davi, nice work, just one comment, dont you think that the explosive is a little close to the road for the gook to be detonating it. i mean once that goes off and the tank goes off he would be barbecued.

matt

Two words "spider hole" :-)

bracomader i have seen this diorama with my oen eyes in real life, there is no spider hole

matt #:-)

David,

I like what you built ! I've been looking at the figures and they all appear to be part of the story behind the diorama. Great work.

Fot my personal taste, the road and the roadside are a bit too glossy, but perhaps that's due to the photography or perhaps it's jut my personal taste.

Anyway, and eaxcellent diorama with a good story and a good layout !

Keep it up dude.

G'day Guys
in response to matts question.
the explosive shown was one made from bamboo, a common and easy type, suited for knocking out soft skin vehicles, all though the vc would still have a go at a tank if it rolled past.
the explosion would not have blown away the whole area, and wouldnt rech that elephant grass.
regarding the "spider hole" if there was one it wouldnt even be visable to the naked eye as the grass is covering that whole area.
cheers
Danny, the road is glossy as its ment to be muddy and wet, but the flash made the other things look a bit glossy.
thanks again guys

Ola David

This is some superb work you show here mate. I have to second the opinions of a lot of teh people who replied here that this is one of the better land Air combinations I have seen so far. Great job on that. Also I like that all the elements are there and doing their job as they used to do in real life. Nothing is out of place or looking odd in my opinion.
I`m not really an expert on Nam soil so what I say might be rubbish but I think also that the road is a little too glossy. I could be wrong on that point. You figures look very good too and indeed the scratchbuilt VC is good as well.

Overall a good dio and a winner for an upcoming contest

Great Job

G'day Bob
thanks very much, im vry flattered that alot of you think its one of the best air-ground combonations youve seen.
flash would be the answer to why its so glossy, but it is more of a semi gloss when viewed in real life.
thanks again for all your comments guys.
p.s. Bob just wait till next years model expo!
cheers

David,

GREAT story line ... really well thought out! ... I never get tired from Nam dios ... I think your ground work is excellent!

CB

LWF- Fantastic job,mate! I'll bet there's a vet's group down there in godzown that'd be more than happy to have this one as their centerpiece. I've been eagerly awaiting the finished product here since seeing your 'teases' w/the Bushranger & the Cent.
Two comments, & please don't think I'm trying to detract from the work you've done on this superb piece-
1. Not sure what the ground pressure on a Cent. was, but with those skinny tracks I'd also expect it to sink a bit more into what's obviously soft mud;
2. As a former Jarhead who's spent a LOT of time w/helos- I realize for purposes of scale you couldn't remove your Bushranger much farther from the base. But having a Huey less than 10m overhead would most certainly cause a bit of havoc among your groundpounders. The downforce of rotorwash from those fat blades would bend your saplings, flatten that elephant grass, scatter your grunts boonie hats to four corners, blow out the zippo, tear the ciggy out of your smokers mouth... I could go on but you get the point.
Again, not trying to slam, just hoping to help with something you may not have seen. Still friends?

Oh-yeah, also interested in your support method. As stated earlier, so many 'in-flight' dios have distracting wires or such that using the tree was a masterstroke of camoflague. Please share your technique!
(Though I'd personally highjack any Helo w/skids that flew into the treetops like that )

G'day Badman, thanks for the comments!

Robert, the diorama is going straight to the vietnam war museum here in aus!
in regards to your comments, i completely despise you now and no, we are no longer "friends"........ :-) just kidding, after i finished it i did realize the tracks were nearly "hovering" so i glued it donw again, and packed some "mud" around them, looks better now.
once the plan was set out i did also think of the fact that, if this huey was going to be flying by, it would cause alot of chaos amounst the fellas on the ground, but, i wanetd to show the story,a dn not focus on making every troops ducking and holding onto there hats.
There will be an article coming out on how to hang a helo, so keep an eye out.
thanks for the comments
cheers mate

I like the helo. The story line was really thought out. It is a impressive models you put together. Why didn't you use some sort of pastels or Mig Productions to give it more life.

I like the rice patty it looks great also.

I haven't done my first dio yet but I hope it comes as good as yours.

The figures are well thought out as where the story line moves well with the models.

Happy Modeling

As what was mentioned by most of the guys here, I really like the Huey's seamless fit into the dio. I can't wait to see the SBS how you did it soon.

As far as I can see the grass doesn't detract the viewer from the story so your fears were unfounded as were the comments from your friend.

Maybe the color contrasts but are there boot imprints on the road? Very nice use of ground and air space and its nice to see the Aussies get some recognition for their contribution to the Vietnam effort.

Nice story line, lots to look at, and well built. I think you did a swell job on the overall base (too many folks focus too much on the plastic, and get sloppy on the setting). This looks like a "fun" diorama.

LIKES:
- dude with the cigarette is killer. Well done. Ditto the tank commander. The black guy is also appropriately muddy around the boots, legs, and knees.

- weapons look well done.

- Grass looks really good... nice vegetation, which is very hard to do with long-stem grasses.

Critique...

- uniforms could use more contrast (too monotone and uniform in color, but this could just be tghe photo or my PC monitor

- for such a dirty environment, the tank still looks a bit too clean. A 50-ton tank in a wet rice paddy would sink deep and kick up a ton of mud... which would go everywhere(!!!!). Likewise, unless this is a new dispatched tank, there isn't much "brush wear" on the painted surfaces.

- Some of the grass being tromped around in could be bent downward.

Sounds nit-picky, but I KNOW how hard and long you worked on this.... a real crowd pleaser overall, on a subject that doesn't get enough attention.

G'day Guys
thanks for the comments
in regards to Toms comment, "Why didn't you use some sort of pastels or Mig Productions to give it more life." dont think im being snappy but, should i have?

Keith, the uniforms are slightly varied, but truth be told there was not alot of variation in aussie uniform colours. of course they would get faded etc..
The tank is not going though the "rice paddy" (its actually a crop field anyway)
its going along a muddy road, and at the speed its going (infantry walking in front of it keep in mind) it would hardly be going fast enough to flick up alot of mud.
as for the elephant grass being bent downwards, he grass around the actual men is, but elephant grass is very hard (on very sharp! ) so it would most likely spring back up after it was trodded on.
cheers, might seem like i have an answer for everything .......but i do :-)
cheers guys, thanks alot for the comments

Amazing Work man, I fell inspired to try my hand at Vietnam Era Stuff

Thanks mate, inspired? well im very glad to ehar it, the vietnam war needs more attanetion as far as im concerned, not only in modelling.
cheers

Hello David, congratulations for your diorama, the idea is very good and the layout too. Sure you enjoy with this proyect.

But I think there are some points to comment about the dio (always with constructive spirit, of course).

First, the tank; any tank in anywhere, most in Vietnam, after some days at country it´s covered with mud, and very dirty by crew feet up and down the tank; your is like a parade one, so I think you must work about it next time. And of course, more shadows, light, filters, etc... the make an accurate vehicule.

The figures may be much more better boy, you must work on shadows, lights, and changing tones of colours (no the same right green for everybody...). And try to sand off the details on the figures you don´t need (like the bands for the m16 cananas of the "recon marine" figures).

The chooper looks fine, but it could be better, with more "wheatering" (look a post on rivet .... forum for a UH-1-C).

And the ground work don´t look fine boy for me...Your elefant grass lookslike green paper pieces, please, use some sisal rope, wooland scenics grass, or brush hair for high grass.

The tree it´s the same; I suggest to you to make tree as many post of armorama said, but like yours. It seems to be a toy tree, and thats no good for your fine chopper.

Take a look at florist shop for dry plants to be used fro dioramas, as I do; you´ll be surprise how many treasures you get...

Finnally, I think that in a diorama everything it´s important, from the tank or helo to the figures, and the last little grass or stone; so I hope your next dio will be much more better than this one.

If you can , please take a look at the book "How to build dioramas" from Shepperd Paine. it´s a must item, you´ll learn a lot like I do everyday.

At last here is a wonderful diorama from a spanish master J. Perez Huelamo, my inspiration for all my Vietnam dioramas; I hope you enjoy it.

Ey, and when I post the pictures of my new seal diorama you could critic it as you like it ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

Congratulations again for the dio, only a few try an airborne dio like you.


[IMG]https://gallery.kitmaker.net/data/500/4579dustoff.JPG [img]

Sorry, here is the dioramas picture.

Well first Bravo to yr patience to work for a long time on a single project .
The storyline is very very nice
The dio shows nice pictures and with small corrections (mainly the tank weight dipping in more in the mud) i think that this work is a fine one. I like the chopper's stand looks natural and not just wired .
Good work mate good work in all

Costas

Cheers guys, csago, thanks for the advice, reason the centurion isnt too muddy is that its been raining, but you learn and improve from each diorama:p
thanks guys
cheers