Finally finished my QP submission. Its based on an actual event which involved the British Special Boat Service and their raid on a ship called FOX TROT FIVE. The raid occured when the ship was moored on the Thames and would never come to light had it not been for a photo taken by a civvie (Dr. Joyce Lowman) which I've included below. The raid conducted in 1992 yielded Britian's largest drug haul at that time amounting to British pounds 160 million worth.

The SBS in my opinion really deserve the title of Quiet Professionals as hardly anything they've done has been made public. The figures used below are DML SAS and in a way its poetic justice as I've used them to represent SBS instead who are often when seen at all are mistaken for their famous sister, the SAS.

The original photo:


Some of my depictions of the above scene:

A B & W version:

https://gallery.kitmaker.net/data/500/4148Fox_Trot_Five_4_closeup.JPG " BORDER="0">

More closeups:


A view of the Thames:


A shot of a cutaway of the cabin or at least how I imagined it to be:


and my favorite done in a grainy B & W:


Got a couple more shots in my gallery. This probably marks my last installment of the SBS. All comments welcome. Thanks

You have done a very fine Dio, Mate!!

And this was such a "Quiet Professionals" Op, that really no one ever heard of it - until now!!!!

Congrats once again,

Skipper

Looks good. My only nitpick is that the bridge(Ship) is to clean. On most ships they have an island in the middle for spreading maps and stuff on , kind of like a kitchen island. Maybe putting that in there will solve the "emptyness" that i think is there.


Other than that it looks great.


HTH


Matt

Thank you gentlemen for the kind words. Matt your'e right on the cabin. Initially I didn't want to include a cutaway as I had little to go on other than the actual B & W photo but I might just include your suggestion.

Phantom Major it doesn't really show on the photo but the cabin is a bit off white. But I will weather it further. Actually I'm not sure its even white to begin with or even if the hull is marine blue as the actual photo was B & W. Apparently the incident was so obscure nobody on this forum who read my query knew anything about it. Figuring out the dimensions and proportions was another mathematical horror especially for a mathematical retard like myself.

Thanks again.

!@!@$!%!%!%^@$^#%^!!!!!!!!!!! Awesome! That is a 1st for my eyes as far as the creativity of your dio - excellent job. I am impressed as to how you were able to paint the eyes of the figs with goggles on. Makes me want to play Rainbow 6

That's great! Is there a badguy in that scene? Looks like you really like commando dios

Fantastic vignette....

What did you use for the lenses on the masks?

Beachbum,

awesome and sooo amazing!!!!!

i'm very sure that everyone on this forum will impress by the creativity of this dio.....superb and outstanding....the figures are good....maybe we can have a chat on how did your be able to paint the facial details....
cant wait to have a tea in your house again .........

just some question... what did u use to make the boat??
what is the dimension of the dio??

hmm..this answer your long quite old man!!!

Well thats a very nice scene there and carried in a fantastic way . I love to see pictures of real life modelled. And u have the imagination and creativity to make this happen very nicely. All setup and details look very nice, and is one of the dios that refresh the things we see. Good work , real good one

Thanks a bunch guys. Well Porkchop I tried cutting some clear transparencies but that idea quickly went down the Thames. After painting the eyes I put in a bit of Selleys Polyurethane glue which upon drying maintain a slight gleam without interacting with the paintwork. Used it on dials of vehicles too and its great for the river as I used it to top off the river Thames after it received several wood lacquers with diluted paint.

Vadster the eyes were painted first and it was a bit of effort considering my failing eyesight and unsteady hands(modelling at 1:35 is tough). Any slip ups were covered when painting the gas masks later.

Silantra the boat is made of a combo of paper file cover and a brand of paper mache found here. As you know both of us has probably cracked our heads looking for styrene in this country of ours which is filled with every other plastic except styrene. I finally used the plastic from the cover of a paper folder/file which suprisingly managed to hold a bit of paint. I then used the paper mache ( a bit like celluclay) to give the boat the "bulge". The vignette dimensions are approx. 6 in. x 9 in.

Unfortunately there are no bad guys in the vignette, ShermiesRule as I "tried" to stay close to the photo in John Parker's book.

CK that looks really cool. The water looks good as does the dock and the amount of stuff that you put on it; not too much but not too little. The figures are done well, especially the highlights on the uniforms; most of the time, mine end up looking much like the SF guys are wearing leather jumpsuits. I am looking forward to your next piece of art and am curious as to what topic you might pick next.
Kyle

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for encouragement. Wouldn't be calling it art at least as far as the wife is concerned. Junk would be more likely as she is giving me the "where are going to put this" look.

I still have a fair bit to go as far as getting the highlights and shadows just right. I enjoyed this one coz it was a challenge to find various shades of black and still maintain a contrast between the webbing, boots, jackets, suit, Nomex gloves and hoods.

I'm about done with the SBS having done 2 vignettes and 1 dio on them. Probably going to do a little vignette involving 3 MACV-SOG waiting in a clearing for a pick-up which may or may not be followed or superseded by a more grandiose dio involving SEALS "physically enlisting" the help of a VC tax collector. Then there's the recreation of an actual event involving a lone surviving MACV-SOG member surrounded by VC.

Too many ideas Not enough time and not enough space.....plus sniffing too much glue is killing me.

Take care.

Whooaaa !!!
I only realised it was a diorama after the second photo.
Had me fooled for a while there......Another realistic angle is the top view one. If that had been the third picture you'd have had me fooled a little longer.....

I'd have to go with the rest about the cabin though........ And guess I'm not the only one concerned about failing eyesight.

Looks good, but as I instruct CQB (Close quarters Battle) I have some concerns with the weapons orientation. Your #2 and #3 man are "flagging" their buddies. ie, aiming at their backs. One slip and "pow!" 9mm to the back. I'm not saying you did this wrong, as it very closely resembles the picture, but I'd assume they would have the proper orientation of their weapons if you were to see the actual picture fromthe front. Not your fault at all. Overall your dio looks good. Just my .02 worth. "Q"

Thanks Red4 for your informative comment. Its really close but if you look at the vignette from the front, the orientation is really close but slightly askew with No. 3 pointing inwards just glancing the inside shoulder of No. 2 (sorry no photo). Its a narrow deck and probably what I should have done is modify the hands of No.3 to point the gun downwards but then laziness exceeded ambition.

Thanks again.

In case you want to do another subject that is simular in the future, here is the weapons orientation for a 4 man team. #1 Straight ahead, #2 Oriented outside and high cover (Situation dictates here) IF there is nothing that would pose a threat to their outside, then he comes inside. #3, 90 degrees outside, #4 same, but he pulls rear security as well, lots of head turning for this guy. Also, they would be almost one on top of the other, moving as a group. Your #2 man is the guy in charge. He lets the #1 man know when the team is together as a whole and its "GO!" time.
In your dio, your #2 man would be covering the windows directly to their left. There are a lot of "what ifs" in this type of work. You did a good job of closely replicating whats in your picture. Keep up the good work. "Q"

Excellent info Red4. Will definitely be used in my next CQB dio. I was actually indirectly involved in a house to house raid once involving our local equivalent of SWAT called UTK. I was basically a guide when the UTK raided the workers houses in the plantation where I worked. It was a 4 man team and I was instructed each time where to stand just before they busted the door down.

One question, I noticed No.1 (shotgun) man acts as overwatch at or near the doorway when the door is smashed, and its No.2, 3 and sometimes No.4 who moves in. Its that a common entry procedure for small rooms? The reason I ask is coz I thinking of doing a Viet dio whereby a SEAL team is about to extract a tax collector whose sleeping in a hut.

CK, what usually happens when a door is breeched is your breech-man, (Designated by the team leader prior, will approach the door and position himself.) I'll use #3 man as an example. On the "GO" signal he makes his breech ie.. kicks the doors open. Lets say the team is stacked on the left of the doorway. He will position himself on the right side. Once he makes his move, he will roll out of the way to allow the entry team access. When he moved from the #3 spot, #4 just became #3. Once the team has entered he can effectively enter as the #4 man. It is all about fluidity. Once you start your flow, don't stop. Speed and violence of action are the name of the game. As I said oin my other post, there are alot of what if's doing this type of work. Glad to be of some help for you. "Q"

the boat., the boat fooled me..
i was fooled by it...all along i tot it was a real boat...damn!! it looks so real...very very nice dio...keep it up man....

Many thanks for the kind comments, neighbour. Sorry I didn't aknowledge your post earlier, Danial coz I've been away from Amorama for a while. Currently experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms due to the long absence of 2 weeks.

I've noticed you have an interesting submission yourself.