US Army in Iraq diorama: Improved photos!

   I'm no expert but I think it looks awesome!  The only thing I really noticed was the guy with the radio on his back and the guy to his left seem to have older versions of the M-16, not sure those are used in Iraq, but I could be wrong.  Other than that I think it looks great!  The shoes at the door of the mosque are a touch I wouldn't have thought of!

   Chris

Overall, a well laid out and thought out scene. The figures you used really don't have current uniforms, gear or weapons. They would be more accurate for late Desert Storm. I gusee this could be a very early operation, especially since the Humvee hasn't been up armored. You did a nice job in the camo pattern with good base and squiggle colors. Where you have a light brown, however, should be very pale sage green.  Everything could use a bit more shading and highlight to give more depth.

Hey thanks for the tips guys! Very detailed analysis. Yup I kinda missed alot of parts in the detailing especially in the equipment and uniform. There a couple of different uniforms the US units are using when I search on the net. Just need to nail on the exact ones I guess.

At least now I know how many steps forward and back  I need to take to improve. Keep the crit coming guys.

I can't see the pics (damn firewall at work), but based on the figure sets you listed, they are all ODS ('90-'91) era figures.  They are wearing ALICE suspenders and gear and have M16A1/A2 rifles and M60MGs.  They also have older PAGST body armor. 

All the above items were used by a very few units (mostly Nat. Guard) during the initial invasion.  Most (90%+) wore Interceptor Body Armor (IBA) with MOLLE pouches attached directly to it, and used M16A2s or M4s and M249 SAW or M240B MGs. 

If you get the Dragon Modern Marines set, you can use their IBA-clad torsos and swap them out with any of Dragon's other US sets to get current OIF figures.

The DCU uniform is made up of three color; sand, khaki green, and brown.  It looks like this:

During the initial invasion, all soldiers wore the JSLIST chemical suit.  It comes in Woodland camo and DCU pattern desert camo.  Most had the woodland though, as there was a backlog on getting the desert ones.  Most IBA vests were also woodland initially.  DCU IBAs started being seen in early '04.

USMC uniforms are a whole other story.  Some wore DCUs, some the new MARPAT DigiCamo.  They also had IBA vests in a dark tan color called Coyote Brown.  They also wore JSLIST initially as well.

I'll post more when I can see the pics, but I' sure these guys have covered it all.

Right, I mistook the khaki green or sage green colour for Iraqi sand colour(Vallejo acrylics.)

Only four out of the nine soldiers are wearing the OIF body armour since they are from US Marine sets. Thanks for pointing dat out HeavyArty.

You've done a good job with the most important part of a diorama: the composition and story. The story is obvious and you have laid out your parts to support it very well. Almost everyone is looking at the focal point.

One small change you could make that would improve it is to have a trooper manning the .50 cal on top of the Hummer, and have him pointing it at the doorway. It will re-emphasize the point of the dio and eliminate what was, for me, a question mark: why isn't the MG manned?

The shoes are a terrific touch, implying other people who are not modeled. The building looks very good too. Others have commented on the research and painting, but IMO all those are things you can improve with time. The  art of getting the story right is much harder and you nailed it.

Danny Egan

President, AMPS

http://www.amps-armor.org

Just flat out awesome, even daunting a bit.

Considering that lighting for cameras and then posting online "does" I've no comment that has not been made (or that I might make less strongly).

I've been experimenting with the ubiquitous Goggles, Dust, Sun, & Wind Protective, though.  I've kind of settled on using the base color under the lens, and then over-coating that with one of the Tamiya Clears.  The Clear Green with a coat of Clear Smoke over it is good for the green laser-resistant lens; I've not found a good combo for the red lens yet.

CapnMac82 wrote:

I've been experimenting with the ubiquitous Goggles, Dust, Sun, & Wind Protective, though.  I've kind of settled on using the base color under the lens, and then over-coating that with one of the Tamiya Clears.  The Clear Green with a coat of Clear Smoke over it is good for the green laser-resistant lens; I've not found a good combo for the red lens yet.

For the red lenses on goggles and optics, I first paint it black, then overcoat with Testors Stop Light Red clear, lastly, I put a couple coats of clear gloss for some depth.  This gives a good color variety as it changes depending on the angle and the lighting, just like the real thing.

Overall, looks great.  One thing that really stood out is the color of canteen pouches.  Those things look way too green.  Should be more flat olive drabish color.  LBE/ALICE gear were used at smaller scale during the initial stage of the invasion by National guards and other combat support/combat service support units.  In fact, when I was called up from IRR, the unit I was briefly attached to, most troops had mixed match LBV (load bearing vest) to ALICE to MOLLE vest to straight Interceptor body armor.  I didn't have any MOLLE compatible pouches, so I used my ALICE over IBV.  I'm not sure whether there are any manufacturers offering M16A3(flat-top) or M4s in flat top with Aimpoint M2 or Trigicon ACOG sight systems in 1/35 scale, but these optical sights are being used in large scale as well (in place of traditional A2 iron sight system). 

Otherwise, great concept and great work! 

 You've heard from some of the best already,I'm still relatively new.I just wanna add how much your hand painted marking's & especially the shoes at the door all facing the correct direction really showed your creative & small details strengths.I like it all,the 1 glaring thing that jumped out at me was the Glaring new & clean tires.The lack of dust/sand kinda jumps out ! Great start.

                                                                        Thanks for sharing,  rudedog
 

HeavyArty wrote:

For the red lenses on goggles and optics, I first paint it black, then overcoat with Testors Stop Light Red clear, lastly, I put a couple coats of clear gloss for some depth.  This gives a good color variety as it changes depending on the angle and the lighting, just like the real thing.

Cool, that'd really work for woodlands & the "green" marpat.  Been fussign with just heads, to try and get myself back to "fuller speed" (excepting that life and poverty keep interupting <surprise surprise surprise <g>).  So, I've been using the "fritz" by the rest of the "go" gear for an example--and getting that "hint" of the three-color cover to just come through ahs been my goal.  My "closest" was Smoke plus some clear blue--or about your black for base coat.  I've no other LHS than Hobby Lobby, so, on my next trip into awfull houston, I may go find an LHS for StoprLight Red, which ought to be darker than the Clear Red.

That, or I'm melting the busted Lens, Laser Reflective, Dust, Wind, and Sun Goggles I had to replace . . . <g>

Thanks for all the comments guys. I do learn alot from them.

By the way what is that gadget that every US soldier is wearing on the helmet nowadays? GPS?

red1 wrote:

Thanks for all the comments guys. I do learn alot from them. By the way what is that gadget that every US soldier is wearing on the helmet nowadays? GPS?   The black thing on the helmet is a mount for a night vision goggle.

red1 wrote:

By the way what is that gadget that every US soldier is wearing on the helmet nowadays? GPS?

That's a mount for the 3/4th generation NVS (Night Vision System).  There are more mounts than NVS sets, typicaly, too.  If it's a Marine unit, the NVS will be in carrier solidly attached to whom it has been issued (lest it it wander off an find a new home).

The hand-held GPS units are not that much larger than a non-folding nextel phone (a far cry from the old Trimble "compact" units, which were about microwave-sized <sigh>).  The GPS unit would likely be stashed in a pocket, or in the LBE somewhere, the only clue would be a bit of "dummy cord" running to it--probably a bit finer detail than 54mm/1:35 might warrant.

looks like what ever I posted over the weekend didn't go through. Like what CanMac mentioned, it is the mount for the Night Vision goggle.    

m1garand wrote:

DOH!  looks like what ever I posted over the weekend didn't go through. Like what CanMac mentioned, it is the mount for the Night Vision goggle.

I read that and worried I had "stepped on" your post, but instead, I repeated Red1's answer (shoulda looked).

No, I actually did answer it, but it looks like blended in with the background picture.  Answer was posted the bottom of the page, right below the picture. 

hi Red1 nice cat huh?? meow-meow!

your diorama is my favorite subject,the modern one and iraq war...youve done a great job in there and also fed me ideas,its hard to scratchbuild structures in scale..in the story of your dio.the shoes and sandals outside is a nice touch and it tells what they are doing inside.

hope to see more of your works soon!!

Man, that's really beautiful! A real sense of urgency and excitement--you've really "captured the moment"!

Composition is such an important but often overlooked aspect of dioramas; in your dio, I totally "get it"; you nailed the theme really well. 

I'm mostly a WWII nut, so can't comment much on accuracy like these guys can; I do agree you should man the MG on the Hummer. Other than that, its a great portrayal!  

Thanks man,

I'm currently doing some improvements on the diorama actually after getting fantastic input from everyone here. Will be putting up the pics of the modified diorama soon. Some colour changes and re-equipping to be exact.

Yup I'm getting someone to man that .50 cal too!

Hello, new guy here, and far from an expert in modeling but I have been to Iraq twice serving as an infantryman. I was in the initial invasion and have to say that your equipment is very close to the equipment we had the first go round. All rifles we had were M16A2 and M16A4's, most with rail systems but not all. Platoon Sergeants and some Squad Leaders had M4's and most of us had M68 CCO sights. Some ran iron sights tho.

 The first time out almost none vehicles were uparmored so your vehicle is real close to what we had. Most of the HWMVEE's we had tho were soft top, cargo M998's with the doors ripped off but we had some gun trucks like you show here. Only thing is that I never saw one over there with the old style mirror like that on it but it is not impossible I would not think. I do agree you ned a gunner in the truck.

As for the Mosque, it is a very, very rare thing to ever set foot inside one. In two years there I have only been in one and the Commander of the mission was relieved from duty because of it. Not saying it is not possible because we knnow it has happended, but very rare. The building looks real good tho. Just remember most doors in Iraq are just big enough for an average sized soldier with gear on to squeeze into but being a mosque I think it is alright, especially the shoes.

As for any improvemenets, I would add dust. Not so much to the uiforms, but to the vehicle. Most guys had washed their uniforms in kerosine so it keeps the dust off real well. But the vehicles were always filthy. Now I do think your guys look way to glossy but still good. And it would be the propper equipment as stated before. I would however add the NOD's plate, or NVG goggle mount as was pointed out earlier. There are two versions of the NOD's mounts. One for the old helmet and one for the new ACH helmet. The old mount is the same one the Marines use as well. The old one is what you would want. It flares out at the bottom some. I could send you a photo of one if you would like. I still have my complete kit from both deployments.

Good job.

Hi DM1975,

Nothing beats the real thing right. Anyway glad to hear a first hand account from a war veteran from Iraq. Maybe we can get you share some more experience over there. I'm still working on the dio and many thanks for your input.

If you have some pics of the old NVG mounts, I'm more than happy if you can share it .

I really don't have references up close and since I'm working on these right now, that will become very useful for my mods. I'm sure once I have the close up references, the US troops on my dio will have their NVG mounts.

Also I'm scratchbuilding the arms of the guy manning the MG so once I'm done I'll post the pics.

Thanks.

Very nice job.

Just one thing that I've noticed the boots and tyres look some what to "clean" think they need to have a covering of dust and sand IMO

Otherwise a very good dio. 

Hi everyone,

Due to great  input from guys here, I made certain improvements to the diorama I posted last month. I added a soldier to man the .50 caliber  on the Humvee( I'm not sure if the MG can swivel like that but I've got not much choice since I can't reposition my Humvee). Also made some changes the desert camo scheme colour of the overall troops from light brown to light khaki. Also I added a NVG mounts on some of the soldiers to have them have an updated look . The arms of the gunner on the humvee was scratched build from epoxy putty /green stuff.

I did a bit more research and added a little more colour and weathering on the Humvee especially the tyres and boots of the soldiers. I experimented with transparent googles for two of the soldiers using transparent resin for the gunner on Humvee and the African American soldier on the right. Hope to perfect those googles on the next project.  Also I read an article on taking better photos for dioramas, and the sunny outdoors was perfect for my project.

Thanks to the  everyone who gave great input this past month especially on the equipment that US soldiers are currently using and how to further improve my dio. Comments r welcomed my miniature bros in arms. New photos below guys.

 Peace.

Great dio. I love the scratchbuilt arms, really nice work. I agree that the outdoor shots add a lot to the realism. A piece of work to be proud of.

Steve