Hi Everybody,
Here's my latest...Tamiya Panther G, Dragon figures, Verlinden ruined bridge, and my own cast cobblestone road and sidewalk. First time making water, I used Gloss Mod Podge, and brushed it on in layers on top of a paint mix of greens and browns to give the appearance of grungy stagnant water. Rubble is smashed plaster, toothpicks, balsa wood beams, and hand made cork bricks. Sandbags were made from plasticine with a couple coats of white glue/water mix to seal, and then Humbrol paint over top. Oil washes for everything and a mix of Europe Dust and Brick dust from Mig Pigments.
First time ever doing US figures, so forgive me if the unis aren't correct, I had a heck of a time trying to convert colours! :-)
Comments/Crits welcome always to help me improve...
Cheers
Kelly

Hey Kelly

Nice looking dio you have there. I always like dio's with captured soldiers, or KIA. It shows the real deal in war I think. You have some more pics??

I just Think it is funny why the squad leader looks in his Binoculars towards his side the turret of the panther and the mg are pointed that way. You might turn him and let him look towards the enemy. Maybe you have a reason why you did it??

It looks pretty nice from what I can see. So job well done!!!

Greetings Roel

Hi Roel,
Thanks for the comments! Actually didn't really have a reason for putting the guy with the binocs there, all I know is that I wanted him on the tank so he can have a better vantage point for looking around... :-)

Kelly, the individual parts look pretty good. Nothing to pick out as overly in need of correction. However, the story feels disjointed.You have at least three separate things happening that don't fall together and aren't visible from one spot.
What I'd do to tighten the story up...move radio guy up with binocular guy, bring the POW grouping to the other side of the tank more or less where radio guy is now which then gives red cross guy more reason as he might be about to examine the prisoner. That fills up the big space in the foreground. Lastly, I'd loose overcoat guy. He's out by himself, apart from the focal point of the story and appears over dressed compared to all the other figures here. If radio and binocular guy look too crowded on the tank, you could move them to the sand bags, since they appear to be taking cover, and reporting info to the rear (or calling artillery or air support).

Awesome dio u have there i espeacially like youre bridge it looks great did u make it yourself?


simon

Thanks Al, those are some great suggestions, I'll probably move things around a bit, I'll probably leave the guy on the tank as is, because if I take him off, the paint will come off the tank with it! :-) I can probably move the radio guy up there with him, and move the three round back to where the radio guy is now....maybe I can move the longcoat in amonst the rest of them, kind of like everyone crowding around the captured German...hmm, back at it tonight when I get home from work! :-)

Simon, the bridge is a Verlinden piece, can't remember the product # though. I made the street sections from a mold, and used pink insulation foam to build up the height to the bridge level.

Great dio,the weathering and ground work is very good.
maybe you can change the layout of the figures a little bit,but for me is great .
Pedro

u still made it look grate i suggest u keep the guy with the long coat there it looks like one of his companion died or something and he is having regrets....trying to get away from the world thing....
and i just thought of something it the guy on top of the turret u can say hes looking for upcoming renforcement ,,,,, ur paint chips are well made too but why is there only one german didnt the panther have a crew of five lol
simon

Thanks Simon...
The lone German is some poor sap who wandered into the wrong area...the tank had been abandoned for oh, I'll say half an hour. :-)

Kelly -

Outstanding as always. Really like the attention to details and overall scene is great. Also as always there is a lot of detail on the Panther which makes it stand out. I agree with Al's assessment and would only add that I'd have the rear hatch on Panther left open if possible as it lends to the 'quickly abandoned' feel. Again an outstanding job and thanks for sharing.

Blade48mrd

Thanks Mike for the comments! I forgot about the hatch, and when my friend was taking pics last night, I grabbed the tweezers and started to open it, I'll really have it open, I kept saying to myself during construction: "Remember to open up the rear hatch", and of cours I forgot! LOL :-)
Will move things around a bit, hopefully get some more pics to update.
Kelly

WHOA!! I feel sorry for the guy in the foreground in picture 5. He looks like he's about to take a head shot from the Pather's 75mm :-) :-)
I like the look of the muddy water.

Yah, he's in for a rude surprise, he's always been mean to his squad, now they're gonna get payback! :-)

Ok, did a litlle repositioning, moved the three figures from the back of the panther (the two gi's and the german) to where the radio operator is/was, moved the radio operator to where the guy in the trenchcoat stood, and just moved him back a bit and turned him so he's looking from the left side of the bridge. still have to cover up where they were previously standing, glue marks, etc need to be taken care of..may even move the street sign by the telephone pole, or perhaps by the bridge wall, anyone have any suggestions where I may better put the sign post?

That whol diarama came out outstanding. I like how you did the ground with crushed bricks

Hi Longbow, for the larger sections of rubble, to accompany the broken bridge areas, I did my usual and smashed up plaster pieces, but left bigger chunks. I then made a mix of the same colour grey acryllic paint I used to paint the bridge and poured it into a container and added the plaster chunks, "staining" them, if you will. Poured off the excess and let dry.
Did the same thing with the cork bricks I made, except there I used a couple different shades of enamel brick colours, and set the bricks in a sifter, and poured the paint overtop. The paint drains into a old coffee can, and the bricks set on some wax paper to dry.

Very nice piece. I like the groundwork and the paintwork of the bridge. the weathering of the tank is great too.
Al LaFleche's suggestions are very useful.

Thanks for sharing

Hi Ken, thanks again, I think the tank traps were inland, sometimes along with Dragons' Teeth...I didn't notice the medic's cross had been crooked, when I put the decal on, it was straight...put him aside, and when I looked at him the next morning, it was crooked!
yes it's the Advance to the Rhine set, it's not a bad set, but I found the plastic very hard to trim, almost sliced my finger several times, and found that there was alot of gaps that needed putty to fill in, expecially the guy with the long coat...but a very nice kit overall.
don't know what's next, I'm going to the Calgary contest in a couple weeks, no time to get another one done, although my gf seems to think I can get one cranked out... :-) who knows maybe I'll go looking in the closet tonight and pull something out...hahahaha

i just thought of something kelly .....dont u have any spare amo near that mg42?i think you should put on somewere or a strip of bullet hangin cuz it looks a lilttle nacked???how many layers of paint did u put on that medic it looks like u have alot of paint on those bags and it hides the detailing of the bag ??? overall this dio is increadible compared to the ones i make :-) but i still have time to progress im only 15 :-) but that german soldier is awesome u did a very nice detailing in the camo CONGRADULATIONS
simon

Hi Simon,
there are a couple ammo boxes by the mg, if you look in the third pic by the mg, there are two sitting there. I think the guy with the overcoat was the weakest of the figures in DML's kit, I had to add some putty to the overcoat because they are four separate pieces for the lower half, and none seemed to fit well, left alot of gaps.. Only a couple light coats of paint were airbrushed onto the medic, as well as the rest of the figs, could be the pics throwing it off a bit.
I only painted two coats of Humbrol paint onto the bags, I couldn't get any milliput so in a pinch I used kid's plasticine to make them. I sealed with a couple coats of white glue/water and painted. SAS does this method quite a bit, and after all he's done, no paint has peeled or chipped off of the plasticine.

Kelly, Overall I like t the feel of your dio, I love the rubble, bridge and water! The one thing I would like to see would be some empty brass around the mg pit. I think it would add greatly to the scene, kinda make it look like a heck of a battle had taken place. I like Al's suggestions as well. I think you will do well in the show Cheers Kevin

Geez, I totally forgot about that, Jackhammer, thanks! That's what I like about this site, great tips to help one out! I'll add spent shell casings to the list!
Didn't get any response about the street sign, I really want to move it, but not sure where to put it, I know I want it away from the tank...any suggestions?

I hadn't really noticed the street sign, but it's gottta go. The tank CAN'T be where it is with the sign still standing. (Unless it dropped straight down from the sky! :-) ) If you want to identify the corner, attach the street name plates to the telephone pole.

:-) :-)
thanks Al, that's funny...well there could've been an explosion elsewhere which caused the sign to fly through the air, and land were it is...hahaha Sticking the signs on the telephone pole sounds good...man, I'm like totally reworking this dio! BUT, it's for the better!

hy
sry i dinnint think of answereing that question fell out of my mind but i would go with that telephone poll idea would look gret ........... because out of the 4 corners its the only one left
simon