Kapitulieren? Nein! Berlin 1945

I’m new here and also new to dios, and all comments are welcome! T-34 is old Tamiya kit (1/35)

I think it looks really good! Nice structure, good attention to the details. If anything, I’d suggest dirtying it up even more; the figs, the tank… swoosh more rubble and dust across the street. That kinda destruction will put rubble _every_where. Dust up the road wheels, bring the earth tone up on to the tank and the figures, boot prints across the engine deck, tie it all together a bit. Know what I mean?

Real nice job, especially being new to dios. I like the blown-out interior of your building. Again, it’s all in the details, and you’ve got a good eye for it.

Oh, and welcome to the forums [snWcm]

Steve

[dto:] Agree with Mic… great diomara! It would look even better if you can make it dirtier. Tank and street are too clean… use MIG pigments or similar to those two.

And of course welcome to the forums! Looking forwad to more posts from you…

Ahhh fresh diorama meat!![snWcm]

Thanks for the suggestions! You’re right, this sort of destruction would probably have been like what you see with a building implosion - huge dust cloud and plaster everywhere. It needs some frame or edge as well around the street. I’ll post some more pics when the dirtification is complete.

What tank kit is this and the building is cool, did you build it?

Plus I like the irony of the title, Kapituliern, and the German surrendering.

Welcome to the Forums! I echo the comments about dusting up the scene. I like the idea of the surrendering German, but the tank crew and riders seem oblivious to him. If there was a way to make the riders and crew looking toward the German, it would convey the idea across stronger, or perhaps have one of the infantry approaching him. I know it might seem trivial to some, but I haven’t seen any pictures of T-34’s with the steel wheels in the Berlin battles, maybe changing the title name to and earlier city battle would solve that issue?

Hey nice dio! I have a quick question, where did you get the wall paper from? The internet? A craft store?

Thanks for the compliment!

For the wallpaper, I got that of a dollhouse website: http://www.jennifersprintables.com/printables1.html

I looked for something appropriate to the period that worked for the scale, glued it to the walls and weathered it.

Iraqiwildman - thanks! The kit is an older Tamiya T-34. Kind of long in the tooth but builds up OK. I did not scratchbuild the building’s exterior or street, it’s Verlinden resin.

Very cool dio. I wish I could build one but I havent worked up the nerve yet nor are my skills up to par, hehe.

Gotta start somewhere, Eric. NO FEAR! [:D] Your armor work is excellent, 1/3 of the battle already won… go for it.

That wallpaper does look great, and thanks for the link, Pa.

In addition to adding more rubble and dust and dirt around the scene, the comment about the T-34’s steel road wheels being uncommon in Berlin focused my attention on the tank and caused me to do some after-the-fact research. This brought out a significant issue with the historical accuracy of the scene. I built the T-34/76 a couple of years ago and have had it on my shelf. I only later thought about incorporating it into a dio of some sort and came up with this. I think it looks OK, but it’s really too early a version for a 1945 setting, with the 76mm gun, '42-'43 turret and steel wheels. The pictures I’ve seen of T-34’s in Germany universally show later models (T-34/85) which only makes sense given the massive levels of production and attrition of Soviet armor. I suppose it’s possible a mid-war tank could have survived 3 years of combat and made it to the end, but it’s really not all that plausible. It’s easy enough to swap out the turret and wheels to make the final version more consistent with the 1945 photographic record.

As for the comment about the tank crew and infantry being oblivious to the surrendering German, the camera angle from the pictures makes this hard to see, but when you look at the dio in person, the German is actually out of the sight lines of all of the Soviet troops, at least for the next second or two. I had tried the scene with a Soviet out in front of the tank, pointing at the German and shouting back to his comrades, but ultimately dropped that element because I liked the idea of these soldiers being surprised (and a bit careless for not checking their corners) by the surrendering German.

So, I’ll post pics again after I’ve enhanced the destruction and grit, and once the tank has been updated to a more plausible production model. Thanks everyone again for the great feedback!