Thought I'd add more to the WIP with the build up of the shop house. It all started with basic art cards and then strips of card was glued overlapping each strip for the walls.

I painted the walls a peppermint green so well liked by the chinese comunity.

Chicken wire made from wedding veil screen was for the ventilation screen found at the top of the walls of most village houses.

The side wall got a window with corrugated zinc roofing made out of corrugated card.

I made the window louvres from clear plastic and rods. The frame was made from strips of thicker plastic sheets.

The front door is balsa strip. The doors were usually planks slotted in grooves and held by a single horizontal timber bar from the back.

The fruit stall stand was fabricated from card and balsa. The boxes were made from card as well.

The following are some of the components that are going into this dio.

What's a basket got to do with the dio? Well it better fit in as I had to painstakingly piece together strip by strip paper thin plastic sheet to simulate a vege basket used to throw trash at fruit stalls.

And ofcourse bananas that will accompany this dio. As you can see they're not quite finished yet. They were made from glueing spices together(Jintan Manis).

The finished basket painted rattan brown and next to the fruit stand and boxes.

That's all for now. C & C welcomed and thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Thanks Richard for the addtional reference pictures. I doubted that I have ever seen Durians other than the Thai large ones. With that Northwest flight, the fruit was in cardboard cartons without plastic. The plastic wrap would have caused rot, but the scent probably made people think that it had already. My wife is from Vietnam so I have been well acquainted with it. We had a tin of durian flavored wafer creme cookies. You had to make sure the cover was tightly secure or the entire house smelled of it. At the airport working passenger baggage we had the fire department come down to investigate possible "gas leaks" after the fruit was seized from passengers.

Export fruits are usually of a highest quality. To Japan we ship cherries which are "Grade A over selected". The cheap cherries people sell at the roadsides are the "doubles" and "splits" that are graded out. we have alot more splits this year with intermittent rains that swell and causes ruptures in the fruit skin which is only slightly elastic in nature.

Mike T.

Nice work on the basket. When you copy the method of construction for the protoype for your model you get the best results and it really paid off. I like the building, and the small details like the flashing at the edge of the awning.

Have you seen Chuck Doan's modelling? He manages to age signage like no one else I have seen. Well worth checking it out.

!~Beautiful update my friend---this thread is no doubt one of my favorite stops!

 I found this to be entirely convincing

That has to be the product of someone very familiar with such a place. Grade A stuff

telsono

Thanks Richard for the addtional reference pictures. I doubted that I have ever seen Durians other than the Thai large ones. With that Northwest flight, the fruit was in cardboard cartons without plastic. The plastic wrap would have caused rot, but the scent probably made people think that it had already. My wife is from Vietnam so I have been well acquainted with it. We had a tin of durian flavored wafer creme cookies. You had to make sure the cover was tightly secure or the entire house smelled of it. At the airport working passenger baggage we had the fire department come down to investigate possible "gas leaks" after the fruit was seized from passengers.

Export fruits are usually of a highest quality. To Japan we ship cherries which are "Grade A over selected". The cheap cherries people sell at the roadsides are the "doubles" and "splits" that are graded out. we have alot more splits this year with intermittent rains that swell and causes ruptures in the fruit skin which is only slightly elastic in nature.

Mike T.

Oooh Cherries, my sister used to bring a carton of them from Australia on her visits and we used to overdose on cherries. Our local fruit tend to be tougher, hardy and naturally sweet.

Cheers,

Richard

vespa boy

Nice work on the basket. When you copy the method of construction for the protoype for your model you get the best results and it really paid off. I like the building, and the small details like the flashing at the edge of the awning.

Have you seen Chuck Doan's modelling? He manages to age signage like no one else I have seen. Well worth checking it out.

Thanks Narayan, yep there's no other way than to copy. No I've not seen Chuck's modelling. Would like a link to his site if you have one?

Cheers,

Richard

*INDY

!~Beautiful update my friend---this thread is no doubt one of my favorite stops!

 I found this to be entirely convincing

That has to be the product of someone very familiar with such a place. Grade A stuff

Thanks Adam, glad you liked that particular picture.

I'm lucky to be surrounded by these references. Nothing has changed much in the old part of town or villages. There's this one house next to an elevated highway that I want to photograph and share with you before it's torn down. It has a character on its own. Will post as soon as I shoot it.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard: Here is a link to Chuck's photo albums....really inspirational stuff. The effort he puts into getting every detail is just amazing.

http://public.fotki.com/chuckdoan/model_projects/

WOW! Figures and buildings look great! Really looking forward to seeing her finished.

vespa boy

Richard: Here is a link to Chuck's photo albums....really inspirational stuff. The effort he puts into getting every detail is just amazing.

http://public.fotki.com/chuckdoan/model_projects/

Thanks for the link Narayan,

Really amazing work from this artist. Chucks work is way ahead of mine and I can get new inspiration from him. So far I'm pleased to have seen some similar applications between us and I'm only at 25% of where he's at. I'm surprised that the materials in the pine trees in his Red Oak Garage dio are the same as those in my Before The Bulge dio. Cool.

His Dr Peppers signage will be the reference basis for weathering my Marlboro bilboard from now on. Great link.

Cheers,

Richard.

Gamera

WOW! Figures and buildings look great! Really looking forward to seeing her finished.

Thanks Gamera, I'm as anxious as you are with completing this dio. I've been at it, off and on for three years now.

Cheers,

Richard.

~Any progress Richard?

How are you?

*INDY

~Any progress Richard?

How are you?

 

Hi Adam,

Thanks for asking, I'm fine, so far the progress for this dio had to take a back seat as I was rushing a 1/72 Heli Dio for a local GB. Didn't finish on time but it was enough for a decent display. Here's a glimpse of it minus the figures and some minute details on the heli:

I managed to ad figures to the Heli for the GB that just concluded last Saturday. Here's the pix with the figures:

I'm now continuing with the Marines to be added to the padi field. You can catch the whole WIP in the Helicopter forum. Look out for UH-34.

Once this is done I'll probably renue progress with R & R .

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Everyone, it's good to be back working on R & R after some side distractions on other projects.

Well, the last time I promised some picture of an old local house that caught my eye while building R & R. I'm surprised that it's still standing next to a highway.

More surprising is there are still occupants and a small business selling junk.

Notice the modern bus stop next to it.

Okay, here are some progress shots of the dio base. I removed all the loose items to work on it.

There are some improvements where I carved out a new path assuming that it's coming from the main road.

I added cement literally to the porch of the house. You can see the masking tape to protect the wall.  I tend to do things the hard way...the correct way is to do all base work before adding stuff like the house...I'm doing it backwards which I don't recommened.

Then I also cemented the road and embankment to seal it for the bushes and vegetaion that I'm going to add.

I've also decided that I'll put the banana tree in this corner. It still needs final painting and detailing.

The cement for the porch has dried so I've weathered it with olive drab to simulate green algae due to the wet and moist surface and sun.

That's all for now. I'm still working on the painting of the rest of the base and the sawgrass. Ive also decided to switch some of the figures with the new ARVN troops I got as they are more the right Asian size.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi again,

Just wanted to share my progress from the last two days. I'm concentrating on finishing the base by adding the sawgrass and painting the ground work first.

I spent quite a while cutting and placing the bristles carefully composing it after I had added the moss. They were secured with white glue. The finer individual strands of bristles were secured with UHU glue.

I made tyre tracks with spackle and while it was still wet I rolled a spare tyre over it. This method seems to be my constant doing as I always do things backwards. Most would have done the tracks while the whole base was still wet at the beginning. I'm wierd but then again this was a last minute thought.

I dry fitted all the components just to see how it looked.

I masked off the building and Billboard with cling wrap. Then I proceeded to paint the foliage with different shades of green starting with the darker tones and finally with yellow.

Then the dirt was painted with an airbrush. I highlighted the tracks with Tamiya earth brown.

The storm drain got some attention with rust and patches of white and grey to simulate concrete. The culvert also was treated the same with splotches of green to look weathered and encrusted with algae and moss.

The other end of the drain outlet was rusted with Humbrol Leather.

Another shot of the overall from another angle.

Thanks for looking. C & C welcomed.

Cheers,

Richard 

This is just stunning work. Your groundwork is magnificent... incredible eye for detail.

Mic

This is just stunning work. Your groundwork is magnificent... incredible eye for detail.

 

Thanks Mic for the nice words. I only just got used to adding brush bristles after experimenting with it on my Vietnam heli build. I'm glad it turned out okay. I still need to add some ferns around the mile stone and storm drain outlet.

I hope to start on the figures soon after I detail the banana tree. At the moment it's still stock standard and paper like.

Thanks for the looking and patience.

Cheers,

Richard

~Hi Richard~Sorry I've missed a few posts--there so much going on on this forum I lost track i guess  ok ,not really...actually there's next to nothing happening on this forum . You are an an amazing standout. This is Coming along by leaps & bounds my friend~!

that's the kind of thick,lush beautiful place you we're talking about huh? Puctuated by the delapidated old shack(loved the real world photo you showed too!---Wow--#$&*%@--that place is punched!)    Sorry too for no comment on the helicopter scene---it's very well done and I had thought I lesft a comment, but failed to--it started with " there's a heli forum?" cause that's way off my radar---but again--well done with the rotor-wash marsh

I can't get over how great the above scene looks --I always like the realism of a good base prior to placing the models--it will only get better, but for now I'll enjoy the well-modelled roadway and nicely layered plants.

Hey Adam, good to hear from you.

You didn't miss much on R & R, as most people who stumble on this post would likely say..."He's at it again with the base" Lol But like you said a dio needs a good base. And I agree.

I've always wanted to get the foliage of the tropical jungle right at least in 1/35 scale. I'm happy it's turning out well.

As you noticed, the fruitstall is missing some fruit. Because I didn't seal them properly some insect had them for a meal. The plums and veggie were reduced to dust and only one comb of bananas was lost. This time I'm soaking the dried herbs in insecticide before painting.

Yes! There is a Heli forum here. I thought it odd too being a seperate forum from aircraft. I spent the last month detailing the UH-34. The base was a last minute addition and was done in six days flat from plan up.

I'm working on painting the banana tree for R & R now and will post some pictures later.

Checklist:

1)  Base - 90% complete. Banana tree in progress.

2)  Land Rover - 95% complete, only to add duffle bags, antenna, ciggies and a map.

3)  Honda Cub - Only weathering remains to blend with the base.

4)  Dogs, sandles, clogs, scale - Completed.

5)  Ducks, abandoned bicycle, cat and bird - Still in progress.

6)  SLR's, Sterling Sub-machine guns - Straps to be added.

7)  Figures - Four posed, three to four more to go.

Thanks for hanging in there.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi! Going bananas for now.

Did a little with the short time I had yesterday. Here's what it looks like before painting:

I painted the stripes and highlighted the center stem.

It's still not done yet. Will continue later.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard, this is coming together beautifully. There is so much to look at. You have captured day-to-day existance very well with all your details, and the lushness and variaety of equatorial foliage. When you put the vehicles and soldiers on to the dio,  I think its going to show in a very real way how intrusive military activities are into normal life. Beautiful work.

Thanks Narayan, I hope it comes out the way you've described it. Really appreciate the lovely comment.

I've put in a short progress on the banana tree. This time the attention was to the trunk. The AM tree trunk was plain green. The real trunk normally has layers of dried leaves still attached so I ventured into my wife's little garden...

...picked out some dried stem coverings from a creeper plant...

...cut them and pasted them in layers onto the trunk...

...with UHU glue. I tweeked and teased it to fold until satisfied with the look. What do you think?

There's still more to be done. And thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard, I've been following this thread with great interest, but haven't commented yet. My apologies. I must say you are doing some excellent work here. You have some very clever ideas about how to create foliage and make it look very convincing, in a manner that I would probably never think of! Great work!

 Enough of lurking around at my end.  I don't do diomaras... not yet but one day I will.  I have been following your work since you started posting.  AMAZING work!   Thank you for taking your time to post your work.

BAM!

that did the trick    WoW

beautiful move

entirely convincing banananana tree

Thanks Jon and Andy for following this thread. I appreciate your comments even at this late stage. I can understand if the comments come in trickles especially when the WIP is as long as this one. The viewer count indicates that it has a steady stream of viewers and is encouraging.

Forums like these give the opportunity for closet builders to showcase and share their efforts otherwise it just collects dust on shelves at home. I hope by sharing, my efforts may help unravel some building technics hindering other builders. Also this particular dio has a local flavour that taps into a frozen time in my country's history.

Glad you both like it and I welcome your comments anytime.

I just got a request to add a King Fisher and grafitti on the concrete by my Malaysian friends. This will give an indication why this dio is taking so long to complete. I'll think about it.

Cheers,

Richard

*INDY

entirely convincing banananana tree

Indy, either you or me are going bananananas! Lol

Thank you, it hit me as well. I was pondering about how to create the bark effect for the banana tree trunk until I was watering my wife's plants and ...hey presto!...hmmm this could work.

Something to consider when using natural dried vegetation is to seal it with varnish to preserve it. It may look dead but as it decomposes it gets brittle and disintegrates. I use Future and Testors dullcote to seal it.

Sorry no progress today. Was looking at my stash at this Sunderland and Nakajima Floatplane. There's a Amphibious GB coming up, thought I'd start on one of them.

Cheers,

Richard

FLOATPLANE   you say? Now that sounds very interesting indeedy That I'd like to see.

I hear ya about sealing the naturally sourced plant materials. I for one always shy away from using real dirt and plants for Dio work---but I cant argue with the results I see some modelers get.(I do like using sand and rocks as you've seen though)  You thread here is a treasure-book of great scratcherizing tips and tid-bits------A real model itself of what a model blog oughta be

Richard, except for the lettering your dio looks like photos I have seen from present day Vietnam where my wife is from. Exceptional job!

Mike T.

*INDY

FLOATPLANE   you say? Now that sounds very interesting indeedy That I'd like to see.

I hear ya about sealing the naturally sourced plant materials. I for one always shy away from using real dirt and plants for Dio work---but I cant argue with the results I see some modelers get.(I do like using sand and rocks as you've seen though)  You thread here is a treasure-book of great scratcherizing tips and tid-bits------A real model itself of what a model blog oughta be

Thanks Indy, for the kind words, coming from you is a really much appreciated. The floatplane is one way of getting me inspired to mess with plastic again 'cos dios are tedious and takes you away from assembling kits. Sometimes I like to just build OOB without painting at all.

I have to be focused on this dio to complete it...it's been three years in the making.

Cheers,

Richard