I finished the entire four-man crew for my Italian M13/40 medium tank, so I wanted to get some toughts on the figures and the dio layout. Unfortunately, I only got one picture away before the camera ran out of battery. I put the back-up battery in and, naturally, it ran out immediately as well

Anyway, I thought I'd still post the one pick that I did manage to take. It is the basic format I intend to put the tank and figures in for the mini-dio (I like to keep them small because of space constraints). The story behind it is as follows: In December 1940, the British launched their counterattack against the Italians in Egypt. Ultimately, the Italians were driven back through Libya to the port of Tripoli, suffering heavy casualties (mostly captured). The crew of my M13/40 is one of the lucky ones to escape the British trap at Beda Fomm, where most of the Italian 10th Army was destroyed. They have reached safety near Tripoli. The bald-headed man will be leaning against a roadsign pointing to Tripoli. The tank and the men are both weathered heavily to show that they have just been through a terrible affair. The men's faces have been smeared, to varying degrees, with black pastel dust. Hopefully, I will get some good pictures showing this up here soon. Once the base is ready and the men are attached, I will apply some sand coloured pastel dust to their clothing. Here's the picture, at any rate. I also attached the other pics of my tank if you haven't seen it yet.









Any ideas as to how I should go about doing the base for this scene would be much appreciated.

Nic

Nic,
Not that you asked for this kind of constructive critcism but the image at the top would be greatly improved if you increased the brightness a bit (and contrast to add-back definition so that it doesn't appear washed out). I will edit and show by example. This would be a good thing for everyone to learn as it can greatly improve your pics. I have to do it on about 75% of the images sent to us.

Before:


After:

In Photoshop, Auto Levels, Increased Brightness and Contrast, Unsharp Mask.

As for a base....how about something with a little slope to it. Flat bases are easy but not very real at times. Eygpt has a lot of hills in the desert regions (dunes?).

Cheers,
Jim

Thanks for the photo tips there Jim. I knew I could modify them, but I didn't think it would make such a difference. Of course, the pictures always look a lot better before you upload them to MSN

As for the base, I would like to put rises in it, but it will be a very small base. Anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this? How do you put large hills in any diorama, for that matter? Do you have to build up the side of the base with something?

Nic

Jim, I was fiddling around, trying out those controls and I even managed to get a half-decent close up of two of the guys. Here's the pic:



Nic

Nic,
Well that got me thinking. I bet these guys would kill for a piece of shade to sit in. There are outcroppings and such in those areas. You might try doing something like that as an element at the back of the dio. A tree might go in nicely too and add more shade for the weary tankers.

You could call it, "Anything for a bit of shade."

Cheers,
Jim

Nic, it looks great with the figures added. Some life has been breathed in.
As I look at the relaxed poses of the figures the only scene I come up with is one where they are camping on the side of a road. I found the pic below and pictured in my mind the vehicle on the side of a road like this. It's fairly simple and has a little of that elevation in the scene.

The idea I had for the dio was that these guys had just been through Hell and now they were finally getting a rest as they reached the safety of Tripoli, where Rommel's Deutsches Afrika Korps was trickling in. I'll do something like the road in Ken's picture (thanks Ken ), except in a desert environment. As far as the tree goes, though I like the idea (and the title Jim ), I don't think it would be the most realistic thing if I am following my storyline. Does that make sense? I guess it is important for a scene in a diorama to actually make sense. It's harder than one might think........

Nic

Just a quick thought for your base, why not have the tank in the corner of a small building. The 2 men resting could be leaning against one of the walls in the shade or could be facing each other one against the wall,one against the tank with maybe a poncho rigged from the tank to the wall to provide the "image" of a shaded area. The guy in the turret could be have his head higher than the ruin, keeping watchout giving the image that they don't feel safe yet. Just outside the ruin you could have a hint of a roadside and still have your road sign. The man resting on it could be looking down the road showing his worry and anticipation. Hopefully this will mean you don't have to have a flat area and will keep all the points you wanted to show.
Hope this may give you some idea's
Robbo

Thanks for the idea, REMEARMR. I like it. The ruins would either have to be something bombed out by the RAF or very old ruins from some long forgotten war. I kinda like the latter idea. I'll see what I can do with it. I've never scratchbuilt a building before, but this sounds like it wouldn't be difficult for a beginner. I even have some Italian small arms I can put at the ready.....
Thanks,

Nic

Their was a dio awhile back somewhere that had something similiar in it a town two mechancis and a car plus some palm trees check one of the Italian websites might pick up some ideas. Or if I find it I will post. Also AFV modeler has a an article on building this vehicle

It might have been the Italian dio in a TMMI issue a few months back. Two of the figures I used were the same ones used in that dio.
I found a number of articles to help me with the M13/40 tank and I made what I believe to be an accurate representation of this vehicle. You can read my review of the Zvezda M13/40 and the Model Victoria Conversion Kit I used with it in the Armour section of the Reviews.

Nic