Excellent job with the sandbags. This should be quite impressive when finished
Jay

Angela,
OK sandbag mo parang piping pianono....di naman nila naintindihan.. :-) Just kidding....it actually looks good except that aren't they supposed to closed at the ends...or I'm just mistaken. I read the way you did it in Shonen's sherman post.....I like that method, I got lots of clay in the house and I'll put it to good use by trying your method. Question, does the tissue paper mixed with PVA really hardens?

Cheers

Hi warthog,

Hmmm.....what do you mean by "closed at the ends?" I did the sandbags the way the guys here use epoxy putty....roll it, squash it with a rolling pin, cut into squares/rectangles, squeeze it a little here and there to provide bulk and shape. Then, I wrapped tissue paper, dunked it in the water/glue mix and punched the sides with a modeling knife to replicate seams.

Dearie, yes, the tissue really hardens. It's like paper mache, only that you are putting only one layer. The real purpose of the tissue is to absorb the oil that is present in modelling clay, thus making the whole thing paintable. A bonus is that when it is dry, the sandbag has good texture.

Angela

Hi,

Para kasing nakabukas and dulo...look at the 2nd and 3rd sandbag at the first/top row of the front set, or is it just the picture? Diba ang sandbag dapat naka-tahi ang dulo? Dehins nila tayo naiintindihan....

Great work on the weathering Angela. You've really managed to breathe new life into those old Tamiya figure kits.

Sandbags are nice too. I use the same tissue paper technique as you except I paint my tissue paper with good ole wood varnish to given it a bit of strength then fill it up with real, fine sand. Since the sand is not stuck together inside the bag, the bag can be reshaped a bit when placed together.

Hi warthog,

Hindi naman. Those are just seams. I think it's just something in the camera.

Oh, another bonus for the sandbag-made-of-clay-thingy. You can actually bend it to conform to any surface. The tissue hardens but not too much that it would be inflexible.

Hi beachbum,

Thank you for your comments. Wow! Filling a small bag made of tissue with sand is a lot of hard work. But I think the effects are spectacular.

Angela

Here are some images of my diorama. Please note that this is still in the making.

I still have the Panzer to detail, 8 more figures to install and some accessories to put into the ground to fill up the dead space.

This is just a sneak preview. I'm sorry for the bad quality of pictures. I can't take pics outside because it's raining. Also, I suck at taking pics.

I promise when I finish this one, I'll have a professional photographer take the picture for me.



Another view:


Comments and violent reactions are welcome.

Thank you.

Angela

Thats terrific Angela,you can feel the cold, are you going to do winter camo on the mk3 and the Armoured Car.

Hello Angela,
Quite an undertaking for a dio this size but you are proceeding and it is coming along nicely.May I ask if this is in the Ardennes and if it is will there be more evergreen trees? Looking forward to seeing it all come together and yes I do realize the amount of work you are going through to get this thing accomplished.
Good luck and keep us updated.

Lookin really good, keep us posted!

Now I see the real beauty of one of our great modelers :-) What did you use for the snow?

Nice work! I like it! As a final touch up, a gold nameplate would bring this awesome dio a life!

thats some impressive work you have there, the vehicles and road look great!

keep up the work angela,
Frank

Thank you for the comments guys.




The Panzer IV H? No, I'm not putting winter camo on them. It would add variety of colors on the dio....the armored car being plain and the Panzer IV having camouflage colors. Besides, not all vehicles where washed with winter color during that time. But I'm going to put a little snow around the crevices and some areas of the model and the sandbags.




Well, I originally planned it somewhere in the Hurtgen Forest but I made the mistake of not researchign the area first. So, I wasn't able to put the right evergreen trees. This dio, I decided, should be somewhere in Belgium...going to but not near the Hurtgen forest. I'm going to title this diorama "Going to the Front Lines - Belgium 1944."




Thank you, Ralph. You are a great modeler yourself. I used talcum powder for snow. The diorama actually smells like a baby. I still have to add a few more figs and some accessories to finish it.

Thank you, again, people.

Angela

At last a sneak peek.... :-) Looks good and promising. I can't wait to see the finished product....

Cheers

Good stuff Angela. You now not only have a very good looking dio but also a nice smelling one too. I like the layout as it sends the viewer attention at several places at once thus making someone take a longer slower look to take in the details.

Looking forward to the final pics. Is it me who's feeling cold just looking at the dio or is anyone feeling cold too?

The diorama looks great Angela! Your vehicles look fantastic, the weathering is wonderful! When you set it all up, the dio looks great. Is this your first dio?

Hi Verboten,

Yup this is my first dio. I guess I overestimated its size but I'm happy with it.

I have some figures to finish and accessories (boxes, tarps, etc) to do to fill up the dio.

A friend of mine here said that it would be good if I put more trees. I won't do that. There is a halftrack with an anti-aircraft gun parked nearby and having trees all around will hamper its aim. It is likely that the crew of this halftrack would part it near a clear area.

My aim for this diorama is to show several "stories" without being confusing and still have the impression that troops are moving to the front line. Thus the marching soldiers behind the Panzer and the small supply cache.

I wanted to add a parked Kettenkradt but I couldn't find a 1/35th scale kit of it. Darned. Well, it's okay. I'll just compensate it with accessories.

Any more comments?

Angela

Your dio is looking realy good Angela.

8 more figures to go. A quite large amount of figures. I like it

Well Angela u have the nerve to do a dio that big at start, Nice planning in all and nice use of snow , u can really feel the chill.
I am waiting for some closeup shots when finished but so far , i am quite impressed i have to say !!!

Costas

Hi Angie,

your dio looks great. i'm happy that u finally managed to get the snow to fall on your dio correctly. But just curiosity, are u planning to put other stuff in. I noticed there's a few empty space and i knew u have lots o goodies...

anyway, nice job angela...

Hi Angela, it is looking very good so far. Very Impressive!!! I can see your little sub stories and think when finished they will make a good impact. I cant wait to see how it is with the rest of the figs on it. Also both dml and tamiya have kettenkrads for you. Keep us posted. Cheers Kevin

Hi Costas,

Thank you for the comment.If you notice, I put just enough layer of snow to let the ground peek in. This depicts an early winter scene. I don't want to cover the whole diorama with globs of white.

Hi Silantra,

Yes. As what I've said, I still have a lot of accessories and some figures to be placed there to fill up the empty space. I don't really have lots of "goodies" if you are referring to aftermarket accessories. I scratchbuild most of them.

Hi kevin,

Yep, DML and Tamiya have those little Kettenkradts. However, our hobby shop doesn't have it for the meantime. It's okay though. I'll just compensate it with some other stuff.

Angela

impressive dio.i am waiting for close up shots... congrats Angela

The diorama looks very nice Angela, especially considering this is your first! Having just read through the entire thread, and seeing that you have a lot of good how-tos there, maybe you could consider converting this into an article?

Keith

Angela,

Very impressive, a rather ambitious undertaking for you first diorama, however you have brought together beautifully. I like the use of space; the expansiveness enhances the sense of being cold with the areas void of anything but snow. Very well done, I anxiously anticipate seeing it completed.

Jay