Here are "in progress" pics of my first try at a building for a dio. I know there are a few spots missing paint, and there are no window frames.........yet. It has been an interesting experience. Going to add a Custom Dioramics gas pump and a garage sign to it.

This looks pretty good for the first time. I really doubt that plants would be growing on a building as bombed out as this. But thats not really a big deal. You can pastel the tops of windows and stuff to make it look like there was a fire or somthing. Overall ill give you a 6.5. Keep up the good work!

Great job for a first try! It looks very good to me! Great painting job! A job well done!
Cheers and happy modelling!
Prato

Harrison

The ivy was added to cover up joins between parts and cracks where the pieces were joined back together after cracking in transit where the putty didn't completely cover. Ivy is fairly hardy so it wouldn't surprise me to see it still clinging to damaged buildings.

Dave - good job for a first run.

On the ivey - I agree on a recently bombed building the ivey could stay put if the damage is above it as in your case.
Other 'coverup' ideas - make the cracks part of the damage, add some wash and pastels and no problem. You can also just fill with some putty and paint.

A couple of points, the garage door needs some separation at the base, maybe a thin wash or extra groove. The cellar doors could also use a touch of definition with a wash or gooves.
The middle section door and window have 'soft' edges. I would square them up a bit (next time if you don't want to mess with this one) with a file.

Whats the plan for the 'fountain' or statue piece on the left part?

Nice start and looking good mate !

One little issue that I noticed is the overall color.... it's quite monotone. I would add some contrast by painting the doors in a totally different color...something like a green color (with a little touch of dark blue) that the farmers in Europe use a lot. By doing so you make the scene more interesting to watch.

Keep us posted !

Dave, all in all i feel you have an excellent build going on here and I am very interested in seeing where you are going with this. As for the commenting, everything I had to say was covered already. I do strongly agree with Danny in that you should break up the monotone colors here a little. Other than that looking forward to seeing he next steps. Cheers Kevin

Thanks for the observations guys. The doors are going to get a brghter, more colourful coat of paint.

Scott.....as far as the fountain/well goes, I have to add a curved pipe for the water to come out of.

As to where this is going, in my mind's eye it is a small village in Normandy towards the end of June '44 and an FOO in a Quad has stopped to survey the area, and met up with a Bren Carrier whose troops are refreshing their water cans. All watched by a couple of kids. The figures are from Ultracast and Custom Dioramics, and the building if you haven't guessed is Verlinden.

just one point regarding the plants growing on a bombed building. I grew up in Beirut wher we had a terible civil war for several years, the first part of which took place in the down town area which became like a ghost town. Let me tell you.. when I went down town during a truce period (this was back in the 80's), I saw a tremendous amount of wild plants growing on buildings and coming out of the cracks asphalt streets. It seemd as if the plant itself cracked the asphalt to get out! So that doesn't look strange to me.

I remember seeing the same thing in Beirut in Jan '77 near the airport and also the downtown area. Also in El-Arish during the same time frame. It seems as though the plants were more resilient than the people.

Hello Dave:

I'm a little late chiming in here — altho I don't know how to spell that aspect of a chime! I agree with the comments mentioned so far. Since you're using Ultracast figs, the "people aspect" part of the dio will be first class. The Ultracast figs I've seen are really first rate and have a price tag to prove it!

I try to think of a dio project as having little things to keep the viewer's eye interested, er. . . eye candy as I call it. (Such as variation in color. You know of course, that a certain color can be used to draw the viewer's eye to that specific element.) And of course, those aspects could be there but you don't want them to overpower the gist or storyline that you want the viewer to recognize immediately. Balancing it all together takes time and a lot of thought. I set things up and maybe look at the setting for quite a while. Then perhaps change to a diff setting and check that out for a while. To me, the most important aspect of a dio is composition! And good, eye catching composition isn't easy, IMO.

I have a suggestion and it is only "IMO" kind of thing. Is it too late to change the buildings from being in a straight line? Could you change the angle of some or have a slight curve line, etc. for how the buildings sit on the base. Not all streets are straight. Might introduce an idea that would be fun to set up all the elements around that concept rather than the traditional straight line as we usually see on a street scene dio. Just a thought, not a strong statement here. Have fun,

Took the advice given and added some colour to the doors. Also got the sign added.

It looks much better with the coloured wodden doors! Very nice touch! It brings a lot of live into the group of houses And I like the garage sign as well! very neat! Still, I have a question... what about the windows?....What are you using as window frames?
Cheers and happy modelling!
Prato

Ola Dave

Well it looks like you are really on a good track here with that ruin mate. I would add a couple of suggestions to it to make it even better.
I love the sign nothing wrong with the sign itself. Only thing I would change is the color of it. Now I see two tones of Yellow. Make the background of the sign in a really bright color. This could be everything except a tone of Yellow. And make the letters of it in Bright Yellow and then do some weathering on it to make it look older. The Bright color for the background of the sign makes it stand out much more (which is off course what Advertising is all about) It also give a bit more interest to the building.
Doorposts... A thing that is often forgotten in urban Diorama`s. Just a wooden frame in the Dooropening. Also do this in the windows.
Add some pieces of broken glass to the windows.
A Rainpipe on the front of one of the buildings. Looking at it i don`t know if you started the groundworks with the rubble of the Building yet but it is always a good touch to have a part of that rainpipe lying between it.
The rubble brings me to another point. Make sure you have enough of it. There is quite some Damage to the buildings make sure that is apparent ot the Rubble laying around it. Make sure also there is a diversity in Rubble, Bricks, Wooden beams, Rooftiles, Furniture Etc. etc.
Give some of the bricks in the open areas in the wall another color. Some Yellow some nearly black. Look at walls in your environment and see that there are often a lot of different colored bricks between them .
Rainstreaks. Green rainstreaks running down from places you would expect it. On the Corners of windowsils where the Windowsil meets the wall and that sort of nooks and crannies.
Scratch another Garage door and lay it completely Damaged between the Rubble
Next one I think you already have planned this or maybe even have started it already but make interiors for your buildings. This way you will get a extra amount of interesting features in the dio itself. think of what buildings in that period would have as interiors and I`ll bet you will come with something brilliant.

I really love the vines on the walls but I think you could even add more of it.

Great job looking forward to more In progress work of this project

Dave, looks really good so far. And changing the color of the doors really made a world of diffrence. As far as ivy growing on the building..i think it looks great, and is very realistic. Ivy is a very hardy plant and can survive almost anything..
Mary (++)

Hi Dave:

The new paint color on the doors looks great and I think that you are doing a wonderful job on your first structure. A couple of suggestions/observations: are you planning to darken the top, ruined edges of the building, they look very bright white. The structure looks like it could use a dark wash to increase the contrast and make it look more like a ruined structure. Finally, for broken glass in the windows, I use the clear plastic that various products come packaged in. Easy to work with and you can make it look dirty by spraying a bit of flat coat on. Overall, a great start and I look forward to seeing more progress.

Keith

Dave,

Very well done. The addition of color to the doors adds a great deal the overall look. The ivy is an excellent touch. As for other additions I think Faust covered that pretty well, but nice work

Jay

Dave, great work breaking up the color with the doors. Other than that I think Faust covered any thing else I had to say. follow his suggestions and your dio will be outstanding. Looking forward to seeing it as you bring everything together. Cheers Kevin

For a little more added dimenstion perhaps you could have a sign on a post perpindicular to the wall instead of flat against the wall like the Garage sign.

I just want to add that the rendering detachments look a bit stylisised, as if they 've been restored. Maybe you need to add some color on the exposed bricks suggesting some traces of plaster, a few cracks around the detachments (starting from the corners) and also soe weathering on the doors.
Great paint job!!!!

Thanks for the hints and tips people.

Faust: there will be no interiors as the facade will be up against the back edge of the diorama. As for the sign.....background will become red. I've thought about drain pipes, just trying to find suitable material. Rubble etc. will be added when it's placed on the base.

Keith: window frames and broken glass are on the agenda...just got some balsa to make them...probably a new garage door also. The tops of the walls haven't been finished yet...trying to decide what colour to use, and when that's done...a few dark washes to finish.

You can find drain pipes at Verlinden- March or April news I think!
Cheers and happy modelling!
Prato