here is my new dio. it is a working progress and i am looking for anythink that can go with the dio and any ideas how o make it better. so fire away!

I know it's early in the works but here are my suggestions:

Dead pine needles under the pine tree.
Moss on the rocks.
Lots of weeds in the cracks of the rocks
Dead branches.

You may already be planning this but some figures would be nice.

Got to agree with Alan on the suggestions he made and maybe add a checkpoint or something too give it a story of some sort. How did you do the rocks as they look very effective, it looks like foam in the top pic but i can't quite make it out ?
Andy (++)

Pretty good so far, Pavel. I too like the rocks a lot. Very realistic. And I agree with all the above coments. One thing I can add is to suggest you work the earth/mud/dust a little higher up the base of the rock. But subtly! And add some dust in the cracks of the rock lower down. It'll help the rocks blend in more.

Pavel I really like the layout!
Like the little alcove behind the pines at the foot of the rocks.
Maybe a shade darker on the pines though?
Cheers
Brad

Very Nice, the rocks are nicely done and the layout is good. I was pleasantly suprised when I saw a moden vehicle. I'm a WWII guy and I liked the change.

One thing I would do is to expose a bit of rock on the left side of the road. Rain and wear would wipe away the dirt . I'd cut the tree limbs just a bit here and there, they look a bit too uniform.

very nice so far.

I really like what you've done so far. Re the composition, I'd say you placed the elements effectively. The suggestions by the other modelers are good, especially Slodder suggesting you slice into the tree limbs a smidge so you can lower some of the limbs. Right on, . . . and I wouldn't have thought of that as I don't use prefabricated trees (it's that uniformity of those prefabs that keeps them from looking more realistic, IMHO).

One point I would suggest, that hasn't been mentioned: I would like for you to vary the tone and color of the ground or soil around the rocks and in the roadway. My guess is that you airguned the soil areas. I'd like to see more variation of the color, lighter here, darker there as in the shadow areas under the trees and rocks. Adding the limbs, dust and other elements that have been suggested will help of course, but I would still like to see more variation in tone/color of the soil. On my dio bases, I do that kind of think with a brush by hand.

But what you have is a great start. Hope you're enjoying the creative process.

rock on!
you guys are giving me what i need.....constructive criticism.

i will use all those tips you have posted, i just thought i get the rocks done before making any more progress.

as it was mentioned, i would like to try some moss on the rocks, but never tryed it, any ideas to get me stated? i got some green polyfiber and fine turf, would that work?

i had a question what the rocks were made out of. well i made three casts of rocks from WS, joined 2 to make the big rock in the rear and third i cut down to use on the road and ground.

darker green trees sound good but i have no idea about the shade of green, i wanna make shure that it blends in good.

i did not use prefab trees on this one, it is a method i got from armorama and they are easy to make and adjust as you need or want them.

ground color is most questionable. for base i used brouwn concrete color thined down alot so it will soak in the base. but i am thinking alot about the shades of earth so it will match the dust on the truck.

i am also thinking about adding wooden fence on the left side of the road.

Pavel:

Oh ma' gosh. . . I am sorry I jumped to conclusions on your scratch trees — refering to prefabricated trees. My mistake. I apologize for that mistake. I mean, after all, we Jayhawks have to play both the Sooners and the Cowboys on the hardwood soon, so I don't want to make things worse for the young hawklettes.

However, that being said I will go further out on this limb and say that the mentioning of variation in the color and tone of soil that you seemed to be in favor of doing, could also apply to the trees. This is an opinion you understand that isn't shared by a lot of modelers. But I feel that in nature, rarely is a tree w/ foliage all the same color or tone. There is usually the play of light and shadow on leaves of a tree.

Keep us up to date with "under construction" pix, later or "sooner", Cowboy?

Very nice positioning of the road and general layout Pavel. My thoughts on the road is it appears a bit thin in the cross section seen in 2nd. photo. You have a lot of exposed bedrock which means there's a fair bit of erosion happening here but if the soil for the road is so thin then some rocks would stick out inside the road.

You have 2 options. One is to build up the soil slightly at the edges but you'd then have to add some to the middle as well or to include some exposed rocks on the road at some spots whereby you won't have to build up the road as much.

As for the vegetation, very nice trees. To break up the monotony of color is to highlight the topmost leaves and the ones the edges of your sides with a lighter green than your current basecolor as young leaves tend to be pale by comparison. To give it depth use a dark shade of green and paint the insides of the canopy by sticking in a brush as close to the main trunk and swirl it around the innermost leaves.

Alan's (Shermiesrule) idea to add debris under the trees is excellent. You can give more contrast by also darkening the soil under the trees as ground under vegetation tend to be darker due to organic matter.

A few potholes if you can manage it would be good too as it will add to the nice churned up effect you already have for the road.

here is the dio with a little more progress. hope you like it, and if not give me some pointers.

Overall nice composition Pavel, but....A truck driving down the road (any road)...would the canvas be pulled back half way to the front on one side?? Probably not; at least not the trucks I drove/commanded. Now, if the truck is stopped, with something going on, then okay....

Just a penny's worth.

Mike

well the truck is stoped and seting up a checkpoint, i am not finished with the figures yet.

Pavel this looks great!
The groundwork and all the vegetation you have add is very nice!
The moss on the rocks is a nice touch!
It seems you allready followed the points given by the other members so nothing more for me to add!
Waiting to see the rest of it with the figures added!!
Cheers and keep up the good work!!

I think the overall dio looks awesome. The rocks and vegetation look great. What if you cleared out the vegetation in the lowest corner and filled it in with tinted resin for water. Then you could put some tall grass along the shore. Just a thought. I think the dio looks great though.

Later,
Salvo

I think you have done an excellent job, the only thing that I would suggest is to add grass, or turf, or something to the front corner. From the fence to the edge, just doesn't look natural. I like Salvo's idea of adding water to that area too. I just think it need's something more than the couple of well placed clumps of flowers and shrubs. Hope this helps.

My thinking behind the water was two things. One if fills that small area with something besides just the typical vegetation. Second it gives the fence a real since of purpose, granted the small drop off is good enough reason for a fence, but the fence blocking the drop off and water to me adds more. Like I said it is already a great dio, just adding my two cents worth.

Later,
Salvo

The dio is really coming alive Pavel. Nice work.

I just have a small comment and its related to my first post. In the 1st. pic of your latest thread, there appears to be too little soil as evidenced by exposed bedrock facing the viewer. The small shrubs draw attention to this further (at least for me) as they are now growing in a very thin soil layer given the exposed bedrock. It would be very difficult for trees/shrubs to grow in such shallow soils except for grasses.

Its a small point though and may not draw any viewer away from your nice layout except for a person like myself who is obsessed with vegetation.

Hey Pavel
The ideas bandied about re the vegetation are good and what Brian said about adding grass I think is the best idea. How about 'beefing' the groundwork up by simply filling in a lot of the area with some wildgrass? Something from Heki if cost is no object, but some painted hemp(plumbers' tow)would work when cut to rough lengths. The rockface can still poke through as a good contrast
HTH
Cheers
Brad
Oh, in the 3rd of you rmost recent pics the truck looks aligned as though it had driven against the rockwall behind it... Is it fixed there permanently?

thanks for the comments. there will be figures and the grass is in the works. as far as the water goes?- there will be none in this dio, not that i don't like the idea but i experimented alot in this dio with most of the ideas. i am planing to do some water in my next dio, whatever that might be. i will post more pics as soon i finish the figures.
the fence i added just to see what it would look like.