My first ever diorama

I'm feeling lazy now so that's why I don't go back and check to see if I posted something like this on the 1st page.
my dio plan is to have a german convoy of 2 tigers, 2 panzer IV's , 2 rso's one an ammo carrier one a pak 40, a nubulehkfg? ( rocket launcher ) , a towed pak 40,
a demag ( standard one ) and a demag with an AA gun ( a 38? ). but they will be going up a mountain pass trying to get back the the fatherland when all of a sudden they are taking fire from americans from up top the mountain, maybe another road above theirs? and the americans call in for or are just fortunate enogh to have american flown spitfires providing air cover.

that's my plan, I've been trying to think of how to make the hillside/mountain side, I want it to look like cliffs and the americans road has to be above the germans by about 20 meters ( 1/35 scale ) , my problem is I really don't know what to start out with to make the frame ( I was thinking some 2x4 some plywood some drywall and make a type of steps and then maybe break the drywall up into chunks so I can form the rough mountain. Finnally take some colored plaster and the soil samples I get and make the ground with trees grass and what ever placed in the wet mix?
any other ideas?

Aha so now i know how to post images i've sent an e-mail to the generous moses asking for a place to host images. I'm just waiting for a reply, then i should be able to give you a couple of taster pics (ie the ones that would fit into the scanner). Watch this space

yeah sounds funky but are you sure you'll have enough space? 3 tanks and a halftrack, it'll be at least 50x50cm no? Does anyone know how to work this image posting thing? i have a couple you might be interested in....

i can't seem to make head nor tail of this infernal image posting mechanism! help!!!

Hey Seb, sorry it took me a while to get back to you. To answer your question from the beginning of this topic my diorama is going to be intricate. It will be a farm house where a few lost german vehicles and infantry have met. It will have a Pz.Kpfw IV Ausf. H, a Pz.Kpfw III Ausf. L, an 8 ton 3.7 cm flak semitrack (armored cab type), and a Schwerer Zugkraftwagon 18t (Sd.Kfz.9) "FAMO". They will be sort of lounging waiting for their units to return when a few men with observation equip. spot a M4 Sherman (early production that just passing through on the other side of some trees. I think it will be pretty cool. What do you think Seb?

Good luck guys,
Mark

Geez would you quit with the artillery-tank squabble!?!?!? Well anyway i'm taking the pics to be developed tomorrow so i shouldn't be more than a week. What kind of help do you need for your dio redleg? Oh and a couple of pointers...an empire can't exist when there's a kingdom and vice versa, and every aspect of an army is as important as the next. Oh and british soldiers are the best. I just realised... this is a "hot topic" wahey!!!!

you're lucky being over there and to be able to do that sort of thing

I could start by getting some soil samples or some soil from the brenner pass? it'll give me something to do next weekend and I could take the lil' woman with me? the only bad thing is , it really sucks to drive in italy!!! nice people/ bad drivers.

I work all day and am on my feet the majority of the time so when I come home all i want to do is lay around and rest, but all in all, ........I'm LAZY?
but on the weekends I really have no excuse?
I'm also still trying to find the perfect shelf type thing to put it on, thus far it's a negative, but there are a few flee markets in belgium and chek rep. and so on to go hit up?

Whats holding you up Redleg?

Mike

I still need to figure out how I'm going to do my mountain pass scene?

I was only joking about wanting to know why infantry is queen of the battlefield. Besides I think this little exchange is getting out of hand and it has nothing to do with the topic. actually my pics aren't accurate, I do have some assembly done on the pak 35/36. hopefully if all goes well I will post some pics in August of the completed dio for some constructive criricism.

whompsha!

Artillery is King because it commands the battlefield but NO army can win without infantry.

The job of Redleg1-7FA is pretty obvious I think. Here is some U.S. Army uniform history from a century ago.
Infantry wore blue pants
Mounted infantry wore blue pants with a light blue stripe down leg the seam
Cavalry wore blue pants with a yellow stripe down the leg seam
Artillery wore blue pants with a red stripe down the leg seam

so define how infantry is "the queen of the battlefield"

anyway here is the pictures of my dio (in progress)


as you can see I am quite far into it

Redleg/Abrams,
Artillery was used by the Greeks and Romans, albeit catapaults, trebuchet, ballistae, and onagers but they qualify as being in the battlefield.

First recorded illustration of a canon used in europe was 1325. A time when battlefields were still realtively small in comparison.

Battlefield can be defined as any area that can be reached by the opposing forces weapons. Not just front lines.

And while impressive, IMO, tanks have lost much of their imposing status. SInce they can be knocked out by weapons costing a fraction of the cost of a tank and can be fired at from out of range of the tank. Or overcome by a far inferior force (there's some soviet tankers that did some time in Afghanistan that would agree with me there) So I think that the king has a tarnished crown. Besides even though I'm a tread head, I feel comfortable with the idea that once you have air superiroity, your tanks and arty aren't worth squat. So who's king of the battlefield? (nothing but love guys) ;-)

Seb, others,
let see some in progress pics of these dioramas! C'mon share! Dios are too much a visual thing to go just on the typed description.

Mike

"artillery" as you call it WAS on the battlefield back then (16+1700's), but that was because their aim and power was terrible. artillery has changed a lot since then.

P.S. this is a diorama topic, and you started this little exchange about artillery so send me a picture of the diorama with artillery on the battlefield [;-)]

lightning death, just like the legend of St. Barbara.
artillery was one of the main factors of an army to gain supremecy on the battlefield back in the day ,hence "king of the battle".
and for those who didn't have cannons, well you don't really hear to much of them or speak their language?

Army MOS pride 101

also how can artillery be king of the battlefield when they aren't even close to the battlefield??

no, I'm Artillery, it's an artillery thing!
and I'm also self propelled M109A6.

don't bash my sig. artillery is the bishop, tank the king, infantry the queen, but if its self-propelled artillery then I can see where your coming from...

Actually Artillery is the king of the battle!
infantry the queen
and so on etc etc.

I am on my first dio too. mine will be a german pak 37 and some mg crews laying in ambush along a road. an m8 g'hound coming around the corner.....


BOOM!!!

See first sticky post in General Modelling Discussion

yay!! pictures pictures pictures!!! i really appreciate the help you guys are giving me... whats ronUSMC's web address?

If you want to see what european buildings look like shot up I have some pics of Kosovo posted on ronUSMC's web page , they're a few places like klocot and farazai ( my spelling isn't to great for the Kosovar town names?). they might give you and idea of what it could've looked like in WWII when the rounds would hit the houses and what not? If you would want to see some bombed out buildings I could post more I guess?

Seb ..... the biggest problem that I encountered in taking pics was with the lighing. You really don't want to let the flash be part of the game. I did a post on lighting a while back in the forums, here's the link

http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2269&SearchTerms=kodak

hope this helps

Roots from woody plants make great trees and logs. The bark layer of roots is perfect as scale bark. Because they have a higher water content in the cells of the fiber, they keep alot of their little branches. Again, a nicer scale tree effect. Bigger roots make bigger logs and trees. If you have a particularly "busy" root scrap you can use the roots as roots and partialy bury them in your ground material. The thicker part being the tree's trunk. Snap and or twist them and they frey, much like a tree that has been hit by a round or bomb.

Cheese cloth makes a great camo net. So does surgical gauze.

I mix my ground material up 70% celuclay and 30% plaster. This makes it dry faster and it does not suffer the predation of vermin like silverfish over time. As it drys it makes for some really nice texture and when painted and dry brushed looks awsome. Throw in your ground debris and small rocks and varying grits of sand.

Large fields can be broken up by rock outcroppings, abandoned vehicles, wreckage of vehicles or planes, abandoned carts, tree outcroppings, etc. I once did a diorama of an outhouse at a peek of a steep incline. On one side was a union soldier and the other, out of line of site, a confederate. Both were climbing to the top to use the outhouse. Terrain can make some interesting visual breaks.

On Dioramas I think its o.k. to force perspective and make things closer that they would actualy be. It adds to the drama and tension of a scene. Like in Redlegs dio idea. The base can be small but have alot. By using a hairpin turn in a mountain pass with a road just wide enough for 1 vehicle at a time, the rock face becomes a visual obstacle for both sides. As the Germans travel up and over the pass they will run into advancing americans coming down the road. Though they may not see each other in the scene the viewer sees whats around the bend and that is what creates the tension of the situation. The viewer becomes involved because he can see that there is no room to fight it out and something has to give. Especaily if it is a steep drop off or precipice off the road. You make him want to warn somebody.

Good luck, and don't forget PICTURES!!!

Mike

ok seb mate...the best thing to use for small twigs etc ..is good ol mother nature..
i'm sure you can find some deadwood round abouts...dead flowers ..ok go to your local flower shop and take a look at the DRIED flowers or pick up a pack of pot pouri.
at the drugstore..or..pick some small daisies etc and dry them yourself.....if you are looking to make convincing leaf litter...try some loose tea leaves....your old wasted paintbrushes will make convincing long grass..just cut up the bristles to different lengths......if you want grass of different sizes ...instead of buying static grass..go to a carpet store and either ask for some samples or buy a couple of those carpet squares....the nylon ones....the salesmen will probably give you a few gratis...then take em home and shave em....presto you got static grass.all different lengths...another good way to represent longer grasses is to use...human hair..last time i got a haircut i filled up a bag with the sweepings from the barbers floor..took it home put it in a muslin bag and washed it in the washer.
[just to be safe]..if you wear a beard save the clippings too...the tough stubbly little hair makes excellent straw.......if you are looking for scatter to put on your groundwork.....go to a construction site and fill a bag with builders sand...[just ask]
it contains tiny pebbles and broken gravel and looks much more in scale than say sand from a beach..or play pit...to represent swampy type areas...use mosses and, litchen the real stuff not that horrid rubbish they sell for model railroads..
dry it out first by zapping it for a second or two in the microwave oven..to kill all the little beasties...it looks great if you use it on river banks etc....if you have a cat ..try and save any whiskers that fall out ...they make excellent whip antennaes for tanks and radio sets..and its easier than stretching spru....enamel clear matte ..makes excellent iced over puddles.....the gloss makes excellent liquid ones...
pieces of washed and painted coal...make good cliff faces /exposed rock strata..
stores that sell dolls house stuff are a goldmine.. for furniture / wallpapers / fixtures and fittings....use basswood strip ..to represent rafters and joists etc..its tougher than balsa...and has a fantastic grain.....if you take a piece of crepe bandadge... and pull and stretch it ..untill you start to see daylight through the weave it makes really good cammo netting ....phew... i think that should give you something to think about my friend.....hope i have been of service....
REGARDS..........

why do i keep forgetting to include important questions? if you'd be so kind as to give me some tips on making small twigs and dead flowers then i'd be eternally full of grates hahahaha. sorry, i get carried away when i'm enjoying myself.