Large Update- 10/3 WIP- PG-117 Soviet Dock Diorama

Thanks Again! Found the Heki Grass mats On ScenicExpress and will be ordering shortly

Thanks Dwight & Stick Man

Birdman:  I just cut to shape with scissors and then glue with diluted white glue like you said.  You will probably have to do another thin layer of whatever ground material you originally had to cover the edges of the paper backing the grass sits on, and bury the grass into the dirt a bit so it looks like its growing out of it, not on top of it.  If you don't have any luck finding grass mats, let me know and I'll find out what company and website I got mine from. 

 

EDIT:  They were either the Heki brand or Noch brand from this website I beleive: http://www.sceneryexpress.com/departments.asp?dept=1051  Cruise around that site and I'm sure you'll find some great stuff.

Nice job so far Ian I realy like how the water is spraying up around the goose.

Definitely a stunning job. Love the water.

This sounds like the way to go!! Ill have to buy some and try it, any specail way of attaching it or just glue it down with watered down whiteglue?

They're great to work with.  Plus, since they're all glued in a standing position to the mat, they don't come loose when you drybrush lighter shades on.  I'm still on the lookout for some taller grass mats, in the 10mm range to make convincing fields, I think the ones I used were somewhere around 4mm high, to give you an idea of different heights.  IMPO, anything below 4mm that isn't supposed to look freshly cut and maintanied, like a yard or city park, just doesn't look natural.  

Now I'm giving myself ideas to make a dio of an overgrown city park/playground, that was long since abandoned after bombings dropped lawn maintenance to the bottom of the city's prioritities...weed covered swing sets and old rusty slides covered in leaves, with a ragged teddy bear or hat left to hint at the absence of children playing...now I'm just getting off topic.

Thanks, It all makes sense Ill have to try this "grass mat" next time.

Thanks guys!

Birdman....I used a variety of grass on this project.  The tall yellowish patches are Woodland Scenices Light Green Field Grass.  The lower, greener grass is a "grass mat" from one of the companies like Noch or Silflor, can't remember which, but they're pretty similar.  I always had problems with my static grass standing up, so I tried a "grass mat".  They're essentially pieces of thick paper with longish static grasses somehow glued on so that every piece stands on end.  If I remember correctly, it's about $14 for like 2 square feet of it.  The only problem is since it all stands perfectly up, the border between grass and no grass is too clear cut and unnatural looking, from dirt to lush grass on a perfect line.  So I just scraped off a little grass from a seperate, unused area of the mat and sprinkled it along the border, which made the flow from dirt to grass more realistic looking. 

Hope that ramble makes a little sense!

IanIsBored2000 wrote:

Thanks from all of you! The splahing water effects are a mix of 5 minute epoxy, clear caulking, CA glue, and strands from cotton sawb/ear cleaners/Q-tips coated in clear nail polish to make drips. Doog:  You're completely right.  Somehow I missed that when I was planning the scene, but it should be easy enough to lay in some rough concentric circles around the perimeter of the boat's hull with more clear caulking.  The difficult part will be the areas where the hull's waves are spreading out perpendicular to those heading towards shore, and moving the water in all kinds of weird directions.  Still debating whether or not to put some water in the bottom of the boat and a guy bailing water with a bucket.

Very nice work, Ian---love the water effects!!! I might "steal" some of your methods for my current Dio WIP!!!
 

Wow!! i can only dream of haveing mine turn out like yours! one ? , what did you use for the grass on the shore, i'v been reserching grass and would love to know how you did it 

Thanks Bodge, PanzerGuy, Nick Steve & Smeagol.

Smeagol: I see what you mean about falling off the edge.  The figure in question is only temporarily tacked on for display purposes, and will most likely not be his exact final position.  Thanks

The duck is a german spy, get it!!

 

But really, that looks really good, the only issue I have with it, is it seems the guy is going to walk off the edge of the boat, he doesnt seem to be watching where hes going

Ian... you've really pulled off that goose / water trick. It looks fantastic!

Steve

Fantastic! A very unique diorama. I like it very much. Keep up the great work.
Regards,
Nick

 

   Ian this is awsome From the dead tree to the swan taking to the air and everything in between just spectacular.

Just a couple of words,

I LOVE IT.

Thanks from all of you!

The splahing water effects are a mix of 5 minute epoxy, clear caulking, CA glue, and strands from cotton sawb/ear cleaners/Q-tips coated in clear nail polish to make drips.

Doog:  You're completely right.  Somehow I missed that when I was planning the scene, but it should be easy enough to lay in some rough concentric circles around the perimeter of the boat's hull with more clear caulking.  The difficult part will be the areas where the hull's waves are spreading out perpendicular to those heading towards shore, and moving the water in all kinds of weird directions.  Still debating whether or not to put some water in the bottom of the boat and a guy bailing water with a bucket.

It just keeps gettin' better....

WOW!!

 That Goose going airborne really brings LIFE into the scene!     Great execution and effect, Ian!!

Take care,

Frank

HOLY #^$%! Ian!

WOW! That's looking terrific! YOur water effect on the goose is superb!

Joefix stuff is awesome too, isn't it? I used Joefix leaves in the "Lair of the Rust Bunnies" dio. They have some AWESOME groundwork materials!

This is really a beautiful looking dio! Can't wait to see it finished!

The only criticism I have is that I strongly suggest that you "play with some more water effects" to put some ripples about that b oat--if that guy is in the boat, rocking it, it's going to leave a lot of ripples going out from it. IMO, it is essential in conveying reality to the scene, and the idea of guys being n the boat and being ready to disembark.

Well, thanks to some help from SteveM, I've got some more work done on this one.  The plexi-sides conveniently popped off, but I have yet to spackle and paint the edges to make them look nicer.  I've added the first figure, although he isn't finished, mainly needing more equipment.  I also added one of the two geese (also not fully painted) and played with a lot of water effects to make it look as though the soldier is scaring him away with an oar (some bird poo will be added to the boat and dock later providing a reason for the soldiers hostility towards his avian friend.)  I haven't decided yet if there will be a second goose in the scene.  2-3 figures remain, and lots of details.  Finally, I added a lot of Joefix Shrubbery material, which I think looks fantastic compared to the Woodland Scenics foam I originally had.  I roughed up the water a bit too and made light ripples to break up the boring surface some of you pointed out.  Here it is so far:

As always, nothing is final, and comments, questions and criticism are welcome.  Thanks for looking, Ian

 

 

Thanks Doog! I've added some action to the water, and it isn't perfect, but it looks a lot better than the flat surface before.  I used cleark caulking to give subtle ripply lines of waves rolling towards the shore, and started working on the areas where the geese will be taking off from, leaving churned up water and "strands" of water hanging from their feet.  If I can get the 5 minute epoxy and oher materials to behave, I think it would look cool to have one or both birds fully off the resin water surface, suspended via a foot attached to a string of epoxy. 

Beautiful work, Ian!

I realy love the whole presentation!

The water could be a little more "lively" but it looks fine as is, if you don't feel like messing with it. And in water that close to shore, I have to believe that the boat would be almost "sitting on the bottom.

Nice work--you continue to tackle challenges, expand your horizons; I like that!

Thanks Rabit, I've got plenty of ideas left for water dios and I'm sure your tips will come in handy.

IanIsBored2000 wrote:

Thanks Snake.  I never did finish "Pathos & Deimos"  The piles of unpainted figures sit on my bench as a reminder of my earlier, more ambitious, days of modelling.  I still have plans to eventually take another swing at it, but probably with far less figures, and a smaller LCVP instead of an LCM.  After seeing how much Envirotex resin this tiny PG-117 took, I can't even imagine how much I would go through submerging a 50 foot LCM!

Well if it makes you feel any better, I'm a couple of years into planning & consolidating a dio based on a painting by Jim Dietz "the battle for Moskow.". Which features about 17 living germans, some 10 desciesed, a bakers dozen red Inf & mounted Cossack, 2 T34's, 2 75mm AT guns, 1 75mm howitzer and a chopped up winter trench scene. When complete it will sprawl over 8sq feet, this assumes it reaches completion, I have my doubts.    On the subject of water scenes, a good art supply store should be able to direct to some clear casting resin (polyesther type) that cures up water clear, & costs a fraction of epoxy types.  Just be careful not to overdo it when you add catilyst as cracking or even fire can result. Some transparent resin tints, green & a skoash of red to warm up the green should give a scale effect.  So hope that helps, abiets a little late for your PG-117. Another caution polyesther attacks styrene, alum foil, saran wrap will protect lg pieces, a coat of white glue for smaller things. Alum will further need wax or a shot of PAM to free from the res, saran will not stick.  Keep up the good work.

Incoming PM, Steve.  Thanks.

I got some Joefix shrubbery, and the Doug's scared geese. No plans any time soon. I could send you some shrub and the geese, and you can pay em back later, when MMW restocks. PM me if'n you wanna.

If you don't feel like doing that, try Colorado Miniatures for the geese, and look around eBay for the Joefix stuff, in sellers' stores. I can think a few that offer it.

Steve

 

Thanks to all, and Steve I see the humor in it as well.  It would be interesting to see the cumulative touches that each of us add to the Omaha "stuff" as it inevitably continues down the line to the next ambitious modeller.  Placed an order at MilitaryMiniaturesWarehouse for some Joefix Shrubs (The leaves just look so REAL!) some dead leaf type things, since I think the scene, especially the inside of the boat and the surface of the water are just screaming for some of those (Still beating myself up for not covering the lakebed with them pre-resin) and some geese taking off to give the scene and water some action, but they were out of stock, so I'll have to look elsewhere.

ian,i think your name is a little mis-leading .you are not bored.this looks great.the water clarity is not an issue in my opinion as the boat would certainly seek safe refuge,say a backwater or smalllagoon what have you.and the clarity can actually be quite good in these calm water hide-outs.and the rest of your work is very good also.