Diorama "The Last Battle"

Well this one looks pretty good. Figures seem to be well placed, hugging the wall and using the tank as cover. The commander looks a little relaxed, but not totally out of place, maybe having him with a radio set over his ears and slightly bent down as if he's barking instructions to the crew inside?

I'm not that partial to the sidewalk, looks like a big piece of zimmeritt instead of cobbles. Also I would maybe have added some grey chunks of rubble to the ground to break up all of that red brick dust.

 Otherwise a pretty good scene.

I like the camo,

and although I'm probably talking to ears that probably won't listen, the sidewlak looks unrealistic, in all the photos and sidewalks i've seen, I've never seen any that look like this.
Also, would the thing holding the barrel up, be in that position if they weren't in a marching formation, (not in battle)? Also I agree with the relaxed position of the commander, and one last thing, why would that guy have a panzerfaust when he has a panther right next to him?

Just some things to think about, other than that it looks good.

The Panther looks good,but i have a big problem with your building and sidewalk.First of all your sidewalk should be cobblestone or brick.Secondly,your building.You have a stonebuilding with brick rubble.So what you should have is a stone building with stone rubble and the same with a brick building.The best bet is to look at european buildings to see how they are constructed and go from there.Dont mean to be too critical,but being a Stone mason,things like that just jump out at me.

Mark

One thing that strikes me is the mold line going across the mantle of the Panther. I looked at pictures of A's, D's and G's and none of them have a mold line on them on the real vehicles. Otherwise except for what has been noted by others it looks pretty good. The red brick dust should also have a mixture of dark and light material to give it a little bit more texture.

Mike T.

Either the ground troops are overly paranoid or that tank commander's gonna take one right between the eyes soon.

agree with the comments about the rubble and sidewalk.

Other than that it looks like a nice build. I like the paint on the panther.  

telsono wrote:

One thing that strikes me is the mold line going across the mantle of the Panther. I looked at pictures of A's, D's and G's and none of them have a mold line on them on the real vehicles. Otherwise except for what has been noted by others it looks pretty good. The red brick dust should also have a mixture of dark and light material to give it a little bit more texture. Mike T.

The casting seam was a noticeable feature on the late G "chin" type mantlet. Having said that, my understanding is that this particular kit erroneously provides "steel" wheels for a vehicle with essentially late "G"  features ("chin" mantlet, Crew heater, "flame damper" exhaust) So, the depiction above is of a vehicle which most likely didn't exist in real life. Nice build though.  

Thanks Phil for correcting me, I am not that much of a Panther expert.

Mike T.

VF8PANZER wrote:

your building.You have a stonebuilding with brick rubble.So what you should have is a stone building with stone rubble and the same with a brick building.The best bet is to look at european buildings to see how they are constructed and go from there.Dont mean to be too critical,but being a Stone mason,things like that just jump out at me. Mark

I thought the same, but wasn't sure. I didn't think you'd put a granite looking veneer over a brick building. The brick parts look too bright to my eyes and it appears there's no mortar dust in the rubble.

The non-conforming figures issue is an on-going problem with MM's builders.

telsono wrote:

Thanks Phil for correcting me, I am not that much of a Panther expert. Mike T.

Hi Mike,

I'm not a Panther expert either. I have this kit in the queue - picked it up cheap for painting practice and did a little research on it.

Cheers,

Phil