(Pics) Afrika Korp Diorama

Hi

Great dio the setup and layout is very nicley done but there are 3 things that catch my eye
1: the skin tone on the figures is just a tade to light being in the desert they would get a tan.
2: You might want to give the figures a slight spray of matt finnish to get rid of the glossy look.
3: Unless they were fighting in the sand dunes most deserts are covered with small rocks and the such and also a little vegetation.

Ron

Derek-I built CMK's volkswagen and even bought the aftermarket detail kit-wasn't much better than the kit parts. I think you've done a fine job here all I suggest is some interaction between the base , figures and vehicles. By that I mean tyre tracks and footprints. Don't ever feel that you are 'done' with a build-you can always go back and make improvements. I do-and it's cheaper than buying more kits! Also-try dusting some pastel chalks on everything-if you don't like it you can rinse them off (hopefully you've clear-coated everything).

Hi Derek,
Well done mate. There are some nice touches there..like feeding the desert fox. How did you get the skin colours? No matter how hard I try I just can't seem to get the colour right and it's starting to really annoy me. Is that real sand you've used? Looks good. One of my future projects rolling around my head is a DAK dio with a Tiger plus figures, so you've given me some good ideas there. Thanks and post some more pics of future dios.
Take care, Rich

Thanks for all your comments. I guess adding some rocks and desert foilage might help the base look better. Tire tracks seem like a good idea to (maybe on a future project). I didn't weather any of the vehicles as it seems every time I try i over do it and they look worse then clean vehicles. I also did not dry brush or add shading to the figures and used paints straight from the bottle. I have done this on past figures but determined the results (although more realistic) are not that much better compared to the time it takes to do them as I have several kits in my collection and still plan to build them all.

QUOTE: How did you get the skin colours? No matter how hard I try I just can't seem to get the colour right and it's starting to really annoy me. Is that real sand you've used?

The paint I used for the skin colors was Testors Tan (square bottle) straight out of the bottle. The sand is real sand from a craft store that carries sand for sand art, it was mixed with white glue and dried hard.

Good dio, but the vehicles could use some weathering-to clean

good job though

Nice setting of a quiet moment in the war. I agree with the other suggestions, especially giving the figures a flat top coat.

Regards, Rick

Derek-I understand your over-weathering concern-I've done that myself. The nice thing about pastel chalk dust is that once applied and a dull coat sealer is sprayed on they fade-so it's easy to control by building with light applications of chalk and dullcoat (dull coat should always be applied in light coats). Some weathering powders are also available but I haven't used them and they can be pricey. I just buy a cheap set of artist pastel chalks (not oil pastels) and scrape them onto a paper plate-and apply with a soft fan brush-then knock off the high spots with my trusty fingers.

Great dio,but I agree,they should be a little more dust,the cars i mean.
The dio is great

Pedro

Nice, sand looks really good. Should have some more sand

Nice dio. Just needs to be dirtyed up a little:)

Thad

Africa Corps Dioramas can be how littled coconut palm?

Suggestion: Replace the gerry cans on the armored car with aftermarket items that have real handles. Those ancient Tamiya things realy detract from the sense of realism you're trying to get.