telsono

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.

Welcome back Mike and thanks.

Yes, both our countries share the same climate and building styles. The Vietnam war was so real to us as it felt so close to home. I guess you're acustomed to the food and climate when you visit your wife's home town?

I have a small update which was done just now. I've painted the leaves of the banana tree.

Just needs a final coat of semi-gloss to offset the sheen a little.

Thanks for following the WIP.

Cheers,

Richard

Incredible work Richard!...the paint is fantastic...are ther trees scratcbuilt??? Keep it comming!!!

WOW, Incredible work. I love everything about it. Realistic or what.

I am a bit of a sucker for trying to get realistic foliage myself and its certainly far more rewarding to make your own i think you will agree.  Andy.

I see that all of the tree parts are made...hats off...flawless!!!

Andy and Sterno, many thanks for the kind words.

Building up real looking foliage has been an ongoing challenge for me too. I've used everything from roots to seaweeds even.

I've got to set this straight, all the foliage in R&R were foraged, only the banana tree and yam plants are from after market made from paper and wire. I got these on a trip to Singapore, can't remember the brand. They come in packets, slightly embossed, flattened and straight and in the paper color of flat green. You need to shape them and paint them to suite the dio. I added the dead leaves on the bark and snipped at the leaves to give it the raggedy look. The trick here is to utilise anything that looks to scale even if they're plastic aquariam plants. Here's an example of what can be done with a little ingenuity:

Thanks for looking and glad you both like it.

Cheers,

Richard

Another superb old build huh Richard?

Love the speeder bike but the SETTING is amazing~~!

So.....shop the aquerium store, eh? I hear ya

Hi Indy, besides shopping at the aquerium store, I found this link from my Tamiya magazine for jungle foliage. I think it's the same stuff I used for the banana tree. Don't know the cost, I've yet to go in browse.

Mecharama Jungle Foliage:

http://ediorama.com/xe/

Now everyone can do a jungle dio.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Guys,

I just browsed through the site I just linked you and found that it is the same product I used for the banana and yam plant. The gallery dios look a bit toylike but with a bit of ingenuity and weathering, I think it can turn out quite realistic. I particularly want to get their sugarcane and bamboo plant as well as the splash water resin.

Their long grass would have saved me some time and brush bristles on my last dios.

Cheers,

Richard

Outstanding work goin' on here, Richard. Love the 'nanner tree.

Steve

Richard,

Great work on the banana. Its hard to find a perfect leaf, they always have those splits and damage.

On the Star Wars seem. its nicely done! The scenes were filmed just north of here at the John Muir Woods. Redwood forests are actually quite damp and the trunk and any exposed surface has loads of lichens growing over them, unlike those forests of the north east that I grew up with.

Mike T. 

Great work Richard, lovely lovely scene. 

Thanks Guys, no progress to show as I've laid off for a while. I was helping a friend to source platelet donors for their 5 yr old niece whose been diagnosed with ALL, a form of leukemia. A number of my local forumers have volunteered including myself and the little girl is currently undergoing chemo. Let's hope for the best.

Anyway...

Steve - Thanks, it's my first foray into painting a banana tree. Lucky it turned out ok.

Mike T - The splitting of the leaves is due to the lack of some mineral in the soil as I was told. There are some in my neighbours garden with perfect leaves. Have you tried eating at an Indian restaurant that uses banana leaves as plates? It's a favourite in our Indian curry restaurants.

Also did you get a chance to see the production for Star Wars that was near your area?

Ibro - Thanks, glad you like it. I'll be switching to figures soon and it will be featured in the figure section of the forum.

Cheers,

Richard

I send the little girl all my best wishes and may she get well soon, Andy.

Bodge

I send the little girl all my best wishes and may she get well soon, Andy.

Thanks Andy, she's got two years of chemo if everything goes well.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard, I wish your friend's niece all the best and its good of you to help them. My daughter just turned 3 last week and I can't imagine having to go through that. Having friends around for support is good.
I love the speeder bike vignette. Being a Star Wars fan, how could I not? I also strongly recommend hitting up the local aquarium for foliage supplies. I used to work at Petsmart and would frequently browse the fish or reptile section for items I could use. There is a great assortment of plastic plants that with a little work can look like something you've done here. There is also fake grass they sell for reptariums which I've used before. One last item I recommend are the ornaments. I've used ornaments that were bridges, or Roman ruins (which work well in a north africa setting). Any way, I'll be watching as this continues. Great work.

Thanks Jon, it hits even harder when you have a child of your own.

Also thanks for the comments on both the dios. I'm stuck with the figures at the moment. I haven't got enough reference of the unit I am to portray making the pit stop.

The fruit stall owner has yet to be modeled from the VC figure I have. I have to wittle him down to wear a singlet. Lots of carving to do.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard,

Haven't been around here much but I pop by and your progress is impressive. I love the banana tree, I don't think I've ever seen one in the 'flesh' but wow it's convincing!

Really nice to see a dio that's not set in Europe for a change!

Thanks Gamera,

I'm currently concentrating on the figures which I've moved to the figure forum linked here: /forums/t/130433.aspx

Meanwhile here are some pictures of banana trees and shrubs I took recently.

This one is right in front of my house. It's a pigmy banana plant that won't bare fruits and is usually an ornamental plant for the garden.

These are larger and can grow into large clumps. The leaves are longer and don't droop as percieved in some western dios that I've seen.

Obviously some grow the larger variants in their garden perhaps for their fruit or leaves.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Fellas,

I was just telling Steve in the figure forum that I had thought of adding an electric pole to R&R. There was a debate about whether the poles at the time(1975) were metal or wood. A recent program on the Malayan Emergency in the '50s settled that they were at the time already made of steel.

Figures here:  /forums/t/130433.aspx?PageIndex=2

I got some photographs of existing telecommunication poles in the old part of my town to refer to:

I then proceeded with the WIP using part of a sign pole from Tamiya slotted into a larger clear plastic tube tapered at the joint and some plastic card.

I added the bracings and insulaters from the Mini Art Telegraph pole set as I couldn't find the Italeri one I had.

I made the circuit box from plastic sheet...

Also added foot braces to the length of the pole.

Then I gave it a coat of base paint...weathering to come later.

I set it on the dio to see the effect...looks ok. I will attache wire and insulators to the shop house later.

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

Cheers,

Richard

Howdy Richard!

A very nice looking dio and I read it so many times its a wonder this is my first comment in this thread. The pole is looking really nice, I wonder how you are going about the wires.

By the way, I fixed the Subject for you - you see when you place the "&" character in the subject somehow it ends up displayed as & after every reply and after a few replys you get this &amp... So I recommend avoiding &s in the subject.

Good luck with your project, have a nice day

Pawel

Nice work on that telepgraph pole Richard. A little weathering and it will fit right in. I've often wondered if those aluminium turned tank barrels could be used for traffic light/telepgraph poles.

Check out Ken Hamilton's diner diorama http://public.fotki.com/khamilton/models/ and see what he did with his HO scale electricity

the sound you may have just heard is my draw hittin' the floor. Outstanding! Remarkable! Jealous!

Steve!

I've been following your progress, and while I was intially impressed by what you've done. I'm notching that up to 'blown away'.  Forget the realistic plants, the sign, the weathering on the shed - what strikes me the most is that everything comes together to give a sense of place. One look, and I am in Southeast.

Thanks Pawel for correcting the header. How did you do it?

As for the wires...I thought of using thin gauge copper wire. Since the pole is at the edge of the dio and to clear the glass case, the wires will be short and thread through the pre-drilled insulators. The wire leading to the shop house will probably be nylon invisible thread which is much stronger and will take the stretching.

Thanks for asking.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Narayan...thanks for the tip from Ken Hamiltons Diner...real awesome builds. His electric poles are wooden and I think he uses stretched sprue for the thinner wires. Good inspiration for me.

BTW use plastic, aluminum or brass tubing from the hobby shops that stock them would be much cheaper than the aluminum turned tank barrels although you could still use them if it suites you. I'm a bit of a cheapskate and will use any scrap I can find.

Cheers,

Richard

Thanks Steve...I too find it hard to retrieve my tongue from the floor whenever I see your figures in go for broke. If only I can get half the finish on my R&R figures.

Cheers,

Richard 

Thanks WaiKong. Coming from you is a great compliment. I hope my final compo with the figures won't disappoint.

I got to see your article in FSM...really cool.

Cheers,

Richard

Oh, that's easy Richard - you just hit the reply button, and then you get to write the subject field. It's so easy I wonder nobody misuses it yet.

Copper wire makes perfect sense, however you might want to consider thin guitar strings here - they are much more resistant to damage, should something touch them. With the cables running to the shop, please remember they have to sag at least a little, so don't stretch them too much.

Good luck with your projects, have a nice day

Pawel

Hi Pawel, that easy huh.

Thanks for the heads up on the sag...also there's a guitar shop nearby my office. I'll pop in to look at the strings and get the right size ones for the cables. Now I won't be so worried about the glass case bending the wires. Thanks again Pawel.

Cheers,

Richard

Glad I could help, and I have another idea for you - ask them guitar guys for broken strings, they usually throw them away, so there might be a freebie in it for you!

Have a nice weekend

Pawel