"Easy Pickins" 200mm diorama, Normandy, WWII

[Steve Ski]

Is that a photo of a building in Normandy? (I have to ask, because you didn’t actually come out and say it was, and that’s just how my brain works :smiling3: )

A quick search seems to show most Normandy buildings at the time would have been stone, but wood is not unheard-of, nor mixed construction. But it’s mainly the style I’m questioning :smiling3:

Do I detect a lawyer in the room, Jakko,...........or a button, rivet, or bean counter? :anguished::tired: Lol, all kidding aside, yes, that is the location in question. Without beating a dead horse into glue, the structural beams are very similar both in this photo and the current build. If it's a question of dead accuracy I'm calling "artistic license" and carrying on. Mostly I do try to be as accurate as possible, but sometimes that slips by the way side, but not very often.

That being said, I may decide to ditch the roof structure all together, cut out the cross beam and 45's, and make this a basic fence covered in veggies to avoid visibility between the slats. The more I look this over the more I don't like the Ranger's position, his visibility is not as good as I was hoping for. No worries, it's an easy fix.

Thanks Jakko, ya got me thinking

[Steven000]

This is all very impressive stuff Steven, nice skills :thumb2: Have fun!

[Guest]

Do I detect a lawyer in the room, Jakko,...........or a button, rivet, or bean counter? :anguished::tired:

Just someone who likes to see things done “right,” and knows that it’s an easy trap to fall into to just assume that things elsewhere are much like they are at home

I may decide to ditch the roof structure all together, cut out the cross beam and 45's, and make this a basic fence covered in veggies to avoid visibility between the slats. The more I look this over the more I don't like the Ranger's position, his visibility is not as good as I was hoping for. No worries, it's an easy fix.

I think both will work, depending on what you want the diorama to do. If the basic idea is to show the ambush, then yes, the roof etc. get in the way of that because they make the US soldier hard to see. OTOH, the diorama also works if you don’t see the US soldier, so you could consider him to be something for observant viewers to notice and be surprised by, in which case the roof is better left in place.

[Steve Ski]

I think both will work, depending on what you want the diorama to do. If the basic idea is to show the ambush, then yes, the roof etc. get in the way of that because they make the US soldier hard to see. OTOH, the diorama also works if you don’t see the US soldier, so you could consider him to be something for observant viewers to notice and be surprised by, in which case the roof is better left in place.

Excellent points, Amigo, very well said. So, it's really a toss-up. My "Lead Model Advisor", my wife, said take a few pics of both options, see which I prefer best. I'm still thinking the roof line is rather bulky and will take up too much attention. I've gotta get that Harley in there and quite a bit of gear, tools, barrels, logs, etc., and make it look neglected and forgotten. While I'm working this tree I'll have plenty of time to mull this over. Thanks for the input, Brother.

it’s an easy trap to fall into to just assume that things elsewhere are much like they are at home :smiling3:

P.S. BTW, that can be left at the door, if you please. Now, let's get back to "Sniffin paint and gluin our fingers together!"

[Steve Ski]

This is all very impressive stuff Steven, nice skills :thumb2: Have fun!

Thanks, Steve. I am having fun now, we're on a roll

[Steve Ski]

Tree Test Fit

It’s a good thing I decided to do another test fit to verify where this tree will go, because some of the branch work was hindering the Ranger’s visibility of his targets and coming very close to some of the other figures in the scene.

As you can see there’s quite a bit more to add to make this tree fuller and I need to gain some altitude above the roof line. I put the R75 and driver in for perspective.




More to follow soon and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

[Steve Ski]

Speeding Up the Process

Painting these Caspia clusters has not been as difficult as you might think. Most everyone suggested airbrushing the clusters, but that would still mean going back in there with a brush and catching all the missed areas. So, I decided from the get-go that I’d be using a brush, and it’s worked well, but slow.

I finally got the idea to pre-wet the clusters, and as you can see from the first two pics, I pre-wet the clusters by dipping them in a jar of water. It just so happens this is my brush cleaning jar for the cluster work anyway, so why not, it’s got a green tone. Clipped to a set of spring tweezers I dip the cluster and drop onto the plastic lid. Dip the brush in some Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green and dab all over the clusters, top and bottom. Then wet the brush with water and spread that paint into all the visible brown areas. Once I’m satisfied I’ve got the clusters covered all over I hit it with a hair dryer on high to quick dry the paint. Peg that cluster on the foam and continue the process for the rest of them.



Once all the clusters have the initial green tone I go back and hit the highlights, then add the yellowish tone to mesh them all together. Now I’ve got enough to finish the tree to make it fuller and more realistic, I hope.



You can also see the plans for items to be added to the shed area where the Ranger will be hiding. I enjoy fabricating odds and ends; it adds character to the scene and helps tell the story a little better. However, once this tree is finished, I still need to work in a few bushes and prep the ivy vines and cut quite a few more leaves.


More to follow and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

[JR]

Looking good Steven. Liking the trees .

[Steve Ski]

Thanks, John.

[stillp]

I had to google Caspia. Does it have a common name?
Pete

[Steve Ski]

I'm not a botanist, Pete, sorry, mate. It's called Caspia everywhere I've seen it. Do a pic search, it's a really cool looking flower.

[Steve Ski]

Will It Pass Muster?

I’ve got a bit to cover here, but I’ll do my best to keep it short. This layout needs to be accurate.

With the tree finally finished as far as I will take it, it’s now time to check character alignment and see if this story can be told in a convincing manner. After all, if I can’t pull this off the whole thing will just have been a very lengthy exercise. However, I think I can pull it off, but yall will need to lend me some eyeballs, if you please. I believe I’ve got every angle covered where the visual direction is correct for each figure, so don’t be shy. The figures are just pinned and I can adjust as needed.



You can see the foam has been glued to the base already. I was sweating it this morning wondering if I had any thin sheets or would I be waiting until I acquired some. Fortunately, I had several thin sheets set aside specifically for this base and had totally forgotten about them. It’s only been a few years since I’d worked this dio steady, so I was bound to forget something, right?

I’ll make a quick note here to say that when painting the eyes for each figure and having a scenario in mind, you should be painting the eyes to reflect the interaction you will need once these figures are placed. Obviously, right? In a scenario with a larger number of figures in a smaller scale this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but in this scale, ya better have it figured out or you will be going back to correct the eyes. Some of these figures were painted a very long time ago, comparatively, so I recon I got lucky, lol. I’ve had this layout planned since the beginning, with minor structure changes, but the basic interaction is still the same. The placement of two figures has been changed, but this tells a better story as they are seen now.

Ok, back to the layout and figure interaction, the eyes, etc. The main issue was placing the Ranger in a position to see the Germans from decent concealment and not be visible himself. If his new guests were paying attention somebody would have seen him eventually, but he’s got the upper hand in this scenario, the element of surprise. These guys don’t look like they can agree on much of anything and a few of them look confused, so this is a perfect set up for an ambush thrown in the Ranger’s lap. How could he refuse? And he was just stopping for a bite of cheese and some wine.



Hiding in an out building, shed, lean-to, whatever you want to call it, he’s not easily seen, especially with the crawling ivy, bushes, and the tree with low hanging branches. The outside will get all the trimmings making visibility through the slats between boards very difficult. This really was the best solution to show how the Ranger would get the drop on four unsuspecting Germans who just so happened to stop to converse, or argue, over directions.



I have found quite a few pics from the inet when searching French farms buildings, out-buildings, sheds, etc., that are covered in ivy, brush, and overgrowth, so I know this scenario is very plausible. You can’t see it from any of these photos, but he does have a great direct line-of-sight on these four Germans through the low hanging branches and his body is virtually invisible.



Making sure that each figure is looking directly at the intended recipient I realized the R75 pax should actually not be looking at the grenadier, but more towards the driver in a manner of disgust. There needs to be an air of disagreement and impatience on the part of the R75 crew. I’ve already made corrections on the board layout.



Now it’s time to continue prepping the veggies and get the shed items made as well as prep the base for ground cover. There’s still quite a bit to do before permanently placing these figures and snaping photos for the finish.

If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to cut loose, all are welcome. If you see anything I’m not catching here, holler. Thanks for watchin.


Cheers, Ski.

[scottie3158]

Ski,
Looking good mate.

[Neil Merryweather]

All makes sense to me Steve

[Steve Ski]

Excellent, Gentlemen, thank you very much!