PAK 40 dio

Excellent dio, with tons of potential.  The good thing about this dio is that when you start to learn more techniques, you can always come back and apply them to this dio!

Some things to consider that havnt been already said (mostly)

 - the ground is dirt/mud, so the wheels of the PaK as well as the boots of the soldiers would be muddy.  Once you start to learn the drybrushing technique, you can brush on some earth colors onto the boots and wheels.

 - invest in an exacto knife and some high grit sand paper.  Whenever you detach a part from the sprue, cut and/or sand off the knub left on the part.  Also, sand away the molding seems on each part.  They are the thin lines that run along the parts.  Figures have these as well, so don't forget those. 

Drybrushing would be a good technique to start practicing with, as it will immediatly enhance your modeling efforts.  There are many tutorials out there, including these forums. 

Get yourself an old kit to practice on, thats what I did.  Preferably a cheap one with lots of figures.

Good work overall, this is a good looking dio as-is, but like i said once you start to master more advanced techniques you can always add more to this one!

Good stuff mate!!  Top effort for your 2nd attempt.  Looks like you've had a ball making the dio.

A couple of points of advice for you;

 - Don't use the Tamiya sandbags - try using some Milliput or something similar to make your own sandbags.  Much more realistic as you can make them to look like they join properly and you can get the 'sag' effort.  You can also make them to how you want and not what Tamiya says.

- Try a bit more weathering on the figures and the PAK 40.  Remember that the gun is made of metal and also some of the equipment on the soldiers.  Also, remember the gun is in combat, so it will be dirty, battered, scratched etc.

- I couldn't see any other gear from the soldiers on the dio.  Things like rifles, boxes, personal gear etc.  Remember that you're trying to tell a story with a dio.  If the soldiers have gone to the effort of setting up sand bags then I'm guessing they planned to be there awhile?  So they would have gear lying around. 

- The earth and foliage on the ground of the dio is great

- Take a little more time on the figures, like the straps.  Do some research on the colours of the personal field equipment.  The water bottle is actually 2 parts, the cup is turned upside down on the water bottle and then strapped in place.  So they're actually different in colour. 

 All in all a great effort - keep it up!!  Look forward to your next one!!

Cheers

Zombee:)

The key thing to remember is....did you have fun building it? That is all that matters in the end.

Scott

The dio looks pretty good! I like the way you did the foliage climbing up the walls. That Pak-40 kit as always been a favorite of mine. Just need to touch up the figures a little bit. The bread bag looks like it's upside down and should be more of a field gray w/ a touch of green to it, as is the gas mask container. The canteen cap has a dark/black green color to it and a black leather strap running over it. (In my SS re-enactment unit we would have the canteen attached to the bread bag and the gas masks slung over our shoulders by it's strap). And add some black to the Y-staps.

Scott

Some additional pictures (or a link to your album at Photobucket) would be good.

The ground work looks really good and the layout is good, too. However, the rocks look like they're sitting on top of the ground. Use some Celluclay or other ground material to build up around the rocks and give a more natural feel to them and the ground itself.

Tamiya sandbags always look like plastic renditions of sandbags. You should have cleaned off the attchement points better, though.

The  gun tube looks like theres a big ridge or seam line down the middle. This should be smooth.

The Y and shoulder (Sam Brown style) straps on the figures should be black leather and there should be some sort of helmet strap indicated. Also, check your references for the color of the gas mask can and cup on the watter bottle.

In general, both the gun and figures could use some shading and highlighting, minimally with a wash and some dry-brushing to give everything a bit more depth.