"Cheers !"

[Guest]

Hello friends, I like to begin with "Thank you for the warm welcome".
I finished this diorama recently but I'm pleased to share some progress photos with you.
In fact it's a pretty cliché subject but I just couldn't resist the idea of making a diorama with a captured German staff car with bullet holes, a couple of killed Germans and a bunch of US paratroopers in the neighbourhood of Ste-Mère-Eglise.
I hope you like the idea too, here we go...

The Opel Olympia staff car by Bronco.

Please don't mind the Dutch text in the images.

The colours I mixed for the body.
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Door panels. I 'bumped' into one of them with a rounded blade.
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I liked to add the fieldconversion jerrycan racks as these add interest to the small car.
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More blue...[ATTACH]300063[/ATTACH]
These are the colours I mixed for the chassis of the car.
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This is how it came out.
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The colours for the mixture of the leather seats.
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The first layers on the seats. I like to work from dark to lighter shades.
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A lighter shade was made to finish the leather seats.
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I then applied a transparent mixture of blue on the body parts. [ATTACH]300074[/ATTACH]
I kept the lower half of the door panels a tadd darker.
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And of course there's also the wheels.
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The paint I used for the camo.
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Nothing too complicated...sorry for the bad pictures btw, they were made with my old camera.
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Decals were applied with Set&Sol. I like to use a wet cotton swab to gently press them on.
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More soon chaps.

[Guest]

Masking of the tires.
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The minor overspray was easily covered with the Humbrol finishing later on.
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I applied Humbrol enamels for the wheels. These can be polished once dry.
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Don't mention the roof top. I sculpted a folded on later on.
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Humbrol matt black for the rubber tires.
[ATTACH]300132[/ATTACH]Don't mention the drums. The matt black finish is ideal for the weathering part of the tires. Pigments settle in much better.
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A dirty wash mixture (oils : raw umber, ultramarine blue and a lot of white spirit for good flow).
[ATTACH]300134[/ATTACH]I brushed it over the entire body. With cotton swabs and tissue I partially removed the wash.[ATTACH]300136[/ATTACH]The leather interior was then washed too, I applied a bit of burnt sienna to the mixture. [ATTACH]300137[/ATTACH]After10 minutes of drying time I subtly dabbed in a bit of dark brown.[ATTACH]300138[/ATTACH]
The wheels almost done so far...
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I made scratches in pieces of transparent sheet to complete the doors/windshield. Meanwhile I also made bullet holes.
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It was quite a job but fun to do.
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The other side was shot at too.
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More was done to the interior door panels.
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More washes.
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Chrome parts were done with Humbrol enamels.[ATTACH]300151[/ATTACH]

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More soon.

[Guest]

Oooh can't wait to see this finished Guy

[scottie3158]

Guy,

Very nice work indeed.

Scottie

[Guest]

Thank you friends !

I then set the unfinished car aside to continue with another job. I had to convert a figure.

Kia German.

The spare box came in handy to compose a figure I was looking for. I didn't have to sculpt that much. Here and there I had to cut away/reshape plastic parts.
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This was pretty simple, I only had one sleeve to sculpt.
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Asleep ? Drunk ? No, he was dead, shot in his seat.
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The killed driver.

This figure was killed outside the car. This was the first stage of assembling, a lot more refining was necessary but I don't have photos of that I'm sorry.
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More soon.

[Wouter]

Ah, good to see this great scene appear here. Eye candy!

Cheers

[Guest]

Thank you Wouter !

The Americans.

A random impression of the figure work.

A seated trooper with a Hornet head (I like them a lot).
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I applied Humbrol enamel colours as a basepaint.
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The paratroopers are resin figures. Some of them needed a lot of cleaning/filling.
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And sometimes things can get pretty frustrating ! But we battled on...
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The grenade was too big as you can see on the image, I replaced it.
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As you can see I had a lot of re-sculpting to do.
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This is another Thompson gunman in progress.
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He held an oddly shaped weapon in his hand so I had to fix this.
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Sometimes plans come together nicely...luckily !
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Much better !
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I had to rework the suspenders of this trooper.
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This one looked pretty FUBAR before I reworked it. The looks of an orc maybe ? Hornet was the solution.
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Nothing can beat a friendly smile.
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The German soldier obviously singing opera didn't make it.
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More in a moment.

[Guest]

First layers of paint, Humbrol enamels.
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It's a start...
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The heads were given a couple of layers of oils already.
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I then began painting the clothing and gear with oils.

In general the figures were fun to paint, but they kept me busy for weeks...
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At this point I started painting the details like buttons.
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This one still needed much more attention.
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The paratrooper helmets had leather chin straps, I used leadfoil to make them.
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After days of hard labour the figures looked moreless ok but still they weren't finished.
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Hearts, spades...
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The shoulder patch decals I got from a good friend (thanks once more Pete !). Screaming Eagles and All American.
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Before they were glued onto the diorama more was done to the figures, I was addicted to finishing them as good as possible.

More soon.

[Guest]

The diorama base.

A downhill cobblestone road (Add On Parts), a slope to be filled with ferns, wild rhubarb and many other plants.
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After shaping the slope everything was given a uniform glossy black layer of acrylic paint.
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Laser cut paper plants...I also used 1:72 scale ferns to make smaller plants.
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The mixture for the cobblestone road consisted of these colours.
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The first mist got sprayed on.
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I wanted different shades so I added this colour to the mixture.
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I also added white to the last mixture but I wanted subtle contrast as washes did the trick later in the painting process.
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I mixed different pigments with white spirit and washed the cobblestones.
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Not 100% done
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Some of the paper plants were given a first tadd of colour. Not finished...
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Small birch seeds were sprinkled in thinned wood glue. And tufts of grass.
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These plants still need some shaping and fine brushpainting.
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The wild rhubarb leaves and some ferns added to the diorama...
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Patiently I kept gardening...
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The paper lupines came out great I think. These were unfinished.
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And finally...
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Pic heavy I know, sorry friends, more coming up.

[Steve Jones]

WOW! This is stunning and a fantastic read through. More photos the merrier. Great stuff:thumb2:

[Guest]

Breathtaking! I'm in awe.

Peter.

[Guest]

Composing the diorama.

The story : June 6, D-Day, early morning. US paratroopers have formed small fighting units and this one has ambushed a German staff car only minutes ago. One of them keeps an eye on the road, the others enjoy the captured crate of wine they found on the back seat of the car. Often there was a heavy weapon on board. Behind the driver's seat an MG42 was installed for anti aircraft defense. They also had an anti-tank mine (Tellermine) they could bury quickly. One of the Germans was killed instantly and his head dropped onto the dashboard. The windshield was broken due to frontal fire from hand weapons. The driver managed to leave the vehicle but got shot once outside. The car shows multiple bullet holes in the doors. The seated guy with the Thompson gun probably killed his first enemy and needed consolation from his friend who lost his helmet during the jump. He wears the All American shoulder patch and the American Stars and Stripesflag patch. They drink during this short break for courage, they'll need it for their next action.

This diorama is a personal tribute to all the parachutists of WW2.

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When I made these photos the rifles weren't given a satin finish yet.


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[Guest]

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Thanks for visiting this thread, best regards ! AG.

[Marcello]

Excellent build Guy. Really enjoyed the step by step :thumb2::thumb2::thumb2::thumb2:

[Peter Gillson]

Guy

Excellent work, a loverly little scene and I enjoyed reading through the SBS photos.

One thought; I really love the ground work, the mixture of plant types works very well and full credit to you, but, from a composition point of you, I wonder if it may have been better to have had all of the greenery behind them, making a background and the classic bocage type pf hedge. Just a thought.

Peter