I have just nearly finished a diorama on an incident that occurred just a few weeks after WW1 started in which the 3rd Belgian lancers equipped with Minverva armored cars encountered a squadron of 6th Thuringen Uhlans outside of Haelen, Belgium. The Germans lost this engagement. needless to say.

This model is entirely scratchbuilt and all elements were sculpted by myself including the armored car.

Hey

Very nice dio!!! Great to see an americain makes a dio of the history in my backyard!!!
It's a pitty you chose the third regiment lancers. I am a tank commander in the 2/4 Regiment lancers. That's the remains of the 2 regiment and the 4 regiment lancers. The 2 regiment lancers fought near Halen in the battle that is cald " de slag van de zilveren helmen" (in english "the battle of the silver helmets")

I wonder how you made those birch trees. But I must say beautifull dio.

Greetings Roel

Bob,

This is a fabulous piece; the animation of the horses and riders is incredible. The groundwork for setting is masterfully completed, simply a magnificent diorama.

Jay

Wow, just wow!!

What should I say, well this.

Looks awesome! Nice set up, great figure poses. Nice vehicle. And a D**m good story!
You may be proud on yourself. You have done a great job!

If there was a diorama of the month I would deffinitly choose this one.

This is another masterpiece. I love the animation you work into your projects.

I'd love to do an On Display feature - with your permission. If you have more photos that would help make it even more spectacular.

All of the SBS is on Planet figure here:

http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5024&st=0

There are fifteen pages of posts so you will have to wade through them. However, it is probably easier to see the progression pictures as they are pretty much all there.

Bob another amazing work from you. Each and every one of your dios have amazed me and I have found myself asking how did he do that!!! I have to agree with Roel, please explain to us how you did the birch trees. And i would love to see this as a feature article. Cheers Kevin

The birch trees were quite simple actually. I started with either a brass rod or bamboo skewer and coated with epoxy and then sculpted some texture on to it. When the putty dried I added branches. The larger branches were done with brass and putty like the trunk.

The main foliage was done with Birch leaves from Scenic express. Very convincing leaves. The smaller branches were done with Scenic Express Super Tree branches. They were all painted white and then the black.grey bands painted on. I used diluted white glue to keep the foliage from flaking apart and glued in place with thin super glue.

Here is a link to Scenic Express:

http://scenicexpress.com/

I could do a separate article on the trees and groundwork as it took almost a week to create and is a bit tedious. However, I think the setting is as important as everything else if realism is the aim.

Very nice diorama Bob, & something out of the ordinary, we've all seen the Polish lancers charging WW2 German tanks, here the boot is firmly on the other foot! BTW, would I be correct in believing the Uhlans started off as 54mm Airfix figures? A couple of the horses look familiar.

Ciao BobDavis,
What a masterful work! Wonderful subject, too. I tip my hat to your considerable skill!!

A fantastic piece of work. I'm gobsmacked with the life and energy the dio encapsulates. Well done, a dio worth looking at for hours on end.
Andy (++)

I really love the figure animations! Super job, thanks for sharing!

Bob..as i look at this incrediable work i try to find the right words to express how amazing it is. The flow of the scene..the story it tells..it makes you feel almost like your inside the action. Every corner of the diorama offers the viewer something more amazing to look at. Then..to add on top of everything, the fact that it is entirely scratchbuilt. Truely outstanding..Great Job.

As has been stated..i would love to see this one on the site here as a feature.

Mary (++)

The Uhlans were sculpted from scratch. However, I sculpted three of the horses and for the sake of time I used three Airfix horses which I converted for the others. It took me almost two months to do three horses from scratch and I wanted to finish this piece in my lifetime. The whole project took seven months as it is. The ones I sculpted are the one with the Uhlan charging the armored car in the back, the dead horse and the falling horse. The others were Airfix conversions.

I like the size of the Airfix hroses better than others I have seen.

Good job Bob

Morning Bob,..
Ive realy enjoyed looking at your dio.plenty going on although related to each other. Its good how you've made all the eyes of the Uhlan lancer lead your eye back to the dio centre....good stuff mate.

Phil..

Why don't we have an emoticon for "Weeps in despair"?

This is why I love and hate this site! :-) :-) :-)

Definitely a masterpiece. So many details and so much going on in this dio. I can't point out any detail, I particularly like, cause everything comes together so brilliantly in this masterpiece.

OUTSTANDING JOB!!!!!

Bravo....

Bob,

Very nice piece of work, you're one talented person.

And as a side note: Did you know that the first armoured cars in service of the Belgian army in ww1 were private initiative. An officer had his privately owned Minerva fitted with armour plating and machine guns.

Kris

that was what i missed in Armorama forums for long.. another Bob Tavis masterpiece... excellent scratchwork and awesome painting..always a great pleasure to see your work..congrats from the heart.
best regards

Now thats cool !!!!
Cheyenne

As the norm...Top Shelf

Magnifique !

What a masterpiece. This is a 3D- piece of art.

Congratulations