The run west - again

[barry136]

Seem to have made a right cock up of trying to post this so here I go again....

My first ever attempt at armour, figures and diorama building. Some german brass and their mates have run west to avoid the red army. They have come across a british recon patrol and bren carrier crew. The commanding officer is trying to surrender but the bren carrier commander is not keen.

Sorry for the photo quality, they will improve.

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Thanks for looking.

[Frank.W.]

Hallo,

You are right...the photos are not very good. Take a photo without flash. Choose a background, for example blue paper. In my experience it is better to photograph with a little distance, I'm not a good fotographer, but this is my experience.

The theme is interesting, but the colors are distorted by the flashlight. I would try to take new photos.

The diorama:

For the first figures and armour it's ok.

You've taken accessoires from modell railway. In the scale this is not advisable

For the meadow take sisal, sea foam and other materials....this looks more natural.

Look here (scale 1/16):

The materials (the ground is made from quarry sand mixed with wood glue and water):

The making of:

and the result (after treatment with the airbrush)

Please...please don't be angry.

I want to give you some tipps and I believe, this is the reason of the publishing of your diorama. This should be a motivation, don't let discourage you.

Best regards

Frank

[barry136]

Yes, tips I need. The base was made from a polystyrene board with bubble wrap and masking tape to create the humps and bumps. Sprayed with adhesive and sprinkled with coarse sand. The dead trees are woody fuchsia stems. Yes I did use some rail scenic for foliage and I agree it looks naff. I have a very tight budget and perhaps I am running before learning to walk. Tips and observations are the best thing for me to get this right.

Photos, I will work on those. The camera never lies and I can now see casting seam lines and assorts of defects in the photos. I must learn patience and more attention to detail. This is a long learning curve. Thankfully I can revisit my efforts and improve the finish.

[Frank.W.]

Don't missunderstand me please. I appreciate your efforts and you have certainly given the best. But you're wrong ..... the materials are not so expensive. For the trees I would take roots .... these look much better.

Sisal or hemp is cheaper than rail scenic for foliage.

It is very easy to improve the diorama. You must not start new. Use the existing base as a basic set and put the new meadow onto the old one. Replace the old "trees" with the new ones (roots). The effect of the dio will be much better.

Best regards

Frank

[ernst36]

You appear to have spent a lot of money here. I can see just the figures alone must have cost a few bob. I must agree that you need a few more experiments before posting here.

I would suggest taking the dio apart and starting over. The vehicles have just been washed and the figures have the wrong colours and lack any facial detail.

Look at what others have done and aim for that standard, don’t waste money.

[Frank.W.]

Don't be so strict ... everyone has to start small.

I think it's good that the diorama was presented here.

How can we learn otherwise.

Only by constructive criticism and not by crushing condemnation.

This is my opinion and so we should encourage each beginner.

I also write, although my English is terrible.

Best regards

Frank

[IainA]

ernst36. If you've nothing constructive to say why bother saying anything? Frank has been very constructive, you are just firing from the lip.

Just keep practising Barry, it's not all going to fall into place immediately, ask me how I know!!!

[HOUSTON]

MAGNIFICENT...

[barry136]

Ok yep. I have spent a few bob on kits but model suppliers don’t give discounts for ‘non expert’ builders. I did research the dio and have to disagree about uniform colours. The German officers are in standard Wehrmacht grey, Heeresgruppe D . The British uniforms are also correct. The point is that the Bren crew and the patrol are different units. Most WW2 battle dress differed slightly in shade depending on time of manufacture. Not all British army uniforms were the same. There was the pattern 37 dress and the pattern 41 uniform, both slightly different. Many were treated with an anti gas chemical and some were hurriedly made from inferior materials. Webbing could often be very light in colour, almost tan coloured. It very much depended on the age of the equipment and the mood of the Quartermaster as to whether you were issued decent gear or not. The use of Blanco also had an effect on the colour of webbing. I have this information on authority, that is from people who were there.

I have seen many dioramas posted on here and I would presume that many scenarios lead to the snapshot in time that is the dio itself. Yes there were standards of camouflage design but also a tank crew could and often were given a bucket of paint and a mop, yes mop and told to camo their ride. As the season changed along with the terrain entire armoured divisions would sometimes have to change camo colours quickly. There were no hard and fast rules in theatre. In my Dio the Bren carrier had been washed that morning then thrashed along dusty dirt roads for a few hours, hence the dusty wash.

Facial detail. I am not good at facial detail but I put it to you, how close do you have to be to somebody to see the whites of their eyes? Try it. I have seen 1/35 figures posted on here and the face detail can only be described as looking like someone who has taken too much speed.

I don’t feel that I waste money. I enjoy what I do. Every kit I do I improve, at least I think so.

[ernst36]

Being accurate is the key. Any child can build a kit and paint it, getting it right, that’s a different game. Yes many things can contribute to a dio, how about UFO landing on the battlefield. I would suggest you further research colours, Tamiya German Grey is not for everything.

I see from your posts that you are not an armour model maker. Armour is a totally different ball game from the tedious Routemaster kit.

Refinement is the lesson.

I am harsh but to the point. You will get there.

[Murdo]

I think it looks good for a first attempt.

It has a story which fairly short and simple and can be understood immediately.

For video hints in painting figures and vehicles then google "Youtube Painting Warhammer". The colours might be different but the principles are very much the same and you can get some excellent tips and hints there and see how others paint things.

Warhammer and Citadel make excellent paints and washes for figures as do Vallejo. Painting the face in flesh colour then simply adding a thin wash and drybrushing a lighter flesh colour will immediately make the features stand out a bit more.

After that you can experiment with eyes etc.

By all means post your latest attempt, there are plenty here that will be willing to help you.

Above all enjoy it.

[pte1643]

Barry.

I think you've done OK for a first go... Yes, there are some little mistakes, but as you say you are looking for help and guidance to improve.

You could do A LOT worse than listen to Frank, he's got huge talent in this area.

You may have already seen it, but if not I suggest taking a look at his build report thread Here...

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=234923710&st=0

As Murdo said, there's always someone willing to help, just ask.

[rmcclure]

I must agree that you need a few more experiments before posting here.

One of the things that drew me to this forum was the friendly nature of chat and critique. I'm not sure the sort of sentiment you express there really counts as either.

Barry - cracking work and you're completely right. Once uniforms have been in the field for a while all the inconsistencies of manufacture. storage, wear&tear, etc. creep in and it all starts looking anything but...uniform! Dio building isn't something I do myself but I must say that looking at other peoples' efforts always makes me wonder if I shouldn't give it a go. Thanks for sharing.

Roger

[Frank.W.]

Thank you for the great honor to call my work as an example.

Certainly my diorama is improving. Quite a lot I would do differently.

Diorama building is a constant learning process ... so let yourself be discouraged and continue to post.

I look forward to your next work.

Greetings

Frank

[colin]

Well Barry I can see some very fine figuire painting there and you have set the pose very natural to my eye. The more we do the more we learn, helped on by the encouragement of others on Britmodeller who have more experiance than a lot of us.

I'm sure you'll go back and have another go at the base and it will be a stunner

[Okdoky]

Hey Barry

Keep plugging on and ignore stupid comments from folks that have no posts of their own on the forum !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I, for one, enjoyed your dio and hope that you keep posting. Even though I build vehicles and the occasional dio, I seem to have bother getting figure building and painting to the standards some guys on here crack out on a day to day basis !!!!!!!!!!!!! That would never stop me from posting on this and all the other forums I am on !!!!!!!!! As folks have already said ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, there are loads of other committed and friendly modelers here that appreciate peoples varied experience and capabilities !!!!!!!!!!

The day I stop asking advise on the forums will be the day I give up modelling !!!!!!!!!!! Always something new to learn in this hobby !!!!!!!!!!! Keep learning and keep posting your models ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, but most of all enjoy the models you do build !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nige

[Anthony Kesterton]

I agree with Nige - keep building and posting Barry. I like the weathering on the second pic with the Bren Carrier. Photos (esp a direct flash) always seem to pick up things like seams and wash out the colours. I think taking photos with natural light really helps, if you can match the real weather to your idea of what the weather is like in the diorama, it also helps.

Thanks for posting

anthony

[Wayne]

I must agree that you need a few more experiments before posting here.

I would suggest taking the dio apart and starting over. The vehicles have just been washed and the figures have the wrong colours and lack any facial detail.

Look at what others have done and aim for that standard, don’t waste money.

Good grief! Is this supposed to be positive criticism!?! I think that the work he has done so far is a great start into the world of building dioramas, and he should be praised for his efforts not pulled apart at the seams for it. Sure there are things that he could improve, exactly as is the case with all modellers no matter how good they may be. This is really not the sort of negative criticism that modellers are looking for on this forum IMHO.

Wayne

[Hamden]

Diorama building is as said a great learning curve and each new attempt will bring differant problems, I think you have made a fantastic first attempt and I am looking forward to seeing more of your work in the future. The pictures would have been better if flash had not been used but that is all part of the learning curve. By the way what scale are you working in?

Roger

[barry136]

A very big thanks to all that comment and give advice on this dio. I did think never to attempt another dio, so I have started my next one. Using figures and vehicles from this one, plus a few other bits. I do like to fully research what I willl be doing and try to work from actual photographs. This next time I will go through the process in more depth using the 'in progress' forum and hopefully get pointers and ideas from others. Again it will be a 1/35. Tomorrow I will post the photos and begin.

[Kallisti]

Frank's tips about using sisal sting and roots is a great one. I use railway modelling materials in my dioramas but also lots of found materials from my garden or in the street, twigs, moss, pebbles and grasses. Also hairs from an old paintbrush, twigs from an old scrubbing brush, mixed herbs from the kitchen for leaf litter - or collect some old leaves in the autumn, dry them and crush them up. I have some silver birch trees in my garden and their seeds look like miniature oak leaves!

The main bought materials I use are static grass, plaster of paris and "claycrete" which is just a pre-mashed papier-mache but does naturally form realistic ground as it dries all bobbly. For diorama colours I use artists acrylics rather than my usual Tamiya as you can get a larger tube which lasts longer, its water soluble and has greater coverage for large areas.

For bases I look at the local Oxfam charity shops for old picture frames - you can get nice ones from 49p up to about £1.99 which give you a great start for your base. Here is an example

The ground here is claycrete with a very thin scraping of plaster of paris over the middle area when the Mustang sits. this was then dusted with crushed pastel chalks (much cheaper than Pigments!) Add a couple of twigs and stones, plus some very light static grass. I did use some grass tufts in this diorama as its supposed to be in arid Italy. The tarp is tissue paper doped with dilute PVA and painted grey/brown and a couple of oil drums from the Tamiya set, one of which was distorted over a candle and "rusted" before embedding it in the damn claycrete.

Flash photography can be very harsh - especially close up. If you can take the photos outside then you'll get a much better light source. What camera are you using? does it have a macro option to allow you to take photos close up?