Firstly, I apologise to all if this post seems harsh, and believe me when I say I gave this plenty of thought, but when you bite the hand that feeds the mouth...







My grud, that's arrogant!

Harrison, your response to the constructive criticism has really irked me. So much so that initially I chose to simply ignore it, but having slept on it, re-read it and your reponse to Angela's critique, I have decided to step into the ring.

A diorama is supposed to tell a story, in other words the creator (YOU) must tell the viewer (ME) what YOU are trying to depict. It is supposed to tell the viewer what is happening, so much so that it must do so without the use of a nametag. Don't take my word for it. Read Shep Paine's diorama book. if you've already done so, read it again. That statement I made is in one of the 1st 2 chapters.

In response to your initial repost:



It is NOT necessarily used for that, and in later posts you say the troops may NOT have even necessarily been deployed from it. From my point of view, the vehicle IS unprotected. The non-com's who you say are with the vehicle are hanging about outside it talking @#$%. The officers in the vehicle are not the driver or gunner, as officers DO NOT drive vehicles, they command them.




If you don't want us to think they are depolying them, shift the angle of the troop column.




I said it's NOT obvious that he's lost. It looks like he's just another Hilter Jugend that has finally had to put his money where his mouth is, and has now realised it's time to be a man - and realised he's not!




It is of the utmost importance, and one of the FIRST things you should decide on. You have mixed equipment from various periods of the war. Therefore I assume it is a later period.




You have a lot to learn if you think what you experienced in a game is battleweariness.


Again, I apologise to all if this post seems harsh, and believe me when I say I gave this plenty of thought, but when you bite the hand that feeds the mouth...

Rudi

pheewww, :-) i think i hear the moderators on their way, or maybe not....
Harrison i will say this...
"I am also a reenactor, I have found myself dazed after a long harsh battle with the enemy."
Do the guns actually fire, do the bayonets actually perce the skin, and does the shrapenel really fly during these "Harsh battles with the enemy"...

Moderators are never asleep :-)... I'm here and watching it, but as long as people are respectful I don't jump in.

It's not a problem that we give critics and even harsh sounding replies are ok, as long as we do it with respect to the other members and with constructive critisism.

I think most of the critics are very well thought over and are intented to be helpful towards the builder and that's the way it should be.

So please remain respectful and constructive and I don't have a problem with it.

Oh boy. I am shocked to read your reaction to a constructive criticism which I think, can help you, Tsunamibomb.

If you want to improve in your work and in anything in your life, you have to lend an ear to people who want to help you...even if you think they are saying the undesirable qualities that you or your work has. It's the only way you could see through your own weakness. Helpful people are a mirror to your weaknesses.




Because there is no indication of a "front line" in your dio. Usually, the front line is a "busy" in battle. Scenes that augment that the dio is in the front line are troops fighting and advancing, troops that are hiding behind sandbags OR a vague demarkation line.

You may say your depicts a front line but you have to show aspects of it in your dio. From the looks of your dio, it could just be anywhere.




As far as I'm concerend, the halftrack IS the main subject of that dio. It is not placed there just to fill space. Dead space fillers are accessories (i.e., crates, dirt, rubble, shrubs, etc.) or vehicles to SUPPORT a big subject (such as a bigger vehicle or a bigger group of smaller units).

So, if that is NOT the main part of your dio, then what is? For us, that is the biggest, the most central piece there. If this is not your main subject...and you're just considering this as a space filler, then you are distracting the viewers




Yes.




Yes. In a dio, you have to be nitpicky about everything, boiling it down to the most basic and simplest theme/action and then letting your technical modeling skills (painting, weathering, etc) do the rest. The human eye follows certain lines. If you look at it from afar, you will see that it SEEMS the troops are coming from behind the halftrack.

As with Tarok, if you wish to depict that they did NOT come from the half track, shift the angle of the troops and move away the halftrack.

Ambiguity in a diorama does NOT work.




Making a diorama is a differnt kind of art form. Remember, you are showing a 3 dimensional scene in a very limited amount of space. The idea and the concept must be obvious. It's wholly different from a painting because in a painting, you only see one perspective. That is why you can infer or assume things about it from other perspectives which are not shown. In a dio, the viewer can see ALL perspectives. That is why conciseness is important.




...and that is where ambiguous dioramas fail. Dio themes, stories and messages should be strong, concise and direct. If you have to explain to us what this-and-that figure is doing or what might he is doing, then your idea itself is weak.

Dios that fail to portray what its message is supposed to be WILL and WILL fail. As simple as that. Period.

Even delayed reaction dios, or dios which portray a "difficult" subject or theme have strong subjects. It makes use of crisp lines and clever arrangments to guide the viewerer's eyes around the details until he understands what it is all about. This is the most difficult kind of diorama.

On other things:

About you saying that you are better than other people with 10 years modeling experience, I agree with Tarok and I feel the same way as him.

Saying that is extremely conceited of you. No one here even dared to say he is better than other modelers. It seems you are saying "It took you 10 years for be the modelers you are but it took me just one summer to be the modeler that I am today who is better than you." That is very arrogant and uncalled for.

I have been modeling for 15 to 18 years and some have even been longer. But I still respect, learn and appreciate other people's works and look humbly on mine.

If people appreciate my work, then that's good .I have something to be proud of. I do not tell them "ahh, that's because I modelled for 18 years." If there are criticisms about my work, I'm also happy for it. They have pointed out things that I could haven't noticed and I could improve on. That is why people place "comments and criticisms are welcome" in thier posts. They want to improve and to do that, someone's gotta show them the negative aspects of thier work. How else could they improve?

As what I told you, I am impressed by your makes but I think you may want to work on your composition. So if you want to hear only the "ooohs" and "aaahs" of your work, then I'm sorry I can't do that.

Saying that and knowing your attitude of shooing away constructive criticisms, I'm now quite hesitant to share what I could do to make your work better. I am not even sure if I should comment on your future work, knowing that you react violently to some suggestions. With your attitude towards constructive criticism, I'm afraid, too, that some people, and the more expereinced ones, will also be reluctant to help you.

This is not a rant or a flame to you. I'm just being pragmatic about something that MIGHT teach you something about the hobby or life itself. If you take this as a flame, well, I can't do anything about it. You are entitled to your own judgement and opinion.

Angela

"I am also a reenactor, I have found myself dazed after a long harsh battle with the enemy."
Do the guns actually fire, do the bayonets actually perce the skin, and does the shrapenel really fly during these "Harsh battles with the enemy"...


Dude... you really need to get a grip on what’s going on in the world. I'm a combat vet and seeing you say that.. Gives Me 2 impressions of you. 1 a kid trying to impress folks. 2 someone who does NOT know JS bout what it means to be in combat of any manner. so I would advise in a friendly manner. Don’t speak about what you DONT know anything about. Unless you've walked into that dark shadow.


RLW !!
BB Company 3rd 75th Rgt

Harrison, first of all..i do think that you have talent as far as your work goes. The things that you have done, like the halftrack and the figures, walls etc. show that you do have a talent there. But, frankly, your attitude needs a lot of work. When you post your work here, especially in progress work, i assume,,and i could be wrong bc everyone else has been, you are looking for critiques as to areas of improvement. Since this is clearly not what your after, perhaps you shouldn't post and state.....



Mary

To change the subject back to the vehicle and Dio, Harrison I just noticed this, the seats in the back of the halftrack you have painted black. In the real deal those seats are not padded, but are made from wood. If your interested this is how I would go about doing this.

1. Pop off the seats

2. Paint them with an acrylic flat flesh tone

3. mix tube oil paint brown umber with a little turpeniod and paint the seats and let dry for 5 minutes.

4. Take an old spalyed brush dip it into the turpenoid, then wiping in one direction take one or maybe two longitudinal wipes down the lenght of the seats. Let dry for 2 to 5 days.

5 take an old sponge, dip it in a masking soloution and dab it onto the seat. Let Dry.

6.Spray the seats with Dark yellow, and let dry

7. take a cotton ball and wet an edge with the masking solution let dry

8.dab this on the seats, this will pick up the previously applied masking solution, reveling the wood tone below the paint.

9. Viola a paint chipped wooded bench seat,

HTH

You missinterpretted my answer. Even from reenacting im a bit dazed and confused. I might not have had the full experience with combat, nor do I ever want to. But im putting in my part of what I have personally had with being confused in a situation.


"I mean, people consider me better than modellers that have been modelling for 10 years +. I have only been modelling since the beggining of last summer."


That wasnt being conceited, that was me trying to thank the members from armorama for helping me.

Oh yeah Harrison, you welcome, glad I could help.

BTW maybe you need to work in a better ventilated area, I think the fumes may be going to your head? Whether you have raw talent, or not, you attitude certainly needs ALOT more work. I beleive the "who do you think you are" comment may soon be applicable. I know much better modelers than you who have 100 times more humility. Take a chill pill dude it's just a hobby!

Another suggestion: Perhaps wait till your dio is a little more complete before you post pics and ask advice about your dio. That way there will be little confusion about what you're trying to display. Then you can receive specific criticism as it related to the dio.

On the other hand if you just post a bunch of figures and vehicles way in the early stages you are going to get a lot of criticism because people (myself included) may not be able to see your final vision. Some thought it was a halftrack unloading. Others thought soldiers marching. Others said there is no driver.

I will say it again that even though your dio is currently a jumble of people, vehicles and walls, each completed piece has been done beautifully. You just asked too early about your "dio" when you probably should have been asking for advice about the pieces.

Keep up the good individual work and I'm positive the rest of the dio will fall into place.

People,

Remarks like these are not needed and are out of order. Like I asked before : please reply with respect and with constructive critics. Things like the one above don't add something useful to a diorama.

I leave the reply where it is, being an example of what I don't want in here. Let's talk diorama stuff in here and let's give eachother useful tips and tricks for making excellent dioramas.

Those who give tips, tricks and critics do it with respect and let them be constructive

And those who get the tips, tricks and critis, accept them as they are.

If someone steps out of line I expect our users not to go into any sort of "counterattack", but I expect them to inform Scott or me about what's going on. Although Scott and me are not always "present with replies" we watch and read every topic in the diorama forum, so we can respond when we are called upon.

Respect is the keyword here !

You take my comment out of context. It was meant to inject a little HUMOR, to my constructive comments about how overboard certain responses to helpfull comments were. Maybe there is a language barrier, maybe you read it too quickly. I think you should go back and re-read my post. I wsa saying nothing definiative, just trying to apply a wake up call in a different way than you did above, as your message was obviously ignored.

Sticky,

no offence intended from my side.... perhaps a couple of smileys would have made the humour a little more clear. Plain text can't express thoughts and feelings, and I can re-read your post a thousand times...it says what it says... except for the waving figure I can find very little humour in it.

language barrier....perhaps, but that's something that all non English speaking persons will run into and....there a quite a lot of them on this site...so please be careful then....things might easily be misunderstood.

I think it's best we leave it all for what it is and go back to modeling now.

hi harrison you got a nice thing going their.

I read the whole topic here and I think I can help you.

turn the sdkfz around,


and replace the dazed and confused guy with someone thats peeing or maybe looting the ruin?

if you leave the stream of soldiers as it is, and turn the sdkfz around it tells 2 diffrent stories, if you have a peeing guy, it explaines where the driver is.

if you then put an hq decal on yr sdkfz it explains the precense of more then one officer.

I hope I was of help

with kind regards Juul

1 more question asomething I have just noticed.

on the front of your sdkfz their is a mg34 crane and next to it is the gun shield.

it can be me but I never ever seen that before since the gunshield has to be able to turn around,
and by placing it their it can't and you put the crane out of use to.


but offcourse that can be me.

anyway a few changes, and your same figure painting standard and you will do A ok