Finished? My 1st 120mm Dio...
Hello all!
I'm almost finished with this Dio featuring a 120mm Verlinden Ruin and German Winter Warrior fig. I say almost because there's still a few things Id perhaps like to add. Maybe you folks out there could give me some ideas. I have the 1/16 Tamiya fig as a sort of stand-in for another MG gunner I have yet to get. The setting is somewhere in Russia perhaps a small city and the story being simply showing a lull in the fighting and a moment for 2 soldiers to have a rest. The other fig I wanted is smoking a cig. In this iteration I have the MG gunner gazing at a poster perhaps in thought as to when and how things will end....Who knows
The base:
I started with a basswood base and the Ruin then researched Eastern Front photos during winter to see how sidewalks and streets were built. Turns out many roads did not looked paved though there may have been sidewalks. After mounting the ruin corner I made a sidewalk out of 1/4" balsa sheet. Skimmed on a coat of plaster/glue mix and scribed the tile work and cracks. Then I made the road with the same mix and threw in some ballast, gravel chunks for texture adding pieces of balsa strip and rubble made from smashed brick pieces I "made". I painted the ground a burnt umber/Sienna/black mix pretty much and the sidewalk a grey/black mix. I knew I wanted to make a snowy Dio but havent done one since I was kid and I used baking powder then. Luckily I had scored some goodies from my local hobbytown as the guy who works there showed me a box of old stuff they had in the back. I found some Hudson & allen snow so I decided to try it out. Turned out pretty sugary at first and I wanted a more slushy look. I ended up going back into all the pretty powder I layed down with a brush and alcohol to expose all the rubble that had been covered and a mix of Water/Golden Gloss acrylic gel in the end to slush things up. i think it turned out well:)
The figure:
The figure took lots of shaving with the dremel / sanding and test fitting. I had to find reference to figure out how some of the gear would be mounted but other than that assembly was trouble free. The painful part was having to paint pretty much the whole torso and straps before the arms could be mounted and but test fitting them beforehand made little need for filler after the fact. I painted the base of the greeatcoat with a mix of Tamiya Field grey then misted over with testors field grey. Then made an oil wash with a dark green/grey/black mix for the shadows. Then highlighted with Tamiya weathering powders.
The winter tunic was painted with a Testors Acryl field grey/white mix and given a brown/grey/black wash and highlighted with white enamel. Staining in the tunic was made with Tamiya weathering powders. the flesh was done with a Testors mix of flesh acryl base shaded/highlighted with enamels. I also added a cleaning rod made of sprue on the Warrior's K98. I had great reference for the Mauser as you'll see:)
Thanks,
James
The difference in size from 120mm to 1/16 is pretty evident I think...
The poster I pulled off the internet and scaled down in PS.
Discussing the propoganda poster perhaps?
I dressed up the backside of the ruin with some rafters made of balsa and rubble.
Though this is not the focal point of the dio it does peak out at you from certain angles which was my plan...
I like this angle:)
A close up
The reference for the Warrior's Mauser. An original '43 Kar98 my Great Uncle brought back from France.
