WIP Sherman Firefly dio

Thanks guys.

T-rex - in the end, I cut a sheet of cork into brick like shapes. Some I broke more than others.
The white pieces you see are acutually kitty litter. I only removed the larges pieces. I also added some broke pieces of Balsa wood and match sticks. I have to use a heavy, dark grey wash to color the rubble.  The cork actually absorbs most of the color. I then picked out a couple of bricks with slightly lighter shades of grey.
As for the Firefly appearing a blueish, that's probably down to my photography skills (or lack of). It really is actually OD, I promise. Could have been effected by the light at the time. I've submitted a post to this forum with the completed work :
( /forums/760606/ShowPost.aspx ).
It looks a little better in those shots. Also, the uniform colors of the US patrol are incorrect for that uniform style. I just took creative liecence with them, so they aren't historically correct.

Detailfreak - the doorway might look out of scale due to the angle of the photos. With a figure standing in the doorway, the top of the doorway is just above his head.

cheers guys and many thanks again for the comments.

Jurgen.

 

 

great job.the addition of some more ground work,and the color change on the building look great.how do the openings look in contrast to say,a figure standing in the doorway.i just thought the openings appeared a bit large.again,great job.

Great job again, so the rubbel was the hardest, well how did you do it then, was it just plaster from the model and bash off with a small hammer to make it exact pieces?

I'm just starting on the firefire but I just want to know, why is you firefly blueish, not olive green like most firefly are?

Thanks for all the comments guys!!!

T-rex,
the figures are on there way. I've got 3 Bristish tankers and have decided to use some US troops on partol meeting up with the Firefly. Keeping in mind that the dio is set in France, late 1944, I assume that could have happened. Hope I'm not too far off the mark.
As for the weathering on the Tank, yes it is there, unfortunately it doesn't show up in the photos too well. Will take some snaps of just the Sherman and post.

Sawdeanz,
I found that the most difficult part of doing this project has been the rubble. It's driving me nuts!!! I've added wood to the interior of the house rubble but nothing out the front. Might need to do that. But I'm still not convinced I've got it right.

thanks again,
Jurgen.

Wow, it looks so much better in my opinion. I especially like the road, its looks eroded and dirty, and the house looks great too. Perosnaly i like lots of variety in my rubble, like bits of wood, and pieces strewn all over the place. Thats the only suggestion I can offer because everything else looks great!

Two words, "Master Piece", best diorama I ever, The dirt road looks better, how did you do it?, we gonna know the secret. The rubbel better too, but did you weather the tank?

One last thing, where are the figures, I know its hard to get them to the right position but in order for it to be complete you need the figures to be in there.

Else then that, good job

Looks very well done. Quite the interesting layout.

It's one simple, clean and yet very eye catching diorama.  Nice work!

Ok, managed to get some more work on the Sherman done today.
Tools (except for the shovel) and stowage added. Made and painted some tarps. Weathered and drybrushed the track. Have painted up some British Tank Crew (not in the pics).






again, any suggestions appreciated.

thanks for looking,

Jurgen.

Thanks all!!!!!

Ok. Just finished the House this morning. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
I added rubble, bricks and some woodwork including a door. Weathering powders used on the rubble and the house to simulate dried mud and dusk.

Now finally I can work on completing the Sherman.

Shouldn't be long now.......

Jurgen.

This looks great!

Steve 

I must admit. My eyes went directly to the drainish pipe. That is a great dio.

WOW!  Looks great!  Nice work!

   What a difference! That looks just great. Hey, weren't you supposed to have it finished for this weekend? ...lol.

The house looks much better in white, very realistic weathering on it, and the water looks great. The dirt on the ground also makes the diorama look less 'flat'. Fantastic, its really coming together nicely.

Hi all.

Another update, this time just the dio base. Have added some garden dirt, small stones and twigs and roots. It looked too clean before. A couple of stone and a 'tree' added to the river. Have added some more resin for the water. I have repainted the house and painted the brickwork.

Still have some weathering and cleanup work to do as well as add some more grass, but it's nearing completion.






Any comments or suggestions greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Jurgen.

Ya I would like those photos of how to make the building please.

Also I'd just bought a Czech building for another diorama, but the wall of the building doesn't seem like pieces to cut out, are they mold of parts. I'll the images of a pieces soon, Thanks.

  Hey Jurgen, you are a legend mate!. Itried your suggestion and uploaded a pic through Kitmaker. It worked like a charm.. Now my next challenge is to take good quality pics so that i can post them and get this forum thing really happening.

  Newcastle has Frontline Hobbies. It would have to be the biggest hobby shop in the country. I have to go there at least every couple of weekends to get my 'frontline fix'. I don't always buy anything, i just have to be there.......you know what i mean?

  Melboure is not bad, Victoria is a beautiful state. I always head down to the Avalon Airshow, which is in a couple of weekends..........i had better get organised! Can't wait.

  I meant to comment on the colour of your building. Maybe it is a little too bright but in some of your pics it doesn't look too bad. I find that what can look ok in real life can look a little strange when it is in scale. It is a challenge to achieve a 'scale colour'. That's where my quote 'if it looks wrong , then it probably is' comes from. Sometimes you have to experiment with the colour until it looks right. Another thing that i often find is that, especially modelling WW2 subjects is that most pictures we look at or motion footage is always in black and white. Therefore i always seem to think of that era in black and white. It makes it very hard to when making dioramas to come up with the right colours. What i am trying to say is that maybe your building is not too bad. How do we tell?

   Does anybody on this forum have opinions on 'scale colour'? Should you lighten or darken some colours to get the right effect?

   Hope to chat to again soon. Thanks again for your help with posting pics.

Thanks Boomerang.
Would love to add a burnt out wreck as a road obstruction, but doubt that I'll be able to get it done. Hoping to have the dio finished by next weekend for a local show. Maybe I'll add that after.

As for the way I load the photos, I use http://photos.kitmaker.net/.
Just register and upload you pics. You can then reference them in you posts.
If you need a hand, just PM me.

I'm from Melbourne. I noticed you're from Newcastle. Any good model stores up there?

thanks for the encouragment.

Jurgen. 

 

 

   Great dio Marevic1. It is nice to see something that is not 'flat'. Your use of the culvert is a great idea. That Sherman is just fantastic, personally i think your weathering is just right. Can't wait to see it finished.

   Are you going to put anything on the road that leads away from the side of the tank? That much road seems to be a little off balance from the rest of the diorama. Maybe a small obstacle/baricade or small vehicle like a jeep or motorcycle, hey, maybe a MP motorcycle and rider would do the trick? Imagination's the limit.....lol.....where do you stop?

   I was going to ask you about how you made the building but T-rex beat me to it! Your method is brilliant. It sounds so easy. I am defintely going to try that as soon as i finish my dioramas i have on the bench. Thanks for aswering T-rex's question so simply.

   Can i ask about your method of getting photos on here. I am bashing  trying to work it out! I have read other posts on how to do it and have tried using photobucket as suggested but have had no luck yet.

    Keep up the good work! Where in oz do you live?

Thanks T-rex.

Sounds like a great dio you're planning there. Really looking forward to seeing that!!!

The building is made from scratch. I drew the basic shape of each wall so I could get and idea of what I wanted. I used some old cardboard shop signs ( 'Sale on now' signs which are shinney on one side) and transfered the drawings to them and cut the basic shape out. I find that when you pour plaster onto the shinney side, it's easier to remove the mould later. I cut strips of the same cardboard (approx 2 cm high) and tape the around the edges. What you have then is a basic mould. Just fill that with plaster and let it set. I you want bomb/bulding damage, you can scrunch up some foil and place  it into the plaster while it's still wet. When the plaster has set, just remove the foil and you have instant damage on the building. I can PM you with some photos of the process if you like.
Alternatively, you can just cut or scribe the damage. I then lightly sanded the walls and glued (with White Glue) the walls together and add Balsa Wood to create the building wood work.

Hope this makes sense.

Jurgen.

Thanks Jurgen

I was thinking of making a crash spitfire on a mud beach from a image I go from a war article, but whats hard is making the sandy beach with ground work and I didn't know how but you help me. Thanks

One last thing, how did you made the building? Is it from another model kit or did you made it your self, and if you did how did you made it?

Thanks T-rex.
The ground work is styrofoam layers cut to shape. That was covered with a mixture of fine sand, white glue (PVA glue here in OZ) and a little water. You can also add small stones, fine gravel and plant roots to the mix. I just spread it all over the surface. I left this to dry overnight. The next morning, I put white glue on the areas where I wanted the grass and sprinkled the areas with liberal amounts of static grass (Woodland Scenics).
*Tip: before adding the grass, place it in a plastic bottle or plastic cup and shake vigorously.
This ensure that the grass is very 'static' and will stand up when it hits the surface.
This was airbrushed Olive green, followed by a drybrushing of yellow and light green. The other ground work was airbrushed different shades of brown followed by buff. Then just gave it a dark wash. 

I think I'm going to change the color of the building as I too am starting to think it looks too different (and am sick of my wife calling it the 'Fanta' building). I might go for an off white color.

I'm planing to put a figure in the turret talking to another tanker standing on the turrent. Will post some test shots.

Jurgen.

 

Nice work, way better than my models and dioramas, how did you do the ground work? and is that stirofoam for the elevation and base?

Looking good so far, its a good thing your putting weathering on that building, it looks too diffrent. I sugest adding a figure in the command post on top of the tank turret, looks like you let the hach open so you better put a figure in.

Finally also put battle damage for the tank, looks better if you do.

thanks mg42gunner.

I'm actually stuck on how to weather the building anymore. The building at he moment has the base color, a light misting of Tamiya Buff, and a black wash.

As for figures, I am planning on using the Tamiya British Tank crew with the farmer.
The farmer will be talking to the tankers while salvaging materials from the ruined building.
Well, that's the plan anyway.

Very nice looking groundwork, and the Firefly looks great too. The building color might change with weathering, but the color looks fine to me. Are you planning to put in any figures for the diorama? I think a tank crew or some british troops might add a lot to the diorama.

Thank IYAAYAS.

I actually picked this building color based on the box art of another kit I have (diorama building of a farmhouse in France). As to whether it is normal for that area, I honestly don't know.
I just liked the idea of some added color to the dio, but am happy to be corrected.

Hopefully someone can guide me either way as to whether the color is accurate or not.

Jurgen.

Don't you hate it when people don't read your post, and just throw comments out there...

Looks really good, the scene is very believable and has a nice picture story.  The only thing I might coment on, and it's not really a comment, more like a question.  The building color, is the normal for that area? 

Nice work...

Thanks Gregory.

yes, the tracks are still in sections, awaiting final fixing, hence the broken look.
I thought the river bank looked a little bare, but not sure whether tall grass/reeds would look correct or moss.
Thanks for the suggestion re the height. Now that you mention it, it really stands out.

Much appreciated.

Jurgen.