"Midnight Raid in Mosul" Dio & Write-up....

**UPDATE*** 

Sorry for the delay guys ... I'm still out on my trip and still have a couple of days to go. The place where I'm staying does not have interent access (as I was told). I took off today to the nearest little town and found a Starbucks ....

Sorry no pictures as of yet. Didn't bring my card reader with me. But, here's what I've got thus far. I've only got about 30-45 minutes to work at night, so I'm not getting a ton done. But anyway .... I've started doing a lot of "fitting" with figure parts. I've also started doing some basic putty work, however, this work is a little more limited than I first thought as I'm going to have to cast some parts FIRST before I can do the putty work with them. Other things like getting the basic fit down though isn't a problem. I've tried to drill pins in, line up different parts and then mark the pins. That way, when I get back, all I've got to do is cast and realign the parts. I don't normally do this, but since I'm having to buy myself some time, I'm making out a detailed "map" as to what parts I'm casting first, cutting, gluing, etc. I'm probably just wasting my time, but I'm basically writting myself instructions for later.

I think that everything will come together just fine and that the whole process shouldn't take too long once I get home and REALLY started.

camo: Don't worry ... you didn't "jack" my thread ... you just kept it alive for me while I've been gone.

I'm not able to get on-line where I'm at, but I can access the site by my blackberry. It's just a pain in the rear to type everything in. Let me know if you guys have a question for me and I'll be sure to get back to you. I'll probably come back to this SB's later this week just to "get away" again.

Sorry for the no-pics update ... we'll get that fixed asap!

I might do washes of a grayer sand color, streaking down from the roof to the ground, kind of a rain water effect- than any place where you had brick or metal, change up the wash color, maybe a muddy brown from the bricks and a rust streak from the metal?

This may (or most likely) may not be accurate to the area, just my 2 cents on painting desert buildings in general. I tend to use a lot of artistic license and sometimes find myself slipping from accuracy and leaning more towards artistic composition

 yep, every little bit does. (helps). just curious if either one of you guys has an answer to this. i just painted my building a sand color. should i wash it or "highlight it" with a lighter color using the airbrush? i mean i plan on using washes in area's like the bricks, sidewalk, etc. i just mean for the actual building color?

 modelchasm: i am sorry i "took over" your thread. you can have mine all to yourself as soon as i post my dio.

No problem- the finish of the figures is waiting on my being home from school. I'm a college student and don't really model much while I'm at school- those figures are about 4 hours away right now-

As soon as I make any progress I'll update that thread though, thanks for checking them out- hope they help!

thanx p.o.995. back home now so no more dial up!!! will have to look at your marpat posting. i did look at it when it started...just didnt follow it to where it is. really nice figs though. when do we get fin. pics?

hey modelchasm, have you casted 1/35 arms and legs? any tips ya got for doing it (assuming you have?) and having good results? i'm thinking more and more about an action/ambush scene. anything else i can do to help you (though you really dont look like ya need it) let me know!!

Yeah, I didn't think it'd be worth it, I feel that even if you could guarantee the parts coming out ok, the extra time spent cutting and casting and reassembling doesn't seem worth the effort.

"The two holes SHOULD meet in the middle." haha sounds like a plan!

camo- no problem on the link- there are quite a few pictures as it was a semi-WIP so I'm sorry about the dial up. 

haha I'll think twice next time before giving dahmer even more ways to hack apart his victims

 i have more posts than you?? lol...oh well. the way i see it this worked out better. no offense to the forum but my posts usually get 300 looks and only 1 or 2 replies. granted those 1 or 2 may be the only ones with answers but...! i do hope im helping you out in some way. this dio im doing is only my second attempt at making one so i appreciate all the advice etc. wasnt trying to steal the thread!

 your right about the knome...will have to see if i can make one up! should i put a veil on it??

psstoff995- ya know ya dont tell a guy like dahmer here how he can better hack his victims!!! not cool man thanks for the marpat...i will look at it later tonight when i get home (m-i-l's computer is dialup only.... but i appreciate it and will look.

Hey! I got an idea for your hollow leg problems- Maybe you could cut them up even more?! haha the only way I can think to cast it and keep the hollow would be to cut the whole leg in half again, front to back like up the pants seam, one side shins, one side inner knee?

That would make two extra parts per leg, But I'd figure they'd line up arlight after the fact and... I don't know much about casting at all but the fact that the mold would be inside... itself? Kinda..? I don't know- doesn't sound like it would work...

Although you were planning on molding it up origionally, so I guess easy come easy go.

I think if you wanted to cast them solid, it might be easier just to cap the leg with some sheet styrene or something of the like, as long as it's sealed, the RTV

Hey camo- I have a few MARPAT figures in 1/16, I'll dig up the thread for you. They're not finished, but hopeing they can get to looking as pretty as modelchasm's guy

Here you go

MARPAT

BTW ....

I REALLY do think that you should add in a "garden knome" on one of the balconies. Seriously. Use a 1/350 PE figure or something like that. Use it on the ground floor and have one of the Soldiers pointing at it. It would make for a nice, suttle, "humor" factor!

Do it!!! The Jedi orders you to!!! (nananananana...)

Originally, I was thinking about copper wire, but unless you're very careful not to kink it ... I just don't think it would "hang" right. Instead, try this trick I just learned ....

Take black sewing thread and dip it into a 1/1 mixture of Elmer's white school glue and warm water. Then just drape it across where ever you were going to place it in the model. **TIP** make sure that the ends are DRY though. That way when you get ready to string it up, you've got a dry spot to anchor it was CA glue. (i.e. measure ... loosely ... the thread before dipping it.) Then as the white glue/ water mixture dries, the sewing thread will become harder and will gain some strength too. Plus, it won't "blow" around in a fan breeze.

As far as the casting goes ... I think that if I just leave the hollows alone during the molding process, the void will fill with RTV, thus giving something for the resin casting to flow around ... I guess I can always try it. What's the worst thing that can happen ... I'm going to have to drill it out!?! Oh well.

(I think you've got more posts here on your topic than I do! Am I going to have to move out!?! HAHAHHAAHHAHA

 ok, my wife informed me of what a thread is...as did u. never knew...guess my age is kinda showing thru!! could you (assuming u wanted to) fill the hollow with resin then cast it solid? just a thought...wouldnt want to interfere with your mutilations doc!!!

  btw, glad u liked the joke (think i threw a few in there). i know i sound kinda racist with what im saying but some of my wife's best friends are iraqi and i b.s. them all the time. but man...that's alot of wires. so what are ya really thinkin', copper wire for the overhang or ? that should be stiff enough. "i want to put wires up...modelchasm wants me to put up wires, i have to put up those freakin wires"...(mind trick).

 i was kinda thinking about a palm...i just dont want to center everything on the ground while leaving minimal to no details "above". no sense worrying i guess (good to have a plan of attack) until i get home.

Maybe it's just me ... I call a "thread" a new post/ topic w/ "posts" being the discussion inside the "thread".

I was thinking about the casting too. I think that I should be able to mold them as is. The RTV should make a nice mold is the inside, and then the resin casts should just make the hollow for me!?! At least that's what I'm thinking. The only thing that I know that I'm going to do is drill the small "tunnels" up the legs and such for each figure, but I already figured that. Trying to cast with those small holes would b a nightmare!

As for the wiring ... that's not a doctored photo by the by. That stuff is EVERYWHERE!!! BTW, I laughed my ARSE OFF w/ the silly-sting comment! That was funny!!!

I think that some "wiring" would add a nice bit of realizism for your dio (I'm using my Jedi powers on you ... can you tell!?! ... nananananana ... oh wait .... wrong movie!?!) A dusty palm tree would make a nice addition as well. I was going to say that I didn't see many of those, but them I remembered that you were setting it in Baghdad, so you're spot on.

 your joking right???? lol....why dont i just spray the thing with silly string when i'm done then spray paint everything black!! how about a nice palm tree?? yeah...palm trees are nice!!! maybe a garden knome with a veil on or something!! dude, i appreciate the pic, the advice, and all that stuff...i now come to consider myself a mediocre modeler...thanks!!! (it wont happen) cant even imagine the "emf" given off at that tangled mess of wires. the people probaly walk by and their beard hair stands on end!!! (the men too). no wonder they run around going "la-la-la-la" and want to shoot everything in sight.

   anyway, i wish i could help ya with the castings. i've casted tires and things like that. never anything on the larger scale as 120mm and never hollow. though i do intend to try for my next dio. but with what you have and what you've done already, you'll have a masterpiece on your hands i'm sure. btw, have you painted a marpat design yet? i havent tried and really have my reservations about it...if ya have info on that....i'd appreciate it.

   btw, what is a thread? as you can see i still havent got this forum thing down 100% so im not sure what your talking about. i couldnt even get the "quote" thing a few posts back!!!

Camo,

Ask and ye shall receive ...

This is a shot of one of the "generator houses".

Maybe instead of wires, using black thread stiffened with Elmer's white glue would look a little more realistic. Either way ... have fun with that!!!

I do have pis of the "neighborhood powerlines" but I'm don't have my external with me. I'll see if I can find some on the net and post them for you.

Castings are easy enough. I has problems when I first started w/ small bubbles, but I didn't want to spend all that money for a pressure chamber and I didn't have time to make my own. Someone here on the forums brought up using baby powder in the molds and that has helped a lot. The MCF figures are throwing me for a small loop though b/c they are hollow. I'd like to make casts with them hollowed out as it would make running the FO easier, but I'm not grasping how I'm going to do that. I have to in-vision how the final casts are going to come out IOT make the molds that way. It's probably way easier than I'm making it out to be ... it usually is.

As far as my layout goes ... I think I've got it figured out. I'm pretty much just going to go off the first two pictures I posted. I've figured out that I'm actually just going to have to rebuild one of the figures as it had older style gear. The rest, I'm just going to do some swapping of the feet, hands, some gear, some weapons, helmets, etc. Sounds like a lot, but the biggest thing is that the bodies are going to remain pretty much the same. The only big thing that I've got to figure out, by talking to by SF buddy, is that one of the figures that I want to keep intact is wearing a full-up grenadier's vest ... packed with 40mm M203 grenades. I'm not sure if any SF guys actually wear that stuff or not. All the guys that I've ever worked with never did. Is may be the one point in the dio that I try to "get away with". However, being my biggest critic, stuff like that tends to bug me to the point that I can't leave it that way.

Messing with these vinyl figures is a new one for me. With plastic or resin, I'm used to just sawing/ sanding a piece off that I don't like. With the vinyl, it's a little trickier .... again, I'm probably over thinking it. I've not been able to mess the the figures and magic sculpt yet as I ran out ... didn't do my "precombat checks" before diving into this one ... OOPS! Hopefully, I can find a place during my trip that has something similar that I can use. Otherwise, all I can do or the next week is eyeball it and wait until I get back ... RRRrrrrr....... but, that's what I get.

As far as you "wiring" your dio ... instead of running the wires out into space, maybe you could think about running them along the front of the building. But, I'll try to find you some online. Are you going to start up your own thread? I think that you should. You'll get a lot of good feedback from the "gallery" and it'll help you focus on side of the project that you otherwise wouldn't see.

We'll post some updates as soon as I can.

 alright. well, cant wait to see the final product. the figs im sure will look great after casting all those body parts. (do they cast real easy btw?...rubber molds and such i assume?) have you decided on the dio concept or are ya still planning? btw, i didnt want you to think i didnt appreciate the advice on the wires for mine...i'm kinda like you where i guess im not entirely sure where i want to take this project yet. do you have any good ref. pics of these wires? and...could i pull it off and make it believable?

camo junkie wrote:

not to mention like you said they dont fight like us. they're too stupid to think of anything like that.

I've always refraned from calling them stupid. I've seen some stuff that I had to have explained to me .... But, while they're tricky like that .... they are gutless. Hit and run ... and hide.

I'm hoping to have some more updates fo this build as my other is coming to a close. Tried to finish today, but the brain got in the way!?! I'm taking the MCF figures with me on the road to try and resolve some of the fitting/ reconstruction issues. I'm going to try and make myself a "roadmap" so that when I get back I know EXACTLY what I'm casting etc. If I really get spunky, I might try to take my casting stuff with me. Hmmmm...... thinking ..... processing ... DOS dot is blinking .... Hmmm.

Sure, why not .. right!?!

I'm told that I'll have internet there, so I should be able to make some update on the road, but we'll see.

Until then....

While this is true, it's very unlikely. Security around a raid team (the stack) is like a wool blanket to say the least. Stacks are tried and true tactical methods. You're not walking in a jungle where you can't see the enemy. In this fight, the enemy chooses not to fight us man to man. This is why he uses booby traps and IEDs. Therefore the threat of someone lobbing a grenade in is very unlikely, although still very real. Ultimately, that's why it's called a fight.

Personally, I never felt safer than when I was in the stack .... even when you could hear the other schmoe on the other side of the wall.

yeah, i hear ya dahm!! and no offense taken (even if i've been modeling for 18 years now!! just never said any of it was good!!) i've been reluctant to hack my figs...mostly because i didnt want to waste the $$ but maybe i'll give it a try.

   btw dahm, (u cant escape your destiny now!!) i meant to tell you yesturday, if you apply the spackle to your build, u need to blow off the dust (i used my airbrush because i figured if i used an air hose it might be too powerful and flake the spackle) then u need to take a damp (not wet...just damp) cloth and lightly wipe the surface(s) to get the dust off b4 u paint. again another lesson learned.

well, im outta here for the weekend but i'll k.i.t. with my mother-in-laws computer.

camo junkie wrote:

yep know what ya mean. going thru every box i have to try and make the figs work. ready to break out the putty and start sculpting. but im hoping it doesnt have to come to that!

Magic Sculpt and epoxy putty .... it's "dahmer's" best friend!!! (I've got to quit that ... I'm going to be forced to change screen-names!)

The thing that I've found is that you're building a scene b/c it's something that you thought of. Not something straight OOB. That's what the scuplter thought of. That's what beginners are for ... no offense. We all started somewhere. My point is this; if you're to the point where you're trying to put ideas onto the workbench ... buy yourself a few figure sets and get to hacking. I'm always buy a figure simply b/c he's got a better vest that I'm looking for. Not so that I can chunk the rest of him now, but b/c I know that I'll use his arms later, and so on .... I never buy models b/c I look at the box art and say, "hmm, that's cool". No, I look at it and go, "those arms would be perfect for the idea in my head". So what if I pay $25 for a pair of arms!?! I'm putting tons of parts into my parts ... Mmm ... TUB. Not to mention that after hacking things up, you can always take a day to cast parts.

Parts, parts, parts ..... YEA!!!! PARTS!!!!

Heck, my next build is going to be strictly from the TUB, and I bet you can't even tell.

Don't build something within the constraints of the sculpters. You'll always look back on it while it's sitting on the shelf and think, "what if ..." Might as well not even do it.

When you get to the point where you obviously are, you should be breaking out of the molds. If you want to do a fight scene .... DO IT!!!! Heck, I'll even throw in some 1/35 parts if you need them. Point is don't be a beginner, again no offense, and use the box art to tell you how the model should look. Build it the way you want it to look.

Yeah I know what you mean, it is a shame. I've been hunting around for some shooting figs, I think resin is your best bet short of hacking up and rebuilding them. Verlin is the most economical way to go if you want a nice pose straight OOB, sometimes their scale is a little bigger than 1/35 IMO, maybe 1/32 almost? And their weapons are so so in 1/35- but Dragon makes the best as far as plastic. I think if you start redoing poses, I'd go with them and just start off simple like switching arms and stuff, it takes a while before it's second hand just cutting off arms and sawing hands in half etc., I've only just gotten there with some old Tamiya figures.

modelchasm- that's some desk you got going on! haha- hey, I like that set up though, ACU and the Laptop right next to the chopping block, looks productive, and a little cleaner than my bench usually is.

Hey- as far as the walls go, Krylon makes a 3D kind of rattle can paint, some kind of fo-concrete, "make it stone!" or something- you might want to try priming the walls in that to give the spackle something to stick to??