Diorama "Leave No One Behind"

In my humble novice opinion I think the model work is good. The guys give a sense of urgancy. The guy shooting/covering one way and the other guy about to throw a nade the other give the sense of desperation.

Questions raised by this though. For such a sense of urgancy the guy in the tank doesn't look like he gives a damn. Almost like he's removed from the situation. Like he's a model that doesnt go with the scene. I cant figure which way the small wall took damage from. The rubble is pretty equal on both sides. and finally i'd add a little more weathering to the tracks.

Yep, that tanker looks like he's out for a sunday drive.

Is it just me or does the shooter look like he's presenting a wide open target to anyone in the direction he's shooting?

A right-hander, he's standing in the open with his body fully exposed, shooting to the left of the scene. (This is most apparent in the last pic above, where he is bracketed by the two pillars.) A couple of scale feet to the right and he could have used the pillar for cover for most of his body, with just the gun and right arm exposed. Unless of course, there's heavy fire coming from the right, in which case he's shooting in the wrong direction. 

Looks like NW Europe but that tank is the wrong model for that theatre...even if it is Italy or Sicily, its pushing it...I believe that kit is the "Tarawa" Sherman boxing...

PS: the reason I am writing this as if I am not addressing the builder is, well, it is because I AM NOT addressing the builder... 

It almost looked like the guy in the at the back was throwing the grenade at the other 3 soldiers. Maybe if he was put on a bit more of an angle to the wall?? It just looks like it from the pics, especially the last. It was the first thing that stood out to me.

I also agree with whats been said about the tank commander who I didn't hardly notice (AKA very detached from the scene)

Guys, you are being thrown a t3rd. The indifference of the commander is either the same lame modeling or worse.

But MM has us all by the gonads and knows it. He's probably the most checked in post by far, which gives his models provenance. "12,000 hits on FSM!!!". "Reviewed by modelers around the world". "World renowned!!". We are here to please him.

It's Halloween. Give it a rest. Arty, it's kind of ugly the way every time he throws a tennis ball over your fence you rise up and bark. Let it go already: I'm the guy who pays to have the number painted on his curb and who's Betamax still flashes 12:00 and I get it; and Doog you've got better things to do like go visit Romania in leather.

All Souls Day, what's the Doog dressed as? Me, I'm going as Karl Rove only cuz women approach me in bars all the time with " Are you...".

Ms. Bondo is not pleased, but you have to work with what God gave you....

Bondo

bondoman wrote:

Guys, you are being thrown a t3rd. The indifference of the commander is either the same lame modeling or worse. But MM has us all by the gonads and knows it. He's probably the most checked in post by far, which gives his models provenance. "12,000 hits on FSM!!!". "Reviewed by modelers around the world". "World renowned!!". We are here to please him. It's Halloween. Give it a rest. Arty, it's kind of ugly the way every time he throws a tennis ball over your fence you rise up and bark. Let it go already: I'm the guy who pays to have the number painted on his curb and who's Betamax still flashes 12:00 and I get it; and Doog you've got better things to do like go visit Romania in leather. All Souls Day, what's the Doog dressed as? Me, I'm going as Karl Rove only cuz women approach me in bars all the time with " Are you...". Ms. Bondo is not pleased, but you have to work with what God gave you.... Bondo

...please, MM, leave me behind!!! I would rather bleed artist oils till I pass out than be subjected to another pinata of plastic produced on your assembly line of Model T dioramas...

Thank you all for your kind comments!

oh man, sorry..some kind of identity crisis!

...must...not....post....as...."model maniac".....must...not.....post......................

bondoman wrote:

See my PM, dog breath

PM???? I haven't received one from you as of yet? Am I missing something here bondoman? 

P.S. I don't "dress up" for Halloween--I leave that to my lovely girlfriend!

Nicely done, I reckon. Not sure if all the negative comments are justified, but I agree that the tank commander looks odd. The other figures are well done though, I think.

I'd add a bit of mud & some ground debris to the tracks but otherwise, they look fine - nice and shiny like well-used grousers.

Biggest problem I noticed is that the tank seems to be floating and there's no track marks showing that it actually came from somewhere. Maybe it was just beamed down to earth like Mr Bean; that might explain the commanders dazed & confused look.

My final comment is simply that the diorama doesn't quite portray the story suggested by the title, but that's just my opinion, so you can take it or leave it.

If it doesn't make sense to you, it doesn't make sense. There was a really good movie that used "Green Army Men" to much better effect that this diorama.

  The best idea in most of MM's recent threads..............nite everyone! Shame, but they are just becoming a verbal war........

  Boomer...

"Well, children, looks like it's SSDD for lunch again."

Why is the medic carrying normal infantry gear, and a weapon? That was something that didn't happen.

Honestly the tracks look awful, gloss black is not a good color.

The vehicle portrayed served at Tarawa, on the other side of the world - big mistake.

If the ground is soft enough for that much scrub grass to gorw, there will be track marks.

My overall impression with this dio (as with most of the stuff you post, MM) is one of complete mediocrity and carelessness. Whenever I see AI's work I can easily see more things wrong than right. A lot of beginner or intermediate modelers post their work here, which is similar in quality to AI's work. We go easier on them because they are willing to recieve correction, they are desiring to improve thier skills, and most importantly they don't try to justify the gross innacuracies in their builds with this excuse or that excuse.

MM, if you want any respect on this forum, don't come here to show off your "perfect models" - they are far from that. None of us builds "perfect" models, but we try to get as close as possible, and by offering each other tips and suggestions we continually make progress towards that goal. I find some of the dios you post to be pretty cool, and despite some inaccuracies I enjoy looking at them, but I think the reason others don't is because you sometimes try to justify the errors in AI's work, attempting to make it look better than it really is. If you don't have as high a standard as some of us, that is fine, but I think the things you post would be much more well-recived if you could admit that it is not as good as some of our builds.

In my opinion, these are some examples of top-quality diorama building:

I can't compare my dios to that - if I did, I'd probably get laughed off this forum, much as you sometimes are. AI's work can be pretty cool at times, but just don't make it out to be more than it is. 

Hermesminiatures wrote:

Now that is simply superb and tells a story!

I think the simplest explanation for the mediocrity is this:

          "Art Instructor" is obviously churning out these dios as fast as he can, knowing that every one he completes knocks another $20, $50, maybe $100 off of his debt to MM--he knows by now that MM really doesn't have all that high a standard for completion, therefore, why kill himself with details about accuracy, story lines, etc?

Quite simply, given MM's blushing, fawning praise and blind loyalty to AI's mediocrity, there is NO GOOD REASON to improve.

Now that's sad!

What's even saddder is WHY DO I CARE?!?! AAAAAARGHHHHHH!!!!!

Phil_H wrote:

Is it just me or does the shooter look like he's presenting a wide open target to anyone in the direction he's shooting? A right-hander, he's standing in the open with his body fully exposed, shooting to the left of the scene. (This is most apparent in the last pic above, where he is bracketed by the two pillars.) A couple of scale feet to the right and he could have used the pillar for cover for most of his body, with just the gun and right arm exposed. Unless of course, there's heavy fire coming from the right, in which case he's shooting in the wrong direction.

Of all the flaws with this dio, this one bugs me the least.  Yeah, it might be ideal for a guy who shoots right handed to be on the other side of the pillar.  And yeah, this is what guys are trained to do, blah, blah, blah...  The reality is that combat is not 'ideal' and sometimes, (lots of times actually), you find yourself in situations where something has to be done.  For example, sometimes you see somebody who just really needs to get shot, and you might not have the luxury of picking the ideal position to do the shooting from.  In fact, that little quirk of this dio is actually one of my 'favorite' elements (I'm using that term VERY loosely here...), because to me, it adds a certain sense of urgency.

Now, on the other hand...  well, Heavy Arty said it best, so I'm not going to start, but would SOMEONE PLEASE, wake up that tank crewman - he's gonna get hurt sleeping up there like that...

[quote user="Manstein's revenge"]

...that tank commander is one cool cat...must be Lafayette Poole...

Had to Google that one... I'm a wingnut after all. Good story, learn something new every day. If it was ol' Poole though, he'd probably be riding on the outside of the turret.

I didn't like the tree. The structure is nice, if a little small, but the green foam turf looked fake.

HeavyArty wrote:

Not too bad overall.  As pointed out, the tanker doesn't fit the scene at all.  The weathering on the....  Oh why bother.  It will fall on deaf ears as usual because it is built by the great "AI" and has to be correct...blah, blah, blah....

I was expecting a response like that.

 MM-

I suggest if you didn't rush AI and gave him a little more time he could turn out better stuff. (Maybe.) The tank looks like it came straight from the factory, which IMHO I don't think it did and perhaps could use a wash and some weathering.

P.S. If we aren't more respectful for MM and his opinions this thread'll get locked up too like MM's last post. Do I care if it does though?

ben1227 wrote:

The tank looks like it came straight from the factory, which IMHO I don't think it did and perhaps could use a wash and some weathering.

Well, since we weren't told the location of the scene, nor does the diorama offer much in the way of clues, like a sign, I think you are all jumping to erroneous conclusions. It is either:

1. Downtown Tarawa

or

B. The Battle of Schenectady

All of you who make fun of Model Maniac and Art Instructor should be ashamed of yourselves. I thought this was an open forum where all could display models without being ridiculed. What good comes out of beating up these posts? What is the matter with you? IF he decides to show his collection of work, then so be it. And if you dont have anything but jokes to reply with, move on to the next post. This is disgusting......

bondoman wrote:

ben1227 wrote: The tank looks like it came straight from the factory, which IMHO I don't think it did and perhaps could use a wash and some weathering. Well, since we weren't told the location of the scene, nor does the diorama offer much in the way of clues, like a sign, I think you are all jumping to erroneous conclusions. It is either: 1. Downtown Tarawa or B. The Battle of Schenectady