My First Mini-Dio - Afghanistan

to the forums!  Nice work on the diomara!   That blue door is awesome and it caught my eyes right away.  Of course I haven't been to Afghanistan, based on many pictures and video clips I always find hummers dirty or covered with dust especially the tires just like one in the picture...  my only feedback is that tires may be too clean but it is hard to tell in the picture. 

You mentioned you have pigments so you can apply more on the tires?  Don't be shy!  Guys here love dirt and rust.  I am a big fan of MIG pigments because it was easy to use.  I used it on my Sd.Kfz 234/1...  

Hope this helps.  Again, great looking diomara!  And THANK YOU for your service.

HI, Thanks for the warm welcome Andy. I have lots of pigment and though the hubs are pretty dirty, I am definitely going to add some more to the tires. Thanks for the feedback. I tried using custom decals as well for the phoenix motif on the shield and the clover, but no matter what I did (and I trolled these forums extensively) I could not prevent the bare-metal decals from rollingup on me. Therefore, I handpainted the clover, and stenciled the phoenix.

Working on a Canadian Lav 3 next...

Cheers

Welcome!

A little bit more dirt sure wouldn't hurt.

Nice job for sure.

love dirt nice build enjoyed the pics.

Ron

Thanks for the feedback. Here is a pic of the back of the humvee. I haven't dirtied it up any more yet, will get to it on the weekend.  Here you can see the scratch built gas can rack, antennae mount, duke ECM antennae and my attempt at the spare tire hydraulic rack.

Here are essentially the same pic perspectives but with natural light. This is how the model/diorama actually looks on the shelf. I did dirty it up a little more. To be honest, I need some tips on how to take good pics of models ? anyone give me some pointers ?

Thanks again.

Pic from the rear with natural lighting

Great diorama. I just finished my very first! Just one tip: try spraying the entire thing how it is with very heavily diluted black paint, about 1 part paint to 4 parts water.  Then, dab away the prominent drips or black on places where it looks awful with a paper towel and leave it to dry. Don't put any more gloss or flat coats on it.

Anyway, really nice dio! Cheers mate.

Looks pretty good.  Don't spray it with a black wash though.  Never use black on desert vehicles, it is way too dark.  You should do a pin wash, only applying wash in selective areas such as panel lines and around bolt heads, with a dark brown color.  Then give an overall wash of a sandy color.  Lastly, drybrush it with a light sandy color to make it look more dusty.   

You have a pretty good start.  A bit more weathering and it will look great.

HeavyArty

Looks pretty good.  Don't spray it with a black wash though.  Never use black on desert vehicles, it is way too dark.  You should do a pin wash, only applying wash in selective areas such as panel lines and around bolt heads, with a dark brown color.  Then give an overall wash of a sandy color.  Lastly, drybrush it with a light sandy color to make it look more dusty.   

You have a pretty good start.  A bit more weathering and it will look great.

Thanks for the feedback. I did apply a wash to the vehicle using oil paints (burnt umber) Unfortunately, when I airbrushed the model in the first place, the paint went on a little thick (my first time using an airbrush with not enough practice !) and a lot of the finer detail was lost. Its hard to tell with this pick, but there is some good wash around the bolt heads etc...  I am going to dirty it up a little more with some more weathering powders and will make sure to add some tire tracks next time ! Good advice for my next project, a Canadian LAV 3 in Afghanistan.