Here are a few pictures of the finished Kelly's Heroes diorama: That's Paint! It takes place just after Oddball's Sherman has mistakenly fired a paint shell at the Tiger, the Tiger's tank commander has popped up in his hatch to check out the situation and Kelly is moving to fire the Sherman's 50 caliber at him. If you are interested, there are more pictures in my gallery. As always, any and all comments are welcome.

Keith

I like the way the paint splatters on the ground. I thought the paint was pink not red

the ammo can for the 50 cal looks to informal with the rest of the tank if possible paint it a different manufacturer's paint to break it up and think about adding some archer decals to it . other than that looks great

What a great idea for a dio. It certainly looks impressive. One thing that springs to mind is the red paint on the back of the Tiger could maybe have more "splatter" like the paint on the ground. One way to achieve that would be to use an old toothbrush, dip the bristles in the paint and shake off any excess. Then use a piece of sprue to stroke the bristles so that the paint splatters towards the back of the tank. Just a thought.

I like it. Very nicely done. All the points regarding the paint are valid. I have another comment though. Shouldn't there be rubble all over the place? The only place where I see it is on the Tiger tank. All other areas look like they were cleaned with a vacuum cleaner.

I think it looks great so far. I'm sure you're already planning on addressing some of the things that have been brought up. One thing the springs to my mind, and you're pro baby going to change this, is the way Oddball's hand isn't grasping anything. Maybe you'll put a microphone or something in that right hand. Did Oddball's tank have duckbills on the tracks? I don't remember that.

Looks really, really good though.

Thanks for the comments gentleman. You have raised many good points. I will try to address them in order:

The Paint Color: was a pinkish red (to my eye). I did mix up a pinkish red mix of paint, but when I added the gloss over it, the red seems to have really become brighter and lost any aspect of pink.

Ammo Box: good suggestion about making the box and holder a different color. I still cringe at paying the high price for Archer transfers however.

Paint Splatter: great suggestion Martin on a splatter technique. Wish I had thought of that four days ago!

Rubble: Marty, take a look at the movie when you have a chance, the alley is clean as a whistle. The Tiger has rubble as a result of crashing through a wall earlier in the movie (as it was exiting the main square where the fight started). I have placed a few random pieces of rubble in the street to simulate a stray piece falling off the tank here and there.

Tracks and Oddball's Hand: Oddball's tank did not have duckbills, however those were the kit tracks. I cringe even more at the thought of the cost of aftermarket tracks! As far as his right hand, imagine Oddball is beginning his plunge down into the turret to help with the loading of an AT shell. His left hand is gripping the front of the hatch.

Thanks again for the comments.

Keith

Nice dio Keith!
A thing, shouldn’t the stone wall one Tigers right side be broken? It was a long time ago I look at the movie.

I could have sworn that Oddball's tank was in the alley and not at the end and the turret facing towards the alley.

I will definitely have to do that.

LOL! :-) thats really really cool! i love it, kellys heroes is one of my favourite movies, great job, cheers

Keith, great job I think you did wonderfully. I hate when you clear coat over things and it changes the overall color. I like the layout of the dio. I will only pose 2 suggestions. I havent seen the movie in awhile but as suggested earlier didnt the tiger have a broken up wall on its right side. If I am correct a very easy fix, and if not I will have to pay closer attention next time I watch it. My only other problem was the alley being square to the base. I love the dio, and the tanks and oddball are great. You also have a wonderful tree there. Question, who makes the buildings, they are great for this dio. Cheers Kevin

There is a quick way to alter the tracks to get rid of the duckbills. Simply take the tracks and cut the extensions off with sharp scissors, trying to get them as straight as possible. You can judge how much to cut off by comparing with the other side. Then touch up the cut edges with paint. When you replace the tracks put the one that was on the left on the right hand side and vice versa to hide the cut edges.

Looks pretty good. You pulled the concept off very well. However, if you want to get ABSOLUTLY technical, you should have converted an old T-34 over to look like a Tiger. But I like the real thing better! Keep up the good work.

Jesse

You did a great job on this one. I love the theme that you chose. I remember the movie and I think you did the scene justice. Bravo and three cheers!

I don't smell anything #:-)




Looks great, I'll just echo what everyone else has said, that the paint should splatter more on the tank. And I do't believe Oddballs tank even had an ammo box on the .50, it was just the holder, with an ammo belt on top of that.

I think it looks really nice. I'd venture to say anyone who is familiar with the movie will know what your dio is depicting. You have caught the spirit of the scene and I think that's what really counts...

Great job!! The paint splatters on the ground look very realistic.
At first look oddballs hand does seem to be just floating, but when you see the whole scene and then the 2 closeup pictures of the german and oddball, it really captures a "what the heck???" moment on both their parts. Made me laugh,,, well done!!

Once again, thanks for the comments. In response to a few questions, points. The alley wall was an old stone wall with at least some loose rocks on the top. With my neophyte skills, I decided to concentrate on just a stone wall, aiming for the "impression" of the scen rather than an exact duplicate. The wall itself is made from cork and foamboard using Michael Cuell's technique described in his article here on Armorama. This is a good, simple and cheap method to make a wall that fits your needs, however it is very labor intensive and I am not sure I will be using it again for that reason. The house is Verlinden's European Country House (1859).

Keith

I watched the DVD again over the weekend and I must say that the dio really does catch the essence of the scene. If you really want to get technical Oddball actually plows through and small stone wall and crushes a small car before turning slightly to the right and lining up for the shot.

I'm sure we all appreciate kbm's effort for building one of the classic scenes of a great movie

Kb. First thing I did when I saw the photo's was smile, I rekon thats a great dio from a great film. Best compliment of all,Mrs Easy looked at the photo's and said how good it was.

Awesome....but with all these positive waves around, how could it be anything else.