The Assembly Area

Wow, dude, you're alive. I haven't seen you post in some time.

Awesome work. I wish the pictures were a bit clearer and sharper, since you can't make out much of the detail. Only thing I can say about this one is that some of the figures are maybe a little too scattered. My eye doesn't really know what to look at first.

Wow, thanks for a BIG dio! It's remarkable. Great attention to all the wee bits of detail. I agree that a focal point may be inconspicuous, but that's ok with me here. I love a big scene.

One thing I am trying to figure out: who's the tank commander barking at? 

Really great, lots to look at, thanks for all the pictures. Congrats for the award, truly deserved.

Steve 

LOL thanks guys! I was trying to acheive a controlled chaos type of look, with everyone doing something different. As for a focal point, I don't really know if there's supposed to be one The tank commander is actually yelling at a guy at the back, in the first pic, on the right hand side, there's a guy taking a panzerfaust out of a box, and beside him there's a guy carrying a jerrycan. Well behind the guy with the jerrycan is a fellow kind of just standing there holding a rifle. I angled him to be looking at the commander, and have the commander yelling at him, kind of just picking one guy at random to yell at to help out.

I know my camera isn't the greatest..I took a ton of shots and had to scrap alot of them. My digi isn't the best one, and didn't have the best space or lighting at the time I took them.

Well, focal point or no, I think it's just great. I've gone back and looked at the photos again and again. I think the photographer is fine- better than mine anyway. This is the kind of diorama that I can just stare at.

Thanks for sharing it.

Steve 

Looks geerally very good.

Two things jump out at me. One is a pet peeve...theose ancient and completely incorrect two handled Tamiya gerry cans. Most people may miss them, but as I said, they are a pet peeve in that they were done that way in the first place 30 years ago and seem to still be on the market. Sometims, Tamiya really ticks me off withthe lack of respect they show their customers,

Second are the guys who haven't reversed their snow parkas. Since all the other figures have camo or dark color uniforms, the scene suggests that the snow has eithe not arrived or has melted. While they're might be samll pockets of snow left hey are headed to, getting there will make them stand out against all the resst of the terrain.

I do like how you've got these guys grabbing up weapons.

Overall a very good scene.

Ant dio with a Jagdtiger in it gets a big from me!

Well, it's very nicely done, with a balanced feel, and lots of action. It's funny--we jjust had a big discussion on the merits and flaws of big dio's like this--check out "The Elephant in the Room" thread!

I will say that I thnk that although the composition os pretty well composed, I do agree that the tank commander looks completely arbitrary in his pose. And Ajlafleche made a salient point about the uniforms--wow, good eyes!

The rest of the work though looks pretty amazing! Congrats on your win!!!

  OH YEAH!!!!......thats what its all about. What a great dio. I do agree, the first thing that i  asked myself was, who is the tank commander directing? I did see the recipient of the tank commanders gestures in the end...... I think that because the tank commander is at a high point in the dio he really stands out. Because of that, my eye tended to follow the direction of his, but it is hard to see straight away who he is talking to. Personally i would like to see that little piece of the story a bit more obvious to follow. I would have directed his attention more to the Schwimwagen.........'Move that heap of junk out of the way!!!!'

  Really though, top marks. I love the rubble and attention to all the small ground details. And i really love the colouring, everything really blends in nicely together......i love it!!

  Can i ask your methods of securing such loose rubble to the dio?

  I am going back for another look.........

  Boomer...

ajlafleche wrote:

Second are the guys who haven't reversed their snow parkas. Since all the other figures have camo or dark color uniforms, the scene suggests that the snow has eithe not arrived or has melted. While they're might be samll pockets of snow left hey are headed to, getting there will make them stand out against all the resst of the terrain.

   There always has to be someone dragging the chain in getting there act together......

   Boomer...

ajlafleche wrote:

One is a pet peeve...theose ancient and completely incorrect two handled Tamiya gerry cans.

"He hates these CANS!"

I've looked this thing over about three different times to try to get the feel of the whole thing.  I think it is great.  I think you have accomplished your goal of capturing a sense of disorganized chaos, but with a purpose.

As far as some of the things people have pointed out, I personally do not have that big of an issue with the TC.  At first I thought he was yelling at the guys by the schwim.  Initially, that served to track my eyes from the top of the tank down to ground level and around the scene.  Now that I see who he is yelling at, it does not really change the effect.  I think it might have a different impact if I saw this in  person rather than through pictures.

As to the comments regarding the disparity in uniforms (specifically, the cluster of guys with white smocks on) that also does not bother me too much - I think it actually adds to the idea that you have a bunch of guys from different units, coming from different places, but arriving here and wondering what the heck to do next...

thanks again everyone. Al I know what you mean by the jerry cans, I'm not particular on them as well, but my modelling budget has been decimated by owning a house, so I've had to use what was laying around

As for the Tank Commander, I should have really taken some more shots to try and capture the angle a bit better of who he's yelling at. Here's one I found in the stack, it's still not the best angle but hopefully a little better. Also included a shot of the Schwimmwagen as well.

Kelly Zak,

It's been a long time since I saw your work.  Nicely done!