Here is my latest project. This is actually an entry for the "Quiet Professionals" campaign which I believe was extended until the end of this month.

This is an old SOL kit. It comes with the repelling figure and a section of a rock. I did not like the rock it came with so I made my own. I also replaced the rifle with an XM-177E2 with M203 grenade launcher.

Everything is painted in Acrylics.

Would like to know what you think about it.

Me say : AWESOME!

I wish I could put my hands on such a kit, I will look for one!

Which scale?

This is 1:35 scale

Thanks

Marty,

this is another great display my friend !

Nitpicking a bit, I would say that perhaps the rocks can do with a few greentones.... perhaps some small mosses in the caves. From what I see the rocks are covered with greytones (in an excellent way I might add), but the pictures can fool me off course.

A Great Display....looking at his eyes, you can see the guy is totally focused on his rope while roping down.... it's extremely hard to use the eyes to express something in a diorama, but you mastered that to perfection !! Hat's off !

Marty, Very nice job..Great work.

Danny, thanks for your comments!

The rock indeed has some subtle green tones in it. I basically painted it with charcoal acrylic paint and then saturated it with several different colored washes. One of the colors was green. If you'd like, you can take a look at an article I have on my site that explains in more detail how I painted it Here is the link

As far as moss goes, that was a dilemma. For one I wanted for the figure to stand out on the mostly gray rock and figured that having moss might take away from it. Secondly I really wasn't comfortable in applying moss so that it was convincing enough. In the end I decided against it. I am a true believer that "less is sometimes more".

Painting eyes was a royal pain in the a$$. The head came with the hat already molded on and because it sits low over the eyes, I had a hell of a time trying to get my paint brush in there. I must have painted them 10 times. No kidding. The eyes could've probably used more detail but under the circumstances I think they came out fine.

Thanks John!

Amazing Marty!
Really good!!
The figure is very nice!Great detail painting!!
I like the camo on the uniform a lot!
And the rock looks great also!
Good work!!
Cheers!! :-)

Ciao Marty,
Wow, I echo what everyone else says, Fantastic!! You have really done a great job!

Excellent interesting dio.

Rob, George and Alan, thanks guys!

Good one Marty your patience with the eyes really paid off. The overall dio is great.

Nice idea for a dio Marty , as already commented you've done an excellent job on the camo. I like his expression " gee I hope that anchor holds "
This would look awesome hanging from a wall, a real change to the normal way we display our models.

Excellent diorama Marty , a very unique pose & something for inspiration , well done Richie

Great work Martin. It is very realistic.

Very nicely done. I really like this one.Its very "Solo". The eye is drawn right to him.
The figure is very well done. Love the sculpting and you've painted him very well.
I would love to see an overall photo with the base included.

You know what - I just had an brain f@rt. This diorama would be AWSOME hanging on a wall with no base at all. Like a plaque or candle sconce.

Bruce and Scott, your idea of hanging this diorama on the wall was actually one of my first thoughts prior to making it. The one major problem with doing it was that I still don't have a permanent place to display my models as I still model in my master bedroom. I would not have been able to hang it anywhere. Also, there would be an issue of protecting it from dust unless it was a shadowbox but then hanging it from the wall wouldn't make much sense.

Nevertheless, the idea is good and I am sure that I will be able to incorporate it into one of my future projects.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

And Scott, you ask and shall receive! Overall shot of my dio.

Great photo -I really like the way you have the start of the rope 'off the top'. You achieved a couple of things doing that - one you don't have to worry about a realistic anchor point and you add vertical height to the overall feel. Nicely done.

Fantastic! One really get a feel of the sheer height of the vertical drop....

Did you use rock moulds or did you sculpt the rock face by hand?

I'm curious about the history of the 10th Mountain Div.... do you have any site references you can point me to?

Rudi

Thanks Scott!

Rudi, I used one large rubber rock mold to make it. I got the mold many moons ago at a local railroad hobby shop. I was finally able to use it :-)

Here is a link to a good history overview of the 10th Mountain Division

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/10mtn.htm

Marty

Outstanding, very different & interesting.

I think the rock looks great, nice highlights.Camo looks good too. Face - outstanding. Most impressive.

Couple small things: Boots are / look brown? Black or black w/ OD sides maybe. Gloves usually black, sometimes off white / lt. grey. Butpack brown? Usually OD / sometimes camo.

Overall very creative, nice job.

N E O

Thanks Neo!

The boots are black with a brown wash. I didn't think they looked like the usual canvas type boots you would normally see. They appear to be leather, kind of like WW2 paratrooper boots. Well, even if they are not, it is too late to do anything about it because the guys is already glued to the base and I know that if I try to correct anything I will most likely ruin it.

You are probably right about the gloves but again, to correct now would be a mistake. I can just see one of the gazillion Murphy's laws coming to light :-)

And the butt back is olive drab. Indeed it looks brown on the photo.

what a refreshing and unusual diorama ! That's a great piece of work and I really like it. Hats off to you.

Overall, awesome vignette Marty. To get the tensions right with the rope usually presents the biggest problem, but on both sides of the figure its perfect. As previously mentioned, the camo and eyes look great.
If I were to nit-pick, it would also be about more detail on the rock face. Some small, fallen rubble on ledges, heavier rain weathering in crevices and the already mentioned moss. Even a small PE or sea foam tree/branch growing out from the rock face would also add a lot.
The whole scene image, does look great. Maybe adding a print-out of the insignia on the base bottom would complete it nicely. Thanks for sharing!