Hi all:

Well I went to the MMSI show over the weekend and was inspired by all the great dioramas I saw there. I vowed to complete at least one diorama for next years show, so I'm starting right away.

I'd really like your input on it. Here's the basic info.

The dio will be of a parked Wespe (Tamiya's 1/35, with photoetch added) with the crew having lunch under an apple tree. There may also be a BMW with sidecar on the dio as well. The catch is that one of the crew will be in the apple tree picking apples and will have disturbed a Wasp's nest. He will essentially be in the position of jumping out of the tree, and the other crew members will be swatting and running away from the wasps. The BMW pair may be off in the corner laughing at the Wespe crew. Obviously the play on words here is that (for those that don't know) Wespe is german for Wasp. The title would be something along the lines of "Don't mess with the real thing." (It's a working title at this point.)

So, after all that rambling, what do you guys think? Thumbs up, sideways, or down?

I'd really like your input.

Thanks!

John

John that sounds like an excellent idea you have there. I think it will make a fine diorama. Cheers Kevin

very nice idea man, only one question, how do you plan to make wasps?

Hehehehehe LOL :-) :-) :-)

Sounds brilliant! can't wait to see it!

thats a good idea.however are you going to make wasps? or just by the actions of the figures imply that there are wasps there?

Wow! That's a really nice and original idea. Hope it comes into frution.

Angela

Cool idea! Jackhammer81 has some experience with making hornets nests.....

Thanks for all the encouraging words. I really appreciate it.

Yes, the wasps are going to prove to be a challenge to say the least. I have several ideas on how to pull it off. I'm in the process of building the Wespe right now, and will start testing different ways to construct the wasps. I even did the research and found out what type of wasps they have in Europe. From what I found, they look very similar to something we call Yellow Jackets here in the states.

I may either just have them attached to the figures, tree, etc. directly, or see what the thinnest, clear monofiliment line I can find, and possibly have them attached that way.

As I progress with the testing, I'll keep you updated.

Thanks again!

John

Looks a good idea to me!Keep us posted!!

John

I think it's a really great and very humorous idea. I envy your creativity and hope to see more subjects along the more "relaxed", non fighting venue. I' ve seen some figures from I think "Warrior Scales" of tankers,etc jumping off that could work for jumping out of the tree. Maybe add a pond with someone jumping in to get away from "wespes". I'm sure you'll have as much fun working all this out as we'll have seeing it come to pass. Enjoy,

Blade48mrd

go for it sounds realy good

I'd probably avoid trying to do the wasps, since you'd be trying to create a scale creature no more than 1/35 of an inch long and the width of a hair. Even the thinnest monofiliment will overpower the wasps. Really animate your figures, get some Hornet (no pun intended!) heads that look surprised and make it very clear there's a nest there...maybe even that has fallen in the middle of the lunch area.
The Beemer crew might be a distraction, however. I'd test that out first, since it's going to be drawing the viewers' eyes away form the main action, and you're going to have a very strong focal point.