Hi!

I hope you are having a good weekend... 

I finally finished the house...Im calling it completed... for the diorama Im thinking of only using one of the houses, when using the two, it looks too crowded. Im still thinking what to puse on the side of the house, a machine gun emplacement, a pile of debris, a gun... 

I will start now working on the street, addig a lot of debris, sand, rocks, wood, used drums, garbage, maybe some damaged furniture...

I really like how it finally turned out! ... specially the broke, windows and the advertising posters. 

Keep in mind this is my first diorama ever. 

Thank you for stoping by. 

Thank you Bish...

Phew....some more detailed work done to the house. 

Painstakinly painting brick by brik in at least a variety of 8 eight red/brown/black tones, which gives it a nice variety.

Also the wood looks very nice. 

Still a lot to be done, a lot of brown washes for dirty, a lot of detailed streaking, weathering and dusting.

What do you think? 

That is looking awesome.

Thank you my friend, I appreciate spending some time to comment!

Here is another update...starting to look very good. I got a very nice red color on the roof and with the pre-shading looks awesome. Still I will have to do a lot of darkwash and some different tile colors and bricks...sprayed a little all over the street to ad a thin red color to the scene from brcik dust.

Looking really good so far!

Hey,

Thanks for your advice.

I have continued some work, not a lot, but some...

Finished the primer, and painted one of the interiors with green, altgough it is too bright for now.. I will fix it with several layers of weathering, dust, etc.

Started paiting the street cobblestone and some foundation colors for the debris. A lot still has too be done..this project will take me months, specially with my tight agenda.

Here we go..

Looking good Gar!

I like your honest opinion regarding the vacuum formed buildings.

Check a local hardware store for Krylon plastic specific spray paints, primer grays and red oxide colors would work well as a base coat for your buildings.  

Thank you guys!.

I have completed the assembly of buildings and I had to do a lot of trimming at the base of each one since they do not fit together, a huge gap that is impossible to fix in one of them (right). I will have to use a lot of debris to cover this gaps. 

I started priming yesterday and ran out of paint, but, I also have to buy a lot of not your usual "armor" colors which I do not have like, bright blue, bright yellow, blue, red brownish, etc... so I have to buy these paints in order to continue.

I will start assembling the figures now.

See you...

That's looking nice. I didn't realise these buildings would be so tricky, they look pretty straight forward at first glance. Look forward to seeing more.

I'm looking forward to seeing this completed.

Thank you very much, yes, I did used them, funny that the online instructions are so different from paper ones. On line instructions are more clear but still a lot of deduction has to be made.

Still have to build the second house and some figures.

I will then move to painting.

Thank you very much Gmorrison, yes, it has a been a work of filling all gaps, specially the broken brick wall of the back, the two sides do not match at all.

I keep seeing a lot of problems and errors with the instructions. 

Although, it is coming out very nice. Finished the first house!..phew.... 

I "presented" many of the small items...windows, door, shutters, and piled some debris. Put on the SDFKZ 251 and the dead german officer, to start figuring how to put everything together....

Finally, the sides of the rooftop had a very unrealistic wood beams, so I put some wooden stirers I picked from Starbucks coffee shop....hehhe..they look pretty awesome for scale and allows you to break it and carved out a little to make it look wetahered and uneven.

I put the left over of the stirers in the debris pile, looks cool!

This is it so far....

Have a great weekend!!!!  

You are a brave man!

Try putting spacers between the halves. There's not much you can do about the seam around the outside, but a lot of it's rubblyish anyways. But for the doors and windows, consider cutting off the cast frames and casing the holes with strip wood. Might look better anyways.

Hi to all,

Here are some pictures.

First, this is how the kit comes out of the box...imagine cutting out those single cobblestones.

On this next picture, this is how you are supposed to glue to thins sheets to make a wall...no, there are no pin and holes, alignment guides, nothing.

Now, this are the front and back of the store glued, a lot of seamlines so Im in the process of filling gaps and sanding.

Here are a lot of pieces like windows, roof tile, lamps, etc..

It is a lot of work, but Im sure and confident that at the end I will have a very decent diorama. A lot is still need to be done, Im months away to finish it, specially since I only have a couple of hours per day to work on it.

Im eager to start painting and weathering, there´s where the fun begins.. 

Stay tuned...

They are a little more difficult than a traditional injected kit, but go together easily if you have any vacuform kit experience.  Simply glue small tabs of scrap plastic at the joints.  You can't mold the typical "pegs and holes" of an injected kit when vacuforming.

I have a couple of the Mini Art dio sets but not built any yet. I don't think there are many companies that make these buildings out of plastic, most are plaster, such as Verlinden. The detail on these Mini Art ones look nice, but they do sound a bit of a pain.

Hi guys.

As an update... I have been doing a lot of carving, scrapping...and I mean a LOOOOT!!.

This is not a fun part, are all diorama sets from all manufacturers the same???...it is a nightmare to carve out every single piece from a sheet of styrene.

Miniart plastic manufacturing levels are very basic. The plastic is full of ejection mark pins at the most visible areas, instead of being on the back of a wall they are at the front.

Instructions are very subjetive and confusing, online instructions are better, which defer a lot from the paper. A lot of trial, testing, sanding, fiting and filling has to be done to each single part.

And to glue to walls is a nigthmare, basically you have to glue to sheets of paper from their side. Could they not put a type of male/female connectors?

I will try to put some pictures later....

Of course, its your build, you can build it how you like. You did say you would ask for help and suggestion's, sorry if I took that the wrong way.

Look forward to seeing your build.

Seriously how many people are gonna even know the uniforms don't go with the tank! I sure as heck didn't. I say build as is.

Hi, me again..

Yes, definitely Im not looking into a historically correct diorama...Im justr trying to realize a loong kid wish and had to hold it for 30 or so years until I have been avble to buy all the tools, paints and stuff.

I was looking into advice, suggestions and helps as for using paints and colors, eg. how to make plastic look like aged wood...make the road look like cobblestone, etc.

Dont get me wrong I fully thankful of your comments and advice.

This diorama will not enter any contests for sure, not that I would not wanted, buit in here is just a obscure art so there are no contests or building groups.

99% of the things I have, were bought over Internet, others purchase on my trips to USA. So, I guess I just wanted to use a lot of my stuff that has been hanging around.

Thanks to all again.

Hugo

ps. by the way I will keep you posted as I progress on the build.

This is unfortunate, but do hope garzonh continues his project.

People do build for different reasons, and for many historical context is not that important.  Some choose, (and combine), subjects based on what they deem looks cool - and if that encourages them to pursue the hobby, great!  

I think the opening post was made to share his enthusiasm on his first diorama.  Though he does state he will ask for help and suggestions, does this necessarily mean historical accuracy?

regards,

Jack

I also hope you don't keep it to yourself. You started out saying it was going to be your first diorama, which indicates that you want help.

I think all good dioramas start with one clear idea. One tank, one airplane, one small scene. It makes the message clear. Think of an oil painting. Ever seen a portrait with two people in it? A married couple maybe, but there's a single theme there.

That's why opposing force dioramas rarely work The mind darts back and forth. Better to stick to one idea and make the viewer wonder "what are they looking at?" Ever wondered why just about every figure set, yours included, has some one pointing off into the distance?

When you first posted your collection of kits, I could see the village with the troops and the Russian with the Panzer. Although that opposing force thing comes up a little.

But a little research on that chap in tan reveals that he's a captured Polish soldier. Certainly you don't have to use him, but it's a really nice set of figures and dioramas of that campaign are kind of unusual at least in the US.

Tamiya makes a sweet little Pz.kpfw II. CpnMac mentioned the Sd.kfz.222.

Squadron sells a Polish 7TP for small change, made by Mirage.

I think this could be a nice diorama based on that excellent figure set. As always, a little research is worth it's time.

No reason to keep it to yourself.  You posted on here and we are jsut offering information.  What you do with that information is up to you. In the end, build what will make you happy. But you now know some information that can help to make your 1st diorama better than what you had originally planned.

garzonh

Thanks, but mine is an Ausf 251 / 1 A,  1st Panzerdivision, Campaign of France, 1940. The 1st Panzer Division fought in the French campaign of 1940 with the same organization used in Poland. It fought in Poland and later in the West, going through Luxembourg and the Ardennes before breaking through the Maginot line and entering France attached to Panzergruppe Kleist. 1st Panzer division remained in France

In January 1943 it was sent back to Amiens, France.

So...the vehicle could have arrived into France, being destroyed and left behind...later by 1943 a German officer is killed

I hope you don't keep it to yourself, we are only trying to help.

I do assume you mean this build here.

This is the riveted version of the Ausf C. This is an Ausf A.

 As Bronto say's, there are no Ausf A kit on the market. Trust me, if there was, I would know. I have been waiting 3 years for dragon to release there kit. And that helmet shaped badge on the back left corner is the insignia of the Grossdeutchland Pz Div,

WOW; here is a tough crowd..... I think I will just keep this build to myself.

Thanks...

garzonh

Thanks, but mine is an Ausf 251 / 1 A,

Which 251 ausf A kit do you have?  The only one I can think of is a resin conversion.  There is no plastic OOB kit of this version.

Thanks, but mine is an Ausf 251 / 1 A,  1st Panzerdivision, Campaign of France, 1940. The 1st Panzer Division fought in the French campaign of 1940 with the same organization used in Poland. It fought in Poland and later in the West, going through Luxembourg and the Ardennes before breaking through the Maginot line and entering France attached to Panzergruppe Kleist. 1st Panzer division remained in France

In January 1943 it was sent back to Amiens, France.

So...the vehicle could have arrived into France, being destroyed and left behind...later by 1943 a German officer is killed

garzonh, is that the 251 you did a WiP thread in. The one you built is an /1 Ausf C which didn't enter service until 1941. So if you want to be historically accurate, it would not fit a France scene. But it would suit an Eastern Front scene in 1941/42 as would those figures. The M36 tunic, as worn by those figures, was not replaced until 1943. And the GD helmet insignia you have on the 251 didn't come into use until Sept 1940, so again that would be more suitable to an Eastern Front scene.

Hahah...thanks a lot, surely cam go with that theory.

Mine is SDKFZ 251 1, so should be OK for a France scenario. Keep in mind it is an abandoned/damaged vehicle.

I will add other figures, boxes, drums, etc...