Ardennes Diorama

First and formost, paint the interior walls, areas under the fenders and backs of the rims. Use your base color for the interior and under the fenders and a dark steel color for the backs of the rims.

When you say Ardennes are you meaning winter?  The Ardennes was almost completely covered in snow with very little bare spots, what was bare was most likely not green.  If your portraying a different time (judging by the solider in winter camo, your not), maybe early spring or early fall it is a good start.

its a good start. I agree that you need more snow and it would be a good idea to add some more people in and around the halftrack. some equipment inside it would be pretty good too. And just out of curiosity, what is the guy in the halftrack doing with his hands? It doesnt look like he's holding anything.

The best dio's tell a story...what's going on in your dio? Try to tell the viewer what is the idea of your scene, rather than just putting figures with a vehicle. I understand that you're just in the planning stages...you definitely need snow though...and I think those tank obstacles were really more seen in the cities; I think I recall reading that they were thrown together by Volksturm units to stop the russian advance....or was it the russians put them together? Anyhoo, I sincerely believe that theyd be out-of-place in a rural Ardennes setting--I mean, in that setting it wouldn't be hard at all to just go around 'em, and I'll bet herr dude in that halftrack would have those two soldiers busy moving that in no time...ya need to outline your seams on the Sdkfz with an oil wash; I'd like to see a little more weathering on it too. Esp. the wheels...All in all though, not a bad start!...

Hello. First, thankyou for all the input you have given so far. This is my first dio and am trying to get the hang of things. Second, in an attemp to salvage what I can, how deep would the snow be in Winter. And would it be more packed and melted on the road where vehicles had traveled over. Or wold it just be better to take the one figure in winter uniform out along with the barracade and replace him with some Grenadiers leaning out of the Halftrack.

Thanks, David

            

Hey Dace....Geez, I kinda feel bad now--hope we didn't bum you out about your first dio (you should see the improbable frankenstein I made the first time out!) You know, this really doesn't need much to remain as a viable dio. I'd take the guy in winter dress outta the halftrack--he's too "wintery". Put a new guy in "fall" camo in his place, and matbe he could be pointing the MG team down the road? I'd put the obstacle back in the spares box and maybe find a BMW dispatch rider or another piece of suitable debris in its place.An Allied gun, maybe a 6-pounder pointing down the road from the way they came? Both Tamiya and Italeri made one I think.....or maybe a german food cart with a wheel off? A nice 6-inch tree or so behind the halftrack would give some nice vertical scale too. You wouldn't even need the snow then, you could just label it as a fall/late winter scene somewhere in...?

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/reference/bulge/images.htm

 

the above site has images with snow and without snow on the ground. A little more image searching using Ardennes Offensive, Battle of the Bulge etc. will give you some other images and sites that will have some good reference info to help you along.

Endeavor to percivere. You're off to a good start.

the idea you have with the two grenadiers sounds good. you could replace the snow with some static grass and maybe fill up some of the empty space with some trees or something. still some more figures just sitting around near the halftrack would make the dio more interesting.

road would be muddy and the snow dirty from the side of the road. maybe 2 feet deep.