1/72 Fast Roping Diorama Done 9 May 2010

senojrn wrote:

I really liked what you were doing with your first building...

DITTO, not sure where the action is taking place but my impression was the Middle East...if so, I would reconsider trashing your first building...I thought it looked the part...nice to see you back on this one---I remember when you first started and I thought it was a cool dio idea...I did the 4 years of ROTC myself, good-luck!

Was actually going Aviation to fly the -60, but paperwork got fouled up and now have my paperwork in to go MP.

Can't spell "Wimp" without "M-P"...

(During the "bad ol' days", the Chemical NCO School and MP NCO school were co-located at Ft McClellan.  Lotta branch-rivalry there, lol))

I´ve just completed a UH-60 today actually and came by your work by accident. I like your idea a lot and it seems to be coming together really well. I did my UH-60 with pilots and a gunner and it went fairly quickly. I do have to experience modelling figures and when it comes to painting soldiers in this scale I think less is more. It´s easy to apply too much detail, and in my view that´ll just clutter up the model, that´s already teeny tiny. I just panit them in an overall colour, usually making boots and gloves black to break up uniformitu a little, give the models a black wash with inks (a brown one for faces), matt coating and then drybrush the uniform in a lighter colour. 

Aviation is a great business. I do controlling myself and you should consider that too. :-) 

It's still alive!!!!!

Here's the next installment of the fast roping dio.  I added the fast ropes, and although it doesn't look 100% right, it works for me.

and to prove that I'm not touching it at all

this is what the fast ropes look like:



They are made from 19 gauge steel wire.

Take care,
Austin

Another update...

I built up another building idea...

The plastic square is representing the roof access while the tamiya cement is represent where the AC/de-swamper unit will be...

There will be 5 guys on the chopper/fast rope.  The guy who is missing hands/head and stuff will be pointing and telling the kneeling 'replacement' to go.  the kneeling guy is representing a seated Soldier reaching for the rope.  There will be a guy at the bottom of the rope right before he hits the ground.  On the other side, there will be one seated with one hand on the rope as the last guy is about half way down the rope.

Comments/critiques welcome

Take care,

Austin

Ark,

MAN! You COMPLETELY beat me to this one! I've been saving a UH-60 for just such a build. I'll be watching/ catching up on it.

Good luck!

Alright, so I built another building....

This time out of styrene and used Mr. Surfacer 500 for the stucco.  It's a commercial garage/storage facility.

Here it is in reference with a HH-60G/'vision picture':

And then my improvements over Italeri's rotorblade:

Then three figure pictures.  The first two are of guys in back, one is pointing and telling the guy sitting on the ledge to go, and on the other is a guy on the fast rope and another one reaching for it.  I plan on getting sculping another guy fastroping/getting off of the rope, and then another kneeling/crouching in the helicopter.  The last one is of the half painted pilots.

You can see more pictures here.

So I got a comment on the ARC that the fast ropes looked thick, so I did something that I should have done before I started.  Research.  Fast ropes average 40-44mm but mine were something closer to 76mm to 80mm.  I looked around, tried a few things out, included winding thin brass wire together, but all in all I found some ~.6mm (43.2mm in scale) wire which should work just fine.  Not the sturdiest thing, but it holds.  Here's pics from my test from earlier today.  For the ALQ-144 I (in the 3rd pic down) I cut Echelon's M-113 vision blocks into smaller squares and put them on there, and cover it in future.  Two more pics are here.

And then with the crew/passengers dry-fitted:

Comments/Critiques welcome

Take care,
Austin

Ark,

I really like where this is going .... but stop making new buildings dammit! HAHA!!!! (btw .... I really like the second one ..... w/ the arched patio on the front .... that one's got my vote.)

The only thing that I can say for this is that I like how your supporting the wires in the block to be hidden on the inside, however, look at the real pic you posted of the guys roping out .... the ropes are tossed out and the extra length just flops on the ground. 1) In the beginning you had them coiled up .... bad idea and unrealistic 2) W/ your current idea, the rops go right through the roof .... i.e. perfect length ropes for the raid!?! Again, a little unrealistic. I guess its more of a challenge than a question .... go back and work on the ropes before continuing.

My initial thought is to bundle the ropes on the roof right where they punch through, then hide any "seams" with a figure. Just a thought ....

Just keep going with this one .... procrastinator!

Lol, I'm not procrastinating, just creative indecisive right now...

I think I might rebuild that second building, but in styrene this time.  I originally had each floor be 50mm, which would equal 12" ceilings!  I'm still going to keep the garage/storage unit b/c there are plenty of other things I could use it for, and there is a roof, it's that tiled panel, but I took it out so the clay block could be set in the building.

The ropes are stuck in the clay so that it "stands up" for the time being.  It gives me a visual idea of how it's going to look, and then ideas come...

Right now, I am working on the roof/ropes.  The back half isn't going to be sound proofed so I think I might run the ropes through the length of the helo to give it extra support...

Just remember, it's creative indecision, not procrastination...

HAHA!!! lol .... ok, you got me on that one. Either way .... lookin' forward to it!

The battery in my camera died while taking pictures, but I was able to upload the ones that I took.

I couldn't get a very good picture before my camera died, but I started on a 4th guy inside the blackhawk that will be kneeling, and probably holding a SAW.  I don't like the guy next to the "roof access" right now, but I don't know what to switch him out for, so for now, he stays...

There will be a total of 9 Rangers who are the guys in back.  Two of the guys on the port side of the a/c are more conversions that sculpted as their legs are from the hasegawa AF personnel set.  Then I copied one of the IOTV's that I sculped and added some more stuff (backpack and such) on with ProCreate.  I still have a lot to do on the figures, but I'm getting somewhere.  I start sculpting some hands,  It's kinda nice that they will all (or atleast most of them) will have the gloves on...I think the runner close to the "roof access/tamiya cement" will have an M-4 at the high ready while the guy underneath the chopper will have one hand on his M-4 as he's running.

Comments and Critiques welcome.

Take care,

Austin

Ark,

Your stuff is coming along nicely. Really, the only thing that I can say at this point is just to keep going. Yes, the figs have a "little" bit to go before they resemble people, but they will get there.

As for me in situations like this, I find that working one figure at a time works best in the end. It may take me a little longer overall, but the work will be better for it.

Again, nice job on the figs thus far. Thanks for the updates .... and as before, I'll keep watching this one.

Quicky update.  I added primer to the rotor head and also painted the roof with dark gull grey.  Still need to paint the other things and finish building the fast roping rig.

Here's the rotor with the "cone up".  What do you guys think?  I think it's right, as in not too coned, but not to flat...

And then more on the figures. The kneeling figure is going to be rotated 90 degrees so that he is facing forward.

And finally, my first ever 100% sculpted figure.  I am not super happy with the way his chest rig turned out, so I'm going to go back and fix it.  There are a few other things that could be touched up (the face, f.e.), but as of now, he's done...

Take care,

Austin

Ark,

Lookin good. Two things though ... I'd take another look at your rotor blades. I'm not a helo expert, but I think that the blades bend a little more along the blade itself rather than just angle up at the rotor ... does that make sense? And two, I like the scratching you did for your figure, and I realize that they're 1/72, but work IMO I think that you should work him just a little more to try and get the "tubbieness" out of him. His feet look a little too much like marshmellows.

However, I really like the colors and the cabin layout. Nice job ...

I'm stuck lookin for paint .... RRRrrrrrrr.......

Yeah, I know what you're saying with the figures being a bit on the marshmellowy side.  The one in the cabin is better, IMO, but I figured that wind/rotorwash would poof out the clothing...  As for the blades, here's a pic that makes it look like the blades are straight:

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/4/8/5/1063584.jpg

From these pictures, it makes me think that the blades are straight.

I think I will redo the figure is in order too...

What are you lookin for paint for?  The little bird's just black...lol

I think you're right after all ....

After going back and looking at some other pictures that I have, the helo is still coming down rather than hovering, so I think that's why the blades look more like they're bending. Nice eye!

As far as the rotor wash puffing out the clothing .... mmm, not sure on that one. I think that the wash is more likely to push clothing into the body, making excess material "wave".

Lloydscale wrote:

This is looking good. If you've never tried sculpting your own figures, I can tell you it's one of the toughest things to do, and get right. Let alone at 1/72!

, I think that you're doing good brother. I wasn't trying to throw you off. Sorry.

I guess its just that I don't see the need to completely scratch figures in 1/72, when you could very easily get away w/ modding exsisting figures with wire and putty?

But, again. I'm not trying to discourage.

<stepping out of the shadow>

I've been watching your work here and on ARC quite a while now and considering the scale you're doing a splendid job!

Since your figues are in 1/72 scale keep in mind that you won't be able to have the same detail as in 1/35, so just focus on reducing the "marshmellowity"!
My suggestion is that using sculpting knives and files you could work on what you have to remove the eccess putty.

This is just a suggestion for you to consider or ignore.
Keep up your great work and happy modelling!

Thanks Avus.  Actually, I have so far resculpted the legs, which look a lot better (IMO)...  I am also redo the other sitting figure too...  And while I'm at it, here's a small update.

and then finished this guy, still need to add pouches/camelback/backpack and such...

And just for MC talkin about castin 1/35 weapons, the ones on the left are cast 1/72 M-4's.  Not bad in my opinion, esp for a 1 piece mold.  On the right are M-16's that I edited down to M-4's.  The ACOG is from the dragon humvee.

I have some more stuff that I need to add to that figure, which is why his body armor isn't complete...

One more picture.  This is just for size reference...

Like always, I'm open to comments and critiques, and sorry bout the pics, I didn't set up the lamps....

-Austin

arkhunter2002 wrote:

HOLY CRAP!!!! ... I don't think I have anything else to say!?!  .... HOLY CRAP!!!

Lookin' good there, ark.

HOLY CRAP!

is 1/72 after all....

I got plenty of weapons to choose from, but which ones do I choose?

I'm thinking since it's a squad sized element, I could break it down into 2 4-man fireteams (weapons wise 3 M4's 1 with M203 and 1 M249) and then a SL with an M-4, but I'm leaning towards putting an M240 in there.  The guys in back are going to be rangers, so I'm trying to keep atleast a plausible loadout.  Any thoughts on that?

Here's the pictures of the weapons, the stuff on the right is casted, there is an M16 on the top and the bottom, they are both 1/35.  Then the quarter is also for size reference.  I casted all of the rifles on the right (I am not going to use the one the bottom), and they do need some clean up.  One of the SAWs is going to have an ACOG with an M4 style stock, not sure what the other one will be like.  How long is the short barrelled SAW?  I'm thinking of making the other one with a short barrel.  The MG in the middle is the "SAW" from dragon's humvees, it's a mix of the SAW and the 249.  The white metal 240 is from CMSC, which has since gone under...

Little update time.  I've been doing some more sculpting, and the figures are starting to take even more shape....

For kicks, I blue tac'd them to the roof of Italeri's Berlin House, which is much less usable than I was hoping for, maybe for a MH-47 fast roping diorama   ...

Still not sure how to cut out the arches from styrene, maybe drilling it, but I'm not sure...

I'll start with some figures.  The two on the left are all sculpted (except for the tamiya tape), the one next to it is hasegawa+sculpting, then caeser, then prieser...

Then I added arm's to this guy:

And then one just for MC:

C&C welcome

-Austin