Diorama “German Aggression” using Tamiya’s Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf.D + Dragon’s German Sturmpioniers - by “Art Instructor”:
For more pics please try my latest page:
http://www.falconbbs.com/model45c.htm
Comments and suggestions are welcome!
??? This one makes no sense at all. You have two guys clearing mines while a bunch of other guys run in all directions around them??? The 251 is crossing a culvert that has a no parking sign on it in the middle of nowhere??? The “road” looks like a golfcourse fairway, nice and manicured. The tracks on the 251 are floating, they should lay on top of the roadwheels. The figures uniforms are all mismatched, etc.,etc., etc. Not one of his better efforts.
Not so much from the title, but sort of more from the actions of the soldiers, I expected to maybe see an allied soldier cowering in the drain. Maybe a Frenchman…?
The soldiers actions don’t tie in together. The scenery is great. The track looks good. But the figure in back seems to want to “Charge!!” Then the Infantry look as if they all belong in different scenes.
I like the figures and track and base. Just have your man put the right figures in.
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I look again and see a possible scenario. An allied sapper hiding in the culvert, say a French resistance fighter, who is mortally wounded, fights a delaying action. He fires and wounds the first German he sees when he hears an armored vehicle above him. He hit’s the lead mine clearing detail man with a rifle shot and ducks back into the culvert to take out the above vehicle and any surrounding Germans,(and ultimately himself) who are of course converging on him, one readying a grenade(?).
The fellow in the track realizes something may be amiss and is advising the driver to MOVE!!!
Possible?
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Well its possible but i think you are projecting that one this one. Nothing in this dio makes sense, it looks like the germans are about to start attacking their own troops. Or maybe they are being aggresive by parking in a no parking zone? I dont know, the stream looks good. I just wonder what he used to make the water look like that.
Would you be sweeping for mines in a grassed area like that ? I only laid a couple in my service, and I never replaced the turf afterwards. Come to think of it, there was no turf there in the first place. I agree with whats already been said. Makes no sense to me. Got no problem with the quality of the builds, just the way its laid out.
[#ditto]
Nada. Zip.
[zzz]
How about this scenario?
The driver had a bad day, spat the dummy and pitched the keys overboard. The guy in the back of the 251 is pointing at the sign and telling the driver he’s not allowed to park there. Meanwhile all the other guys are “head down” frantically looking for the keys… [:o)][(-D]
LOL
Everything looks great- the fig’s, stream, the 251. But it just doesn’t make sense as to what is going on
-Brandon
[#ditto]I agree with Gino completely–this one looks thrown together; just a bunch of mismatched figures, and the base itself is just amateurish–the grass is waaay too neat, and I don’t understand why the soldiers would have dismounted BEFORE the venicle os over the bridge, and then have to trapse through the water?
It looks like an excuse to build a culvert into a scene, but it just doesn’t make any sense at all!
Man…looks like dude is about to flame that culvert opening w/ a flamethrower…then another dude is about to pump lead from his Stg44 into the pipe…meanwhile, dude is searching for mines while his buddy is laying a mine? Then SS dudes are running around while dude in halftrack is pointing…let’s rename it: “Attack on the Culvert”…Also, the insignia on the track indicates it is a vehicle from the Nordland Division, which was never in France…???
I’d fire AI and get your stuff from Totenkopf, MM… As was said, this one’s no-go in SO many ways… I’ve seen better planning/lay-out with a kid playin’ with “Green Army Men”… The only redeeming feature is in the water/culvert…
Minefields are intense… There only has to one, ONE mine to make the pucker-factor a plus 5… The troops should be reflecting that fact, and staying as far away from the Pioneers as possible while still providing security for them… The Pioneer on his knees should be with the detector team as well, if he’s gonna be digging up one of those dirty, stinkin’, cheatin’, nasty, vicious sumb*tches… (Can’t tell I’ve been in a minefield, can ya? Didn’t know we was in one until the truck in front of us blew up, either…) For intense inaction in a diorama, they’re hard to beat, drama-wise though…
I’d give it back to AI and tell him to start over with the figures, were I you… The rest is salvagable…
Off topic; a friend of mine stepped on a mine while on patrol in Vietnam. He had the presence of mind not to take his foot off of it so that it wouldn’t blow. His squad waited there with him standing on the mine until an engineer could be flown in to make it safe. Mines! You even have them out at sea, nasty buggers.
jeez all of you guys need to relax, we build dioramas and models for fun not for it to be 100% perfect and stuff, sure it may be innacurate but maybe in others eyes the diorama looks good to them, thats my opinion and im sticking to it
Calvin, as a new member, first of all, “Welcome” to the forums.
Second, you’d have to know the history of Model Maniac’s builder’s and the critiques we have given him over time. Some of his builder’s models are very, very, good. But as we all like to see improvement, some of them fail to move in that direction. We would be remiss NOT to point out the errors in composition. In my opinion, as a builder of award-winning diorama’s, the #1 most important element to a successful diorama is “composition”. If you don’t have a believable storyline and have to explain your dio, it’s a failure.
One look at my left calf/ankle/foot will tell all you need to know…
'Nuff said, Brother Vet… I got pieces of the afore-mentioned truck in me purdy face that day…[;)]
And my opinion is that which I already stated… And I’m sticking to it as well…[;)]
Don’t confuse criticism with critique, pard. First thing to remember about diorama building is that if you post it and ask for feedback, you’ll get it… I, for one, post my work in here expecting nothing less than brutal honesty with my peers/colleagues… The end result is I grow as a builder, and also I benfit from fresh sets of eyes looking over my work, many times finding flaws that are glaringly obvious to everyone else BUT me…
If the truth be told, I don’t build what looks good to ME and then post it expecting everyone to “Ooh and Ahh” at it… I WANT critique and observational comments… I have fun, sure, but strive for, while maybe not historical accuracy ALL the time, at a minimum,it has to be realistic… That’s the whole purpose of diorama building: To take a model and place it a realistic setting… It may look good sitting on a block of wood, but it looks a whole lot better in a realisticly landscaped environment doing it’s thing, with figures, structures, and accessories to add interest and provide impressions of action (or inaction) for the setting’s time and place, and the circumstances surrounding it…
While 100% accuarcy is not really attainable, striving to get pretty close should be the goal for any serious diorama builder when you’re dealing with historical subject matter… Otherwise, you’re building 3-D cartoons (which is fun too, but should be intentional)… In that vein, if you’re intentionally building a gag, it’d better be obvious AND funny, or you’ll catch hell then too…[:D] Nothing worse than having to explain a joke to the audience, ya know…[;)]
We, or at least I, critque dioramas because of one thing… I love to build dioramas, and I love to look at other dioramas… I’m also a bit of an amature military historian, and a career Soldier (retired), as are many other builders. I not only critique, I get critiqued as well… You’ll also find that, as you hang around and read & see our works, and show some of your work, we all “know” each other as well, so we understand the nuances of each other’s comments and observations, to a fairly large extent, and so will you, eventually…
And if you think my accuracy comments for dioramas are somethin’, watch a war movie with sometime… My wife won’t even stay in the same room with me if Pearl Harbor or Flyboys is on TV…[:D]
Welcome to the forum, by the way…
wow i am not usually too critical of model maniacs threads because he buys his builds and posts them . and i am not the best modeler in the world so i would rather be critiqued than critique but all i can say to this one is wtf ?
Well, I tried. But I guess if you need such a long explanation as mine then you have probably already defeated the original purpose. But I tried.
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