~ ! Clash in Tunisia ! ~ { Final Photos on page 37 }

~~Hey guys~~ Thanks so much to all of you !  I still have yet to get the picture set I have in mind....I tried today but the day was getting late, the shadows we're getting long and the wind was really picking up and blowing sand off the beach. Here is one sample of sort of what I'm after :

Indy, I have heard it said that dios with more than a few figures are tough to pull off well, but you absolutely made it work here.  Great figure work complement the well built and weathered vehicles all on a perfect base.  Congrats my friend for one killer final product!  I hope to see this puppy in a future FSM Readers Gallery!

Brian

Man o Man, worth the wait, Adam, this is really something to see. Work is still way crazy, so I will need to sneak some time tonight to see it in all its glory, but the attention to detail in this one is really paying off from what I have seen so far.

Way to persevere, way to kick diobutt!

I can't wait to see this one in person, guys, and he is close enough that I think I will be able to.  

Great work, talk to you soon, buddy.

Bill

the diorama looks great, but the figures by the motorcycle seem to close together to me. Also it would make more sense to me if the Germans at the pak 40 would be fleeing or fighting because they know the British are there?

Holy Cow!!!!!! That is fantastic! Very nice work indeed.

Adam - simply stunning my friend.  Absolutely stunning!

Bob

Super Indy!  Just plain SUPER!

Congratulations on your completion of a labor of love and dedication Adam!!! 

It is specatcular and so full of detail it is mind boggeling.  The average non-modeler will have no ideal how huge the investment was, but we do!!

WOW!! Very Sweet...!

~Bri~ Hugely appreciated my friend! Here goes/////

I have finished it !!

 

Here it is 1st  --with just the vehicles added :

 

 

 

The Kubel & Opel had definate postitions, with some tracks and depressions modelled in for proper sit. The motorcycle remained movable to the very end, and once the figures we're all in place I actually moved it a little from this spot.

 

Showing off the interiors and stowage we're part of the plan all along, by having them up front and open to veiw along the road. I also wanted them parked in such a way they seemed to be hugging the narrow road when they we're parked- to this end the Opels wheels we're turned 'hard-over' before locking in final position with thin C/A to the steering rack.

 

 

 

Hey Indy, as I posted over in the forum thread you are really putting maximum effort into this build anf it is showing in spades buddy!  Can't wait to see it all together!

Brian

~Anti-Tank Gun Emplacement Complete!

~~I have finalized placement and installed the guncrew and gear using musicwire pins & C/A

The commander, who will be played by Ron Pearlman in the film (it's now confirmed)  has recieved his Afrika Corp issue binocs (Swinging ont he foil strap) and Luger on his right hip (just his style---maybe he likes American Westerns?)

Most of the gear is fixed with the Gel C/A, as it stays put where I want it and doesn't run into visable spots--but also bulks up to fill areas in uneven surfaces really well and bond.(In the old days, old school 'contact cement' would have done the job, but was a bit more messy and sometimes unreliable used in small amounts.

I have used pins on some items you may not expect, because sometimes it's difficult to get a positive 'seat' and be sure not to have visable glue. The ammo stowage tubes  above we're already pinned anyways, from painting,  and here I'm showing how I arrive at proper orientation by turning the part 180 degrees and using the pin itself to guide my micro-drill to the desired pin travel path.

~SternO~  Thank you for that buddy---I always enjoy your work too.

~~As for the outlaw Josey Wales......Yeah , one of my all time favorites---

So many great scenes, but likely  the most gripping and meaningful :

Josey: You be Ten Bears?
Ten Bears: I am Ten Bears.
Josey: (spits tobacco) I'm Josey Wales.
Ten Bears: I have heard. You're the Gray Rider. You would not make peace with the Blue Coats. You may go in peace. Josey: I reckon not. Got nowhere to go.
Ten Bears: Then you will die.
Josey: I came here to die with you. Or live with you. Dying ain't so hard for men like you and me, it's living that's hard; when all you ever cared about has been butchered or raped. Governments don't live together, people live together. With governments you don't always get a fair word or a fair fight. Well I've come here to give you either one, or get either one from you. I came here like this so you'll know my word of death is true. And that my word of life is then true. The bear lives here, the wolf, the antelope, the Comanche. And so will we. Now, we'll only hunt what we need to live on, same as the Comanche does. And every spring when the grass turns green and the Comanche moves north, he can rest here in peace, butcher some of our cattle and jerk beef for the journey. The sign of the Comanche, that will be on our lodge. That's my word of life.
Ten Bears: And your word of death?
Josey: It's here in my pistols, there in your rifles. I'm here for either one.
Ten Bears: These things you say we will have, we already have.
Josey: That's true. I ain't promising you nothing extra. I'm just giving you life and you're giving me life. And I'm saying that men can live together without butchering one another.
Ten Bears: It's sad that governments are chiefed by the double-tongues. There is iron in your word of death for all Comanche to see. And so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron, it must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life... or death. It shall be life. (he takes his knife and cuts his hand. Josey does the same and they grasp each others hand.) So shall it be.

Good stuff INDY! Fantastic work as usual.....just threw mine in the trash!

BTW..watched Jose kick some red leg butt last night!! one of my favorites!

deafpanzer

Indy, you are almost there... your prize (the Lost Ark) is awaiting!

~Andy~

Yeah really Buddy ~ Soon as I take out all those brownshirts it's mine!

~Boyyd~ 

 Right on man ----thanks & here goes!

rtfoe

Kind of reminds me of ingredients in a recipe list like add four of this , six of that , a couple those , a pinch of this , mix them well in a pot and let it simmer for twenty minutes. I think Rob will comprehend this being a Chef an all.

Yup! looks like all the components are ready. Looking forward to the assembly.

Cheers,

Richard

 Yeah- exactly Richard---kindof like Stirfry I think---takes forever to cut everything up into tiny little pieces and a minute or two in the hot oil and Bam! it's ready!!

Here's it comes............soup's on!

M1Carbine

Adam, there are so many parts there...OMG!  the end result will be stunning and cannot wait to see it completed.

 

Bob

BoB~ (Hopefully) Just the right amount of elements! & thanks for your excellent support the whole way!

~101st ~ A lot of people have had a look---time to give them something--I 'm sure most will enjoy.

~~Guys I'll be getting this finished pretty fast now!

Indy

I'm speechless.... AGAIN!  Can't wait to see the final product!

Indy, you are almost there... your prize (the Lost Ark) is awaiting!

Kind of reminds me of ingredients in a recipe list like add four of this , six of that , a couple those , a pinch of this , mix them well in a pot and let it simmer for twenty minutes. I think Rob will comprehend this being a Chef an all.

Yup! looks like all the components are ready. Looking forward to the assembly.

Cheers,

Richard

Adam, there are so many parts there...OMG!  the end result will be stunning and cannot wait to see it completed.

Bob

Now I see why there are so many comments! Everything looks great. I can't wait to see the finished products.

~Richard~  Thanks for that. yeah, nice when a little change to a kit part does the trick an it can easily be passed on---I nearly thought I'd have to scratchbuild new handles instead--not a big deal, but I'd already painted them! Obviously better to think of it ahead of time.

Here's a bit more~~~

The British Forces Move In~~~~

a couple of them still needed to be armed...

and a few small accoutrements, but (not too many!)

Oh, a boy and his 1st mission!  So innocent. 

Equipped as a fast-attack force.

I decided to have the Bren gun man carrying his spare barrel case, though usually carried by his spotter, along with x-tra magazines, my Brengunner is a bit of a big guy and looks like he can handle it and needed a little something more. I made a foil carry strap painted khaki.

~The Tommygunner got a .38 holster and just some smoothing out in general.

His lower end came out pretty well with the kind of dust and grime I wanted, and shows how much better some of the new Dragon figures can paint up--even the boots-which are often lacking in both size and detail are pretty good here I think.

This Dragon figure with Hornet head came a long way I think towards looking the part.

I did go back and put some fine rainmarks to the fallshrimjagers' jump smock using some enamel. It's not too obvious here, as I found anytime I really painted it as really visable it was way out of scale.I worked slowly and applied very light small marks.

Here's all the figures for Clash again, one last "class picture" before they're set against eachother 

In fact .....Here's every single thing going into the Dio, sitting around like props on a movie backlot , until I have time to properly assemble the thing and find out if the elements fit my vision.         

Hi Adam,

Good stuff. Particularly like what you did with the crate handles. Appreciate the reference also, now I can paint my German items right. Weathering on the spades look awesome.

Tally-Ho and keep them coming.

Cheers,

Richard

~Jet~ Thanks Buddy-good to see ya!

I added some of the microscopic decals from the PAK 40 kit to the ammo, and labels to the crates and weathered them up a little. Note I also made one nice improvement to the kit ammo crates by just scribing-out the finger-slot of the handles, that are moulded solid. Below the pre-weathered crate shows a stock 'handle' on right, and a slotted one on left(I also bent it out a little to make it more visable here)

The decals are oversized, but I thought better than nothing.

That is appearently what they should look like. I actually found this great picture :

Now, finding  photos of the rounds themselves was the most difficult, and each example I found looked different. I did find one round that a gentleman was trying to appraise on a history forum.  Members of that forum we're in agreement that this was indeed a rare PAK40  round.

 

I also painted up the C.D. brand clay jug (sorry , I see this photo is a bit over-exposed)

 

 

I got a pretty realistic effect easily by wetting just the shovel tips and dipping into my pigment mixture. The pickaxe is from the Tamiya truck kit and was a project in itself removing the complex 'Z' shaped moulded-on bracket(another teeny-tiny hurtle !)

 

~~More to follow~~~~~~~~~                    

Every thing is looking amazing so far. You've done a lot since I last posted on this post.

 Indy's still charging ahead people--guns blazing!!

Mac~ Sounds good--thank you!

 

 

 

The warheads we're brush  painted with Tamiya mixes, as I wanted their flat look on the shiny brass (though I dinged them up  some with a minimal filter) One type I have to guess is a H.E. round and the other an armour piercing--don't ask me which is which.  [edit] as Mac states above-