Large Update- 10/3 WIP- PG-117 Soviet Dock Diorama

I like it... It's not something you see every day... Dunno much (nothing, actually) about Russian boats so, well done...  Landscaping is nicely done, although the "water" seems a bit too clear and smooth...  Overall though, it's pretty good..

Ditto for the landscaping, it is well composed. I definitely would have tinted that resin though. Far too clear.

Thanks to both of you.  To the comment of the resin being to flat, I was attempting to portray a sheltered marshy cove sort of thing, which often are as still as glass in my experiences, especially at dusk and dawn.

On the comment of too clear, that you are correct on.  I tinted the very bottom few layers too much, you can't really even see the bottom in places (Mostly under the boat) so I poured the rest of the layers more clearly, a bit too clear I guess.  I'm going to order some of those dead leaves from militaryminiatureswarehouse, wish I'd thought of that before since they would have looked great sopping wet with resin, covering the ground underwater.  I can still scatter them on and in the boat, maybe even pour a tiny bit of resin in the boat with a guy bailing water, as if there was a a storm the night before and they took on "water", which would also explain why the boat is nearly beached.

Looks good and thats a good idea

maybe even pour a tiny bit of resin in the boat with a guy bailing water, as if there was a a storm the night before and they took on "water", which would also explain why the boat is nearly beached.

Yupper...Modeler's version of  "Improvise, adapt, overcome"...

What are you using to make  your water?  I like that.

Ahh- juggling job and modeling... welcome to my world

Real nice dock, and the groundwork looks awesome! Maybe one more highlight to bring out the details of the grass and shrubs? Maybe wash that oil drum some more. Some smudges, too?

I love your dead trees, very convincing.

I agree about the overall flatness of the water surface. I do know what you mean by smooth-as-glass, and I've seen (and been awe-struck) by water like that. However, I believe that some texture would go a very long way in tricking the eye. Our brains know we're looking at resin, so to mislead with slight texture would be a good thing. Might help hide that meniscus, too. I dunno, I haven't had much luck making convincing water, so I don't know what to suggest. Maybe some artist's acrylic gloss gel medium, or some clear-drying glue.

I might also redo the groundwork around the edge of the water, speaking of meniscus. Evil meniscus! It would probably only take a few minutes to lay down some more celluclay (or whatever you used). Just a suggestion. IMHO. . et al the disclaimers.

Overall- outstanding work.

Steve

 

 

All great suggestions, thanks Steve. 

I'll try another highlight, and more washes.  I'm thinking about varying the texture a bit, but I think it may be too late.  I can't pour another layer because the dock is already almost underwater, and I've already placed "Lilly pads" on what I was planning on being the top layer of resin.  I was going to experiment with thick gloss coats to help hide the meniscus, since I only need to build up a tiny fraction of an inch, and yeah, I still have to redo the water's edge on the sand.  I'm going to have two scared geese from Doug's Originals taking off of the water, which will give me an excuse to put some rough water affects in with 5 minute Epoxy and clear-caulking.  With water that calm, a little disturbance like a bird taking off would send ripples through the whole area, so I might be able to make it a bit more visually appearing and less flat.

Last, to Dirkpitt, I used 2 part Envirotex Resin, which was recommended to me at the hardware store since it's almost perfectly clear before you tint it (Which turned out not to be among my best ideas). 

I think the water looks perfectly fine.  I have boated on a few lakes and even with my kayak on the water its still really still and as long as there isnt a lilypad in the way you can see right to the bottom.  I think its really true to life, with the exception of some water growth

Hi Ian remember me?, just got back online & looked you up.  Sheesh you sure like challenging dio's. Looks pretty good to me. Did you ever post pics of "Phobos & diemos"?.

Thanks Snake.  I never did finish "Pathos & Deimos"  The piles of unpainted figures sit on my bench as a reminder of my earlier, more ambitious, days of modelling.  I still have plans to eventually take another swing at it, but probably with far less figures, and a smaller LCVP instead of an LCM.  After seeing how much Envirotex resin this tiny PG-117 took, I can't even imagine how much I would go through submerging a 50 foot LCM!

IanIsBored2000 wrote:

Thanks Snake.  I never did finish "Pathos & Deimos"  The piles of unpainted figures sit on my bench as a reminder of my earlier, more ambitious, days of modelling.  I still have plans to eventually take another swing at it, but probably with far less figures, and a smaller LCVP instead of an LCM.  After seeing how much Envirotex resin this tiny PG-117 took, I can't even imagine how much I would go through submerging a 50 foot LCM!

This cracks me up; not laughing at you by any means, but it was a large pile of GIs and a couple of landing craft that I handed off to you, due to the very same situation. My first dio idea was also Omaha, and I bit off way more than I could chew.

I think you should pass your stuff off to the next dude who wants to enter the world of dio-building, making a beach landing his starting point. And so on, and so on... in five years or so, somebody will end up with some completely finished figures and LCVPs. All they will have to do is pour the resin. Maybe in 8 - 10 years, this Omaha Beach dio will actually get finished

Again, not laughing at you.

Steve

 

Good gracious, Ian, how did I pass up this lovely dio....fantastic work you have done so far...

Regards, Dan

ian,i think your name is a little mis-leading .you are not bored.this looks great.the water clarity is not an issue in my opinion as the boat would certainly seek safe refuge,say a backwater or smalllagoon what have you.and the clarity can actually be quite good in these calm water hide-outs.and the rest of your work is very good also.

Thanks to all, and Steve I see the humor in it as well.  It would be interesting to see the cumulative touches that each of us add to the Omaha "stuff" as it inevitably continues down the line to the next ambitious modeller.  Placed an order at MilitaryMiniaturesWarehouse for some Joefix Shrubs (The leaves just look so REAL!) some dead leaf type things, since I think the scene, especially the inside of the boat and the surface of the water are just screaming for some of those (Still beating myself up for not covering the lakebed with them pre-resin) and some geese taking off to give the scene and water some action, but they were out of stock, so I'll have to look elsewhere.

I got some Joefix shrubbery, and the Doug's scared geese. No plans any time soon. I could send you some shrub and the geese, and you can pay em back later, when MMW restocks. PM me if'n you wanna.

If you don't feel like doing that, try Colorado Miniatures for the geese, and look around eBay for the Joefix stuff, in sellers' stores. I can think a few that offer it.

Steve

 

Incoming PM, Steve.  Thanks.

IanIsBored2000 wrote:

Thanks Snake.  I never did finish "Pathos & Deimos"  The piles of unpainted figures sit on my bench as a reminder of my earlier, more ambitious, days of modelling.  I still have plans to eventually take another swing at it, but probably with far less figures, and a smaller LCVP instead of an LCM.  After seeing how much Envirotex resin this tiny PG-117 took, I can't even imagine how much I would go through submerging a 50 foot LCM!

Well if it makes you feel any better, I'm a couple of years into planning & consolidating a dio based on a painting by Jim Dietz "the battle for Moskow.". Which features about 17 living germans, some 10 desciesed, a bakers dozen red Inf & mounted Cossack, 2 T34's, 2 75mm AT guns, 1 75mm howitzer and a chopped up winter trench scene. When complete it will sprawl over 8sq feet, this assumes it reaches completion, I have my doubts.    On the subject of water scenes, a good art supply store should be able to direct to some clear casting resin (polyesther type) that cures up water clear, & costs a fraction of epoxy types.  Just be careful not to overdo it when you add catilyst as cracking or even fire can result. Some transparent resin tints, green & a skoash of red to warm up the green should give a scale effect.  So hope that helps, abiets a little late for your PG-117. Another caution polyesther attacks styrene, alum foil, saran wrap will protect lg pieces, a coat of white glue for smaller things. Alum will further need wax or a shot of PAM to free from the res, saran will not stick.  Keep up the good work.

Thanks Rabit, I've got plenty of ideas left for water dios and I'm sure your tips will come in handy.

Beautiful work, Ian!

I realy love the whole presentation!

The water could be a little more "lively" but it looks fine as is, if you don't feel like messing with it. And in water that close to shore, I have to believe that the boat would be almost "sitting on the bottom.

Nice work--you continue to tackle challenges, expand your horizons; I like that!

Thanks Doog! I've added some action to the water, and it isn't perfect, but it looks a lot better than the flat surface before.  I used cleark caulking to give subtle ripply lines of waves rolling towards the shore, and started working on the areas where the geese will be taking off from, leaving churned up water and "strands" of water hanging from their feet.  If I can get the 5 minute epoxy and oher materials to behave, I think it would look cool to have one or both birds fully off the resin water surface, suspended via a foot attached to a string of epoxy. 

Well, thanks to some help from SteveM, I've got some more work done on this one.  The plexi-sides conveniently popped off, but I have yet to spackle and paint the edges to make them look nicer.  I've added the first figure, although he isn't finished, mainly needing more equipment.  I also added one of the two geese (also not fully painted) and played with a lot of water effects to make it look as though the soldier is scaring him away with an oar (some bird poo will be added to the boat and dock later providing a reason for the soldiers hostility towards his avian friend.)  I haven't decided yet if there will be a second goose in the scene.  2-3 figures remain, and lots of details.  Finally, I added a lot of Joefix Shrubbery material, which I think looks fantastic compared to the Woodland Scenics foam I originally had.  I roughed up the water a bit too and made light ripples to break up the boring surface some of you pointed out.  Here it is so far:

As always, nothing is final, and comments, questions and criticism are welcome.  Thanks for looking, Ian

 

 

HOLY #^$%! Ian!

WOW! That's looking terrific! YOur water effect on the goose is superb!

Joefix stuff is awesome too, isn't it? I used Joefix leaves in the "Lair of the Rust Bunnies" dio. They have some AWESOME groundwork materials!

This is really a beautiful looking dio! Can't wait to see it finished!

The only criticism I have is that I strongly suggest that you "play with some more water effects" to put some ripples about that b oat--if that guy is in the boat, rocking it, it's going to leave a lot of ripples going out from it. IMO, it is essential in conveying reality to the scene, and the idea of guys being n the boat and being ready to disembark.

WOW!!

 That Goose going airborne really brings LIFE into the scene!     Great execution and effect, Ian!!

Take care,

Frank

It just keeps gettin' better....

Thanks from all of you!

The splahing water effects are a mix of 5 minute epoxy, clear caulking, CA glue, and strands from cotton sawb/ear cleaners/Q-tips coated in clear nail polish to make drips.

Doog:  You're completely right.  Somehow I missed that when I was planning the scene, but it should be easy enough to lay in some rough concentric circles around the perimeter of the boat's hull with more clear caulking.  The difficult part will be the areas where the hull's waves are spreading out perpendicular to those heading towards shore, and moving the water in all kinds of weird directions.  Still debating whether or not to put some water in the bottom of the boat and a guy bailing water with a bucket.

Just a couple of words,

I LOVE IT.

 

   Ian this is awsome From the dead tree to the swan taking to the air and everything in between just spectacular.

Fantastic! A very unique diorama. I like it very much. Keep up the great work.
Regards,
Nick