Hi all
This is my 1st attempt at a dio it's been made for the Purple Hearts Campaign (it's also posted on the campaign forum)
It shows a veteran returning after 60 years(hence the medal) to the battlefield,with his Great Grandaughter.
The T-34 is a combination of the superb resin kits by Mig Productions and Verlinden,painted Revell #84 overall,the small green patches to depict the original paint are a mix of Humbrol #102 Army Green and #24 yellow drybrushed over the base coat.
Several shades of Mig pigments were then dusted over the paintwork.
The ali engine and gearbox castings were painted with a mix of Tamiya acrylics XF-2 White,XF-16 Flat Aluminium and XF-56 Metallic grey,then drybrushed with flat white.
The groundwork is a thin layer(1 to 20mm deep) of Giotto Plastiroc,I pushed the hull,wheels etc into the ground while still soft to get the slightly sunken effect,then removed to let set.
It was then painted a dark brown,it was at this stage the tank was painted.
When dry, the tank and some of the wreckage was glued down using a solvent free instant contact adhesive,the ground was then "painted" with wood glue then precut and trimmed pieces of B&Q hanging basket liner were fitted around the bits of model.
The flowers are Gypsophila (million stars or Baby Breath) painted with acrylic yellow.
The medal (EBAY) is a veterans, 60th anniversary of the battle of Kursk award.
The figures are VLS custom dioramics

















Hope you like,any comments most welcome
Andy

I think it looks great. I really like how you incorporated the tank into the groundwork and brought the grasses up and into it showing that it looks like it had been there for quite a while. Great job.

fantastic dio there andy! it looks really realistic the way the tank is depressed into the groundwork. what exactly are the flowers though? Gypsophila?

Thank you Matt,

Gypsophila is a very small white flower also called "million stars" or in the US I belive they are called "Baby Breath".
These are quite often found in bouquets especially with roses (treat SWMBO and pinch them
:-) :-) )
I cut the stem off short and hung them upsidedown in the airing cupboard for a few days to dry,I then painted the petals with a thined down acrylic paint.
Cheers
Andy

Nice job!

I like the bird.

cheers

Hi Andy,

Congrats on producing a really nice first diorama and the storyline certainly adds to the overall ambience that you have created, with the rusting hulk, the veteran and his Grandchild and the medal.

I hope that now you have broken your duck in the line of dioramas that we shall see more from you in the future.

John

Hi Andy,

I must say, for a first attempt it appears you've been doing this for some time!!! Good show!

Gary

Great dio. It looks awesome and does tell a story. Only one think that sticks out to me is the T-34's transmission. I may be missing something, but why is it bright and new looking while the rest is rusted out after 60+ years of being in the elements? Is it some other type of metal that doesn't rust? Even if it is aluminum, it will weather and darken from the elements. Don't get me wrong. It looks great, just sticks out like a sore thumb to me.

Edit: I guess it was made of some type of cast metal that doesn't rust. I do think it is still too clean though. Below is how I mean it should look. Slightly more weathered.

Hi Andy,

Excellent dio. I can see you've put tonnes of thought into the subject. It's always refreshing to see a different interpretation of a subject. Well done, mate!

Matthew:

In South Africa Gypsophila is known as "Baby's Breath" and should be available from your local florist or craft/scrapbooking store... well it is in Cape Town anyways

Rudi

Just beautiful

Very interesting project and storyline, il really like the idea and the way you executed t.

Congratulations for this great Job

Cheers
Claude

Torchy this is fantastic.

A brilliant idea executed extremely well.

I thought the gold medal must be 1st from a show!!! It certainly deserves one.
Bravo.

A very nice job Andy.
I like the overall effect and simpleness of it.

Hi Andy

One of the great tips for building great dioramas : originality and composition. Very careful planning went into this and it has paid off.

This is a great effort and I echo all the other modellers when I say:

Well done, this is an excellent effort!!

Regards
Garth

Fantastic job,congratulations
Pedro

Thank you soooooooooo much for the feedback guys, it makes it all worthwhile
I really enjoyed building it and I'm allready planing another ,it involves a Karl and a train OMG!!!
Gino, thanks for the picture, a couple of other people have said about the gearbox and engine block looking too clean,I based mine on a 34 that had been in a swamp since WWII and the g/box looks spotless!!!,



But I will grime it up a bit
Once again many many thanks for your comments
Andy