the rust has settled in. I like your idea of putting some branches on the vehicle. Will do before Saturday.

Major Goose: 1) The photos do not show it, but I do have burnt vegetation at and around the rear area of the tank. First there is ash around the wheels, and then there is burnt vegetation around that. The fallen trunk needs to be blackened a little though I see. 6) I live in an area that is full of different kinds of pine trees and I went with a red/orange trunk as many are that way. I agree that many trunks have a gray appearance, but many also have the color I chose. The trees I explain in the captions in my gallery. The plants are a mixture of dried plants from the craft store and brass plants from Eduard and/or Aber. I sued moss for the ground as it represents the pine needle forrest floor.

Slodder: Yes, I did not do the best on the base. After I put on the first coat of varnish I noticed how rough it looked. I am too lazy to sand it and repaint it and revarnish it. Next time I will do better.I am going to add the green moss ot the bottom of the trees. Thanks for pointing that out. The tree tops do taper too quickly I suppose. At the time I was grinding them down I thought I was tapering it better. Oh well. I did shadow and highlight with a number of colors, but I guess the photos do not show that so well.

My next dio is an Abrams attacking down a highway in OIF. I have a post in the Rivet Review Board regarding my Abrams hull, but I have not gotten a response yet. I swear fellas, when I get to the base, it will be properly sanded!!:)

Oh great ! Really nice dio.
How did you make thr trees ? They look very realistic.
The T 34 doesn´t look like burned out or blown out, try with more weathering.

Really very nice job.

I like the total look, but major goose gave you some nice pointers, a bit more work on trees and the burnt out effects and you will surely have a winner there!

good work!

Thanks all for the comments. Again, I wasn't going for a total burned out vehicle. I wanted only a partial one so I could show off different modelling skills and to show off a full fighting compartment interior. So, only the rear compartment shows effects of fire damage and I have a gradual progression from the rusted, totally burned off paint, to blackened paint, to the undamaged part. Sorry guys, I did not take enough detailed shots. My digital is not really made for this and it gets blurry when I try to get closer

The trees are made of wood dowels that I tapered with a dremel tool (although not tapered gradual enough). I then covered them in non-cracking vinyl spackle (I think they call it something dffierent around the world - but it is meant to cover small holes in walls) and while still wet shaped the bark. This can be very rough as most pine trees do not have a detailed bark like elms and oaks. Then, after drying I drilled small holes all over the trunk to accept the branches. I started the holes 5 - 6 scale feet up from the ground. I then painted them in a light brown, Washed them with raw umber oils. And highlighted with reds, yellows, and orange. Finally, the branches are asperugus ferns bought at a craft store. Each branch of the fern was painted brown as well. THIS LAST PART WAS VERY TEDIUS! Directly over the tank the branches are painted black.

Thanks again for all of the comments, both negative and positive. I wish I had posted in-progress photos, and maybe I would have had more of a perfect result.

okay!
hey, in the front left side of the tank where the track is hanging off, is that mud or something else? (looks like mud to me) if it is mud, i'd like to know what you did to create it, it looks so realistic. forgot to mention this earlier, but i love the positions of your tank hunting figures. hope more pics come soon and hope you take home first at your competition!!
mech -out

Thanks again Mech. I hope to take better photos after the competition and I'll let you know what happens. I have a half day today at work and the dio is on my credenza in my office so I decided to bring some tools and paint to work this morning to add some of the items I can that everybody suggested. Then it's off to happy hour! ... with the US Navy in town too (fleet week).

Oh, I forgot to answer the question about the mud. Yes it is supposed to be dried mud. This allowed me to also muddy up the figues a little too (dried mud, not wet). I like the worn and dirty look. This was the first tank I have done in about 8 years (I've been hooked on 90mm and 120mm figures and vignettes) so I wanted to try as many things as practicle. Anyway, the mud is just spackle with some sand in it along with some of the vegetation thrown in too. After it dried I painted it various brown tones and washed it then drybrushed it. I was loath to overdo it since the tracks and roadwheels are so nicely done by Dragon, so I treid to keep it moderate.

Finally, it's nice to see people commenting on the composition. I think that is about the most important thing in diorama building (let's forget about the rough looking bases for now!) and it brings out more of the art in this hobby. I wanted to get away from a flat base and I wanted to play around even more with height by having tall trees, so one's attention is hopefully really grabbed. Then the sight lines lead to the tank and to the three figures next to it. I tried to use the classic art posing of a low figure, then one a little higher, and then the next even higher. THis should then draw your eye around the rest of the dio. Finally, I purposely kept the base small and tight, with some items sticking out over the edge of the base, to emphasize the tenseness of the action.

that is one nice lookin dio you have there. the overall feel is nice. from what i can tell from the pics the figs are very well painted. i wish you the best of luck at the contest!

Just a heads up when you post a rivet review on your Abrams: this site just completed a very successful Abrams Campaign, so everyone now knows much if not everything there is to know about Abrams . You may get more responses than you bargained for.

Being that half the tank burned the fire must have been big. Any branch above the tank would be burned off Smoke and ash the side of the trunk closest to the tank.

If you decide to put some moss on the trees remember it only grows on the north side, not all the way around.

Makesure there are plenty of bent vegetation under the front of the tank if it rolled down the hill.

Wonderful Dio, I really like the thought you put into this, the tank is fine IMHO and the ground work and trees are great. I do agree with some of the comments the others said. When I looke din your gallery a trunk or two could use a darker brown wash, other than that great job. You could even put some black dust over the vegetaion(in the direction the wind would have blown it) When you burn rubber as in raodwheels the soot settles very fast. These are just my thoughts. But great diorama. Good luck with the contest and I can't wait to see your next one. Cheers Kevin

thanks for the mud recipe, yes, composition is very important and i think you clearly emphasized that in your diorama, hope you take home the gold in your competition

I attended the region 7 contest in Vancouver, WA and this diorama did pretty well. With everybody's comments I was able to add a few tweaks before the show. I took three more photos and they are in my gallery titled COUNTERATTACK!. Here is one.





The dio took first in it's category of armor diorama, Best Diorama, Best Theme (anything red), and Contestant's Choice. It lost out for Best of Show to my 90mm mounted figure of Edward the Black Prince (also in my gallery). This is the best I have ever done at a show.

It's tough to take photos of this dio so even the new ones don't show the added stuff which are: moss at the bottom of the trees, fallen branches on the tank, pine needles on the tank, and a few more plants crushed under the tank.

Thanks guys for all of the comments and pointers.

Wow that's quite a handful of awards. Good haul! Congrats.

Congrats Burik, You did a wonderful job. And you have a dio to be proud of.
Cheers Kevin

WAHOO!!! drinks on me

cheers man, good job, all that hard work pays off eh