Dear friends Hi

One step before the End of this Dio that i work from September till now non - stop. (Hmm 7 months i count !!)

Since many of u showed interest in this , i am showing u some last night pictures.
So showing here some close ups in the different "small stories " that i include in the dio , and some details of it ..but hey ..not all of them ..

The dio is at the 90% stage. Needs some dust work to match figures coloring with the surrounding environment and the ground, minor detail addition to many points and some extra work on the ground to have some things set up.

So i thought that it would be nice to hear some things from u on this one. Especially since this is the first time i ever touch horses to paint !!!

I hope u like it.

Next one will be the finished Dio with the text of the making that i had promiss from the start of it.

Thanks for taking the time to check.

Keep Safe

Costas



Dancing with the music !!



Packed up




Listening to the music !!




Before leaving the area



Saved symbols of Religion



Relaxing before work !!



Chatting - Not in a good mood !!!



Get going





The Artist !!



Hmm smells good !!!



The fun company !!



I have to fix this !! grrr



Flirtin in wartime !!



Enjoying the smoke ,ahhh



Some time alone




Hmm come on mate dont sing so loud!!




Something smells nice!!Food time ?



Just finished the paper



Nice cigar!!Cuban made?



The unexpected guest !!




I really hope u enjoy it guys.

All comments welcome

What else can I say. You never cease to amaze.

Fantastic Costas. Attention to detail is amazing

Major Goose,

For your first time painting horses, I think they're just fine! In fact, what's not to like about the whole Dio? I love each little story told throughout the scene. I also have some favorite figures such as the officer with the cigarettes (such a woeful look on his face) and the two lovebirds. I can imagine that scene could go either way, she could hug him or whack him upside of the head with the flowers.

I really enjoyed it, thank you!

Excellent Costas. Great attention to detail. I particularily like the ground work .. your excellent vegetation and ground scatter. Looking forward to seeing the whole dio and write up.

I cant believe how good this turned out :-)

I cant wait for a full build text!

all figs look so alive!

and , hehehehe, do I see a LionRoar etched kitchen acessories all acrross the scene? where did you get it? heheheheheheh :-) :-) :-)

Its a winner Costas! You can have my vote for dio of the year right now!

Mirko

Hola Costas!

You sure have grown leaps and bounds since we first met! The ground work and the interaction between the figures is superbly executed. Keep up the great work my friend!

Hey Costas! Very nice indeed! I like the musician and the dog listening to him. Also like the flirting scene a lot. Although war battered and tired there's time for romance, music and singing (although some crewmembers don't like te signing...) :-)
It's a great dio with different stories to tell an a 'high human intrest leve'l!!!
Can you post an overall picture also?

Paul

Dear all friends , thanks for ur comments so far. As u may have seen in my latest dios or vigniettes , i try to be a bit different from classical war scenes , and show a bit of the rest of activities of wartime. I like this a bit more , so i work on this direction.

I like the human factor to show as much or even more than the machine factor in a dio , since human makes it all in war. It starts it, it moves the machinery that fights and it ends it !!!

For overall views and more general pictures , u ll just have to be some patient till i do the whole story of build writting and publish it in one . Further more a cd with about 300 pictures of every bit and corner of the dio will be prepared , and will be copied in 20-30 copies for members that would like to have more photos than i can publish here, in order not to overload the posts and the gallery of Armorama. It was my initial promiss for this dio and i plan to keep it. So if anyone of u think that would like such a picture cd, just leave a note here and i ll track ur name down for this. I ll send these for total free to the interested members , just as a kind of thanks for the support i have all the time i belong to this family and especially the after fire period
Keep safe

I think you already know i want that CD but , here, im signing in for it

Well Well, what havent you got in that dio bro!
groundwork and plants are amazing as usual!
Figures, again, fantastic as usual.
The only thing i dont like is that rat, but thats because i hate rats :-) As long as it stays in your diorama and not here, then i say your diorama so far is outstanding mate.
Great stuff!
Cheers

Truly amazing.

Everything is just perfect. I really like all the small details and stories 'told' by the figures. It add so much life to the scene. You almost want me to buy a ticket to Greece to watch this dio in reality.

Jurjen

hi brother,
This is really BIG and RUSSIAN as we talked on MSN long ago Figures look very good and foliage is awesome as always. Detailing is fantastic. There is just one thing bothering my eyes in this dio ; painting of the Cossacks white horse . this is really a winner dio.
Please keep in mind that, you MUST do this a FEATURE for all of us.

Excellant Costas, I like the stories within a story. The figure painting is topline. I'm very impressed with all your work and details. Nice job!

Paul

Now that's a diorama! What a great job you did here my friend, absolutely amazing!

The many hours you spend on this diorama were well worth it!

Martin

Double on everything that's been said so far. You've definitely outdone even yourself on this one. Great stuff Costas.

Hello Costas!

First of all congratulations on a massive dio!
Very impressive - lots of storyes and details that we can keep on looking and discover new things everytime I look at a picture - a true masterpice and a great story!

I don't want to be annoing, but the only point that I have to criticise is the white horse! It looks very unnatural Costas... I know that horses are very difficult animals to paint - specially the white and the white and grey ones. If you can please reapaint it - it would make a difference!
Please understand that this critic is to improve the dio


Congrats, once again!
Skipper

guys thanks for comments . Rui dont need to explain, i seek critics and mostly the bad ones so that i constantly improve. To be honest i liked the painting of the white grey horse when i finished that and wanted to have some different color than the brown. But since some people say it doesnt look very good, i ll have to go with them .

Thanks for all crtitics guys , they really help me

Hi Costas,
A very BIIIG one. As usual to your dioramas the foliage is fantastic. Attention and imagination on creating the details are fascinating. I'm working nowadays on a diorama with 4 cossack soldiers and a Gaz-67 vehicle. I examined your painting and detailing of the vehicle, this will help me so much. And I was wondering about the color of my cossack's cape, it seems that red color looks fine.
A little warning from me; the rifle of the horse mounted cossack in the 10th picture has a bented barrel if I saw it well.
And about the cd; I'll make a copy of it from Engin if you won't mind..
cheers
Alguhan

Major Goose,

Unbelievable dio ... I am floored by your work ...

Wow Bro, I have been away for a bit and look what you do!!! You finish the Big Russian. And what an excellent finish too. Brother as I said before you have outstanding ground work and the vehicles also look amazing, I think you out did yourself by finishing the figures so fast As said before all the small scenes within the big scene will make this a winner!!!! Congrats bro. Excellent work. Kevin

Dear Costas,

Your diorama youve got here is amazing. Its inspiring to see how plastic figures that cant even move can tell a story. Your work that you put into your dioramas is amazing, the little details. I really cannot take my eyes off this diorama. I now realise what little details can pull together a diorama to give it SO much more flavor and taste. Im amazed, your an inspiration. Thank you for putting so much time into this, it brings joy to everyone that looks at it. Excellent job.

1 question though, What is that rope tied inbetween the 2 sticks for? Its placed right by the guys on the horses.

What a great dio!!All the details really add more life to it!Congrats!!Wating here for the article!

Love the dio. My favorite guy would have to be the horse rider with the red cape, I didnt even know russians wore cape or at least not red ones Anyways the groundwork is amazing I like the different things you used. Where did you get the horses? I like them. Well Costas finish it, and be proud of your fine work.
-NERVRECK-

Dear All friends. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment my dio work. I am happy that i can offer something that u like to see.

Alguhan: would be happy to send u the cd, but can also copy from Engin. No problem at all . What u think is a bented barrel is a sword , so it is bented !!! LOL

Harrison: Keep studying little details to add in your dios and u ll see how these can lift them up !!! What u see between two sticks is barbed wire not rope. In coming pictures will show better

Kevin: Brother i dont know where u have been hiding these days!!! Thanks for the Tristars, it was great working on them , and all this thanks to u !!!

Nervreck: The horses is the DML kit of Cossacks. They were supposed to be German , but i eliminated all theyre isnignia and changed colors to make them serving Russian Army .