Finally finished this one took awhile to get some of the final items.

The Tamiya Marder III is a pretty good kit, the only problem I had was that I scratched some items besides the covers, some straps to hold in the rounds, but when the rounds came in they wouldn't fit into the spots, too large, I went back and tried the rounds supplied with the kit and they didn't fit either, great. So I had to come up with this idea.

Let me know if you see something I missed, I've been over this thing about a million times and it sure gets blurry.

Tress are branches glued together, putty filled and painted, steel wool for the tops with the regular spices for leaves.

Thanks for looking,
Bob

I like it alot!

very good work.

one thing i dont like it red/yellow moss in the background, i hope its not part of dio or you will paint it, too unrealistic colour.

cheers
Mirko

Very nice! I really like the resupply setting. I'm not so sure if I like the yellow and red bushes in the background, but that is just a small detail. All in all: Much, much better than my dioramas.

Cheers
Erik

Nice Dio! I especially like the last shot..Looks like the real thing. I believe u took these shots under natural sunlight.

It looks great Klintime. The scene is very well presented. I like the whole lookink of diorama.

Just one suggestion I have; the bushy stuff at the back of the scene, the green, yellow and red ones, they look unrealistic unpainted. I like to use the same stuff on my dioramas too. But really, they need some paint and weathering. It is very easy to paint them with an airbrush.
The figures are a little bit shiny, or the shots made me think that way. BTW the shots are (especially the last one) very nice..

hi klintime,
dio looks very good,i like the figures ,vehicles and groundwork but mu favorite is the canvas covers of Marder and Protz.
congrats for the built.

Thanks everyone,

I see what you mean about the colorfull bushs. I don't own a spray painter so I'll just remove them and add in some toned down ones.

The shinny look on the figures is a killer for me, I tried dull coat for the first time and that didn't get rid of it. Something new to try next time.

On the covers, since I tried it I just can't stop myself from adding one everytime I do a model, somewhere I'll run into a situation where I can't, (But I can't think of one yet :-) )

Thanks again,
Bob

That is some high quality work! The tarps are amazing, what is your secret? I like the setting as well. Seems like a good place to stop and re-load before the next engagement. The figures are way better than mine, and the poses look good. Thanks for the look!

Thanks John,

The tarps happened when I spent 30.00 for a set from Verlinden for a Dukw I built. My wife clapped me upside my head for spending so much on something I could make myself. A lot of experiments later I came up with this result.

I use unlined, uneverything paper towels. (Everything else just didn’t hold up or was hard to work with) As plain as you can get them, white, no design. As close as you can, measure out what you want to cover. A little extra is OK. (This is to make little folds on the ends where you normally find them) I found that this is probably the very last step when actually making the model because when this dries you are not going to get it off without some work and damage. Using liquid starch dip the paper towel into it and squeeze out any extra starch. I find liquid starch works the best because it takes a while to dry and it gets sticky so stays better, and with a brush you can wipe on more to get a hold or work with the setting. Using tweezers, once you’re happy with the placement, leave it alone for at least 12 hours. After that just paint it and weather it just like your model.

This also works great getting camo netting, etc… to stay where you want it and flatten it out to look real.

I’ve found 2 types of starch works good, “Sta-Flo concentrated liquid starch”, and “Aleene’s Fabric stiffener & draping Liquid”.

Give it a try, once you find out how easy it is you just can’t stop yourself from putting one on everything.

Have fun,
Bob

Excellent dio

Vey well placed and layed out and the painting and weathering is brillant and the ground work is very well done also.

Just a suggestion instead of using lichen moss try and use woodland scenics stuff I find it to be great stuff to use.

Ron

Very nice dio Bob, love the tarps, well done.
I do agree with the others about the red, yellow bush's at the back, they are too bright.
Looking forward to seeing some more of your work.

kilntime, thanks for the tip on the tarps. I'll give that a try with my next vehicle! I think I've still got a bottle of liquid starch from when I had to iron my uniform laying around the house somewhere.

Real nice dio Kilntime, nice relaxed poses for the figures (although abit shiny). The whole scene really is realistic looking and demands a second look. Your tarps add a great touch, well done, nice to see things "home made"
Thanks for the "how to", I will certainly try this.

Ola Killntime

Very nice dio. Well I don`t have to say anymore about the colored bushes as you already decided to swap them. I like the whole setting and your trees are very well made. Also the tarps on the vehicles are very good. They add a lot of character to the scene. Also the figures are well placed and none of them is "lost" with that I mean that there is not a single figure that is out of place and all are active in the scene.
Next... somebody mentioned that the last pic looked kinda real.... well I launched some 15 minutes of Photoshop magic on it and this is the result. A postcard from Normandy

WOW,

First thanks for the kind words and helpful comments, I learn something new every time.

Faust, (Robert), what can I say, Thanks. That took alot of work and came out exceptional. I already saved it in my files, and printed one out. Looks really cool.

Thanks again,
Bob

Definitely cant see any mistakes on this one.

I like the little lawn bit between the trees. Almost grabs the attention first before noticing the rest of the kits on the dio.

kilntime - here's your nudge - I love the method you used for the tarp, startch isn't a common product and a feature would be great to have to add the diorama area. What do you say to a bit of a step by step write up on how you did it??

Hey that's a fantastic, dio, Kilntime. Love it. The whole setting looks really believable. Afraid I agree with the others on the bushes, though.

You mention using steel wool on the trees. Do you mind telling me how that works as I'm always looking for new ways of scratching trees. Thanks.

Thanks Jeremy and David, for the comments.

David, I always find it hard to fill in between branches on a tree so I tried to fill in with the steel wool. I used 2 different types, in the 1st pic the tree on the left I used a larger thicker wire wool, it spreads out nicely and leaves gaps looking like a normal tree, the other I used a small type that didn't spread out so well and looks more dense. Just spread it out over the tree to your taste then spray glue and attach the leaves.
I used a clear matt spray instead; holds and makes the spices last longer.

Scott thanks. I'll give it a try. I'll write it up in Word and e-mail it to you. You can change it however you need.
Give me a bit to work something up.

Thanks again,
Bob

Patiently waiting - If you have or can take a couple of photos of "how" you use the starch or the starch itself that would improve it a lot

Thanks, Kilntime. Both trees look great, but I think the larger wool gives a more natural look. The smaller tree looks a tad too dense to my eye. But great idea that.