It's my pleasure to announce that Model Maniac Page 27 - Part DD is now available.
There are four new armors and two new dioramas on show as follows :

- Trumpeter's SAM-6
- Trumpeter's LAV-25 "Piranha"
- SKIF's T-64 BW
- Dragon's Bergepanzer Tiger (P)
- Diorama "The Flak" using Dragon's 88 mm Flak 36 w/ Flak Artillery Crew, and
- Diorama "Russian Offensive" using Trumpeter's KV-1 model 1942 Heavy Cast Turret Tank + Dragon's
Russian Tank Crew + MiniArt's Hungarian City Building

All by "Art Instructor"

Sample pics :





For more pics please visit my latest page :

http://www.falconbbs.com/model27dd.htm

Merry Christmas & Have fun !

Wow ! Very realistic . Just like the real thing. What do you use for the snow ? I know Thailand doesn't have real snow to add in.

Very nice build indeed! Like Shahrid, I would love to know what Art Instructor used to make the snow... especially on how he made the snow on the tree?

Very nice, I think it needs more footprints on the ground.

Looks like the woodland scenics snow?

The flak and figures look great and the scene well balanced.
On the rear of the gun there appears to be a shell either going into or out of the breech. Now the gun isn't in recoil so the shell is not being ejected and I think these were manual loaded?
Cheers
Robbo

Outstanding work! One little point I noticed though was the spent ammo casings, they should have some sort of weathering on them where the projectile comes out. A bit scorched on the inside and top of the casing, not much but a bit unless I'm not seeing it in that photo.

The shell was loaded on the loading tray ( which it is laying on top of now) by hand, and then pushed into the breech by an automatic rammer, which is the part to the left above of the breech. (long thin tube with a slit along the length). After the shell has been inserted into the breech the tray is folded away. This alows the gun to be reloaded even at elevation, when deployed as AA gun. It would probably be practice (although I'm making an educated guess here) to load the shell directly when the barrel is lowered for AT fire. This would save time.
Problem is that although the rammer housing is provided in the kit, the actual rammer it self is not. So with out scratch building the rammer, this is not a very convincing way of posing the gun and shell.

Having said that, I do think that Art Instructor has done a better job than usual on this one. The crew must have a very efficient laundry unit which such clean uniforms... . Still, with the lack of heavy mud on the trailers I don't think they look 'to clean'. Weathering is a personnal taste, and although most people would like to see more heavy weathering ( me included ) I think this looks fine.

Cheers
Henk

Very good brother

wow.. apart from the comments posted, i think 'art instructor' did a pretty good job..!

The scene is great. I like the colors and weathering of the gun and the white coats. It is not so easy to work with white on the figures and you did a good job.
For a more realistic work you could add some folliage here and there, especially for camouflaging the gun and other stuff. But I think you didn't want to cover your good work. Just my 2 cents...

Thank you very much for all kind comments and compliments! They're very encouraging!

I don't know what my modeler used for snow, but it's sure not woodland scenic snow.
There's no woodland products available in Thailand. I guess he used plaster cement
or sodium bicarbornate, I'll ask him later on.

BTW, the SLR version of this page is available and I like it better then the digital version.

Sample pics :





SLR pictures are sharper, clearer and better and they're smaller in size too :

http://www.falconbbs.com/model27d.htm

Shahrid and JM, now I know what "Art Instructor" used for snow. He called today and I asked him, he used fine salt, sprayed with water then topped with fine salt.

Hi guys

This is a fine piece, and a great addition to your collection. As mentioned above weathering is a matter of personal taste so I'm not going to get in to that. The couple things I would like to mention is that the ammo crates should be pressed down a bit more. They look like they are resting on top of the snow. Lastly the uniforms are way to clean. Keep in mind that front line troops often have to live in the same clothes for a extended period of time. Thats sleeping, eating moving around, fighting e.t.c. all in the same clothes. White is not going to stay to white for to long. Art Instructor is getting much better. You should ask him to stop by the site. I'm sure he would be welcome.

Harry

Many thanks for your kind compliments and suggestions, Harry!
"Art Instructor" has never seen real snow in his life, he didn't know that it's soft.
Your comments will help him improve future winter dioramas. It's too bad that
he doesn't read/write English, he can't stop be here. All feedbacks to his works were collected by me and
translated for him. Each time he delivered new pieces he would ask for the feedbacks.
He told me he likes all the recommendations given and I think he's tried to do better job.

Hi Falconbbs... thanks for asking! Really appreciate it. I didn't know anyone who used salt to replicate snow... Another idea other than baking soda.

Once again, nice build by Art Instructor.

for those who have bought the LAV-25 from trumpeter
or have read the review in the latest FSM a soltion to the missing rear view mirrors and MG buy the revell kit
of the LAV-25.

:-? I think maybe you meant to post this somewhere else????????