I decided to do a work in progress build of my first diorama. It may not turn out to be the best diorama, but I think that posting pictures as I go will allow for better feedback, as well as learning as I go along. The diorama I will be making represents a german 7/1 halftrack pulled over to the side of the road for supplies and a break, while a 222 armored car has pulled up and the two crews are talking. Both kits are tamiya built out of the box. The halftrack will have a camoflauge net over it, but I havent made the net yet so it isnt in the pictures. The figures in this diorama consist of a set I am ordering online, Tamiya's german soldiers at field briefing. Here is a picture or the contents of the set:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXGV43&P=FR
I am planning on using the 2 guys looking at the map, the feild stove/heater, the soldier kneeling down, and the dog. I might use the guy looking at his watch but dont want to over populate the scene. Besides the figures in that set, I am using the supplied crew of the halftrack, but they are slightly modified with different arms so they are not in their "action poses". The figure with binoculars is the right side gunner with the commanders arms, the soldier on the 222 car is the left gunner with arms from a dragon panzer grenadier figure set. The commander talking to the guy on the 222 is leaning on an mg42 and smoking a cigarette, with arms from the dragon figure set. So overall there will be 6-7 people, and 1 dog.
Here are the pictures of the diorama so far. Its not much, but I have taken a long time to lay out the scene just the way I want it, and I think I have the scene finalized. The position of the fuel barrels and other accesories may change a bit, but the figure placement and vehicle placement is where they will be in the final diorama. I also have not added groundwork yet, but used some foamboard to represent elevation of the road in the scene. Heres the pictures.
Overall scene shots:
Close ups of the two guys talking by the 222:
Heres the third crewman keeping watch on the skies. Has he spotted some aircraft?
Here is where the field stove will go, along with the kneeling soldier and the german shepard dog. The two corks are just representing where the stove will be, and If it runs on wood I will put some logs next to it.
Here I have used 2 army men just to give an idea of where the two officers with the map will stand.
Here are the fuel barrels. The two yellow ones are just temporary untill I build the rest of the barrels.
I think I might put a pair of gloves on the seat of the halftrack. There will be more small details like this in the final build.
And im not sure if ill keep this, but Im going to have a small fence that the halftrack has just barely run into. In the final diorama I will remake the balsa wood pieces, and add some barbed wire to it:
So hows it look so far? The figures still have some cleanup work to be done, but I hope to be painting them soon. Also a couple questions for those who have used celluclay, what did you mix it with besides water and paint to give it a natural look. The diorama will have woodland scenics snow, but the road that the 222 is on will be muddy and I think that just plain celluclay will look fake. Any comments are appreciated!