Well, as an Armorama member, it is only right to update others of the diorama I'm making.

I'm posting pics of the vehicles, figures, accessories, as the diorama goes. Everything is almost ready and by the end of this month. I'll be making the groundwork.

i still don't know how to post pics here so just check my gallery if it won't work here.

By the way, I made some posts titled "Angela's Armored Car" and "Angela's Anti-Aircraft Gun." There will be no pictures there since I erased the old pics.

Here's my sdkfz 223 armored car. This is the old kit from Tamiya.









By the way, I still didn't glue the gray jerrycan. I don't know where to place it. Final weathering will be done when the model is fastened to the base.

Angela

This is my sdkfz 7/2...a halftrack with an Anti Aircraft Gun on it. It is painted in winter camouflage. As with the armored car, I'm waiting for it to be placed on the diorama groundwork before I do the final weathering.

The kit is fron Tamiya. I still didn't put the shells on the gun. The armor plate on the front and the side armor of the gun is made out of.....BEER CAN!! I also scratchbuilt the hook-and-bolt thingies at the sides (where the side screens lock-up when the vehicle is in transit) with aluminum sheet from.....BEER!!

Doing fine!Your weathering is very good!Congrats and keep us posted!

Here are some of the soldiers who will be in the dio. As you guessed it, these are DML Volksgrenaiders, DML Feldendarmerie and Tamiya Soldiers in Briefing.

I didn't include the dogs of the Feldendarmerie because they look like mongrels instead of tough looking German Sheperds.

I also washed them with white, depicting snow that falls on the creases of their clothes.

The Feldendarmerie without the dogs:



The Feldendarmerie and Tamiya Soldiers in Briefing


Close-up of some of the soldiers:


The Volksgrenadiers:


Close up of two of the Volksgrenadiers:


There are still six figures to go. I haven't painted them yet but I'll do them this week.

As with the vehicles, I'll do the final weathering of the figs when I install them in the dio.

As of now, I'm weathering the trees and a sandbag emplacement. I'll post them here when they are finished.

Everything is looking really good. I cant wait to see you put everything together into the finished diorama. Keep up the good work and definately keep us posted on the progress. Mary (++)

Hi Angela, Your vehicles are excellent!!! :-) I am also glad your figures came out so well. I think they are very very good. Figs are my worst enemy. Congrats on the fine work. Keep us posted as the ground work proceeds. Cheers Kevin

Angela, you've done a great job with these Tamia figures, and the camouflage uniforms are excellent.
Only things I would do different is the skin tones, they are to dark for winter. And I would give the white clothes a dark wash as they are a bit to white.
I like the halftrack, nice weathering.


Cheers
Henk

Thanks for the comments.

As what I've said, I'll be posting more of the dio. I'll post the pictures of the trees and the sandbag emplacement next. Then, there will be the last six figures and the groundwork itself.

I'm also making the final vehicle, a Panzer IV H as of the moment. I'll post a pic of that too.

Stay tuned.

Angela

Hey Angela,wow the color your using for your guns wood looks great, what color is that anyways?? everything looks awesome. but how come you have a vehicle that has winter camo and one without winter camo?

Hi TsunamiBomb,

For your first question, I painted the anti-aircraft gun with Tamiya Metallic Gray. When it dried, I gave it a wash of black and burnt umber. I didn't put one heavy wash as it would look out of scale. Instead, I washed it three times with a thin wash. The third wash was a very light burnt sienna mix.

Or do you mean the wood stock of the guns that the soldiers are carrying? It is just Tamiya brown, drybrushed with Flat Earth and drybrushed again with a light coat of Golden Ocher. The metal parts of the gun is just flat black drybrushed with chrome silver and coated with a little black pastel chalk.

For your second question, I decided not to paint the armored car with winter camouflage. This diorama will be early winter. That means fallen leaves will still show under the light snow cover. IF everything is painted with white camo, the diorama would be full of white and it would not be quite interesting.

In this scene, the armored car hasn't been treated to a white-wash. Maybe the crew doesn't have time to do it as they have been going on fast recon missions.The anti-aircraft gun, which will be placed behind a sandbag emplacement, on the other hand, will have received the white-wash by its crew. It has stayed there for quite some time so the crew must have had some time to put the camo on it.

German winter camo, by the way, is just lime or water based paint that is slopped, mopped, handbrushed, thrown, etc. over the base paint. It can easily be washed away with water.

Angela

i see on one of your pictures you had your bults weathered, how did you do that?

Hi Angela,

Nothing to nitpick except the figs.... . They seem tanned. Maybe you could lighten the skin tone a bit and also add some rouge on the cheeks similar to what person feels when he/she is in a cold place. Aside from that nothing else.

Hi TsunamiBomb,

"Bults"? Or "bolts"? If it's bolts you mean, I just pin-washed them with a burnt sienna/burn umber oil mix. I think the mix was a little heavy, 40% oil paint and 60% turpentine.

Then I dipped a brush into the wash and "dotted" each bolt lightly. When the wash started to dry and gummy, I took a dry brush and lightly brushed a little of the wash on some of the bolts downwards. This created a streaking effect.Lastly, I drybrushed the bolts with Dark Yellow mixed with a little white.

Or "belts?"I just painted the buckles with chrome silver and applied a thin wash of black. The belt straps are painted dark gray and drybrushed with a lighter shade of gray. For the gun straps, they are made of lead foil painted in Flat earth and drubrushed with brown.

Henk and warthog, thanks for pointing that out to me. I'll lighten them up a bit when I place them in the dio.

Angela

Dear Angela
u heave done very nice work so far on vehicles and figures and i am really waiting to see the compisition on the ground , and of course ur groundwork. The only think that would make some different is the tanned skin of all germans , even when exposed to weather conditions they could be a bit of more light coloured skinned .
Nice weathering all around so far

Costas

wow!

u have a wonderfull dio there, Angela :-)

very nice, keep us updated more!

Nice! Waiting to see it all done my friend!

I like what I see so far. Can I assume that all the figures and vehicles shown above are going to be included in the dio?

Angela,

That's some beautiful work! I may be reaching out for your advise when I start doing my tanks for my diorama.

CB

Angela -
As with everything else I've seen of yours, outstandingly done. The figures will especially compliment the more "relaxed" atmosphere of the diorama. I especially like the Volksgrenadiers. How did you do the "camo" on their smocks? Can't wait to see the diorama come together.

Blade48mrd

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for your advise and comments.

Just an update. I'm presently doing the trees and the sandbag emplacement. I will be able to post pics of them tomorrow.

Tarok, yup, all of those figs, those vehicles and every pic I will post here will be included in the dio. I still have a Panzer IV H waiting and four more figs waiting to be completed.

Craig, no problem. I actually got some great techniques from fellow modelers here

Blade48mrd, I found a pic of that camouflage in FSM. It was in a Verlinden catalog and I find the camo very nice. I started out with Tamiya Flat Earth. From what I've heard, the autumn camouflage pea pattern requires splotches of dark brown and black.But I didn't find those splotches in my reference, making the work easier for me.

When the Flat Earth was dry, I took a toothpick and dipped the pointed end directly in a bottle of enamel Tamiya Dark Yellow. I think acrylic paint will do good, too. Then, I touched all areas of the uniform with the toothpick. I had to dip it after four or five dots as the paint dries easily. When the paint began to gum up on the toothpick, I grabbed another toothpick.

I sealed the figures with a clear flat coat (Tamiya clear with Flat Base) and let it dry before I did the weathering and the details.

Nothing spectacular, really.

Angela

Nice work so far Angela. I really like your work on your figures. The pea-pattern camo looks really good. Can't wait to see more pics of your work

Cheers !!

Alpen

Gee Angela, that is some truly wonderful work that you're doing there!

I don't think that with all my years in this hobby that I could weather as nicely as you have!

Outstanding work! Keep us posted!!

Bravo Angela
Vehicles look great, very nice work.

Jay

WELL DONE!
the vehicles looks kewl. like it very much.
try and paint yer figures skin tone more lighter.

and i just cant wait to see your diorama.
keep on the good work Ya!

Here's the sandbag emplacement. I first made a template formed like a "C" out of carboard.

Cebu doesn't have Milliputt and all the epoxy putty I found hardens in just 5 to 10 minutes. There's just no way for me to work at the sandbags fast enough.

So, for the sandbags, I used modeling clay. I wrapped it up in tissue paper and dipped it in a small bowl of white glue/water mix. I poked the sides with a hobby knife for the seams and placed the bags on the template.

Once dry, I airbrushed the whole assembly with Tamiya buff. Here's a trick. When painting an emplacement like this, paint the entire assembly. I did not bother to paint the individual sandbags;it just takes a lot of time. When it was dry, I washed it with a light burnt umber oil wash. Then i drybrushed the bags with a golden ochere, burnt umber and white mix.



As you can see, the template still shows below the sandbags. This will be covered up when installed in the diorama.

Angela