Winter Warriors II - The Wintering!

I ain't done yet Freak, give it time.

Tony Lee

I had some time to work on my project today, and finally got it finished. 

So, I'm pretty happy with my first ever attempt at a winter diorama.

I'm not too familiar with the dynamics of snow, so I hope it is not too inaccurate.

Brett

Deatailfreak : I like that very much,, sweet job!

Pvt Mutt : Same to you.. I was wondering what it would look like all done.. I like it!

Dioramator : Very sweet to... What did you use for snow? .  it has the look of fresh, crisp, COLD.. snow to me..

Nice job but two questions.  What are they doing and what did you use for snow?

satch_ip

What are they doing...?

Ditto.  I'm not entirely sure I understand what the diorama's story is.  Did a track just come off?  Are they attempting to put a new track on?  Where does the wire fit in with this?

Other than that, I think the work looks good.

My take is.. there laying a communications line from the front to the HQ, somewhere in the middle of nowhwere.. and they blew a tread.. when she did.. she swerved a bit to the right,....

then insert appropriate German cuss words..

Having retired from the telephone system building industry Bret, I can relate to that dio. Right when it needed to have been done yesterday something always happens to throws a wrench in the works.

Great idea and job well done.                                                                                                                       Tony Lee

Well boys, my winter entry is done.  It's an SU 76 somwhere on the Eastern Front.  I don't have any unit info, sorry.

The kit is the Malan/Maquette/Dragon Imperial Series.  It is pretty rudimentery and the plastic is very thick.  I built it OOB except I added some AM ammunition for the racks.  I used Badger medium green and Humbrol #159 green and the white is Model Master flat white accrylic.  The snow is baking soda mixed with hairspray for the clumpy packed snow and just sifted on for the fallen snow. 

It was time I finished this because it is already almost 80 deg here in Texas.

I'm also posting this in the Soviet GB as my second entry.  Thanks for stopping by.

Satch

Man, I miss getting on to the forum for one day and there's an avalanche of activity!

mg.mikael

dupes- Ouuu, nice badges! But first, I may need to create some room in my signature for it.....hmmm. Either way, it's glad to see the badges completed. For awhile, I thought you were snowed in up there or something.

Glad you like 'em! And who says I'm not snowed in...? I'd put up a pic, but .

Boyd - messed around with the contrastability with the badges, and it's really a function of the pictures I took that's making it look that way - without a complete redesign, they can't be significantly altered. Sorry bud...we'll have to stick with these ones.

Speaking of which, I'll post them on page one momentarily.

Man, I miss getting on to the forum for one day and there's an avalanche of activity!

mg.mikael

dupes- Ouuu, nice badges! But first, I may need to create some room in my signature for it.....hmmm. Either way, it's glad to see the badges completed. For awhile, I thought you were snowed in up there or something.

Glad you like 'em! And who says I'm not snowed in...? I'd put up a pic, but .

Boyd - messed around with the contrastability with the badges, and it's really a function of the pictures I took that's making it look that way - without a complete redesign, they can't be significantly altered. Sorry bud...we'll have to stick with these ones.

Speaking of which, I'll post them on page one momentarily.

Pvt Mutt

I don't know about you but I think it looks like ____ smeared on the ____house wall.

My first time so what do I know??????

Tony Lee

If you put "AWESOME" in both of those blanks, then we're all set. (It doesn't quite make sense, but you get my point!)

This is what I have in my mind that whitewashes are supposed to look like...now if I can get one to look like this!

p38jl summed it up

p38jl

My take is.. there laying a communications line from the front to the HQ, somewhere in the middle of nowhwere.. and they blew a tread.. when she did.. she swerved a bit to the right,....

 

then insert appropriate German cuss words..

 cuss word... 'Donner und Blitzen' (looks better as a pictogram).

Thats the storyline, although I'm not too sure how prone to failure the Ketten tracks were, but as Tony stated, if it is going to fail, it will always do so at the most inconvenient time.

Ideally the figures could have been standing back a few more feet, but that would make the dio very long (with a big blank bit in the middle), or I could have shortened the track, but for the sake of authenticity I went with the correct number of links.

I have been advised to add a little more snow to the running gear (I also posted the finished pics in the diorama forum), which should not be too hard.

the snow is Woodland scenics

to apply, I mixed

1 part detergent (to break the surface tension)
10 parts white glue
100 parts water

spray on base with through a garden sprayer (atomizer)

sprinkle snow over wet base through a tea strainer.

shake off excess

let dry, and repeat.

I gave it 3 coats to get a nice fluffy coverage.

Brett

Brett - I like it!

I know what the other guys are saying about trying to make it "tell more of a story"...unfortunately I'm not coming up with any good suggestions as to how to pull it off.

Seconding Chris about your snow - looks great! How'd you do it?

Also like your figs a lot...would be perfectly happy if I could get some to look like yours.

Seriously, was it that hard to keep those little guys around?

Apparently not since a few of them are there.

Seems everyone is pulling out the stops.  Great builds and cool badges.

???

wing_nut

Seriously, was it that hard to keep those little guys around?

Apparently not since a few of them are there.

 

Seems everyone is pulling out the stops.  Great builds and cool badges.

 

did I miss something?

Brett: maybe to help with the "story",,, add a sign post pointing Stalingrad, or some other winter city.. and make the post short, so it gives the impression the snow is deep?... I like it as is tho..

I did consider that, but thought the dio may have looked too 'staged'. 

In hindsight it would help with the storyline, and I have the perfect signpost in the spares box.

thanks for the suggestion

Brett

dupes

Glad you like 'em! And who says I'm not snowed in...? I'd put up a pic, but .

 

No worries, I have a pic of you digging out.......

Hahahaaaa...that's not too far from the truth.

Satch_ip - didn't get to comment on your build yesterday - looks good! Same situation that I saw with Mg.Mikael's build - the whitewash seems a bit too pristine to me. Hit it with a bit of drybrushing with your base color on the edges and high spots and you'll start to make it look like a vehicle that's seen some time in the field. Maybe a wash, too, to bring out some of the detail in the build? Overall quite nice.

As for me, just a quick update, then I'm back to the bench...should get a TON done over the rest of today and tomorrow.

My idea of early winter in Stalingrad:

Thanks for coming by the shop                                                                                                                          Tony Lee

I'm having a hard time keeping up here but from what I can see, everyone is doing a fine job! Dupes, I really like the look of that camo so far! And Brett, I like the little diorama - I tell you what, I'd be pissed if I was those guys, freezing my rear off having to run stupid wire through a wasteland and then throwing a track in the middle of no where. Good stuff!

So the Stuka is not progressing but in its place will be this:

Nice tiny kit to accommodate my nice tiny work space! I hope to start up in a day or so. Oh, also, if this isn't a good candidate for a winter scheme, please tell me. Pics were scarce, at least that I could find, of these in a winter scheme, but to my knowledge they were used at the Bulge, no? I'll do my best to find a pic tho, of an appropriate winter camouflage.

Killer whitewash, Tony.  Looks suitably hastily applied.

On my end, RLM 76 underside and RLM 74/75 top base colors have been applied.  Let that dry, and I can begin to put the white wash on.

Hey guys looks like some killer builds going on. I don't want to leave anyone out so keep up the awesome work, looking foward to more post. I may have to build another for this GB.

Mikael: I sent the pics of your build to a friend of mine after I told him about it. I had mention that it look like maggots while we were eating lunch. Not such a good Idea. He was totally grossed out by them. Makes one wonder how the enemy couild look at it. Visual Warfare.  Make the enemy sick by looking at it. LOL

Bushi

Bushi

Mikael: I sent the pics of your build to a friend of mine after I told him about it. I had mention that it look like maggots while we were eating lunch. Not such a good Idea. He was totally grossed out by them. Makes one wonder how the enemy couild look at it. Visual Warfare.  Make the enemy sick by looking at it. LOL

Bushi

 

Wow, thanks for doing that Bushi! Glad you liked it so much you decided to share it. So......what does your friend think of the build?(I'd love to hear whatever he/or she may have to say.)

Thanks again for the comments! You're too kind.

 Thanks for all the feedback from everyone.

I have added a few final touches to my dio… some extra snow to the running gear and a signpost. I will post some updated pics shortly.

Satch ip – well done on that SU 76. It looks like you had a bit of fun with the wintering.

Dupes - the badges looks great. I have added one to my signature.
The tank is off to a flying start. One suggestion I might make is… with the moulded on detail (pioneer tools on the fender), is to scribe a line around the bottom of them to undercut them slightly, this makes them easier to paint, and look less moulded on (and it gives the wash somewhere to pool).
Also the complement on the figures. I think figure painting is highly overrated, I use a simple 7 step method, I must get around to documenting some day.

Detailfreak – The Elefant is looking good. It is one of my favourite WWII vehicles, and must have been an awesome machine to see operating (but you would have had to have been quick).

Tony – That Panzer just keeps looking better and better.

Oddy – Looking forward to the Jagdpanther build. By the time they made the late production I think the Germans were pretty well over the zimmerit, so that makes your job easier.

Mg mikael – love that camo scheme. It must have been a slow day in the war, and the Russians decided rather than slap it on with a broom, they would create a masterpiece.

Brett

Fitted the tracks in between play off games.

Tony Lee

Tony.. : That looks sweet, menacing with the treads on..!

Everyone Else.. looking great to..

I've finally started my M-10, here is a pic of what I'm shooting for.. I am adding a hedgerow device as the kit I'm using has a resin one ...

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0]

As verification of my start... [View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0]

I think it's finished this time. those small improvements did make a difference.
(It's better to err on the side of caution).

I would have rather used a more obscure road sign (one written in Russian woud have been good... so no one could actually tell where it was),
but this one was sitting ready to go (almost).

some snow in the running gear

and a bit more on the front

the final result

Brett