Diorama "Homeland Defense"

Hi Model Maniac,

Firstly,i have to ask what is your motivation in posting things from your collections in this forum and to that matter  any other modelling forum on the net?

Generally people post W.I.P's or finished diorama's to display their work to recieve comments (good or bad) and gain  knowledge in ways to improve their hobby.This is the reason why modelling  forums exist.

You may feel like various people have been hard on you,i totally disagree.People with extensive building experience and military knowledge have done nothing but try to help you out in IMPROVING  the quality of your collection.The keyword being IMPROVING!

Diorama's or vignettes can be compared to a painting or a photo, the dio builder trying to portray a  story or moment in time.

Now,you don't have to be a historian or military expert to see when four figures have been badly placed on a dio.Straight away the viewer will feel distracted from the dio,and then  the story or theme of the diorama is then harder to follow.This is the feeling i get everytime i see something posted by yourself from Art Instructor.

So,my  question..what do you wish to get out of a modelling forum?It seems you expect a pat on the back everytime you post something.To me, you  would be more suited to posting pics of your new additions in  a gallery on your homepage.

To be fair,I think Art Instructor has alot of potential, maybe if you or him were  to post W.I.P pics everynow and then you would see a direct improvement  in the quality of his work.People wish to help you out,not pick on you!!

Just by mixing and matching some heads and arms ,or changing body positions,dropping a figure from a box etc.  you will see direct results.Heck,even google for some actual military photo's and buy kits to work around the photo.

Until then,expect the sound of the same record from the same people,over and over, and over......

IanIsBored2000 wrote:

Love the water! is it epoxy resin?  And any idea on what sort of static grass that is?  most stuff ive found looks in scale like a fresh cut lawn, and yours is like a nice wild long grass.  Any possiblerealism mistakes aside, I like it.

Many thanks for your kind comments. Yes, it's epoxy resin. The last time "Art Instructor" built a water dio, many people asked what meterial was used and how it was done. The answer can be read in this thread : /forums/592632/ShowPost.aspx

As for the static grass, people asked about it too but I can't retrieve the thread. Anyway, I know how Art Instructor make his long grass. He cuts jute rope or hemp rope into desired length and put it in a food-spinning machine - to make it disintegrate from bunch. It looks natural because it's made out natural materials.

Thanks for all others' comments too. They all made this thread a popular topic. I'm not serious about accuracy or history. Art Instructor and I are modeler/collector, not historian. Having built a Panzer I Ausf.A recently, Art Instructor thought it was WWI tank because of its tiny size. Don't be too serious about reality. This is just a hobby, not a religion!  

but as in all war movies one guy has to stand up as the "idiot"  target  he is the first one shot just to start the action

lol durr yes you are right someone does need to get whacked to start everything off . so i guess the dio is right

kenny

cj95 wrote:

Wow.......remind me not to post pics of atank with the wrong number of rivets.

It's not a question of counting rivets, but a pattern of posting pics of other people's work taht have serious themeatic, composition and historical errors. Scroll down the the thread SWS with Goliath for another example of this kind of poorly thought out complosition. Much of the focus has been that the OP should be requesting better work from the people he's commishjioning to build and paint for him. It's the kind of sloppy research that History et al Channels use when they show stock footage of a B-29 while talking about the MTO.

Wow.......remind me not to post pics of atank with the wrong number of rivets.

Love the water, and thats a neat looking Edsel the Wake defenders are riding there.

kenny_conklin wrote:

The dio looks really good. the water churning of the water from the tank looks excellent. the only thing i really noticed was the one soldier just standing on the back of the tank erect like nothing is going on . but to both sides of him there is a soldier ready to jump off the tank like there is a fire fight and the soldier aiming his weapon at someone or something ready to defend himself.

but as in all war movies one guy has to stand up as the "idiot"  target  he is the first one shot just to start the action

and yes Al i see your point  now

actually i think the helmets in the photos aren't from the right period either.  at least not in the same time period as the tank.  but the newer ones there might've been used in '41 so i don't know.

 i still like this work myself but there seems to be a hell of a lot of things wrong with it.  just makes it better.  lets me excercise my critical nitpicker streak.

i was actually a bit disappointed because when i went to the page and looked at a picture of the tank from the back, the vent louvre on the back was straight from the kit, ie looking like it was made of 20mm armor plate.  when i was building my t-26, that was the first thing to be made from copper sheet, no questions asked. 

DURR wrote:

from what i have read  if they had chariots from the old greek/roman days they used them so why does he uniform have to match the tank

Because, Joe, the vehicle and title, Homeland Defense, suggest strongly this is during Operation Barbarossa in 1941. From what others have said, the uniform is from a later period. It would be like putting a classic steel pot helmet

on a depiction of the defense of Wake Island where this was worn.

.

from what i have read  if they had chariots from the old greek/roman days they used them so why does he uniform have to match the tank

Auntie Matter it looks like you are pretty new to these forums if i am wrong i am sorry.

The thing with Model Maniacs models are he does not build them himself they are commissioned works. we try to give him good critisims of what has been done and maybe he could relay this to the people that build for him since he is paying for them.

when advice is given it doesnt seem to be taken very well. it seems to me he posts his pics just to post them and see how many atta boys he can get. i would say a good 99.9 % of us are here to learn from others and try to improve our modeling not just to be told that is great when it really isnt.

"92% of his audience wouldnt know a T-26 from an Edsel " i would have to say that this statement is a big big slap in the face to the modelers on this board that stop in and look and may not even comment on his builds. especially because most of the modelers here are armor builders.

i respect your opinion on the matter but when it comes to Model Maniacs threads i think sooner or later you will see most people feel the same way i do about the threads and the builds. we are not here to bully or talk bad about anybodies builds we try to offer constructive critisim to help out. and i always appreciate the feedback on these forums good or constructive.

kenny

goat monkey wrote:

actually it's absolutely completely very realistic.  what you're failing to grasp is the scene it's depicting in 100% accurate glory:  the tank with some russian guys dressed in the wrong era uniform for the tank model just dropped straight out of the sky.  the guy standing on the back is in the process of falling backwards with a compressed spinal disk.  the guy with the ppsh aiming to the side is actually in the process of having his knee cap shattered.  duh!

DOH!

ajlafleche wrote:

I'm not well versed on Russian uniformology so I'd never comment on this point, but the standing guy is in an impossibly straight posture to the tank's rear deck to the point he's leaning backward and could not maintain ballance like that on a moving vehicle.  Heck, it's near impossible to stand at that angle on the floor.

actually it's absolutely completely very realistic.  what you're failing to grasp is the scene it's depicting in 100% accurate glory:  the tank with some russian guys dressed in the wrong era uniform for the tank model just dropped straight out of the sky.  the guy standing on the back is in the process of falling backwards with a compressed spinal disk.  the guy with the ppsh aiming to the side is actually in the process of having his knee cap shattered. 

duh!

Me myself, I can't do the purchase thing of something built up, and I hate doing a already built-up kit to add to a dio, for me, it's not something I did myself, and I have a big problem with that but that's just me. I have had some done up vigs given to me by friends who simply don't have room for them so I'll take them and put them on my desk at work with some of my smaller pieces. When asked if I did them, I tell the people that no, a friend gave them to me, but these ones over here are ones that I built myself.

I fully respect one's right to choose to purchase what they want with their own money, but all I know is that if I'm gonna drop some coin on something that I want, I know I would rather have a good quality item. If I was M.M, and was about to buy a dio, I'd look it over first, and if it was not up to par, I would give it back to the creator and ask him to do some improvements. Perhaps MM should sit with his guys before hand, and lay out a sketch for what he would like to have, and periodically be in contact with his guys during the whole process to see how it's going and then he could make suggestions, ask for alterations, etc, that way he knows he'll be getting his money's worth.

IYAAYAS wrote:

Woooo, pretty harsh!  It looks tons better than what I can do, an as far as historcally accurate...maybe that's not important to him!  Nice work all around!

For that statement, you get the understatement of the year award!

I'm not well versed on Russian uniformology so I'd never comment on this point, but the standing guy is in an impossibly straight posture to the tank's rear deck to the point he's leaning backward and could not maintain ballance like that on a moving vehicle.  Heck, it's near impossible to stand at that angle on the floor.

What the OP has been doing for ages is no differnt than if you or I were to post our latest piurchase of die cast Hot Wheel toys.  I think Gino is harsh because the OP seems to want only praise for his purchases. And I think Gino's comments are right on the mark.

HeavyArty wrote:

Pretty good execution.  As usual though, it is full of historical innacuracies and the figure poses don't really go with the scene.  One more mediocrity for the shelves from the mass production shop of Art Instructor.   He'll have top ask Art Instructor on the water techniques and static grass and get back to you.  He has no idea himself.

 Woooo, pretty harsh!  It looks tons better than what I can do, an as far as historcally accurate...maybe that's not important to him!  Nice work all around!

Pretty good execution.  As usual though, it is full of historical innacuracies and the figure poses don't really go with the scene.  One more mediocrity for the shelves from the mass production shop of Art Instructor.  

He'll have top ask Art Instructor on the water techniques and static grass and get back to you.  He has no idea himself.

Same as the last two, Absolutely LOVE the water. Great job, Keep up the good work.

David