I just started on this a few weeks ago and this is what I have so far.




It will be depicting Marines radioing back after taking out the Iraqi sniper that was using the room.

I plan to have a table in the middle of the room and possibly a set of shelves in the corner.

I have square tile for the floor and I’m planing on giving the walls a bit of texture using construction paper.

Anyway any comments, questions, advice or ideas are welcome.

Only comment I have is the light color you have on the DCU pants. It should almost be a light sea green, not a light orange. Other than that, I like the concept where you are going. I know you are not at this point, but since US guys appear to have cleared the room, you may want to have the American soldiers holding the enemy weapon. Most weapons are taken to be destroyed.

Another idea to play around with is a grenade blast either from a frag or a flashbang grenade. In the case of the frag, you would need a blast mark on the ground and walls and obvious shrapnel marks along the war, but then again the body would be seriously "modified." So a flashbang may be better suited, which just a blast mark on the ground and the grenade lying somewhere near. Just thoughts.

Hope to see more.

Jeff

I agree about the colors. Also, what's up with the title of the diorama? Did you mean "Leathernecks in OIF"? Because rednecks are something entirely different (Jeff Foxworthy jokes ring a bell?). Perhaps there's some aspect to the dio, yet to be depicted, that would make the Redneck title more appropriate. Right now I'm missing it.

Rob

Well, about the whole rednecks/leathernecks thing, does it really matter? I mean, its just a bunch of guys who get heavily armed then jump in a slow moving armed bathtub and charge up beaches towards machine guns...

It does matter, but whatever. I think he is referring to his screen name; redneck.

Thanks guys.
Yes the Redneck parts referring to my username and the fact that I’m the one building the dio and has nothing to do with the marines or anything else in the dio itself. Sorry for the confusion.

For the colors I’ve been going by Petes (EPI) article titled Painting 3/6 Color DCUs & Woodland BDUs.
I agree its missing a bit of green but don’t feel like ordering any new paint. Plus I still have to do a wash so that might make things look better.

As for having one of the American holding the Iraqi gun I’ve thought of this but don’t think I can pull it off the greatest with these figures. I’m thinking of leaving it that the weapons just haven’t been collected yet. (I’ll have the snipers Dragunov, an RPG-7 and a AKSU in the room.)

I hadn’t thought about a grenade. The original idea was that one of the marines would have entered the room and fired 2 rounds into the sniper. I’ll probably have the 2 casings next to the door.

But I’ll look into the idea of a flashbang. It sounds good I just need to see how hard it would be to depict the grenades body.

Oh, okay, I feel like an idiot now! I never looked at your screen name. I guess if the subject heading had been "Redneck's OIF dio" (notice the apostrophe), I'd have caught on. Instead I read it more as "Rednecks in OIF dio", and completely missed it. Sorry about that.

Not sure what a blown flash-bang would look like. I know before they blow they are cylindrical in shape, but I don't know how much they blow apart when they blow.

Rob

Not to sound like I am pushing the issue, what you can do is glue the weapon to a soldiers back, and run a thin strip of paper attached near the muzzle (as a sling) around the front of the figure and attach it to the back near the end of the rifle butt..

Or the simpler solution is to just have the weapon leaning against the wall. And for a single guy, a sniper rifle, RPG and Ak seems a bit much unless you are going for the room doubling as a cache, but that is just me.

Oh btw, I forgot to commend you on the current placement. It is very smart that you kept the Marines out of the front of window and door way. So great job!

Jeff

I was expecting Larry the Cable Guy. "Git 'er dun!"

The expended fashbang body will look just like an unused flashbang with the exception of the "spoon", it would have come off as soon as the marine threw it in. Whereever you place the 'bang, it would have about 12 scale inches of burt blast mark around it. The blast marks will be in a * or star pattern around the bang. A cool effect I have seen is to have the flashbang land up next to a wall and depict the burn marks on the floor and also reaching up the wall.

No problem Rob. I usually seem to miss apostrophes.

Jeff once I get the weapons started I’ll be able to figure out what to do with them.
I’m thinking of leaving the RPG aginst the wall next to the window and posibly putting the AKSU on the table next to the 2 marines with the radio. The sniper rifle I may give to the guy closest to the Iraqi.
As for the number of weapons this is to take place around the time of the initial invasion. I want to show that the sniper had set up a fighting position in the room.
The sniper rifle will be his main weapon with the AKSU as backup. The RPGs just there incase armor drives past.

As for the placement I got a lot of help from Pete (EPI) on that. I’ll have the one guy (left of the window.) Peering out a bit. And the saw gunner (one with arms) covering the door.


Any one no the dimensions of a flashbang? I’ll probably have to scratch build it.

Cool deal. As for the flashbang, it is about the size of a smoke grenade. Here is a link for a flashbang.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/xm84.htm

Jeff

Thanks Jeff.
I should be able to scratch build on of those. I'll give it a try once i get a chance.

Jacob,

If you dont have any luck scratching one, let me know. I have one from an old Dragon kit. I think it was thier Ranger kit (which was garbage BTW). I am going to try and cast up some resin copies for myself anyway, so if you need a couple, drop me a line and I'll send you a few.

Gary

Gary I think I’ll be able to make one myself now but if I run into problems I’ll let you know.

Heres a little update on the dio.



The original idea didn’t go as planed so I ended up texturing the walls with plaster. Next step will be the floor and then finishing up the doorjamb. After that I can start detailing the room.

The walls look much better with the plaster! Keep us posted!

Gary

Awesome idea Jacob.

Thanks guys.

Heres a bit of an update on it.

I’ve added the floor, doorjamb and trim.

Walls won’t be that color when complete. I’ve just started painting them.

Also after putting down the floor a went around chipping and cracking some of the tiles.



Let me know what you think.

I really like the trim, and the cracks and chips on the floor. I think its well done, and not over done. Good work. Can't wait to see more/see it finished.

its becoming more and more believable as its coming together. Any plans for some furniture? How bout a nice gold framed Saddam portrait on the wall? Or perhaps some insurgent propaganda. I have some insurgent propaganda if you need it. You will have to shrink it dowbn though.

Gary

Gary I plan on having a table in the middle of the room with 2 or 3 chairs around it. I’m also thinking of adding a shelf ether to the right of the window or left of the door.
May also add a knocked over chair next to the sniper. His one hand isn’t flat against the floor so I may try sliding the back of the chair under it.

I hadn’t thought of hanging anything on the walls. I’m planing this to take place around the initial invasion so I don’t know that insurgent propaganda would fit in but the portrait of Saddam sounds good.

And heres another update.


The plastic in the middle is the table top

This is going to be one cool little vignette when it is done!

now it would be hard to do, but I think it would look kind of cool.

first: mix some red paint with a little red brown.
next: put it underneath the dead guy, and let it seep into the tile grout recesses, it would look very cool. Now it would have to be executed perfectly, but I think you can do it. Justremeber that a tiny bit of blood goes a loooong way.

just my 2 cents

Thanks William.
I plan on adding a little bit of blood to the floor but hadn’t thought about the recesses too much. Sounds like a good idea.