75th Anniversary of 1943 (World at War)

Wow Griffin, really did a nice job of balancing your colors and with your presentation.  

I agree looks fantastic 

Well-done, Griffin!  The way you've arranged things draws the viewer in and engages the attention very well.  The background does a great job of setting the scene.  Exceptional work! 

Which photo would you like to adorn the front page?

Steve, Nick, Scott and Mr. King thank you for the kind words. I think the first photo would be cool. I appreciate it. Here's a link to the Battle of Nikolayevka to anyone who's interested. I model out of a love of military history more than anything. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nikolayevka

Front page updated, Griffin.  And you are the first to finish a 1943 project!  Congratulations!

Thanks for being part of the GB.  Your entry is a gem!

Griffen, that is a standout job on the figure vignette, and excellent use of the backdrop photo. 

Also congrats on being first to complete.

regards,

Jack

Griffin, that is a superb job on that. The figures are really well done and they are set perfectly.

Jack, Bish thank you! 

Time to wrap this one up. Last job on the halftrack and gun was some pigments. There were applied wet and then once dry the excess were removed. This leaves a build up around hinges, vision blocks and other areas.

And after that i got to work on the figures and all the other parts of the scene. The trumpeter figures are not the most detailed, comparable to older Tamiya figures, but the poses were spot on for this dio. There were painted with vallejo, Tamiya and scale 75 acrylics. The lower limbs were gioven a flory wash and gave each a light spray with AK dust effects.

And then time to bring it all together. For the terrain i found some pics of 1st Pz Div Pz IV's in Greece in 1943. These show the unit in training. The Div had been moved to France at the start of the year for re-fiiting, pulling out from Russia. This means that most of its kit and a lot of the personel were new. So training would have been vital. This pic shows a scene familiar to anyone who has been trained on AFV's, a vehicle recovery lesson. Not the group of crewman at the side and the muzzle covers on the barrels.

But this one really caught my attention. Note again the muzzle covers. But also note the ground to the right of the image. I thought the 'step' in the terrain was very interesting and decided to include that.

And this is the scene i have come up with, with the crew conducting live fire training posably as part of an anti invasion excersise.

Thanks check, always look forward to your GB's. Please use which ever pic you choose.

Bish, exceptional work here, I really like that displayed scene.

regards,

Jack

Cheers Jack, much appreciated. Seemed to be the right way to display it.

What a great diorama Bish. The little rise was a good call. Everything looks top notch and I like the story behind it, Excellent job. 

Cheers Griffin, it made sense to be a training excersise. The anticipated invasion of Greece never took place of course, but they must have trained for it.

Another great looking dio Bish. I agree about the rise, it add some intrest to the landscape.

Thanks Steve. I agree, would have just been a flat base without it.

What a great diorama, Bish.  The figures and machines are fantastically painted and weathered, and the landscape colors bring everything together.  Truly an outstanding piece of art!

Which photo do you prefer for the finish page?  I like the last (3rd) a lot--but it's your call.

Thank you for being part of the GB.  Your work keeps getting better and better.

Thanks check, its always a pleasure taking part. The 3rd one will do nicley, shows off the whole scene.

Front page updated, Bish.  Again, thanks for contributing to the GB.

Thanks check. And looking forward to seeing everyone elses builds.

So I have been focused on another GB, and totally lost out on watching this thread.  Got caught up this morning.  Have not even got the SU-85 out of the box yet.

Bish, I was able to follow this in the armor thread, so you already know that I think you did a fantastic job on your dio.  Halftracks kits are definitely on my wish list.  Love watching your process, and the results are always excellent.

Griffin, all I can say is wow!  That dio is fantastic.  You have skill, my friend.  I've seen you put a tank together (done very well, I might add) in another GB, and now you have shown excellent skill with figures.  The snow effects came out really well. 

Glad I finally got a chance to see what folks are doing in the GB.  Great stuff going on here!

Cheers again Dwayne, and glad you were able to catch up on the GB.

Great work Bish, especially on the landscape.  All the colors turned out well.  

Thanks Scott.

Way to persevere Steve. It looks great. Even with steady hands that kind of PE is a pain. 

Bish thats a bit of all right . fantastic dio.

MC very neat work.Im sure the shakes will cease.

Steve, that is some very nice work. I have never worked with PE in that scale, i can only imagine how tricky that is.

Cheers Nick.

Nice work with the PE, Steve.  That stuff is tiny in 1/700.  Good job!

Thank you Griffin, Crown, Bish and Check. I have many more 1/700 ships with their associated PE so I'm going to keep going. They say the shakes should subside over time.