The "Which Way" dio is completed (other than adding crew gear to the Sherman and Grey Hound).

The scene's concept depicts crews from a Sherman and Grey Hound arguing about which way, is the right way, to get to the front lines. The Grey Hound crew is convinced they have to cross the bridge, the Sherman crew disagrees.

Lots of hours put into this one, and I'm kind of glad its finally done (which is probably not a good thing for me to say) There are some disappointments. The stream bed is supposed to show a partially dried creek bed, with one side of the creek bed basically sand bar, with a small trickle of water running along by the rock cliffs. After many evenings of layering on clear polyurethane, I was never able to build up a layer to depict a low water flow. The urethane just kept on soaking in to the creek bed gravel, never allowing a build up to depict water flow. So I finally gave up, and the creek bed has to be depicted dry. Also, figure painting is a bit of a struggle and some of the faces are pretty crude (but I'm trying Perhaps in the next life, one of you expert figure painters here can give me some lessons

The Sherman is Dragon's early 75mm, the Grey Hound is Italeri, the figures are mostly Verlinden, the plaster bridge is Verlinden also, and landscaping materials and rock are Woodland Scenic Model Railroad Products.

I'm hoping if I can get some decent pics, the site will accept a write up of this dio build as a Feature content submission.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

Steve

An overall view of the dio.





A view of Woodland Scenic's grasses. The log/board pile are broken up chop sticks, and the brick bridge end is a piece of broken wall from an HO railroad tunnel to finish off the edge of the Verlinden bridge.


Overhead view of the Grey Hound and crew.


View of the Sherman with some of her crew dismounted and barking out the proper directions. Please note the fallen road sign by the trooper leaning against the front of the Sherman. This knocked over road sign is adding to the confusion of "which way" is the right way to go.

Steve, Very nice job. I always like the out of combat settings. If I may add one thing...the greenery would not be so green with such "Dry" conditions..Yup..Shes a keeper!

Only have a minute to look - in the minute it looks really really good. The side color works well!

I'll look closer later

Steve, you have done some excellent work here. From concept to fruitation an excellent job altogether. Great work!! Cheers Kevin

Lord Dio tm

Very well done dio I like the story it tells Will you be adding antennas to the M8 and Sherman? (++)

Nice job, I think it came out well. I personally would add a bit of brown on the stems of the green plants in the back left of the second picture. It looks to green to me, makes it look like what it is (the end of a house plant). Adding brown will make it look more tree/bush like.
Its nice and pleasing to look at. Now I'm waiting for the feature

There are a lot of great things to look at here very nicely done. The figures dont look all that bad to me. Nice to see you didnt abandon the project because of a little frustration.

Another excellent piece of Art from you Steve.

cheers
Cliff

Very well done Steve, great idea and well depicted.

Keep up the good work.

Great work Steve!! Very nice dio indeed!

Maybe you might want to add a little more dirt on the bridge? But it's fine the way it is... your call..

Good work Steve ,
I have been following your work as Our bridge diorama is developing . I think you have done a mighty fine job on this diorama . You should be very proud of it . I do not think you have too much problem with the figure painting side either .
What is your next project ?

Love Jenny

Amazing piece of work Steve. Vehicles, figures and ground work all look great.
I really like the shape of your dio. Not the usual square or round baseplate.

Steve WWH,

Hey my old friend, it's such a long time...no see.
I always notice your work on armorama. This one looks real nice and such a piece of art to me. The painting and weathering is top-notch as well. The figures are well painted and the colors are a perfect match. I am looking forward to seeing some close-up pics.

Great dio. I really like your composition.
The bridge and dry creek bed are really nice.
As for the water, next time you might try Woodland Scenics Realistic Water for a trickling stream and Water Effects for more textured water.
Again, beautiful job!!!!!
Best regards,
Gary

Hello,

It's very nice. I especially like the bridge and the plants and the rocks. They look very realistic.

Two things though:

1) The fallen tree looks too much like a branch.
2) The grass on the riverbed is too green. I'm not a geology or botany expert but does tall grass grow on a riverbed like that?

Here's also a suggestion:

Your title is "Which Way." But if not for the confused GI's, it would look like they know their way.

1) To emphasize the "which way" visually, turn the Sherman's turret and point it at the road ahead and not on the bridge. The eye would follow the line and it would suggest that he's going through the road, not turn towards the bridge.

2) Face some of the figures, particularly the one on with the hand on front of the tank towards the road, not to the bridge. Also, bring the US GI in khaki/yellow behind the Greyhound nearer to the figure holding a map. Let him face the road.

3) Face half of the junk wood beams on the bridge towards the road. The other half should point to the bridge.

Just a few suggestions on visual tricks to emphasize on the title. Overall, this dio is great!

Angela

great job there steve! Love the work you did on the figgies and the tanks. On the bridge, you should have more dirt, because trucks and etc will kick the dirt onto the bridge. There should be little concrete showing, with the majority of dirt on it. Also, i think water would make the dio 10x as good, you just need to practice so u dont screw up this beauty.
Ian

It looks pretty good Steve

Very nice composition Steve. Nice drybrush work too on the vehicles. Pardon my ignorance but I noticed there aren't too many markings on the Sherman, or did I miss it? Figures look fine from the pics.

I often run into a similar frustration somewhere near mid-completion usually. Its good that you pushed on as it is a well planned dio. My only nitpicks is that the rock faces on the embankments could be weathered with a bit of green for moss and light brown for eroded soil marks. Adding some grayish brown to the dried tree and the fallen one will help create the illusion that they're drying of dried as opposed to fresh trunks.

If you're still game to add a bit of water I'd use polyurethane glue instead. The other way is to get a darker shade of the color of your stream bed diluted to a wash. Paint it in athin strip down the middle of the stream in a crooked fashion sought of like water meandering down a stony stream. Highlight the stones at the edges of the 'water' trickle with a bit of satin to give the wet illusion.

The odd grass do occassionally grow in streams that have dried extended periods except they tend to be a bit pale due to the waterlogged conditions as mentioned in some of the above posts. No problem just paint them up with a lighter shade.

All in all its a good dio that would have been a loss if it wasn't finished. Good stuff.

Excellent work on your diorama, Steve. Good to see you're back to your workbench

Seeing where all the stuff I send to you and how it ends up in your dioramas is always an added twist

Cheers !!

Alpen

Wow that is one awesome looking dio Ilove everything about from the ground, the weathering and the position of teh figures great work indeed.

Ron

This is Great stuff,Steve!
First,the water would have been eye candy.Nice,but not essential to the story.
Second,the plantlife could have been green in the riverbed without the presence of H2O(not that uncommon)but you can sooth the naysayers by adding some yellow/yellow-browns to the tips of the plant life.
Third;Armor and figs are done awesome!!Maybe some more gear/stowage for my taste,but that's me.
Story message:Great!!You have vehicles turned and stopped.Crew out,maps out,people pointing,people talking,people listening.Sign posts down.Cool.An aura of doubt and uncertainy.
The Blahs....everybody gets 'em.It's done when you're done,etc.BUT,be happy with it,not tired with it.Tired is OK if you just put it away for a while till you can have fun with it again.
Cheers!!

Great work Steve, Don't worry about the water, you can always try it on the next one.

Man that looks really good

Cheers
Ray