Terry: The ties and the bumpers look great!

Anyway, here I am. I suppose the gun itself is done, I'm been making slow progress on the figures. I haven't even started the diorama base as yet.

Looking fantastic Terry,

I don't think you would want that beauty anywhere near my build. Mine would bring down the value of yours. . Just kidding, that would make for an interesting photo. 

Just laying some rails and set in the bumper that I filled with small pebbles.  I also tried placing almost everything in place to see how its all going to look. The square in the back is a 2 man guard tower and I'm adding a little stone wall for effect. I can see a lot of ground cover in the near future too, plus figures? Anyway its starting to look like something and with the Morser at 33 inches, my options on a diorama are limited unless I wanted something that was so large I wouldnt have room for it. 

Wow Terry, I love the wood and rust tones you've got going on there! 

Terry,

That is looking so great, and that gun, how cool is that!

I think I'm going to add a Gebirgsflak 38 by CustomScale instead of the $10 Tamiya..This is a very cool gun, complete resin with loads of detail.

Steve I've made a lot of progress this past week while waiting for my Fruils. Lets see, heres a list of things that are almost completed: oil drums, gondola is 99% done, rails and cleats are ready to be laid, I built a rack to hold the raming charger and support to be hauled on the gondola, the watchtower is almost done, the buffer is 90%. I've built a Tamiya Flak 38 but i think that'll be changed, I need something really cool to protect that monster of a gun. I still have figures and smaller parts, ground cover and vegitation along with some other stuff. Getting there...

Oh, I think I said that the Morser is a new piece of equipment so the loading ramp and charger are veing hauled separate from the gun.

Here are a few pics. 

Terry

Steve, looking good on both your photos here and the armour forum! No idea where the AA halftrack should go though though I'd slightly lean to the front left unless you do decide to lop off the excess material in the front. 

Sorry, not much to report here, I'm still in this but things have been so crazy I haven't gotten much of anything done... 

jibber

I'm not seeing the loading tray, is it hidden behind the supports.

Steve it looks fantastic but I'm not seeing the loading tray, is it hidden behind the supports.

Terry

Here you go guys.
I have new pics here. I decided to go ahead and drape a tarp over the muzzle. I love doing
tarps.

 

Yeah, she looks great Steve! Would love to see some close-ups to see all that detail. 

Terry, Steve, 

The builds are looking great! 

Sorry, I've been away so long. Finally got moved, then had three weeks of the "busyashell's" at work.

Anyway, I was able to shoot some primer on the tomahawk tonight! Getting close to finishing this one up.

Thanks Terry.
I can get some close-ups. I need to take some better pics for the wall anyway.

Steve that looks great and the color is right too. Right from the factory they came almost exactly like Tamiya XF66 German Grey. Looks like you have some nice tones and weathering on there, any more close ups. 

Those are coming along great guys! I really love the wood tones you've got on the bed there Terry. 

Only thing I've gotten done recently is painting the eyeballs on my gun crew.... (sigh)... 

More work on the gondola. The wheels are painted and grerased, I'm staining basswood for the ties and I've painted and stressed the wooden bed. Going along ok.

Steve whatever looks good in your eye, only you know what you want it to look like and whatever youre going to add. A general rule for Dio's is to create angles and dimentions, but that doesnt work so well with railroads. Just keep working with it, it'll come to you.  

I'm waiting for a set of Fruils for my Morser so I'm taking this time to work on parts of the Diorama. I started on a Low Sided Trumpeter Gondola. So far this is going great, and I should have all the parts together and primed by tonight. It's nice taking a break from that monster and get to work on my board. The last photo shows almost all the subassemblies except for the side that'll be painted and assembled near the end. 

You're making great progress there Steve, sounds like a plan! 

I got some paint on the Karl today using my new bench and old paint booth setup. All went well, just a little awkward at first.
Anyway, here's my idea so far. The mortar will be sitting on its track, covered with camo netting. Next to it will be the WR-360 on a parallel track equipped with a bumper. Whether the WR-360 is/was pulling the mottar or not will be up to the observer. At the end of that track will be the Sd Kfz 7/1 AA gun. Up to 20 personal, when they finial come off back order, will be taking a break, after applying the camo netting and awaiting for new orders.

Here’s tonight’s progress. I’ve completed the Karl, and will start painting and weathering this weekend.

Those are coming along great guys!

i have a tutorial on doing 1/35.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/164785.aspx

same holds for 1/72 except the spikes may be too small to see and there is less room for slop with rail width. also i suggest you stain the basswood strips before cutting them. i found it really isn't worth the effort to beat them up. between staining and weathering there will be enough.

Steve it sounds like your going to lay your own track, I would pick a median point between the two widths, you can always cut a tiny sliver out of an axle and CA glue it back. There actually plenty of play with the wheels and track to accomodate slightly different widths. If you have any issues let Wayne or me know, we'll find a way. But please make your own track, its so easy ad looks cool. 

For my last dio, I layed a bed or corkboard then cut some basswood the size of the Trumpeter ties (thats a good go to size), glued them using spacers like laying tile between them. I cut out the cleats from the provided Trumpeter tracks and CA glued them to the ties and again used Trumpeters rails. Woodland Scenic makes a nice ballast in different sizes and colors, just pick one. Once the ballast is in place I sprayed on Woodlands spray adhesive that locked it in. It sounds way more complicated than what it is. I just thought I'd add this in case anybody is checking the site, sothey can find a way to make their own tracks.  

Terry

These are the last of the carriage parts, theyre cut, trimmed and primed ready for assembly and paint. That'll give me finished carriages and I can move on to finish up the main gun. My diorama board is cut down to 33X18 and will include two sets of track along with a watchtower and a couple other things I hope everybody will find interesting.