Hi all.
Here's the current dio I'm working on. Still got a fair way to go, but thought I'd post a few pics to get some feedback and suggestions.

Firstly, the firefly is the old Dragon (Kit #6031). Bought it at a swap meet.
Whoever had it before me had cut all the pieces of the sprew and placed everything into 1 bag!!!! Saying that, the kit was great fun!!!
The dio is just an idea I came up with (somewhere in France 1944).

Still got to add the tools and spare tracks to the sherman and fix the tracks to the roadwheels. Stowage still to be attached and painted and am adding a couple Tamiya figures (from the British Tankers and farmer set).

Still have to add rubble for the farm house as well as more weathering.
Have to add more water (ran out of resin the first attempt).

Any comments or suggestion on the Firefly or the dio in general would be great!!!

thanks,
Jurgen.

Looks good so far. Keep us posted.

Tank looks nice for that old kit, although the suspension is incorrect (not your fault...it came with the wrong one). Groundwork looks excellent so far. The only thing that jumped out at me was that the inside color of the hatches should be the same color as the outside, not white, as you've depicted them.

The hull streaking looks GREAT!

Otherwise, keep up the good work. Looking forward to seeing the completed dio.

Rob

Thanks Rob.

And thanks for the tip on the hatch colors.
Wasn't sure on the exact color so took a guess.

It's my first attempt at trying to simulate the rain/weathering/hull streaks.
Not sure if I overdid it or not, but the I like the effect.

Jurgen.

Nice job Jurgen!
I'd say the hull streaks look excellent, how did you get the effect? The tank will look excellent when finished.
Now the base, wow, what an excellent scene, I love the different levels, the tree and the house, they build up to make an excellent scene that must have taken some time.
I had an idea about the scene, to me it's crying out to depict an ambush on the firefly. The dead ground of the ditch would be hiden from the tank crew and a good place for some german's to wait with a panzerfaust. The house opposite is also an excellent place for an ambush team to hide and I think you could create a scene with a great story from this excellent base. Just my thoughts anyway!
Great dio, let us see it when its done,

James

Hey Jurgen,

Very cool - I especially like the drainage pipe....keep us posted!

Cheers,

Charlie

Thanks guys.
For the hull streaks, I covered areas with Testors Enamel Airbush thinner and dabbed dots of creamy or off white oil paint (Winsor Newton paint) at the top or the sides (and turret). Then wetting a clean brush with the thinner, used downward strokes to go over the dots. The color will almost disappear, but when it dries, you'll see that the light streaks are still there. I waited about an hour and then repeated the process with a darker color oil (you can use browns, black and even blues and greens).

Unfortunately, the scene is too 'open' and exposed to present an ambush scenario. Have already had a quick try and it just looked wrong.
I've got some British tankers and a Farmer and am planning to depict the Farmer talking to the tank crew while salvaging materials form the ruined house/farm.

I'm going to change the farms color (had enough of my wife calling it the 'FANTA' house :-) ) to a greyish white color.

cheers,
Jurgen

Fair enough, i'm sure you know your dio better than me!
Thanks for the tips on the hull streaking, it sounds like it'll work well so i'll try this out on my M4A3 i'm building at the mo. Good luck with finishing this off and thanks again for the tips!

James

Hi Jurgen,

Interesting looking layout. This should be very cool when your're finished.

Cheers

Al

Man thats awsome cant wait to see the finished product

That looks really good. I like the way you are working with different levels on the diorama. Maybe some Panzer grenadiers lurking near the drain or in the house?

Thanks for sharing

Hi all,

Another update today, but only the dio base this time. Have repainted the building. I think it looks much better now.
Added more small stones, garden dirt and roots to the road. Sprayed it earthly colors and then drybrushed it a light dusty color.
Added a couple of stones and a fallen tree to the river. Topped up the resin water.
The stones can be seen just under the water (sorry, they don't show up on the photos).
A little more weathering and cleanup to be done, but I think the base is nearing completion.







Looking forward to any suggestions.
Cheers,
Jurgen.

Hi all,
finally got the house ruin finished this morning. Added rubble, bricks, woodwork and a door. Touched up the weathering on the building and added powders to simulate dried mud and dust.





Now to Firefly!!!! Nearly there.
Jurgen.

Hi all.
Managed to get some work done on finishing the Sherman this afternoon.
Added the tools (except for the shovel), stowage and some home made tarps. Weathered and drybrushed the tracks a little more. Changed the inside hatch color from white to OD (thanks Rob ). Have started painting the British Tank Crew and a bycicle that I'm going to add to the vechile.






any suggestions greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Jurgen.

Some excellent work, this is looking better and better!
Keep it up,

James

Very good work. Good idea to repaint the building.

Looking forward to see it with some figures on it.

A quick question for you all out there.
I was thinking of adding a US patrol meeting up with the British Firefly Crew. Considering that the dio is based in France 1944, would this have been possible?

Jurgen.

As far as i'm aware this is perfectly feasible so go ahead.

James

thanks James.

No worries mate,
I think it sounds like a good idea, a dio base of this size/quality needs some figs to give it an interesting story!

James

Jurgen,
Looks really good. I think adding a patrol coming up the sloped roadway will add a lot to the dio. Awesome ground work.
-zon

Hi all.

thanks for all the positive feedback and encouragement.
Have finally finished.

It's been posted in the Diorama forum.

Again, many thanks.

Jurgen.