First of all - Holy Cow and Hot Da#@ I'm digitized!

Ok - now it's my turn to go under the microscope. I'm asking for feedback on my Campaign Diorama. You guys know the deal, be honest. The photos are a little harsh, flash overkill and my first go round with macro on digital.
Here's the basic scene for Cold Stare. A sniper has set up shop on the second floor of a ransacked building still in good shape structurally. Doors have been kicked in so the cold permiates everything, so does (will) the snow. He will be squatting on the balcony of the second floor looking out his field glasses for the upcoming target.
So far these two photos show most of whats done. I still have quite a bit to do, the to do list includes
1. Assemble 1st and 2nd floors
2. Add wallpaper inside
3. Add weathering, wash then pastels, then snow
4. Add glass to french doors on 2nd floor and windows on 1st floor
5. Tiddy up the edges.
6. Add a book shelf/table something?
7. Add snipers gear to 2nd floor - pack, food, tarp, etc.
8. Add art work
9. Add details like light switch, hinges on door jam and french doors, inside trim.
10. Add a step to represent stairs going up.
11. Add the Sniper!!!
12. Oh yea - I'm going to add a segment of roof too.

The first photo is ground level of the 1st floor, 2nd photo is the 2nd floor, third is the back of the 1st floor. I only have the balcony sitting on the table in about the spot it needs to be, no permanent assembly there yet. The construction is a plaster cast wall, scratch build everything else using strip styrene, paper, clay, balsa and bass wood, hosehold stain, tamiya paints. I'll include more later.

What else,what else?? Thanks in advance.
All comments welcome! http://groups.msn.com/armorama/sloddersstuff.msnw
Still learning groups and will try to move the images over to the campaign folder at some point.

Hi Slodder,
I must sy I'm impressed. You really managed to capture the look of the rocks. The floors look very good too. I'm really curious how it will looked when weathered.
With what you wrote, it will be superb!

The stone work on the outside looks fantastic. I especially like the texture of the inside walls, they look like they wold be fine on their own with no wallpaper. Is the interior floor just stained balsa wood? It looks like real hardwood. Excellent work, i can't wait to see the finishing touches and the sniper.

Thanks guys,
The floors are a combination of balsa wood floor joists and sub floor with a top layer of Star Bucks stirrer sticks that I had sitting around. I used a common household variety wood stain on it. In order to get a blending or multiple layers, shading etc. I took a darker shade and coated a small area, before it soaked in I took the lighter shade on a different brush and then coated the larger overall area, this is kind of an on the fly mix/blend method. I kinda like the way it came out.
The overall method of contruction is exactally the way the digital diamond article outlined it. It was easy and I think came out pretty well.

VERY nice work Slodder... the texture of the stone is top notch, and I'd love to see a close-up of your chair.

And here is that particular article that Slodder mentions...

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/112

What figure are you using for the sniper? The house looks great! Very nice wood work and the French doors look nice...

How did you do your rock walls amigo?

VERY NICE SLODDER. CONGRATULATIONS.

ROBERTO

Thanks for the complements guys.

The figure I am using is from Dragon's German Snipers '39 - 45 series (#6093). I'm using the kneeling one looking through field glasses. He's dressed in a snow smock.

The wall is a plaster cast of a wall section I had from another kit. I made a latex mold and poured lightweight plaster in. It is all woodland scenic latex and plaster. It worked very well. The wall section was pretty small and I had to combine three sections to create each floor wall. I reversed the order of the three sections in order to reduce redundancy in the wall pattern for the second floor.

The chair is made from bass wood and a doll house shingle. My dad built a bird house and purchased a huge bag of cedar shingles to cover the roof. He didn't use them all and I can't pass up free shtuff, especially in small scale!!! #:-) . The construction was pretty simple. I cut the legs from thin bass wood strips. I cut the stingers from the same wood and then glued the six pieces of the back section together and let it dry. I then glued the four pieces for the front legs and let them dry. I cut the seat from shingle and notched the back edge to fit inside the legs. I rotated the stringers 90 degrees to add a degree of detail and interest. I stained the legs and stringers with household wood stain. I left the seat natural.
Here's a link to an image.
http://groups.msn.com/armorama/sloddersstuff.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=2716