It's my pleasure to announce that Model Maniac Page 26 - Part C is now available!
New armors and dioramas on show are as follows:

- AFV Club's M41A3 "Walker Bulldog"
- Eastern Express' BMD-2 Airborne Vehicle
- Maquette's German Sd. Kfz. 140/1
- Diorama "The Red Army's KV-1" using Trumpeter's KV-1 model 1942 simplified turret and Tri Star's Russian Tank Crew
- Diorama "The Sturmtiger" using Tamiya's Sturmtiger and Dragon's Fallschirmjager 8 cm Mortar Team

All by "Art Instructor"

Index and sample pics :







For more pics, please visit my latest page :

http://www.falconbbs.com/model26c.htm

Enjoy!

Some nice additions to your collection Phaisal,
I was not going to enter the great debate, but the Sturmtiger dio needs some comment. The church ruin from Italeri needs rubble adding around it. I also feel that the Fallschirmjaeger with their mortar are out of place with the relaxed pose of the Sturmtiger's crewman with the ammo. The mortar suggests that the frontline action is very near, but the crew member seems to enjoy a break during reloading...
I know you are happy with them, and won't be changing them, so it's just for future reference.

Cheers
Henk

I took a quick look, very nice work! liked it a lot.

Mirko

I'm glad Henk's said something, coz I've been reigning myself in when I looked at the last couple of dios that Phaisal posted.

I won't comment on the Sturmtiger as I'm not an expert on armour, but that dio just begs for it. I know that it's technically a dio/vignette, but come on, it just looks like a collection of components IMHO.

The ruin, mortar team, and track have all just been plunked down on some sand with no attempt to integrate or make 'em blend in. The Sturmtiger is practically airborne. I can actually see shadows underneath the track.

As Henk pointed out, where's the rubble? What happened to the foundations of the wall which should be visible? The trees just look like twigs stuck in the sand.

The ground and foliage is identical to the "AA recon patrol" dio of some weeks ago. Phaisal, surely you must see the difference between what you are paying for and some of the other dios on this site? I think you are being ripped off if you are paying big bucks. These dios are bein churned out without any thought or character.

I'm sorry if I'm blunt, Phaisal, and I would be a lot more tactful if this was your build and you were improving your skills, but Art Instructor is obviously talented. He just doesn't seem to care about what he's giving you.



Staff: if I've stepped over the line here, feel free to tear a strip off, but I had to say it.

I agree with David. the FJ mortar crew looks totally out of place, also it seems that the Sturmtiger is missing Zimmerit on the hull (not the part with the mortar "Turret"). I also agree with Davids position, you are not getting what you pay for. If you look at the M41 Walker bulldog model, the decals have silvered, Now would an expert or advanced model builder, turn a finished work over to a client with half-azzed decal application??? I dont think so. As for the KV-1 dio, it's nice but why are they smoking, next to a FUEL drum????

***
Easy going guys - Phaisal is happy with his builder and is simply showing what new items he has added to his collection.
No need to get upset about it or frustrated with it.

hehehe this always gets me.

You should try dropping a lit cigarette into some petrol you've spilled on the floor. You will be shocked and awed at the amazing "pssss" as the cigarette is put out.

I know he is happy, Scott. That's why I'm saying what I did. Just as I would if somebody gave an obviously crap kit a glowing review. And on a site where everyone's dedicated to doing the best they can with their builds, this just stands out, not for it's lack of ability (which is always forgiveable) but for it's lack of effort, which is just sad.

Hey, stop kicking my soapbox!

On a side note, those mortar shells look pretty beasty. Any ideas how much carnage it used to create when one is fired?

Hehe especially if it´s (which very likely for the heavy tank engines) diesel. Sounds funny but that stuff doesn´t burn that well...

Hi all

I must agree that there are elements that are very good with the set up of the dio however,i do feel that a bit more effort could have been put into the fundemental execution of the dio,and iam sure Phaisal is happy with the end result,what did not work for me was the set up infantary fireing a mortor guy stood buy some shells smoking...like he so far behinde the lines he is in London,i feel dios have to tell a story a snapshot in history (a Cheyanne Quote) and so very true it is a good clean build however it lacks i feel that "my God this is fantastic" you can put all that effort into a clean build but if you dont link it in with all the other bits and bobs it falls flat.
I have seen other work by this guy and its first class perhaps he had a bad day at the modling bench..who knows,just my 2cents.
Cheers Chris

If you really want to get nitpicky, (and as we're good at that here, why not :-) ) the fuel drum is a German fuel drum, and the Germans did not use diesel engines in their tanks, heavy or otherwise.
However, the drum may be empty, or sealed ( you would not really leave a fuel drum standing about unsealed anyway would you? ) or contain lub oil...

Ohh, by the way, if anybody is going to drop sigarettes in to petrol puddles, give me a shout so that I can get out of the way.... I know that the petrol puddle will extinghish the sig, as long as it doesn't set of the (very volatile) petrol vapour first Don't try this at home!!!!!

Many thanks for all your kind comments and compliments! (except David's) We're always open for criticism and recommendations, so as to improve our future works - provided that the recommendations
are of a friendly manner. There's some points I'd like to clarify. First of all, the German tank crew
in the Sturmtiger dio looks relaxed although his friends are firing 8cm mortar because they're
in the back line, there's no enemy around. His friends - the fallschirmjagers - are just practicing.
I think you all know so well that German soldiers practice a lot before going to war. Secondly,
in this dio, nobody is smoking at all - not the fallschirmjagers nor the tank crew - and there's
NO fuel drum in this dio (there's one in the KV-1 dio, you might have mixed up both dio's).
Thirdly, it's true as Scott pointed out that I'm very happy with the end results. They're anyway
a thousand times better than what I can build myself. After all, it's my money, not David's.
So David need not bother, get upset or frustrated.

I love the look of those shells.

Thanks for your kind comments, Jay. Tamiya provides 3 shells, the other 4 are after market aluminum shells.

Phaisal I am glad you are happy with the work put out by "Art" instructor. In the end you are the only one he has to please. With that said, I think he has made a slight technical error. Strumtiger shells (rockets) came packed in a basket type sleave, that was removed just prior to loading. The way this was done, was with the shell lying prone, the weave was cut away, then the hand crane on the back of the tank picked up the shells, and they were man handled through the large roof hatch. I do not ever remember seeing pics of unwraped shells standing on end, as this could foul the back end of the rockets. They are also sitting on the wrong side of the tank for loading as the crane only works from the right side!

Cheers

Phaisal, glad you're happy with.

Thanks for your kind words, John and Matthew!
John, you're right about the position and location of the shells, I also got the same comments from someone else on another site. They will help us improve our future works. Thanks again!

now VAPOUR, that's a different story thats the bit that causes so many burns at barbeque time.

I read somewhere that if done correctly, a milk bottle full of petrol which became vapourised instantly by a smaller explosion which was then ignited by a bigger one could blow walls down - don't know if that's true