New Dio-WIP *Update 12-31*

Thanks, namerednef, SteveA and redleg12...appreciate the feedback; I agree the time it took to line that mortar in was worth it...

After a few more washes and anding a little more rubble and wooden debris I have sealed the entire base with a few coats of clear, flat laquer---this has also helped "glue" down a few of the smaller pieces of debris that weren't on celluclay...now I am going to place the KT and figs on base and come back with a fine dusting of pigments to give it that "building just fell in dusty look"...also gonna do a little more dry-brushing on the brick rubble...then I'll seal it one more time and post it as a finished dio...I have taken all of your suggestions into account and I think you'll see the effects of your feedback on the finished dio...I have decided not to post any more pics until it is finished so that there will still be a little element of surprise at seeing the finished product---thanks guys!

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to mention that I use Humbrol enamels and oils (for the flesh) for the figs...

Manny

You have pushed the clutch and dropped it into overdrive with the mortar. Looking good.

I know you wanted to put the tank down before putting rubble in the street but.....keep in mind if the tank were to run over rubble. You could have a half brick next to the tracks with some red dust under the tracks. Another could be a scale piece of lumber (burnt on the end) sticking out from under the tracks.

I know I am driving you nuts . Overall, it looks great.

Rounds Complete!!

  Well done Manny. I have peeked in on this tread without comment many times. I must say that the latest pics with the mortar makes a huge difference in a positive way. Well done.

Your figures are amazing. What kind of paints do you use on them if you don't mind me asking?

I am more of an admirer of what people build than an actual modeler, but do believe that what others have said about the streets needing rubble, dust, etc. You already have a work of art. Just curious to see what it would look like if you were to follow the suggestions.

Regardless, well done. One fine piece of art.

Steve

Now Manny.....you know I'm not a dio builder....but rather a dio admirer.

 You got tons of great feedback....and the whole mortar question is now finished and the results are staggering!

 But to expand upon redlegs' post.....I have felt that the street itself was rather too clean.....when buildings fall apart.....the most pervasive remnant is dust and dirty stuff........some of this might fall into the cracks between the paving stones. Perhaps not in a 'blanket' type spread.....but at least here and there. Just my

 Also agree.....with or without figs and vehicles.....it stands alone as a fine dio.

 (but the figs are awesome)

Nam 

Thanks, doog---I'll be hitting her with a sealer soon (probably dullcoat) and then attaching figs and other last minute items, then pigment dusting...I am still trying to decide wether or not to add "ornamental bars" on the street level windows or not...I have some PE that might work from a VLS gate set...

PS: I agree that the mortar really pushed it to another level...the wash concept didn't work though---I had to thin some light grey paint and pretty much paint the lines in...nonetheless, it was worth it and thanks for "pushing" me to go ahead and JUST DO IT! LOL...

Oh yeah! That looks killer Manny! The mortar wash thing definitely makes a big difference!

The whole building really has depth now! The bricks look good too.

I agree about adding in some timbers--I always add a few scorched pieces of wood, and some slivers and splinters of toothpicks and cocktail sticks. 

You might want to add the and the figures now though, to get everything in there so that you can finish off the base debris--you don't want your debris field to look too pre-planned.

Man, this is gonna be good!

This is a question and not really a comment...why are the lower story windows bricked over?  Was this a common practice in "war zones"?  If they were bricked over wouldn't they be a slightly different color?

Just wondering...

9 Toe Tanker wrote:

Looks kool but where'd the roof go Manny?...roofs are made of light weight materials like timber beams and sometimes ceramic tiles from the localities depicted. There is no representation of any roof debris here....it certainly wasn't made of brick. Also any high explosive bomb or round that would have destroyed a building would have certainly burned some wood. JMhO. Looks great though.... .... Love the Tiger and figures.

Anyways, I am depicting a scene in Aachen...my theory is that this building was damaged primarily by fire and not blast...the roof fell inwards, along with most of the timber supports and was burned in the ensuing inferno...some of the walls were weakened by the fire and fell...that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Looks kool but where'd the roof go Manny?...roofs are made of light weight materials like timber beams and sometimes ceramic tiles from the localities depicted. There is no representation of any roof debris here....it certainly wasn't made of brick. Also any high explosive bomb or round that would have destroyed a building would have certainly burned some wood.

JMhO.

Looks great though.... .... Love the Tiger and figures.

Here is an update after I painted the mortar in-between the bricks (I'll get you back for this, doog--LOL)...I must say it was worth it though...and painting EACH AND EVERY brick in the rubble to match the color of the brick in the building, also added a first wash to the street and street-light...getting there!

...Vespa, I must say that although I know I won't leave the base bare, I am flattered that you think it could stand on it's own...RegLeg, I built this base JUST for the KT so the KT will go on it but I appreciate the feedback...I'm not sure WHAT base wouldn't be overwhelmed by the King...

Thanks, guys!

vespa boy wrote:

Lots of good suggestions so far. A few more thoughts. Make sure that the bricks in the rubble are the same size as the bricks from the building. Don't forget that when bricks scrape the weathered surface is removed and they are a different colour beneath. At the moment the colour of the drain is not really what street steel looks like. Go outside and look at some drains and manhole covers. I know that this suggestion will not fly on this forum, but I want to present it anyway. I think that the diorama is much more powerful without the tank and the figures...a war destroyed building in what used to be a residential (I am guessing) area tells the story of what happened without needing the narrative to be spelled out.

The last suggestion is DEEP. But.....the more I look at what you have the more the Tiger somewhat overpowers your building.

I know you built this for the Tiger but for hahas you may want to pull something smaller like a staff car and try that in place of the tank.

Then at least you can say, I looked at other perspectives

Rounds Complete!!

 Lots of good suggestions so far. A few more thoughts. Make sure that the bricks in the rubble are the same size as the bricks from the building. Don't forget that when bricks scrape the weathered surface is removed and they are a different colour beneath.

At the moment the colour of the drain is not really what street steel looks like. Go outside and look at some drains and manhole covers.

I know that this suggestion will not fly on this forum, but I want to present it anyway. I think that the diorama is much more powerful without the tank and the figures...a war destroyed building in what used to be a residential (I am guessing) area tells the story of what happened without needing the narrative to be spelled out.

One thing I did notice Manny now that I think of it...there should probably be a few broken roofing tiles in the mixture of rubble as the roof had to go somewhere...a few more pieces of scrap wood (some burnt) probably wouldn't hurt either. ...but I'm no expert.

Doog, hadn't thought of the pin wash to achieve the mortar look...sounds like the plan I needed---thanks...and I do plan on painting many of the bricks to match the building---good point about doing only a percent of them to achieve more color variety...just the feedback I needed to overcome that "mortar muff"...

DeputyBrad, thanks for the feedback...I plan on setting in some dust (same as used on the KT)as a last step, so the washes and other work I still need to do won't "wash" it away...also, will add some more random debris once figs and tank are finalized for placement so I won't interfere with their "footprint"...the bulk of this last debris addition will be the finer variety you mentioned, as well as some glass shards and random bits of paper...may even add some chalked messages to the building and/or a VLS propaganda poster...thanks for the input! 

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

I think it looks pretty good, but like you said the brick rubble doesnt really match. I was thinking though that there would be a lot of dust after an explosion. Maybe try to simulate a lot of settled dust around the base of the building and lighten the bricks on the building a bit. Dust would make it look lighter than it really is.

Also for my rubble I usually throw down white glue and crush plaster chunks between my fingers and I get really fine and coarse stuff and it settles inbetween. I dunno if you already planned on it but maybe adding some finer pieces to the mix like some real fine sand or something. To me the rubble all looks like pebbles and fist sized pieces so maybe fill inbetween some spots.

Manny, the layout looks fine, the figs are great, the tank superb, but the bricks need mortar, and the best way to do that would have to be a light tan oil wash. White+raw umber+ a pinch of yellow. Apply it as a pin wash. You won't even need to "ruin" the rest of it. And if you get a little bleed-through, so what--a lot of the best results I've gotten have come from pure mistakes. Stuff you couldn't repeat if I tried! Give it a shot!

First though, I would paint the building's bricks in a color to match the rubble--and not, NOT all of them, just about 40%--and then paint some of the rubble to match the bricks. YOu'll get a much nicer ditribution of various colors there, without any monochromaticism.

Don't forget to add some "mortar color" to the sides of some of the brick rubble too, to give it even addt'l realism. 

Tiger is impressive Manny...as well as the figure painting and I like their placement also.

Looks Kool!

Yeah, I sorta muffed this one...the technique I usually use is to paint the entire building the mortar color then dry brush the brick color on leaving the mortar color peeking inbetween the bricks...I didn't work that way on this one and if I go back and try to "fix" it I will lose all of the other work on the building, which I think looks pretty decent: washes, burned areas, plastered sections, etc...

Another thing I noticed is that my Dutton brand loose bricks (rubble) don't match the building so I am gonna have to go back and painstakingly paint them individually with more of a red color...I might also try a light white wash that may settle inbetween the bricks on the building for a better look, but am not sure if it will work??? Any suggestions?

Yeah, nice job on the figures' uniforms.

Steve 

Super sweet figs there Manny.

My only suggestion would be that the building looks a bit too monotone. Maybe a bit more color to bring out the brick-mortar?

Keep up the great werk there Manny.

SST

redleg12 wrote:

Manny My only suggestion is the rubble. The placement looks too clean, i.e. it does not fall into the streets. There should be piles by the building but rubble (wood brick etc) should extend into the street with less as you go further away from the building. Unless you are assuming it was cleaned up, an explosion would spread rubble around! Rounds Complete!!

Manny

My only suggestion is the rubble. The placement looks too clean, i.e. it does not fall into the streets. There should be piles by the building but rubble (wood brick etc) should extend into the street with less as you go further away from the building.

Unless you are assuming it was cleaned up, an explosion would spread rubble around!

Rounds Complete!!

the doog wrote:

Simply said, looks great Manny! It's really coming along wonderfully! The paint looks perfect! Don't forget a tan wash on those building bricks to simulate the mortar!  If I don't get much of a chance to chime in in the next few days, have a Merry Christmas!

Simply said, looks great Manny! It's really coming along wonderfully! The paint looks perfect! Don't forget a tan wash on those building bricks to simulate the mortar!

 If I don't get much of a chance to chime in in the next few days, have a Merry Christmas! 

ps1scw wrote:

You give the Zimmed Offering a ? I'm looking at the Tiger I ZO when it comes out.