The Long Road East, Ardennes Forest, 1945

(by 1940's era I mean 1940-1940, not the entirety of the 1940s as that would be all of them )

Great job. The main thing is that this is a hobby and having fun is the main thing.

Yikes!  16 figures or more?  That would take me forever to do them all.  Great work!  I like the snow best... how did you make it look realistic... like wet snow.  I grew up in Buffalo and this is the kind of snow I see most.

My only feedback is... add dirt or mud to the StuG tracks & wheels.  Since snow and mud are there on your diorama then the StuG would be very dirty. 

Again great work!

Thanks, I do plan on weathering up the Stug, I recently tested a new technique on a Sherman that should work, so I'll see if I can post a newly muddied Stug soon.

For the snow I used woodland scenics snow and mixed it with water and Elmers glue (It was pretty thin and I had to apply multiple coats on most of it), when it was done I sprinkled some loose snow on top and worked it in with an old wet brush to make sure I had snow on top as well and not just watery glue, that being said, some of the wet look may be the lighting but I think I did an ok job on it.

Again thanks for the kind remarks, hopefully I can get some more of my work up soon.

Very nice!

You've carried this off quite well, it tells a story one can read at a glance. The interaction between the three guys in the foreground I really like. The too clean Stug and a bit of gloss on the figures are the only two things that look wrong, both correctable. Nice work!

Regards,

Mark

Nice work. It is good to see other kids enjoying the hobby! Then I don't feel so alone.

Good job on the dio I really like the two guys in the second picture. You did good job on the face of the guy facing the camera and the troop in the white smock.

101stAirborne

Nice work. It is good to see other kids enjoying the hobby! Then I don't feel so alone.

That is one cool dio! I couldn't make that many figures before going insane- not the little details, just the face- It takes me forever to do just four! 

Great progress so far, you may want to consider some discarded weapons and gear to make the point of a defeated force in retreat.

Mike T.

Thanks for the kind  remarks, as said before the Stug is on my projects list, it's just fallen behind aT26 A I need to work on.

I will also be the first to admit that despite the fact they were built over a few months the figures did get quite tedious, especially the pea dot and splinter camo, I just bought a box of Fallshirmjager and the splinter camo on them makes me want to cry.

Discarded equipment may have been nice, but it's a bit late now I suppose as I've already laid the snow and I think it'd look a bit off just sitting unaffected, but I'll keep that in mind for future dios

It's also nice to see other kids working on this hobby, makes me feel less alone out here.

Again thanks for the kind remarks, hopefully I'll get pics of the Stug up soon.

Great effort. I like the groundwork. I couldn't paint a figure to save my life.

I think you should add a couple of wounded troops riding on the StuG. Seen many pictures of troops riding on them.

falschimjager: I remember I built a StuG , a 1/72 trumpeter kit, the short- barreled version, nice fits all- round, looks like yours shaped up pretty nicely.

Good composition.

The story has been conveyed well in this one.

Keep up the good work.

Regards

Gerry

a great way to do mud was mentioned in FSM's last issue that i have done for a long time: since mud is dirt particles caked together, then you can make scale "mud" (particles are much smaller and look better) by mixing brown pigment powder with mater and slathering it or or packing it into track links.... takes awhile to ge the hang of it, and figuring out how to use different shades, but it looks fantastic! for glossy, soaking wet mud, i mix it with slightly diluted elmers glue instead of water(or the testors "clear parts cement and window maker") and it looks great!