Hi everyone,

The title of my vignette is "Breakfast At Cassino". The following scene depicts a Fallshirmjager MG squad just moving into another ruin in Cassino town. They've managed to make themselves comfortable despite the ruins of Cassino town and what was arguably one of the toughest battle of WW II. As Hitler was quoted to have said about the fighting at Monte Cassino as the trench warfare of WW I fought with WW II weapons.

The platoon Feldwebel (standing) has come around on his daily rounds to check on how many are still alive. The Fallschirmjager wear a variety of tropical pattern smocks (2nd. issue) and I've tried to give them a war weary, disinterested stares with the key operating word being "tried".

I've tried to keep the urge to customize these DML figs to the minimum, otherwise I'd never get to finish it as usual. Apart from a few minor surgery on arms, webbing straps and buckles, dented helmets and the odd pot for the coffee everyone was left pretty much alone.

This vignette is my first go at buildings after working on mostly jungle dios. A good learning experience.










All comments appreciated.

The figures are quite well done, and positioned. Your camo work is especially nice.

The building is a good piece as well. The coloration is realistic, and the walls are top notch. The plaster may be just a bit on the thick side but is not distracting.

Great work - especially considering it is your first building diorama!

I agree with Keith's comments. The only thing I'd have liked to see is a lot more dust, including on the figures, as Monte Cassino was well known for this after all the bombardments.

Couple of thoughts:

I like the vignette in overall. I am not quit knowledgable about uniforms, but at som parts, it looks glossy, and it may just be because of the lighting. I find the building quite nice, but the plaster is a little thick, the cornerstones and the stones of the arch are too much rounded at the edges. If they could have been that rounded, we possibly would not be able to see a pies of that plaster.

As I say, I find it quite well, especially for a first attempt, but it will improve with a little more work.

Regards.
Cagin

Very nice scene. The composition is very good. Great Job! (++)

Many thanks for the insights and the encouragement Keith, Dave, Caanbash, Mary. Yeah Keith the plaster is a bit thick, the missus who does most of the handy work around the house made a similar comment.

Yup, there should be a heck of a lot more dust and debris as poor Cassino town was reduced to almost pure rubble. I will take up your suggestion Dave and slap on more powders on the figs. Might be a wee bit tricky adding on to the floor though as I was hoping to show a bit of the terracotta floor.

After working on this simple ruin I realized that even real dimensions have to be adjusted slightly to the figs despite scaling them accordingly to 1/35. The arch may be a bit too rounded as you mentioned Caanbash. A slightly flatter top and wider doorway would have helped. In fact its not quite noticeable but after I was done I realized that actually one side of the wall was slightly thicker than the other. There sure are a lot variables to look for even when making a simple ruin. This is despite having great pics to work with thanks to Rob (Husky1943). Rob if you're out there your assist will become even more useful in the next 1 or 2 more dios I've got planned for Monte Cassino.

I'm not sure which glossy parts your referring to Caanbash but if its the webbing and gloves and gun holsters its because I gave them a slight gloss sheen to simulate leather. The glossy marks on the helmet were to simulate exposed metal with the usual 2B pencil.

Thanks again all.

I woud agree with Dave on the dust. I would suggest using chalks or powder on the walls to make the plaster and exposed brick/stone blend in together. At the moment I feel the exposed brickwork looks a bit harsh and distracts from the figs. Some black or dark grey chalk near the broken edges of the wall would suggest fire damage too. Quite good overall, CK!

Oh, yeah, one more thing: the cigarette in the mouth of the standing fig looks way too thick. Almost like a cigar (or a joint). Try a small bit of thin copper wire, painted white.

Thanks for the comments David. I will add some powders to blend the remaining plaster and the underlying stonework. I guess the grey in the stonework does make the camo on the figs look a bit contrasting. I forgot to mention that the 2 edges continue beyond the vignette. I thought rather than paint them plain black to denote edge I'd try painting them like the rest of the stonework. Perhaps I should have smoothen them instead to give the impression they continue on and beyond.

Yeah the cigarette which came with the kit is way too big. I realized that only after I stuck it on. Might not be too big for a cigar but then I'll have to paint it brown. I'll see whether I can get it out and if not paint it brown.

This was a really good experience for me and thanks to your comments and the rest of the guys and gal it should come in handy for the next few dios thats festering in the old blockhead. Grey stone is quite a challenge from green jungles. Should come out better if overly imaginative grandiose plans meet current skills somewhere in the middle.

Beachbum, that's a cool vignette especially the building ruins. You have managed to capture the color shades of the ruin building very well. Fortunately, I have had the privilege to look at your vignette at close-up last Friday night and I hope bring it with me for the next exhibition.

Happy Modelling

I don't know much about German camouflage but even with the greens, browns and tans, that pattern breaks up the figures so that they blend into the urban surrounding building very well. I think it is especially evident in the first pic.

Great job

Many thanks Argrillion and Alan for the encouragement. I would have liked to have painted the camo a bit "chunkier" looking, Alan coz according to Osprey the splinter pattern tended to have sharper edges. I'm hoping in the next few installments will turn out a bit better.

The 3rd and final issue of the splinter pattern will be a killer to paint with its 'water soaked' appearance especially at 1/35. Gonna need a real powerful magnifying glass.

Hmm all my photos seemed to have been replaced with crosses. Must be the server changeover thingy.

I really want to see the photos (All I get are X's)... hope the server changeover thingy gets fixed soon..

Ck I just get the dread red X too.

Sorry JM and Kevin. Strangely enough they came out okay on Sunday and Monday morning. I've tried to experiment posting another pic in our community forum and it didn't come out either. Must be the server changeover.

Thanks for checking in. I hope they'll come out soon.

CK,

Based on the above comments "I wanna see too!!"

Hope the site-bosses are checking....

Mike

CK, once again you managed to produced another superb diorama. I'm glad now that i can view all the photos after 3 days waiting.

The ruin structure was another excellent evident of your marvelous scratchbuilding. Not to mentioned the finishing colors of it. The only thing i want to comment, just like others is the thickness of the wall.
The texture are perfect to me...

The fallschimjager guys
OK, first of all this is another excellent DML set that i also have. What did u do to the standing figure head? U swap the head or u add putty to do the partial head and then u added the hair. another excellent work. The cammo color scheme is something that i didnt aware of but i believe that germans has so many scheme beside the normally seen splinter pattern.But i cant help to notice that the color of the cammo is a bit glossy and a bit thick. and the pants are about the same hue. Suggestion: maybe u can add dust and dry brush various earth tone and dust tone color to the underside area and the boots.

Ottherwise this is marvelous

ps: did u steal the food container from the gen 2 figs??

Having seen this the first time you posted it and now again,I have to agree with the earlier posts.More dusts,pockmarks on walls,and oh,yeah!Make the smoke a stogie for the nice sargent!Cigars were plentiful in Italy and would not be uncommon at all.
Now I know what the scene needs that was nagging me the last time I saw it.Spent brass.Loads of it.This is "Fortress Cassino".They have repelled numerous attacks and expended thousands of rounds from their positions.The floor should glitter with litter.
Just my 2 cents.
cheers!

Thanks for the kind words and comments Zaidi and Rick. Since the kitmaker is back to normal I've deleted my post which repeated the pics.

I will take up all your excellent suggestions cigar, dust and all.

Rick I've actually toyed around the idea of including empty shells for the MG40 during construction. Even went to the extent of checking whether the MG40 had a disintegrating link (which it did partially at every 50 bullets or so). Then I got lazy and that's how I made the story where the MG squad had just moved to a new section of building as evidenced by the unopened ammo boxes and the hastily proped MG. Apparently they moved around a fair bit depending on which building was still left standing after each shelling which was quite frequent. They were buried, dug out and buried again.

Zaidi the head came off another DML set and the mess can is not Gen 2. I cut the regular mess kit that came with the kit in half and hollowed it and added a foil strip. You're partially right about the thick paint. The base paint rather than the camo is a bit thick thanks to not being able to get a good shade and trying to cover previous coats with more coats.