new to gundam models

If I could make a suggestion mr snowman.  You can make them interlocking if you like, and while that would be quite cool. I have had that idea myself before...  If you keep them seperate scenes you can get rid of the problem of distance, IE the sniper being way to close... heres an example. 

http://www.bakuc.com/modeler/ballistic/946 

http://www.bakuc.com/entry?g=942

It conveys the same idea you are after, the bases are very small, and simple, it gives the person an idea of whats going on, but lets them focus on the Mechs.  The Gundam in that set is a prize winner too, so 

ok that makes a lot of sence. So what if i do like they said and make two small dios one with the zaku, and one with the sniper, with the possibility of interconnecting? But is the general idea good besides the bigness of it?

Oh yeah, I think its an excellent idea.

smeagol the vile wrote:

I know they wre the mass produced version Puma, but they still wernt produced for the batallions outside of the Ukraine area (Odessa and all in 08th ms team)  It was a localized trial for new mass produced suits, and like you said, the battle was moved to space, so there were not many of these mechs, Hense the Ez-8, which was a hodge podge of other sutis because there were no spare parts for it.

The Ez-8(Extra zero-eight) was a rebuild using left over parts from the RX-78 gundams and a few custom upgrades such as better armor and the barrel vulcan in the chest. as for the RX-79 seeing combat outside the southeast asia battalions, the Blue Destiny units 2 & 3 were upgraded versions of the ground type RX-79. these 2 units saw comat in space as well as land. on a side note, both units were KIA in the final battle of that story, some how the main character lives through the battle.

now, less heated discusion and more zaku getting its butt handed to it by a RGM-79[G]SP GM Sniper! if you hve the will and the want to make it, go for it! cant wait to see the build up on it!

Cosmic J wrote:

... You should also try to keep you display as simple as possible for other reasons. Hypothetically, let's suppose your models are really kick a**, but the trees in your dio are substandard. I guarantee you that viewers will fixate on those bad trees. The more elements you include in a base, the more chances you have to mess something up. ... Large dios are also harder to store around your house. At my place, I have two bookcases and a curio cabinet just to store all my completed models. Honestly, I have no idea where I'm going to put the stuff I'm working on now...

I agree with what he said above. Keep it simple is the best advise one can give when it comes to diorama. Basically you need to design your diorama to force viewers' attention to the subject matter with no clutters to distract them.You said you want three kits in your diorama. Ask yourself do you need all three to convey the story? What about two instead of three or possibly just one? Sometimes things implied can be more effective than on display...

I like doing at 1/144 when it comes to diorama simply because 1/100 diorama can be quite big and hard to keep around unless you design your diorama so it can be broken down into the sub-components for easy storage.

How about to build vignette with the subject matter and see how it pans out~ You can always use the same kit in the diorama setting down the track... 

ROBO SNOWMAN wrote:

all i have to say is "give" its a hobby, go big or go play golf lol not the point though. hey its big but if you think about it it a all around training. You got battle damage, a river, a waterfall, loads of landscape, painting, and posing what else could you want . Thats all im saying it will give me lots of different little projects to research and play around with

If I were you I'd build a small vignette with each theme - battel damage, river, waterfall and etc. so you can concentrate and practive necessary techniques before combine them all into a single dioarama... ^ ^

I don't know ROBO SNOWMAN, I kind of like your first idea better.

A good diorama should tell a story. A simple story is easier for the viewer to understand.

If a dio is complicated on the other hand, you risk confusing the audience as to what it's really about.

With your first idea, I think viewers will get it right away. A sniper and his spotter take out an enemy.

With the second idea, non-Gundam fans may be confused by what's going on. Who is the sniper shooting at? Why is he shooting if that other guy has it under control? If he's not shooting, why is he there?

You should also try to keep you display as simple as possible for other reasons. Hypothetically, let's suppose your models are really kick a**, but the trees in your dio are substandard. I guarantee you that viewers will fixate on those bad trees. The more elements you include in a base, the more chances you have to mess something up.

Additionally, expansive dioramas are expensive, both in terms of money and time. You could add six trees behind your model, but would just one or two convey the same impression?

Large dios are also harder to store around your house. At my place, I have two bookcases and a curio cabinet just to store all my completed models. Honestly, I have no idea where I'm going to put the stuff I'm working on now...

Just some stuff to think about. Feel free to ignore my ramblings.

all i have to say is "give" its a hobby, go big or go play golf lol not the point though. hey its big but if you think about it it a all around training. You got battle damage, a river, a waterfall, loads of landscape, painting, and posing what else could you want . Thats all im saying it will give me lots of different little projects to research and play around with

I know they wre the mass produced version Puma, but they still wernt produced for the batallions outside of the Ukraine area (Odessa and all in 08th ms team)  It was a localized trial for new mass produced suits, and like you said, the battle was moved to space, so there were not many of these mechs, Hense the Ez-8, which was a hodge podge of other sutis because there were no spare parts for it.

As far as the dio, your little outline there looks like it could work, but the dimensions you gave are freaking huge.  Thats like twice to three times the size of normal Dios.

I'm also afraid to say that I think your getting in over your head for your first try 

Thanks Puma. That gave me a great idea too and I will have fun with it. How about this the sniper is laying prone on cliff aiming at the Zaku II and the spotter jumps of the cliff behind the Zaku. The Zaku turns around to shot at the spotter then the sniper hit him. If you can amgine where they will be.

_______________________________________________________________________

QQQ##QQ#Q (SNIPER) X QQQ###QQ#QQQ####QQQQ##QQQ#QQQ#QQQQQ###QQ

-------------CLIFF---------------------------------|QQ##QQQQ ROCK QQQ###

 ##########FOREST#########################|QQ####QQQ#QQQQ#

 ##########################################|Q#Q#Q#Q#Q#Q#Q

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|#########|~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~QQQQ~~~~~~~~~~~~ | ~~~water fall~~

~~~~QQQ~~~~~RIVER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__|~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |########### |-------------------

~~~~~~~~#######~~~~~~~~~~~~|################# < X (SPOTTER)

 ~~~~~~~## X >#####~~~~~~~~~~~~~|########################

 ~~~~~~~## (Zaku II) ####~~~~~~~~~~~~ |######################

 ~~~~~~~############~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|#########

~~~~~~~~###############~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~################~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

________________________________________________________________________

So what do you think. By the way how do you like Okinawa. My brother was stationed there about 4 years ago. He was in the 1141 divsion 

first off, Smeagol,

The RX-79 [g] was the MASS PRODUCTION type of the gundam during the one year war. the [G] GM was produced in larger numbers, but not by much. this is due to the fact that the war moved once again to space where the final battles of the war took place.

Second, Robo,

 Master Grade is your best bet for gundam modeling hands down. Now that being said, the kits you have chosen arent bad, they just arent as detailed as some of the newer HGUC 1\144 kits available today. as for your dio, it will work as long as you have fun with it. my personal recomendation is to have the poor Zaku caught between the two feddie suits, as spotters for the GM Snipers were often times on the move. also a green camo pattern on the gundam would look kick ***.

an interlocking Dio would work.

 I did not mean you had to paint it any certain way, but skull is right, build to make yourself happy

He asked if his dio would work, as in look right (as I figgure he meant) so I told him why it would not 

I mean big as in terms of size.  if you were to make it all to scale, your base would have to be... well, I would say a yard long, atleast 

Sorry to say, it wouldnt work, for a few reasons. 1 - Range and Size.  The size of the mechs, and the range of the sniper rifle.  Most gundam Dios normally do not show more then one mech shooting at eachother because of the size of the required Dio, the distance would be to large, and if you used a small dio, it would look really strange. 2 -  Gm Sniper Rifles.  The GM's sniper rifles arent what they sound like they should be. Instead of a bolt action rifle, or any kind of bullet, its a concentrated laser , used with a cooling system to take down large targets such as mobile armors, they are not necesserialyl used to take out single targets, would not be praticle. 3 - the last one is sort of a aestetics thing.  the Gm sniper is painted and marked to be camoed in the trees, the RX-{G} is not, it would not make sense to have the spotter standing out, unless Camoed, and for that, the RX-{G} was not mass produced, there were alot more GM{G}s then there were Rx-{G}

Hey, smeagol the vile. I don't understand the intent of this post. That is to say, I understand the words as written, but I do not understand what it is you are attempting to accomplish by posting it. Could you explain? Your intent, I mean.

ROBO SNOWMAN, I think your idea is pretty good. If scale is a problem, you could present it as two mini dioramas on a single board, or two boards that can be locked together.

Model what you like brother, and don't let others tell you what is right and wrong.

If you have a camera, we would love to see 'work in progress' pictures.

Model on - Cosmic John Creed

Sorry to say, it wouldnt work, for a few reasons.

1 - Range and Size.  The size of the mechs, and the range of the sniper rifle.  Most gundam Dios normally do not show more then one mech shooting at eachother because of the size of the required Dio, the distance would be to large, and if you used a small dio, it would look really strange.

2 -  Gm Sniper Rifles.  The GM's sniper rifles arent what they sound like they should be. Instead of a bolt action rifle, or any kind of bullet, its a concentrated laser , used with a cooling system to take down large targets such as mobile armors, they are not necesserialyl used to take out single targets, would not be praticle.

3 - the last one is sort of a aestetics thing.  the Gm sniper is painted and marked to be camoed in the trees, the RX-{G} is not, it would not make sense to have the spotter standing out, unless Camoed, and for that, the RX-{G} was not mass produced, there were alot more GM{G}s then there were Rx-{G}

I don't know. For the Zaku, I like the upper body, head and gun, but I'm not too keen on the design of the legs. On the other hand, it is only $12...

I found the MG Sniper at Toy's Logic for $35 + $7 shipping which ain't too shabby, but I may hold off and try to find one at Wonderfest next month; I might be able to get a better deal. Do y'all think it will go OOP before too long?

Gundamstoreandmore is your best bet in the states. The quite fast shipping to, atleast to me, takem like 3 days (not including weekends) order on friday night, get it wed morning normally.

If I were you I would get the Zaku sniper though, even if you get two, the kit is quite worth it I have even been tempted to scratch one of them out of a MG zaku I 

Alright, I think I've settled on the third one, mostly because of the extra hands. I can use those on other projects.

Does anyone know of a place I could get one for a reasonable price in the States? International shipping rates are a  these days.