Jump to content

Cadman

Members
  • Posts

    843
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Cadman

  1. You and me both, and I suspect everyone else who's following this fascinating thread ... πŸ˜€ Cheers
  2. This is an experiment using a different image hosting service; Hey, that worked ... !! I can now see the full-size 1024p wide photos on my PC at long last by using HobbyPhotoHost.com instead of Postimages ... 😊 This has been a problem ever since Yahoo dropped all services where I live; and Google has been blocked for some time as well; both these actions have limited my photo host options. Why the photos I upload to Postimages and then post on BM only appear as thumbnails on my PC, albeit other members can see the full-size images, is a mystery I've never solved, although I'd lay odds that it's something to do with my ISP. Try again, just to be sure; Okay -- looks like I've got it figured out and can now see exactly what I'm posting, (warts & all) ...
  3. Finished ten more 101st troopers today, albeit nine of them are still awaiting the aftermarket resin heads included with my latest hobby order. Being optimistic, I think that order may be delivered in 2 or 3 days time, (fingers crossed). Might be difficult to see in the photos, but these Masterbox figures all feature some combination of additional equipment, including; frag & smoke grenades, bayonets & fighting knives, ammo bandoliers, musette bags, canteens and entrenching tools. I've even added slings to some of the weapons -- a task that I really don't enjoy doing in this scale. Just my opinion of course, but I do reckon these additions and some slight variations in the poses makes them look better than straight OTB and the replacement heads ought to provide the finishing touches. To avoid too much duplication, the plan is to use five of these guys for the Part 2 (Holland) scene and the other five in Part 3 (Ardennes). Talking of the Ardennes, now I've temporarily run out of Airborne figures to work on, I'll likely make a start tonight on the two AFV's that I want to include in the Bulge diorama. Gotta keep busy ... 😊 Cheers Edit: I've no idea whether they were available to the troops in WW2, but the K-rations box that the walking guy has in his hand was a lot easier to paint as a carton of Marlboro's than one of Lucky Strikes ... πŸ˜†
  4. Glad you liked this one. My stuff usually does feature figure-heavy scenarios. Its probably because when I returned to the modelling hobby back around 2008, I was doing mostly 54mm/75mm white metal Fantasy, Medieval and Samurai miniatures, along with the very occasional 90mm size figure and I wanted to have them all in the scenes I was building. So including a high number of figures in my 1/35 scale dioramas and vignettes is probably just out of habit. Painting a 1/35 figure with basic shadows and highlights is easy enough. It's all the other stuff such as weapons and the tiny additional equipment that can tend to be time consuming ... πŸ˜΅β€πŸ’« Cheers
  5. Now that Part 1 of this project is done and dusted, the following is just a copy & paste of my update post in the RFI section yesterday -- saves repeating myself. For Part 2, I already have six Easy Company figures done and as previously mentioned I've made a start on the ten additional MB figures I have available. I've already added the various ammo pouches supplied with the kit plus a few musette bags from my spares box and I have enough spare canteens available that can be used for each figure, and some will get an entrenching tool as well. One of the new figures now sports a bandolier and I've enough spare ammo pouches to make a second bandolier for another character to hump around. I ought to get all these MB troopers done by the time my order for additional resin figures gets delivered. That order also includes replacement heads for all the MB figures as well. Once Part 2 is finished, the intention is to then move on to a 101st Part 3 diorama, set in the Ardennes this time, so that I end up with three separate scenes depicting Easy Company in the three ETO regions where they saw major action -- 1) Normandy, 2) Holland and 3) Belgium. Mind you, I still need to build two AFV's from my stash for the Ardennes dio. END OF PASTE Okay that's the recap, and I might as well add that I'm now tempted to do a Part 4 covering Easy Company in Germany, but if I do go down that road, then it's a long way off. So what progress was made today? Well, I pretty much finished the shadows and highlights for the ten MB guys that are presently on the workbench, added the canteens and a few entrenching tools, and got the second bandolier onto another of the figures -- although it was still to be painted when I took this photo. PS. Contrary to what I initially thought, it turns out that the troopers leather gaiters ought to be painted a mid-brown after all and not the khaki colour I had assumed. I wanted their boots to contrast slightly with the gaiters though, so they were painted to resemble the oxblood-coloured Doc Martens I had when I was around 17. This guy got a suitable aftermarket resin head I found in my spares box. He's toting a Thompson SG and I added a different left arm from the kit item, which was adapted to cradle his steel helmet -- his boots were done after this snap was taken and the green patch on his left knee was tidied up. Now I realized the Asuka Models Firefly was exhibiting a distinct lack of stowage, especially compared to the 2nd Sherman I want to use in the Part 2 diorama.... ....so the spares box was raided again and the Firefly now looks a bit less bare. The two resin tankers in the Firefly turret were finally fixed in place and having decided I wasn't crazy about the direction the Para I'd just finished was looking -- his head came back off and got re-attached at what I reckon is a better angle. I'm now beginning to see how Part 2 might work out, but really need the new figure kit orders to be delivered before making final decisions on the layout, groundwork, extra foliage and any additional vehicles. Next job will be attaching all the arms and weapons to these MB figures. I'll make a start on them tomorrow ... prob'ly ... πŸ˜€ Cheers
  6. For Part 2 of this project I already have six Easy Company figures done and as mentioned I've made a start on the ten additional MB figures I have available. I've already added the various ammo pouches supplied with the kit plus a few musette bags from my spares box and I have enough spare canteens available that can be used for each figure, and some will get an entrenching tool as well. One of the new figures now sports a bandolier and I've enough spare ammo pouches to make a second bandolier for another character to hump around. I ought to get all these MB troopers done by the time my order for additional resin figures gets delivered. That order also includes replacement heads for all the MB figures as well. Once Part 2 is finished, the intention is to then move on to a 101st Part 3 diorama, set in the Ardennes this time, so that I end up with three separate scenes depicting Easy Company in the three ETO regions they saw major action -- 1) Normandy, 2) Holland and 3) Belgium. Mind you, I still need to build two AFV's from my stash for the Ardennes dio. Cheers
  7. Yeah, I do tend to beat myself up over 1/35 scale figures ... πŸ˜΅β€πŸ’« I can do reasonably nice work on most 1/24 (75mm) figures I tackle, and even the occasional 1/32 (54mm), but openly admit that I struggle at times with the smaller scales. Of course it's a couple of years since since I last did a 75mm figure and the eyesight isn't getting any better these days, even with the aid of an opto-visor, so sometimes the frustration gets the better of me ... πŸ₯΄ However, shall attempt to tame my typing finger a bit more though and stop coming across as being so grumpy. As an example of how age creeps up on us all; in my response to Homer I mentioned that I've made a start on the additional box I bought of MB's tank riding 101st and to my intense surprise -- I found three partially assembled MB Para's from the same set in my spares box ... ????? Thinking about it, I do seem to have some vague recollection of buying that set several years back and building a small vignette for one of the Wife's extended family. So I guess these three extras I found were never used and have been completely forgotten about -- until now. It's all to the good though cos I can certainly use them in Part 2 of this wee project. (That would actually make it three times I've bought that particular set. You'd think I could make a real good job of them by now ... LOL). I agree with your comment re finding good figures. I do like Alpine Miniatures WW2 Allied releases -- the poses can be a bit stiff looking, but that kind of suits the type of scenes that I enjoy churning out. The "Stalingrad" range available on-line, which includes some Allied figures, is also pretty good, as are several of the resin figures that Historex Agents have in their catalogue. Lucky Models in Hong Kong stock a good range of resin figures as well, although there are times when calling them that it helps if you can speak Cantonese -- which I can't -- and evidently my Mandarin isn't good enough for them to understand what I'm trying to say ... 😳 ... guess I must be speaking Mandarin in a broad Scottish accent ... πŸ˜„ Cheers
  8. This is an extremely interesting thread. The scratch-building of various elements to be included in the diorama is absolutely incredible. Cheers
  9. Thanks mate. I'm always outrageously optimistic in my timescale estimates, but at the moment I'd say Part 2 will be ready for posting in around 6 to 8 weeks from now. Have made a start on assembling my 2nd set of MB tank riders though. Cheers
  10. With a due nod to both Don Mclean and Vincent, the "Starry Starry Night" backdrop to my original batch of photos was an experiment in trying to depict a night scene. I think it worked okay but just for shucks here's a few shots with a late evening backdrop. To be perfectly honest I've been studying the diorama this afternoon and picking it apart as it could, (and ought to have been), much better. Among the foul-up's are; a) helmets fixed too high on certain of the figure heads -- doh b) gaiters painted exactly the same as the boots -- laziness c) lack of slings on weapons -- laziness d) poor highlights and shadows on the uniforms -- need to increase the contrasts next time e) using those pretty awful Italeri figures to fill out the ranks -- a dumb mistake f) over enthusiastic use of coal-black face cammo paint -- another dumb mistake, should've used a dark grey instead and smudged the paint before it dried g) the Masterbox figures are acceptable enough straight OOTB -- but can be substantially improved by adding equipment and using replacement heads There's more, but these are the issues that tend to immediately leap out at me. Happily, they're all fixable and shall be addressed in Part 2. At the end of the day it's been good experience and has helped my learning curve with 1/35 scale figures, although I suspect SWMBO will have something to say when the bills come in for the additional figure orders I've already placed and those still to be entered. Okay, being realistic she'll have plenty to say ... πŸ€” ... but that's okay -- I can live on dry toast, or even cook my own rice and noodles, for a while ... πŸ˜‰ ... πŸ™„ Cheers
  11. Thanks guys, I appreciate the positive comments. I'm sure it must be obvious that I prefer to vary the colours of uniforms the troops in my scenes are wearing -- and those of WW2 US Paras seem to be every hue from a light grey-ish olive green through to light brown-ish olive drab. Not forgetting the effects of the weather and stains from mud & vegetation as well. So within sensible limits, it seems that almost anything goes between the range of colours I used. Much the same goes for their webbing, it also appears to vary in colour from a very light khaki to dark green. Watching "Band of Brothers" again and paying particular attention to what the actors are wearing and the equipment they're using, all the pistol holsters appear to be a brown leather -- I painted them khaki. Sure, you normally wouldn't base painting decisions on a TV show, but I believe Hanks and Spielberg, plus Dale Dye, went to great lengths to ensure accuracy in uniforms and equipment for BoB. Which is just as well, because I'm really limited for references and usually have to depend on the internet for info, which brings its own issues. The other thing that strikes me from viewing the show is how much the troopers were festooned with additional ammo bandoliers, musette bags, and so on. All of which I'll bear in mind for Part 2. Cheers
  12. Here's Part 1 of my 101st Airborne project. Hope the diorama section devotee's enjoy these snaps. Part 2 will be coming up in a few weeks time. Cheers
  13. Well, that's Part 1 of my 101st Airborne project just about finished. I usually include a few converted figures in my dios, but there's only one featured here -- the guy carrying the bazooka is adapted from the trooper in the Masterbox set who's handing out a box of K-rations to the shorn-haired dame with the (presumably) half-German baby. And the finished base fits nicely into the empty alcove of the display unit that's in my home office/man-cave, I'll be posting up the photos of this completed Part 1 effort in the diorama RFI section in due course once I get them uploaded to my Postimages account. PS. I've been successful in hunting down the resin figures that I want to include in Part 2. Found them in a Hong Kong hobby shop website. The catch is; because the order is coming from Hong Kong, then it'll be treated as an import by the jocular local Customs guys'n'gals who don't ever scowl at me at all ... 🀨 So how long it'll sit in their leaky tin-roof holding shed while they decide how much they reckon they'll get away with ripping me off for an entirely voluntary contribution to their pension fund remains to be seen, err, while they decide how much import duty to charge me. Going by past experience it'll likely be around three - four weeks before I get my hot sticky paws on that order ... 😳 Meanwhile, I can get on with assembling & painting the 2nd set of Masterbox tank riders that I now have available in my stash. Cheers
  14. Thanks for that David. I guess I was just feeling a bit frustrated at how long it's taken me to wrap this one up as I've been finding out that 1/35 scale WW2 US Paras are not quite as easy to do as previous figures I've done in this scale and they're well out of my comfort zone -- which is 1/24 scale (75mm size). Be that as it may, I'm glad to hear you've found this rambling thread somewhat helpful, especially because as I've previously mentioned -- none of my diorama/vignette builds are ever planned. I just try this and that, then see how various ideas work out. Cheers
  15. Well, that's the 101st Airborne Part 1 diorama almost finished after a spot of miniature gardening and blacking up most of the faces. I copped out on adding any more weapon slings cos I don't need the aggravation ... πŸ™ƒ Going to leave things alone overnight, correct the remaining foul-ups, well -- the ones I can spot that is, and then try to get a few reasonable photos to post in the RFI section -- hope I get good light to play with out in our conservatory tomorrow morning. Part 2 is going to take a while as I have a new order for additional Masterbox tank riders being delivered in a couple of days time, plus I need to hunt on-line for the resin Alpine Miniatures that I'd like to include with Part 2 ... then see if I can get my hands on them -- a quest that'll be fraught with the usual importation issues, (no doubt). As always, there's lessons to be learned ... πŸ€” The main one from this effort is; ensure all the figures to be used are assembled and painted before opening a Diorama WIP thread ... πŸ₯΄ ... 😳 Cheers
  16. On reflection, I wish I had finished assembling and painting all the figures before starting this thread -- cos it's taking ages to get them finished to a reasonable standard. Oh well, my bad, but it's something I'll bear in mind for the future. Anyhoo, I've now decided to split this project into two separate vignettes. Part 1 is going to utilize this 250mm diameter x 40mm thick wooden base -- mainly cos it'll fit nicely into one of the alcoves in the unit that's on one side of my home office ... aka "Man Cave", as will Part 2 once I finally move onto building it. First job was adding some felt protectors to the bottom surface. Then followed by a thin layer of celluclay to form the basic groundwork, (around 5mm thick, tapering off toward the edges). Not too concerned about getting celluclay on the circumference of the base at this stage, as it'll get cleaned off later. The Jeep was used to form the tracks of the wheels. When the celluclay was dry enough it was painted with a mix of cheap tube acrylic paint and a 50/50 diluted mix of pva glue and water, resulting in the base now looking like a chocolate cake ... 😁 Once the paint/pva glue was tacky, the static grass was added resulting in a pleasing 1st layer of groundwork detail. The base was then taken outside to remove any loose static grass -- and thus forestall any grumping from SWMBO concerning the stuff ending up everywhere throughout the house. Time now to begin adding details to the groundwork. The figures were temporarily tacked in place to see how the basic scenario would work -- seems okay, so far. The figures will be coming back off so I can add the final touches to them -- which will entail adding slings to (at least some of) their personal weapons; a fiddly task that I dislike intensely due to the inevitability of introducing my fingers to superglue. Surprisingly, there's no water bottles or entrenching tools supplied by Masterbox for the tank riders so they'll be added from my spares box, plus I need to begin assembling a few more MB tank riders for Part 2 of this relatively simple wee project -- and perhaps adding a couple of additional US Paras from Alpine Miniatures, if I can get my hands on those I'd like to include. And that's where I've left things for now, although there's plenty more small details to be added to the groundwork. Cheers
  17. Looks really good. I think the figures will add the finishing touch to a very nicely built project. Cheers
  18. Umm, we don't actually have a letter-box and as far as I know, neither does anyone else in our housing complex. I was speaking metaphorically. Anytime something arrives at our local post office, as seems to be standard practice over here they call us up and Wifey fetches any packages personally. Can't do that at the moment however as she'll still need to use her zimmer frame for another couple of weeks until she's fully recovered from her recent hospital visit, but all is not lost as the "hired help" has been collecting any packages/mail for us this past while. Looks like I ordered the wrong board on-line though -- after double checking, it turns out it's not going to be much larger than the original one in the photos ... doh ... πŸ™„ No problem cos we need a new kitchen chopping board anyway. I'm also beginning to swing more and more toward doing a separate vignette featuring the Para officers gathered around the map that's spread out on their Jeep bonnet, so a larger base might not be absolutely necessary. All this fiddling around is fairly typical of how I approach diorama builds. Nothing is ever planned and the layouts get chopped and changed umpteen times before I come up with something that looks good to me. Usually works out okay though. Did a bit more work on the figures today; nothing major, just giving some of them an "olive green-ish" wash, doing some highlights in light grey and generally refining the paintjobs on the rest of them. Thing is, they're an essential feature of this particular project, which along with being a bit reluctant to be jumping around different sections of the forum, is why I didn't post the photos up in the Figure WIP section. Cheers
  19. With perhaps one more figure to be added, here's all the items to be included in this diorama. Obviously I'm still working on several 101st characters and the vehicles still need a bit of work, especially the Italeri "Commando Jeep" that I began building a couple of days ago. Just as I suspected, the original wooden base is too small and I ended up ordering a larger one on-line ... it ought to be popping through our letterbox any day now. Barring any more unforeseen crisis, I reckon finishing this one will take another two weeks or so. Cheers
  20. That was my initial idea as well, but it's undergone so much damage, including several missing parts, that it's rendered useless; even as a destroyed scale model. On due reflection, I reckon the present 350 x 250mm base is really just a tad too small to include all the items that I want to use in this diorama and I've no other bases available right now. Unfortunately a physical injury prevents me from going out to buy a few more -- and the Wife is still recovering from a recent operation, so she can't go out the house either. However, I've reverted to requesting the hired help (Step-Daughter) to go get me a 500 x 350mm wooden chopping board from the nearest Walmart, which ought to work nicely and still fit into one of the display cabinets in my hobby room. Of course, the language barrier makes these kind of requests somewhat challenging so it'll be interesting to see what she turns up with. The sweepstake odds are 6-4 on a Pizzahut creation, with a bag of Dorito's or a pair of socks coming in as close 2nd joint favourites at 3-1. A suitable wooden board is quoted by the local bookie as a far outsider at 20-1 ... 🀨 Anyhoo, I'll get back to this dio tomorrow. There's a ton of work still to be done while I wait for that (hopefully) larger base to appear over the next couple of days. Cheers
  21. Well, this one's turning into a bit of a marathon. It had been my intention to include a captured Schimmwagon for the Scots officers to tool around in. Unfortunately, the Wife's grand-daughter got her hands on it on Wednesday resulting in; 1) a destroyed-beyond-repair captured German vehicle; 2) me giving up on doing the diorama base groundwork for the time being; 3) a couple of days taken off to get over my latest latest "Dance of Death" performance around the living room. Oh well, she's only four years old and you'd think I ought to know better by now. I guess it was just my own fault for carelessly leaving stuff lying around on the workbench. Happily, during the short couple of days break I happened to watch David Lean's "Ryan's Daughter" for the first time ever. On the face of it, I always thought this was a bit of a girly film about some spoilt brat getting her just desserts, which is probably why I've never bothered with it before. How wrong I was..!! It's an excellent movie IMHO, with a completely unrecognizable John Mills chewing the scenery, plus Robert Mitchum and Trevor Howard turning in splendid acting chops, not to mention (a pre-Rumpole) Leo McKern as the slippery publican, Thomas Ryan, and the always watchable Sarah Miles as his afore-mentioned offspring. Oh, and the cinematography of the West-Coast of Ireland is simply breath-taking. Anyway, I digress. After a few more movies and a de-stress session listening to a couple of my favourite female songstresses, (EmmyLou and Mrs McGraw), got back to working on elements destined for this small diorama yesterday and finished off the two figures in one of the Jeeps this morning. (Not quite true, as there's a few over/under-paints still to be fixed and the faces on all the 30-ish figures I'm using do need a bit more work done). The roadside cross is finished now and is ready to be included in the scene I have in mind. While taking these next shots, it crossed my mind that this grouping would make for a nice stand-alone vignette. It's an option I'm going to leave open for now until I get all the elements located on the diorama base I'm using. Bearing in mind that I have wondered if the scene might end up being just too "crowded". Dunno, we-shall-see. Anyhoo, the plan now is to carry on refining all the figures, locate all the Tank Riders on the Sherman Firefly, build a second Jeep as a replacement for the now wrecked Schimmwagon -- and take things from there, while ensuring my stuff is kept safely out of reach of four-year-old vandals ... πŸ™ƒ ... πŸ₯΄ Cheers
  22. Absolutely. The paintjob looks great. There's some really terrific examples of scratch building throughout this thread as well. πŸ‘
  23. It's a depiction of Marshal Michel Ney leading the French Cavalry charge to re-capture the Bagration flèches during the Battle of Borodino 1812. But would probably work equally well for Waterloo if those Dutch Red Lancers were to be repainted as Polish Lancers. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Battle_of_Borodino#Bagration.27s_fleches Cheers
  24. The majority of my scale model scenes use various sizes of wooden kitchen chopping boards as a diorama base. They're cheap and cheerful at about Β£4 to Β£8 a pop (local price) depending on size, and come fitted with a handle -- which is handy when working on the bases, or moving them around. The "handy handling handle" is easily removed once the diorama is completed. The screw-holes can then be filled and the edges of the board painted to finish things off. Wooden kitchen platters make for good bases as well. That's what I used for this one. A visit to IKEA can turn up some good options. This one uses a wooden "Lazy Susan" as its base, although our local IKEA doesn't stock them anymore, which is a bit of a drag. Resin aquarium accessories can be used for bases, as in this example. I also use miniature wooden display tables for the more "fancy" stuff, but they're a sight more expensive -- and don't feature a handle ... πŸ˜† Some examples shown below. I've heard that some guys use foam packaging for white goods as diorama bases and this might well work for plastic scale models, but as most of my stuff features 54mm and 75mm white metal figure kits, then I prefer to use bases that are more substantial. There are 40-odd 54mm mounted figures in this next example and it weighs around 15Kg. As you will appreciate, this kind of thing needs a good solid wooden base to support that amount of "heavy metal" -- and I risk giving myself a hernia any time I'm stupid enough to try and move it around ... 🀨 Just a few ideas that other diorama modelers might find useful. Cheers
×
×
  • Create New...