Right. Its finished! Although I know there are a few things not quite right... its still finished! This dio was my first for about 15 or 16 years and has been highly enjoyable and a very steep learning curve! Obviously my next project is underway (all the more reason for this one to take its place on the bookshelf, for now anyway).

I can see that I really need to purchase some dry transfers (Archer?) for uniform insignia and rank as I'm not satisfied with the results after attempting to paint them on! Of course, there are a multitude of other quirks and 'mistakes' but then none of us are perfect. My girlfriend was recruited to help with the final positioning of the SS figures! She's great!

Some background to the scene: British 7th Armoured Division Cromwell supported by 50th Infantry Division involved in Operation Goodwood, sometime in July 1944. Men of 1st SS Panzer Division prepare to fight to the last man!

Your comments will be welcomed, as always.

Thanks for looking.

Matt

Sod it! I'll try again...

...Sorry.

Matt, that's very nicely finished, and very well laid out.
Looking forward to seeing your next one.

Matt, great job! I love everything I see. Its great to see more allied vehicles (meaning Brit ) used in a dio. thanks for sharing it with us. cheers Kevin

Matt, that looks superb! I especially like the guy at the front checking the dead SS man. Very nicely composed. A very natural feel to it. Well done mate!

Gday Matt
I'm in agreeance with the udders here... This is a very well composed dio! Good to have separate scenes of interest within the small dio, that all tie in together... Very well apinted and presented...
The fallen soldier is well placed and looks natural, as is the poses for most if not all your figures! There has been heaps of planning in this I'm sure And the painted markings look just fine to me!
If ever you wanted to touch it up, I would dust up the ruins more... Also the Panzerfaust soldier would be more compatible with the Schmeisser soldier if he was facing him, due to the hand signal? I know this would defeat the purpose of him getting a bead on the Crom. from behind...
Great job!
Cheers
Brad

I like your dio, the positioning of the troops are well pacaed,

The dead soldier, is that a home made dead soldier or a manufactures's soldier, as it looks good

Wow! Thanks guys, its nice to know that when you're sat, isolated from your friends and family at the top of the house, forgotten about when it comes to brews, that all your hard work does not go unnoticed! Like I say, I enjoyed this project more than I thought I would, the bug took 16 years to find me again and then its bitten with a vengance!

Honeycut: I agree with the points you made and will be dusting the buildings again when my old dad has finished the glass case and I wasn't happy with the pose of the modified VP Panzerfaust figure from the start, the other pose (2 part set) is superb but this guy just don't look right wherever I place him and I think in time I'll replace him altogether!

PS Are Archers the best for insignia decals?

M

Hi Gary

The dead soldier is actually the Dragon British/Commonwealth Bren gunner with a Hornet SS head and milliput sculpting of the smock and VP German infantry accessories. I need to do plenty more dead and wounded for my next project so watch this space!

Cheers

This is a very fine diorama.

What I find most impressive is the way you've told quite a complex story in a comparatively small space. I also like the way the lay out of the ruins and posing of the tank and troops sugegsts a large sprawl of ruined buildings around what we can actually see in the model. I'll learn from that, I hope

Great stuff!


Sean

I like the dio very much and as the others already commented the composition and story is very interesting .
This is very promising for the next dio's.

Cheers
Claude

Very nice diorama. Layout is great, story is good.

I think you should consider submitting this as a Model On Display feature.

Matt, the Archers transfers are excellent, Pricewise they're not too bad and because they're dry transfers they're a doddle to apply. They're a bit limited Britishwise but nonetheless excellent.

Cheers Karl, I'm going to give em a try. Just been paid so I'm ordering today!

Scott: I'd love to do that, do you happen to know how I go about it?

Cheers

M

Hi Matt ...I got to say for your first attempt in 15 yrs it looks great... Your figures look good.... and the scene is well thought out ...I did notice a couple of things if you want to think about for your next dio... One thing is (and we all do it ) we make the road the size to fit the tank ...most roads would be wider than that in a town or city in France ... and another little thing the cowling cover on the back of the Cromwell didn't show up till after the Normandy campaign was over .. All in all a super job you can be proud of ...Congrats!

Rick

Cheers for the info on the cowling, I'm annoyed about that but at least I'll know for next time! I've just invested in a million books which I'm slowly working my way through so with them and all you guys, mistakes like that shouldn't repeat.

About the road. Its actually a side street running between two church buildings, the church itself and an outbuilding. I wanted it to be narrow to show how constricted it could be for tanks in the street fighting, difficult enough for this Cromwell to traverse 360 and even worse for longer barrelled tanks such as the Firefly! Making them relative 'sitting ducks' for anti-tank weapons.

(Also, the base was pre-cut before production and I was a bit limited, the next one is twice the size!)

Cheers mate

a lovely diorama that not only looks excellent, but tackles (IMO) a sadly overlooked area - BRITS!

great work mate, a really nice piece

cheers
Jon

The composition has been well directed. You have tackled a number of learning expirences with this dio, and I must say, have handled all of them well... Good job for your first in 15-16 years!

The only nit pick I have is the construction of the "bean" road, but that is a personal prefrence in building. I would love to know what your next project is that you have started? I look forward to seeing more work from you.

Paul

Hi Paul

Yeah, I wasn't too taken with the road surface (after all the time it took!) I think, perhaps, I used large green lentils - and they were too large! I've just discovered (whilst getting my lunch) smaller, split red lentils which I think would have been much better, the ones I used just don't look right, okay but not right.

My next project is underway and is again set in Normandy. This time the action takes place around Breville and involves men of the 12th Battalion (Yorkshire!) Parachute Regt and their attempt to take and secure Breville on/around 10th June after much heavy fighting since landing on the 6th. At the moment its going to include a couple of german vehicles (251 and Kubelwagon?) and will show the aftermath of a particularly heavy firefight - many dead and wounded. I intend to scratch-modify the dead and wounded figures as I don't really like any on the market, we'll see though! An orchard may be involved also, but I'm not into foliage too much the thought of all those hours doing leaves and branches makes me shudder!

I'll keep you posted with pics when I've got something to show.

Thanks for everyones comments, I'm pleased with this effort and I'm so happy that the feedback from everyone is positive.

Foliage is not as difficult as you may think mate. I will be more than happy to give you some ideas if you like. It is nothing to really dread. I have been stepping Big Jon through some basic techniques would be happy to help if you like... Ground work, dio's is what I enjoy doing the most!

Paul

Whooie! I just checked out your gallery, and if you don't mind I will definately be taking you up on your offer!

I've been reading up on the actions of the 6th Airborne on and after DDay and most of their AO was around woods, orchards and of course the Bocage type terrain. I figure that if I want to do this side of things (Airborne ETO) some justice and do it accurately, then I'll have to learn how to do the foliage stuff!

Thanks very much, I'll be in touch!

M

No worries, glad to help. You might also waant to check out Big Jon's gallery and his "Winding Lanes" threads there should be two or three. He nicely illustrated some of the techniques I have helped him with...

Awesome dio! Great work with the tank and the figures! Very good base! Congratulations!
Cheers and happy modelling!
Prato

i like dio's with british troops and tanks... should be built more of them. good work, i'm a fan

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all your kind words and feedback. I'm on with the new one so keep looking!

Cheers

Later