New Photo Site..

Well Mike, you've figuref it out. The Dio has been there for about for about 3 years. I used to have an N-scale model railroad sitting in the same spot. I took the train down in 2000 and switched back to military modeling.
All the limber (2x4's and plywood) went right back into the frame work for the display. I can see my own modeling skills getting better as I add new models to the list. My wife's gettin' into it now, she picked me up a T-62 and an M1 with mine plow yesterday. There's one feature of the display I haven't mentioned of put any pics up of yet, there is running water in the stream and and waterfall. IT flips visitors out when I turn on all the track lights and turn on the pump. I used an outdoor water course, 30 gallon plastic storage container for the reservoir and outdoor fountain pump. It sound like a mountain creek and is really quite soothing listening to the water run. It is a little noisy when you're watching the TV though. Pbviously not everyone has the room for something like this but it's really not an expensive project. You just keep at it and do a little bit at a time. My big problem is that I didn't have the VCR running during all the news coverage of OIF. Reference info is limited to the internet souces and most of that that I've found is not battle ready.

As for the airshow, it was pretty small. THey flew an A-10 THunderbolt 2, a CF-18 (Canadian), 3 YAK trainers, and a few stunt planes. THe dude with the "World's Smallest Airport", the pilot lands a Cub on top of a vintage GTO, missed the landing on the car and tore up his plane. Broke off hte tail, split the landing gear and twisted up the prop but walked away unhurt. I'm surehis insurance rates just went through the roof!

I guess you can use the diorama as a sort of huge, three dimensional display stand. A friend of mine has something similar in his Florida Room. It is a large diorama that he adds his figures and other subjects to. It gets updated or added to every now and then but its been his "display cabinet" for about 10 years now. As he finishes one he adds it to the area somewhere. Each vehicle and figure can stand on its own but the diorama just gives them a setting. It also makes a nice backdrop for photos of his collection. Its enormous and the more you look the more you find. But you can also see a progression in skill and since its an ongoing project, he never feels as though he's working to a deadline.

He had a Napoleonic battlefield for a while and each figure was a 1/32 showpiece. It encompassed a 4x8 sheet of plywood and had easily a hundred figures. I remember seeing some of the figures in local shows and he would take them from their place on the diorama and set them to the display stands for the show. When done, they would go back into their scene or vignette. Sadly it was lost in a house fire and the new WW2 diorama has taken its place.

Mike

whow!!! awesome dude! how long did you say you built it? seriously man that is one big DIO i mean BIG. i gotta hand it to you PATH... i just dont know where you gona sleep with that humongous thing in your room. good luck on the weathering work.[:0][:0]

Don't forget to post pictures from the show, OK?

The whole thing would have been done a long time ago if it hadn't gone through so many tranformations. 1/6th Jungle diorama, 1/18th Italy, now it's staying 1/35 Middle East (maybe N. Africa). I got some really good tips today that may motivate me to finish a lot of the armor details. I've been chasing reference material like crazy, my "favorites" is gettin' kind of long.

But Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! We go to the Airshow here in Jackson (TN) any grab some prototype pics to work with. They've already brought in a UH-60, AH-1 Apache, A-10 Warthog, FA-18 and a Hemtt to refuel the lot! At least that's what I could see at the field and buzzing the town this afternoon reminding everybody they were flying this weekend.

Hey pathfinder,

That's not a diorama.

That's a DIOZILLA!!! LOL.

Man you've got one massive work going on in there. Very cool. You must have an acre of space in your workbench to be able to display that giant dio of yours.

Keep filling it up man.

Glad you folks like it. I'm weathering and detailing 2 M2A2's, 1 M-113, and a M1A2.I have cast a boxfull of field packs and tarps but haven't figured out a good way to attach them to the vehicles other than flopping them in the turret bustles. I think I'll start a thread for ideas. I really would like some help form you folks on some of the tricks of the trade.

Thanks for the encouragement and I'll update pics tonight with some close-up shots tonight.

it looks awesome.... I can only imagine how many hours you have invested in this project alone

Maybe if you spent less time modeling and more time practicing........

This looks great pathfinder. You've done a pretty awsome job and this thing is pretty large in scope. Lets see some close up stuff too. You could spend a lifetime on this one project. I commend you on a job well done. Bravo!

Mike

I almost forgot to thank you Shermanfreak for figuring out the link. I had to run out in the middle of my mess and go to the JR High Football game. We lost 30 to 20. Oh well, we'll get them next time.

I'm baack! Sorry about the wrong info on the pics. I'm really a little timid about posting the stuff, my detailing skills are quite rusty, but they'll come back. The dio is kind of big, 40" wide X 12' long. Most of the trees are hand made but don't really fit the desert scheme, they're dedicious vs palm but I'm changing that bit by bit. I've got a lot of weathering, detailing, and kit building to do. I figure it will take all winter to get done. Or at least worthy of some of the work I've seen around here. It's big enough to have 3 destinct scenes, an LZ for off loading troops and resuppling with fuel, an infantry recon and securing of a water supply, and an armor movenent out of the area. I've picked up 7 helos for air cover and 8 more pieces of armor but I doubt I'll get to use them all or it will start looking like a chess board. But if I get tired of Iraqi Desert, it can quickly change to North Africa.

Wow, very awespiring there pathfinder. Looks like a lot of work that has paid off nicely.

The old dog didn't learn the entire trick ..... lol

Here's the link:
http://www.msnusers.com/Pathfinderdiopics/

And a massive project that is .... very impressive.