German railway diorama WIP March 30th update, pg3

and people thought my dio was BIG!! looks good from my perspective...but what do i know about ww2 stuff. would like to see it painted to get a good feel for it but basicaly speaking...looks good!

OH BOY!  It is going to be FUN watching your process.  I see that many people have visited your forum but they didn't leave any comments.  WHY?  Cause they were shocked and speechless... just give them more time to say something. 

I noticed the wall between the railway and the station is pretty deep.  Is that what you wanted or it will be lowered?  Just wondering how folks can get into the train... that was my only thought.  Everything else looks exciting!

My first thought was, there's no way his fiancee is going to let him put in a WWII german diorama into that space surrounded by glass, shiny plastic and family photos! Good luck on that!

I think that the layout is fine, but I am a little concerned about the placing of the morser down into essentially a pit--it might diminish the impact of the vehicle by putting it below street level?

I've always just made my 1/35 fencing out of cocktail sticks, broken and/or sanded to scale.

deafpanzer wrote:

I noticed the wall between the railway and the station is pretty deep.  Is that what you wanted or it will be lowered?  Just wondering how folks can get into the train... that was my only thought.  Everything else looks exciting!

The idea is that this is essentially a two-tier diorama. The height division will be a retaining wall composed of large stone brocks (to be shown in next update). The dio does not depict the entire scene showing the full loading docks and whatnot for the train station; merely a small part of the town that overlooks this particular area of the railway.

the doog wrote:

My first thought was, there's no way his fiancee is going to let him put in a WWII german diorama into that space surrounded by glass, shiny plastic and family photos! Good luck on that!

lol you'd think so huh Actually this thing was her idea. I had a bunch of display cabinets all over the place, and unfortunately during the move, many of my works were...met with an unhappy demise. She suggested that I take on a large project that would be an interesting centerpiece for that particular room. Go figure. I don't think I would have taken on something so large otherwise.

Brief update, I've laid in the brickwork for the retaining wall (made out of cork bricks, that took forever to make), along with the four columns that will hold the streetlamps (cast in plaster). I've laid in the railroad, cut off the excess, and filled in the ballast which is mixed out of white glue and pebbles. I've manufactured the fence you see on the lower part, but I'm unsure as to whether it is the look I am going for. I may yet have to scrap that, but I'm really unsure what to do for a replacement. I don't know where to obtain a large quantity of PE fencing that would be applicable.

I've also started to lay in the sidwalks slowly.

EDIT: I did a quick search on ebay for some suitable fencing, and made an order, it will probably be a bit of time before it comes in, but I have decided to immediately remove the fence I've built that's in the pictures currently.

Ok barely had time to make any progress. Just trying to enjoy the summer while its here. I know that come fall there'll be gloomier days and more time for this. But in the meantime, I've finished enough of the sidewalk section to fill in the neccessary spaces, and will now begin working on the remaining street section. A few tidbits will adorn the columns as seen, and the bases for the lamps are comming together. You can also see some of the parts for the lamps, and finally the fence that I ordered came in. The last shot is just a mockup to demonstrate the look of it.

Well summer is winding down, and I finally got around to working on this guy a bit. I primed the main buildings, and finished paving the entire dio. The road surface needs to now get a coat of diluted white glue, and when dried, primed flat black.

I think there are two stories on this diorama?

For me at least stroy wise it doesn't really work well...  Maybe focusing one main story and keep it as the centre piece and maybe 2nd story as the side story but in relation to the main story... Also several big buildings are kind of distracting rather than emphasing the story IMHO...

For the build itself I envy your skill. I wish I have half of the skill you have mate~ ^ ^

Great work on this build, it looks awesome!

I really like that new fence you got.

dj898 wrote:

I think there are two stories on this diorama? For me at least stroy wise it doesn't really work well...  Maybe focusing one main story and keep it as the centre piece and maybe 2nd story as the side story but in relation to the main story... Also several big buildings are kind of distracting rather than emphasing the story IMHO... For the build itself I envy your skill. I wish I have half of the skill you have mate~ ^ ^

Definitely not disagreeing with you; there is obviously a strong disconnect between the two tiers of the diorama. I'm not sure how much stairs connecting the two would help...

zokissima wrote:

dj898 wrote: I think there are two stories on this diorama? For me at least stroy wise it doesn't really work well...  Maybe focusing one main story and keep it as the centre piece and maybe 2nd story as the side story but in relation to the main story... Also several big buildings are kind of distracting rather than emphasing the story IMHO... For the build itself I envy your skill. I wish I have half of the skill you have mate~ ^ ^ Definitely not disagreeing with you; there is obviously a strong disconnect between the two tiers of the diorama. I'm not sure how much stairs connecting the two would help...

I think you might be on to something - maybe a set of stairs down to the platform where the Munitionschlepper is going to be and a couple of people going up or down...?

Alternatively, could you have some people on the rail car interacting with people up above?  Having not seen the car, I don't know how it would work, but it might be something you could try.

A very brief update, still haven't had time to sit down properly. But, this weekend, the buildings will start having the first layers of paint thrown on, and the large base will be basecoated in flat black.

For now, all I've done is fill in the grout using Pollyfilla fine, scraped away
the excess and wiped it down with a damp cloth.

Ok, its been a while, but finally this week I had a chance
to sit down at some painting; witness the results, the first building
is finished. You may recognize this as the Miniart French Cafe. I may change that stupid Munich sign, as I was really at a loss when it came to finish it. The building was basecoated with a mix of Tamiya acrylics, then weathered and finished with oils, citadel paints (great for hand-brushing), and pigments.

This weekend I'll finally start on two of the smaller vehicles.

All comments welcome.

WOW! That really looks incredible, very realistic. Nice paint job!

Steve

Macktheknife wrote:

A small nitpick - if it's in German it's more likely that such a sign would say "München."

Thank you! If there was doubt before, now there is none, that sign has to come off

zokissima wrote:

Wow, almost a thousand views and no comments at all. C'mon, I know I must be making mistakes somewhere, so someone point them out...

Ummm.... looks like some silvering around the 'G' decal?

I only took a quick look, but I think it looks good. 

Just a very quick update tonight, haven't had much time to work on this. Next week I will start painting the next building.

Zokissima,

I really like this project and your vehicles and buildings.  How are the Miniart buildings to build?  I have one in the stash but have never worked with them before.  Thanks!

Steve