I think its terrific, I see what you mean re the shiny ground work but thats nothing a bit of pastel dust and some dry brushing will soon fix that. Great Dio.

Ah perfectionists. Aren't we fun? The diorama looks outstanding and your attention to detail is almost worrying. In terms of the slightly glossy sheen I came across a technique that will matt it down and make it look dusty all at the same time.

Take Tamiya buff, thin it to 90% thinners/10% paint and then mist it with an airbrush over the areas you want dusty/weathered/sunbleached, however, be careful it's easy to overdo the effect because it's so subtle at first. When I first used the technique on a quarter scale Sherman, I had to respray with Olive Drab because the Buff had 'leached out the colour' too much. Still, worth experimenting with methinks.

Phil

Phillip, hit it right on the head, the tamiya buff is exactly what it needs. Easy to do and qwill give the results you want, just dont over do it, when it dries its heavier appearing than wet. Cheers Kevin

Just for your info, there are several versions of saving private ryan. Some are from the british side, but most are from the american side. One thing I doubt youve done is rid on top of the converted t-34 tiger tank from the movie.

one thing to remember is that mr Spielberg used a lot of camera filters and film techniques to give the whole film that "Faded" look, a kind of bleached out tan shade to the whole film.

The same technique was carried over to Band of Brothers which again had the US troops in shades of beige and germans in grey, not because of error but because of those wonderful camera effects !

Unless you filter the entire dio in tamiya buff I doubt you'll ever hit that palette you have in mind...


...and that's not necessarily a bad thing. So far I think your dio looks very good, certainly not in need of anything drastic!

only thing I'd say though is that the last action in SPR was set in Ramelle (spelling?) which was in france, and I don't recall hearing about the germans ever painting Juden on french premises ? I could be wrong though....I don't trust my own memory so I don't blame you if you don't :-)

Yeah I mean the US version. I'm thinking about doing a vignette with Jackson in the church tower sniping nazis

Thanks guys,

Jacob: as to the tracks, I'm trying to make the dio how the movie should have looked with a real Tiger, and as much corrected detail as I can.

As to the Glossy look I've fixed that with a wash of thinned matt varnish and some brown pastels mixed in, this got rid of the glossy and reduced the monotone look that it was getting, I lightened the wood rubble to make it standout and highlighted the red bricks in shades of red. I've repainted the figures and there is a definate diference in the uniform colours. For the Para's the base is Humbrol 84 for the rangers it's 72.
I'm still looking for the correct German Para figures to fit the scene. The shot I'm going for is about 2minutes before the shot posted in this tread as that same tank first appears to Miller and Ryans flank forcing them to run to the Alamo which is where the movie still on this thread comes from as the tiger closes on the bridge and miller has to face it to light the fuse....blah blah blah...
I'll post some more photo's when I'm finished.
Thanks for your comments.

Gaz

The tank in SPR was actually a disguised Czech T-55 since tiger tanks were a bit difficult to bring to the movie set. The reason why it had russian tracks

Hi Gaz,

Your dio looks brilliant so far. One thing I must say though is that the base looks too clean and slightly glossy as if has been raining recently on the street. I would most cetainly dust it down with weathering dust or even cement, plaster powder or something to resemble brick dust. This would tie the whole thing together. Maybe you are waiting to add the Tiger before you do anything like that but so far so good.

Could you please enlighten those of us who only now of the One "Saving Private Ryan" movie/book,

Are you speaking of other stories in the same vain or was there a Ryan Family in Britain that lost 3 sons on the same day ect.ect.ect........you now how the story goes.

As I have only heard of the one.

Thanks

Gaz

thats because in the movie, they used a T-34 with some sheet metal to make a Tiger look alike.

I think using the scene to make this dio is great!

(im looking at your pictures...im mulling them over and will post in a bit...but I do see what your talking about...something isnt quite right...ill keep looking)

Love the composition!
Andy

Thanks to everyone who replyed to this thread, unfortunatly for me five days after the last post in this thread, my home was devistated by Cyclone Larry, and it's taken me 2 years to get back on my feet and I'm ready to start modelling again...as to the diorama in question...the bloody thing survived, but I still haven't finished it...maybe I never will. Worrying about the groundwork seems so trivial now in comparison.

I also moved to the Gold Coast ....no Cyclones here!

Cripes, Welcome back Gary... glad you are back on your feet.

impressive diorama ! the ground looks abit glossy but over all reli impressive
a guy at our club did the church and bridge the alamo scene

keep it up

blimey

I was about to ask who brought this thread back from the dead !? Then I read about your home being devastated by a cyclone... man I can't think of a better reason to be out of the loop for a while... sorry to hear about that, it must've been awful.

Still - your dio survived for a reason, it is destined to be finished. Get it done!

I have read all the previous posts, and as for the pictures posted, I too can't see much of a problem.

Said that though, yes there is a bit of a sheen to some groundwork in the diorama.

In my humble experience, when I get a problem like this, I simply spray the area with diluted Acrylic Matte varnish, at a distance of about 7" to 8" inches away. The finish dries quick and very flat, especially when applied with an Airbrush.

I haven't seen the live product of your concern, so it is difficult to judge what more you could do.

Concerning the Tiger Tank in the movie, don't bother to replicate it.

The Russian chassis employed, was the same, also employed in "Kelly's Heroes"!

The only Tiger tanks appearing originally on Russian tracks were the prototypes made by Porsche in early 1943, and although some saw action, none of these ever had anything to do on the Western Front.

Yours, is the correct Tiger I, Type E late version (not final version), so forget about it. This is the one they would employed in the movie had they had a working one around.

If the movie had been done today, they would certainly found out that there are two fully working Tiger IEs out there. One is the one at the Saumur Armor museum, in the Loire Valley in France, and one is the one just fixed at the Muenster Armor Museum in Germany.

Back to the pictures. I think that your diorama looks fabulous and correct.
After all they were battling among ruins and debris and color definition in such conditions is simply a waste of time, just because everything is covered by sud, dust and rubble, including uniforms and all.

What my eye sees, is a perfect reproduction of a probable war-torn urban setting with soldiers placed right in the middle of a desperate situation.

What more do you want to achieve?

Believe me, I know your problems. It is an author's dilemma.
It is like a cook's dilemma.

I have built many dioramas centering in and around Normandy, Belgium, Holland and Germany and believe me, they started out as a work of love and landed up becoming uncouth children, which I could not master anymore after a while.

My solution?

Put it away for a while. Don't make it your life's obsession. After a year or so, take it out again and look at it as is it were the work of somebody else. You will see, it works.
At least it does for me.

I am about to build a diorama involving the taking of Aachen and the relative German response and you can bet that I already have my share of nightmares to deal with. Especially when I talk about debris placement...

I am also working on a script for a four hour long movie starting there, going through the Huertgen Forest and ending depicting the true Battle of the Bulge.
My nightmare there? How the heck will I find a working King Tiger?
Problem solved. There are three in working order and the rest can be reproduced in CGI.

Believe me, you have done a great job. It is now time to let go and show it around. Be proud with what you have achieved and move on onto a new project.
I will be on the lookout to see what you will do next.

In the meanwhile be happy, be merry and have a great and joyous new year.

Patrick S. Selitrenny

The dio is fantastic. The tank captures the look well. You are right that the groundwork should be Dead-flat to be realistic. I would use various combinations of pigments and just use them Dry (no more washes). Your dio is better than any I've done, but you're welcome to check my photos of my Berlin dio made with pigments.
Congrats - just go for the finish now!!!

that is an awesome idea! i havent read the other posts tho, so someonr might hav already metioned this but make sure the Pvt. Ryan figure has an airborne uniform. they were very different from regular infantry, in this case the second rangers. that brings me to my next suggestion--make sure on the back of the ranger's helments there is the white stripe for enlisted adn officers, i forget which, but one is horizontal and the other is verticle and over the stripe is a sidways orange diomond with a black two in teh center for the 2nd rangers. i know dragon;s rangers d-day set would have all teh equiptemnt and decals you would need for the rangers. also (i think u alreasy hacve this) rangers had a blue sideways diomond on theur shoulders. everything esle looks really good tgough.

i really like this idea as it is my favorite movie!!!!! n just an interesting fact--look at the tigers in the movie...they have soviet treads!!! a large innaccuracy on teh film maker's behalf

prvt ryan should have m44 uniform i think its the airbounre uniform witht eh elbow and knee pads

monkey butt its got soviet track ecause its a t34/85 converted to a tiger theres a website about it all

pvt ryan should have the m42 unform not th m44 i got muddled up

Welcome back Gary! Very ironic the dio survived after giving you so much grief. Glad to hear you are finally able to get back in the saddle.

Great diorama! Really nice work!

Martyn

Great scene for a Dio, I really like it. Great work.