A new diorama called “sewer rats” I am working on and would like to hear what people think of the idea. It takes place in 1945 during the fall of Berlin and some Germans found refuge in a sewer.
These are the figures I plan on using
Here is one of the almost finished figures.
tell me what you think of this oak camo. Be honest.
I’ve had good luck with www.imageshack.com. You might try it instead of Photobucket. Any ? give me a holler. Don
101stAirborne,
A shadow box style diorama world really work well for your idea. Force the perspective using different scales of figures positioned front to back. There are few photos of sewer fighting from WWII, being dark and vile places the camera crews realized the pictures would not have turned out anyways. Include brown water, rats and desperate looking soldiers.
The Soviets used the sewers in the battle of Stalingrad to out flank the Germans attacking from behind their lines, possibly the German veterans of that battle realized the strategic value and exploited the sewer tunnels for any edge in the final days during the fall of Berlin.
[I]Include mixed arms, uniforms and ages of the soldiers. A small squad of 6 running towards the viewer would be really effective to highlight your idea.[Y]
Good luck, as always looking forward to some cool WIP’s!
Well…I’d like to pictures of what you have so far----I gota million ideas without pictures----know what I mean? This site has no resource as a server for images, so you need to store yours on photobucket or someplace like that. All you do to post each pic is right click the image, go down to ‘properties’ and select that. On that dialog box is the pic’s URL . Highlight the complete URL and ‘copy’ . Now go to you ‘reply’ box here (it’s good to have two or more ‘tabs’ open) and select that filmstrip ‘icon’ above. then ‘paste’ the URL where it says to and hit ‘insert’ BAM its on the page. Yes you have to do it that way with each pic although some images off the web will simply ‘copy’ & paste’ but not all----there----clear as mud!!
Thank you I have pics of the dio now.
[Y] Right on buddy!
Like the above and below ground level idea! Excellent job and looking forward to more WIP’s[H]
Oh excellent!
Isn’t this an ingeneous Dio kit from Warriors I believe?
Are you using the kit figures? Or others?
Yes I think it is, But I am not using the Warriors figures. I did look to see if I could find the kit but haven’t found it anywhere.
Looks good so far. Some of the mirror’s that Frank (oldhooker) uses for his airline dios would work nicely to extend the scene sideways. I agree that a box style presentation would work nicely, you just have to work out the point of view above and below ground.
For depictions of sewers, I would suggest finding the Polish film “Kanal”. It can be found easily on Amazon, but only with subtitles and B&W. Its about the General Uprising in Warsaw of Aug- Sept. 1944. The sewers were used alot in the battles as means of communication and manuever for the Polish Home Army. The film depicts a Home Army unit making its way through the sewers. In Polish kanal can mean canal, ditch, channel as well as sewer hence the film title. This film is very powerful and won a Cannes Award. It was also banned during the Soviet period becuase of the final scene. Notes to others, the film shows PIATs being used as well as Goliaths.
Mike T.
To give the impression of part of the scene being underground, as opposed to an arch, I’d paint the lower sections much darker. Do the same withthe figures. If the guy climbing out acn be seen from below, paint those parts that can be seen a much darker version of the part above the street. You can find these 
rats for the dio here under Plus Models.
Great suggestions from great modelers you got 101st!
That sewer set is OOP & pictured in Shep Paine’s book
Al ~ good idea with the rats–Mike Mclaughlin of Mil Mod Mag just posted that set yesterday(painted far better than the boxart I might add)
Yes they are great suggestions Indy, and I would like to have a rat in the sewer but I don’t know where I would put it, and I don’t want to buy a set of rats if I only need one.
I Like what you’re going to do with this Dio. Keep it up.
The split level is interesting, like capturing the feel of day and night. Definitely will look good in a box Dio, then controling lighting in the sewer will be much easier. You can also do it minus the box if you prefer with careful painting…darker shades underground as suggested by a fellow modeler. That will be a nice contrast.
Rats are optional. Either you have many or none as they would have disappeared with all the commosion thats going on.
Honest comment on figure…well the picture is small plus the strong light is casting shadows over areas like the eyes that I can’t see so from what I can tell, overall it’s not bad. Add pin washes to bring out detail on the battle dress also at the end to get rid of the shine with a layer of dull cote. If you can post a better picture I can help further with comments.
Cheers,
Richard
Here is the almost finished diorama. I still need to spray the figures with dull cote and add a figure, but he is not finished yet. Hope you enjoy. All comments are welcome.
I mixed Enviro-tex with some green and a little brown paint to make the sewer water.
As you can see from this picture the figures are still shiny.
This is the top of the diorama
Hey wow, looking good so far. Maybe add a little trash but other than that a little matte varnish and you’re done. Really like the idea and it came together so well.
~101st~ Hey Buddy-you think maybe after you get that dullcote on you can post some decent size photo? Can
can’t tell what it looks like at all in your 240x130 pixel images----Personally I’m using 1024x599 on my largest pictures—that does take longer to load–they dont need to be that big–but in the 600–800 range.
I am using the largest size on my camera, but for some reason when I make it bigger it stays the same size when I post it. I will try my best to get better pics of the finished diorama.
~~Hey Buddy–DO want help? Are you uploading straight from your camera? OR Do you upload to your PC to a photo editor? If you 1st upload to a simple program like Picasa (free from Google) then you can filter, crop, tint,ect each photo and then EXPORT them in groups of a given size (really easy) Use the full-size file from your camera, and then Export each picture at around 600-900 pixels
no I don’t edit my pictures, I just upload strait from the camera.
There are better pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47988165@N08/4714408692/