Hi Everyone, here is my latest, it's Tamiya's Panzer IV J, and I've made this to be somewhere in Hedgerow country. The idea is the tank bringing fresh men to the front line, and the wounded coming off the line. The tank is OOB Built, and I added Tamiya putty for zimmerit. I saw a cool pic of extra track links welded to the lower hull in amonst the running gear, so I added some there too. The rock walls are from Lemax's Christmas Village Collection, and were drybrushed several colours to achieve the different rock colours. The tank was washed, drybrushed, and pasteled for weathering. A couple of Verlinden figures, and Dragon make up the rest of the figures, the dead birch tree is another Lemax product, and the ground work is tile grout mixed with static grass. I've added three telegraph poles to the scene, I do know that they are way too close together, but I did not want to make the dio three feet long, so they are just there for the effect.
Hope you like it!

I like this a lot ... For me, the best is the groundwork which is simple but really nicely executed. You have also done some superb work on the figures - nicely understated ..Jim

That's great, I like how the guys coming from the front look tired and dirty, and the ones going to the front are rested and have clean clothes.

This is a beautiful dio! Since I have been here, I have seen some work that really raises the bar and crushes some of the old standards I was used to. Your work is no exception! Display it proudly!

I, too, like this a lot and some things in particular are stand outs.
1.) The overall construction and paint work are excellent, especially the dry brush highlights.
2.) I really like the birch trees.
3.) You've nicely framed the scene with the telephone poles and stone wall.
4.) The stacked wood off to the right is a neat touch. That creates a nice visual balance with the trees .
5.) The overall emotion is carried through well, the figures and the tank all look well worn and tired, the story line is concise and consistent. No explanations needed to let the viewer know what's supposed to be going on.
A couple howevers, though.
A.) The guy with the outstretched leg on the back of the tank...his leg is levitating above the surface.
B.) The guy with the panzerfaust might work better angled through the gate, it looks like he's going to walk into the wall in the next step.
C.) The blond guy is holding his rifle very awkwardly. D.) The biggest thing, though, as you look at it, your eyes are drawn away from the scene. On the left, you have the officer with the map pointing off to the left and back and the aforementioned rifle is also sending the viewer off to the left. At the same time, the mg34 and tank barrel are pulling the eyes off to the right very strongly. It's very hard to look at the middle of the scene as it's posed despite the framing effect. I think it would have worked better if the tank and the officer/wounded group were reversed so the officer was pointing in the same direction but from the right side of the scene while the tank was on the left heading to the right. .

This is a very well done diorama Kelly. I would not worry about the telegraph poles, they look great and give diorama a good perspective. The details of the tank, the road signs and the wood stockpill are very well thought out and done. Congrats

This is what I call a perfect dio, I like everything.

Greetz robster!

Kellyzak-

Really outstanding. As "Jimbrae" mentioned, the groundwork is simple but very well executed. Sometimes I think the groundwork details can draw attention from the theme itself. You've done an outstanding job of supporting your theme especially with the figures. I also like the "battle worn" appearance of thePzKpfw IV. It definitely looks like a veteran. Terrific job!

Blade48mrd

Thanks guys for the comments! I simply poured the tile grout onto the base, added some rail ballast here and there, lightly misted the whole thing with water, then added my white glue/water mix, set the tank in to make tracks and then added the rock walls and tree, then let it all set up. I wanted to do a better job on the figures, so I put some extra effort into them, by adding some five o'clock shadows on the poor guys coming off the line, making them all grimy. The one guy yelling at the commander is practically saying that they're getting stomped out there, and the commander is like "Ah, that's nice, get back there, get fixed up, and get right back to the front!"
It's funny, I had a little brass plaque made for the name of my dio, and in one of the shots, you can totally see the reflection of the guy with the panzerfaust! LOL

Wow. I've seen many dios on websites and this is one of the top! Very cool is the weathering and all the small things that bring it all together. I love the map and the power lines.

Jeff

soo-frickin-perb!


If i can eventually get my kits lookin half as good as this,i will die a very happy man...great job!

:)

Absolutely beautiful! I love everything about it...I only hope I can do as well someday...thanks for sharing your dio with us

Thanks everyone!! It's nice to see your work appriciated on a huge site like this...it's made me want to share my stuff more and more, when I first joined, I was very aprehensive of posting, I've seen some posts get ripped to shreds, but there's such a great group here, thanks!

On a side note, a bit , but I need some input. I'm planning on doing a dio with a house similar to this below...I'm going to be scratchbuilding it, I have some plaster poured already....



I really want to put a StuG III G and a Krupp Protze into the scene. Question is Would the vehicles be appropriate for the scene? I want to do this somewhere just inside of France...as one gets closer to the border, the architecture is similar...what do you think?

It`s a Tudor style house Kelly,don`t see why it wouldn`t be ok for say Normandy or in Germany as the Germans retreat. They were probably built everywhere in towns with old quarters.

Very nice diorama.....
As for the building kit.... I'm looking forward to seeing a write up about it.

I wholehartly agree with all the previous praise, and add the great finish of the exhaust to the list. There is one thing that could be improved, unless it's the picture that makes it look so, but the fenders need to be thinned at the edges if you bent/melt them. Otherwise they look to rounded.
Please remember that no one on this site is trying to rip peoples work apart, we'll leave that to other sites. But we do try to help each other when we spot something we think might have been missed by the builder. I have had things pointed out about my own work that I hadn't spotted, and it really helps with the next project.

Good luck with your next build, and don't forget to post the pictures.

Cheers
Henk

You're right Henk, I just heated the fenders and bent them about, next time I'll try using some brass sheet, or make those edges a little more sharp.
Dave, thanks, now I gotta do a write up! LOL Oh well, I just got some film for my camera, I'll do in progress shots of how I do the building, this could be interesting, I've never done a article with the in progress shots, just the finished product and how I built it. I have alot of articles done, but they are sort of "copyrighted" for another site I used to frequent, but there was a bit of a falling out with the guy who runs the webzine over material showing up on other sites....some of you may know the site that I'm talking about...

simply wonderfull dio!

i like it very much! you've done a nice job, cant wait to see your next!

keep em coming!

this is a very good dio! I lov it. Its so simple but it is so awesome! Keep us posted with your next dio please!

Well I started cutting the face of the house last night, I have taken one picture (sorry, but I only have a normal camera and no digi...) so you'll see everything when it's done and I do the write up.
After talking with Russ (sas) and another friend, the roof is going to be a little more challenging than I thought, but I'll get it done. And, as I was trying to cut out the door and some windows, the plaster broke in three spots, so I've glued them up, and have to wait to carry on...LOL happens every time! :-)

Very well-done diorama ! The Pz Kpfw IV Ausf H/J looks awesome, and your figures are excellent. The way you have the scene depicted really gives the impression of the confusion behind the lines during a battle.

Groundwork looks great too !!

Cheers !!

Alpen

I actually had fun doing the groundwork on this, although I had to work rather quickly before the tile grout started to set up. At first I was going to just mix the grout and water, and add it to the base as a paste, but then I just thought "why not try it like every other ground work?" So I just poured the grout on the base, and added my glue/water mix. Worked fine.
Thanks for the comments!

Not being a dio builder,i cant comment too much,but i think the paintwork is very good,and the figs outstanding.
,not often you get the two together,congrats
Arthur

i love the grass and the weeds and the birch, its so well done, the figures are outstanding and so the panzer!

Great work!
keep it up!
Frank

Well i think thats a nice dio in all.
Painting is good in all and the groundwork is simple but well done with no exaggerations .
Also in a strange way the fact that most of your dio elements are parallelised to the base framing lines , it doesnt bothers me as it should !!!!
The atmosphere is nice and i think that u must be proud for creating this scene

CostaS