I first started wok on this dio in late september, but through the fall and the winter I did not really get a good chance to work on it. Tonight though, I got pretty well ahead and decided to take some pictures. THhe idea for the dio is very similar to that of one that was shown here a while ago entitled Attack and Retreat. Suprisingly enough, I had the idea for this one in my head before I ever saw the in progress pics of siad dio proving that great minds do think a like :-) :-) :-) .

Anyway the general idea is this: It is a road in Russia during the first snows of 1944. The Germans are in retreat, and a retreating stug (I might add a 251 later) passes a knocked out pz iiih for the invasion into russia. the destroyed tank is in a ditch on the side of the road which is filling with water and mud as the ground is not yet cold so the first snows are mostly melting.

When I ordered the pz III it was out of stock so I have to get that, but in the mean time I have started work on the stug and the base. The stug nees the skirts put on and some more weathering / rusting etc and all the extras put on it.

The base is only just started and I am going to work on it a lot tomorrow.

Please forgive my poor picture taking ability but I can never seem to get the light right or the right parts of the tank in focus as well as I would like.
pics

base


stug acting as a stand in for the panzer iiih showing how it will be in the ditch


stug side


stug front


another side


rear - Note I lost a piece in the rear so I had to make a replacement out of balsa wood, its the same shape and has the same outline but does not have the grille features of the original piece, so I intend to cover it in the final thing with a draped flag

Looks good there. Let us know how its coming along! I see that you brushed on the camo...next time or on your other tanks try to airbrush it on if you have one. Keep uop the good work
ian

thats the problem with modeling on a budget, cant afford to buy myself an airbrush.

Gotta hate the budget.

If possible you can try to angle the road on the base to give a more 'interesting' view of it. Dioramas set at off angles draw you in more. What are your plans for the edges of the base?
About the camo - you can dry brush the edges to give a more 'feathered' soft edge. I would also try to even out the edges a bit to make the less jagged. The left side lines aren't are 'straight edged' as the right side.

I'm sorry and I don't wanna come over like a pain in the ass but besides a modeller i'm also a re-enactor and WWII lover overall but why airbrush the camo on if in real life the camo was also painted by hand?

yup, that is true... hand painted camouflage are very common too..