Finally "finished" this dio. I thought I would try and use all my Russian (one German) components in one dio. Its depicting a spot back from the front, where life is a little more "relaxed".
I can think of a decent name, so I would appreciate any suggestions in that regard
Please feel free to point out anything that you would change, so I can improve for the next time.
After this I have a whole new appriecation for Dios, they are a lot of work(fun).

Looks good Bruce.... I like all the little details you have.

So many details... great Dio Bruce..

may I ask, what did you use to make those trees??

Hi there Bruce!
Really great job!!!
The only thing that i would point out is that there isn't any wheel tracks on the road!!
Also have you checked how a car responds (the suspension) when it climbs an obstacle?I think you should do it the other way for the jeep!!the suspension pressed i think they should be from the grass side!!That's my thought!I must check it out with my car to be sure!!
You made me thinking!!! :-) :-) :-) :-)
Cheers!!

BTW:Great job!!!!
I like the instruments you placed!!!Very nice!!How did you do them?
And the trees amazing!!!
Good job!!!Keep it up!!

There is a lot to like here. I'm going to start with the good stuff.
I like the base, you detailed the edge nicely.
The stories are nice and individually well told.
I like that nothing is parallel to the base. The distance apart is nice. The trees and bushes keep a view 'inside' the diorama.
The figures and vehicles are all nicely constructed.

There is something about it that doesn't quite 'flow'. When I look at it it appears very heavy on the right side. The left is a bit light. I personally don't like the barrel of the gun hanging off the edge of the base (this is just my like/disslike).
The heavyer accordion player could use a bit more wash in between the figers and shadows of his flesh.

Overall very good.

Wow thats verry nice diorama you have. Your big tree is real nice. Is that an Alan/testor/dml Zis 5? If so that it's very good. your reds need more booze if that guy in the R-75 is drunk and not just cooling his heels

tree

The dio looks great. I like the muscials. However there are two guys that seem out of place. The guy changing the magazine and the other guy in the road (there is no good pic of him). If the other guy is enjoying the music then I would gruop him close to the musicians. The magazine guy just seems strange standing in the road fixing his gun

Looks excellent, Bruce. Nice layout and lots to look at. You've captured the speed of the jeep very well too.

A bit too clean for my taste though. How 'bout some clumps of longer grass and some litter? Like food wrappers, cigarette butts and packs, etc.

Agree about the need for tire tracks too. One thing you should definitely look at is the fact that many off those smaller extras lying on the grass are floating, particularly the screwdriver next to the toolbox, the wood in front of the truck, and the accordian box. Just press them into the grass.

Thanks very much for the comments, guys i can always use input.
JM, The big tree is made using the wire method as discribed here at Armorama WireTree
The evergreen tree are actually a weed I found, dries very nicely
The smaller leafy trees are from a Spiriea bush ( I think thats right) in my garden.

George, I guess I have to be more pronouced on my wheel tracks.
The photo of the jeep is deceiving, the front wheel is actually in the air after coming over the bump.

Scott, I agree with the "balance", the jeep originally wasn't planned , as I was going to have a flow of infanty walking, not enough russian infantry in my stash so I went with the jeep, hoping the tree would hold the balance, not quite successful.

TreeCat, The Zis5 is a Italeri model , I would recomend it. My 2 musicians are not supposed to be drunk and just taking an opportunity to enterain thier buddies, of course they may have taken a "nip" when I wasnt looking.

Alan, I guess I blew it in my placement of my 2 front guys. They are infantry passing by the 1 waving to the band the other startled by the jeep behind him.

David, I learned something about objects on the ground, much easier to place them before the grass. I tried to wieght them down when I glued them , but they still look flowing a little. Plan, plan and plan some more.

Bruce great job. You did a fine job with this. Only critique i have to offer is wtih needing more wheels tracks. Cheers Kevin

Great detail made the dio great.
Good Work
Pedro

I agree with all the good stuff that's been said. Very nice scene, clear story, but the guy in the middle with the SMG is a distraction. He looks like he's in a semi combat crouch and getting ready to fire his weapon. In the same crouch, with his gun barrel in his left hand and his right arm in a position looking like he was shifting to attention and a salute, as he notices the officer arriving, you'd have a real winner of a scene.

Ola Bruce

Very nice dio you made here.

Just as scott I will start with what I like in your dio.
Your figures seem to be painted very well and the overall scene looks nice and colored.... (now I`m a guy who loves to see bright Colored diorama`s) You managed to give the scene nice lively colors that fit a nice summerafternoon.
The weathering of your vehicles is very good and clearly show the dusty appearance of hot and dry days.
I also love the three on the left of your dio it gives some height to the scene creating more interest great job.

Now there are some points in which I kinda find hard to understand the purpose of it. The first thought I had when I glanced over the first pic was that the vehicles were in motion..... This I mean the Zis with the gun is driving into the diorama and the Jeep is closely following and passing it. Then I noticed the mechanics and started to understand the story more. The Gun on the edge of the diorama is a bit distracting. As scott already mentions it brings the dio a bit out of balance. I think with moving the scene a bit more to the left this would not be such a big problem anymore as it will be more centered. The sense of motion is even bigger because of the location of the Jeep. It really gives the idea of it passing the Gun and in the meanwhile the commander is creaming commands to the people on the side of the road.... The driver seems to be concentrated on the road.
The Motor in your Diorama is as I identify it correctly in the pics a BMW R75 with sidecar which is a German motorcycle. How did they get it. It is not really apparent and looks a bit out of place. Well then there are the figures that a couple of other guys noted I second their opinions.

I don`t second Kevin`s (Jackhammer) opinion on making more tracks on the roadsurface. It is not always neccesary. when a road has not seen much traffic or heavy bohemoths like tanks the roadsurface would not really show big ruts and tracks. When the road get`s wet by rain it becomes soggy when traffic is going over it it would show some sign of tracks when the road surface is dry again the soil is even firmer then normal. and keep in mind that these vehicles are definately not the first vehicles that crossed this path a lot more have firmed the soil before them.

I also have to say that you have a good feeling for presentation and no big objects are blocking the scene. Plus the nice finish of your base.

Overall a very good job

thats a very nice dio Bruce. Your figure painting skills are really good.

I would probably call this Dio something along the lines of R & R.

Like it a lot Bruce!
Specially the suspension of the GAZ car; it gives it a very dynamic and speedy look!!
And the officer on the accordion is my favourit figure!
Thumbs up!

Paul

Hi Bruce, I think I may have been to vague in my last post as to what I meant by wheel tracks. i think Robert (Faust) didnt quite understand what I meant so maybe you dont either. I will try to explain better.I do not mean I feel your dio needs more ruts or tire tracks but simply applications of some weathering powders to get the effect like this.

It is easier to see in the pic what I mean by the varying colors in the road surface. Now this is just my two cents worht so just take it for that. I love the feel and look of your diorama. It is excellent work!! but i feel just some simple pastel work would be just a great finishing touch. Again it is excellent work I keep coming back to have a look at it Cheers Kevin

Thanks everyone for the comments, can always use feedback.
The most important thing I’ve learned from this thread is that when doing a Dio some things need to be a little over emphasized, story included, just like when I weather a model I slightly over do it, so the subtles will show up (then I cover it all in dust and no one can see it anyway:-) )

Al , the 2 infantry men out front are causing abit of confusion for a few people and like I said above this is one time I needed to over emphasize (but I’m learning). The one fellow is supposed to be startled by the jeep coming from behind.

Robert these are the kind of well thought out responses I love, lots of info. Your right the balance is off, I liked the idea of hanging the gun outside the frame of the dio, but this is a bit to far and pulls the weight to the right along with the jeep that wasn’t in my original plan (although I like it) the balance is to far right.
As far as the BMW goes, I left the MP30 hanging off of it to show that it is a recycled cycle, hoping this was enough to explain.

Jeremy, “R & R” sounds ok for a name or maybe “The Rushin Road” , he he, still thinking.

Kevin, thats exactly the road I was thinking about, a well used road, hard packed, no ruts. I was having trouble showing the wheel tracks, your idea about varying the colour should work nicely.