Our first project - Afrika Korps

Just me, but i'd add a few things, there appears to be a gap in the middle you should fill, I'd also include some more figures. maybe a platoon marchin along a road? It also appears to be a largish outpost i'd include some fences to compliment that gate (what's a gate with no fence?) I'd also consider (because i think it'd look cool) some opel blitzs unloading supplies and/or just driving around blitzs were the workhorse of the german army. I'd also either paint the vehicle dunkelgelb or put impromptu camoflage on them (mud smeared on the vehicle) using weathering powders mixed with water. The germans took camofladge seriously and those vehicles really stick out.

But it's looking great for a first.

Well Trailrider team, how goes the battle? It seems someone else had the same question as you  on the Armor Forum. They got a more complete, accurate awnser than I gave. Take a look ;

/forums/1178893/ShowPost.aspx

Wow! Cool post *Indy. Thanks man. Mixing up the colours on the jerry cans is a good idea. In the next set of pics be on the lookout for some jerry cans with a white stripe

No worries Trailrider, as I said the dio looks to be coming right along. Really just saying you gotta do as you are, do it your way and incorperate any help as you see fit. Some of the process is pretty complicated, but taken step by step everything comes together. Part of my point with that awnser was you have to do your own research,  & seemed like German Dark Yellow would have been something you'd come across already. Do a buncha reading on colors, and weathering techniques, and don't take any one point of view as scripture. It's still up to you guys.                 Happy Modeling..............Indy

As you can see in the work of these perceptive modelers, the cans might be Africa issue painted, or just as common in the panzer grey, (mix 'em up for interest/contrast, as may be likely in reality anyhow.     Oh &  The white stripe indicates (water) not fuel.

    I think it looks cool, but I'm no expert.  I think you should finish it however you want, and then have us critique it to give you ideas on how to make your 2nd one even better.  If you're like me,  you'll build this one and instantly want to start doing more of them, and come up with ideas left and right.  And kudos to you making it a father/son effort.  I hope to do the same when mine gets old enough.   

    Chris

Progress report:

Playing around with placement. More extras being finished all the time.

Ground work needs to be finished, then the sand (in the container on the right) will be applied. It's a very fine desert sand I sourced.

Jerry cans (not in picture), drums and figure next to the plane still needs to be painted. What colour should the drums and jerry cans be?

Have a look at the little house behind the boom:

It has a red, white and blue stripe on the side. Would that be standard for access control? Or are those Allied colours? If so I'd have to take it off. I have Swastika I can put on the side.

I'm also thinking of adding maybe 1 or 2 palms? Should I ad something else? Tank? Canon?

Next question - what colour would the drums and jerry cans be?

Nice project, normally I would agree with bigger isn't always better, but with two modelers who are new it will give you room to try new ideas as they come to mind or are suggested. One thing I would suggest is go to the tips and techniques forum and look up weathering tips and then take one of the kubels and practice on it. Right now they are too clean for a desert dio. You don't need to go all out just a little will help alot especially in this scale.

-Stephen

well it is north afrika, alot of nice pretty desert ya know.

here are some great references of plantlife and not 

http://images.google.com/images?q=desert&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1440

Hi guys.

Yes, we have more accessories - lots of fuel drums, crates, "medical" crates, jerrycans etc. Those will all be added as we go along.

Thanks for the tips on the placement. We will move them around a bit to make a final decision before we "set" them. Also great stuff on the idea for barbed wire. Was wondering about that. Keep the ideas coming.

What about plant life?

Cheers

TR 

Hello there

Nice to see some more South Africans here nice work so far it looks likr a nice project.

Mike

What great fun to do this father & Son  !! That's just fantastic  <--  Making me think about the day my Dad helped me set up HO scale trains when I was 6 (tear'quirt').......

Really ambitious 1st project guys--I like it. As far as placement advice goes--I'd say try to get a good balance without trying to 'look' like you were going for balance(so it doesn't look contrived(although it is--so that's hard).  A really common piece of advice at this stage is to not have anything in the Dio sqaure to the base edges(although this rule can be broken, it's a pretty good one)--and I'd advise you to have some variety in the amount of space between your elements too.   One  more thing--  abandon the pre-fab bases you have(throw 'em in the spares box) all the work to try to blend them will  be a waste(won't work without some serious effort-and even then....)  OK ? -here to help---------happy modeling guys.....

Started working on the groundwork. Used polystyrene as a base and will go over it with Filler.

Once the filler is nice and rounded we plan on painting it more or less the dessert colour we want and the using a glue / water solvent over that, we'll use a fine sand or gravel to give it a more lifelike look. I hope these plans are feasible. We'll see.

The front view of the Dio will be from the left side of this photo.

Experimenting with wire fencing:

My son "Asterix":

We'll be starting on the diorama soon. The boomed gate and first aid tent came with their own bases with rich detail like tire tracks, footprints etc. We will have to "set" those in the diorama so that all will be level.

Here is what we have so far:

The Storch
4 x Kubelwagens
Armored car
Bike and sidecar
5 figures - 2 in Kubel and 3 outside
Watch tower

The watch tower still needs to be painted and all the others still need a clear coat.

Some more pics on the Diorama. Now with more models we can start moving them around to get a "feel" of what should go where.

Any suggestions?

The first draft of what we are planning for our diorama.

Here are the first pictures. Be gentle, we are new at this. That said any advise will be welcomed!

I built the Storch and my 10 year old son built the Kubelwagens. All were painted free hand.

The open Kubelwagen will have two soldier occupants.