This is the first time I have posted photos of anything I have build. I think my mini-diorama turned out quite well so I thought I would share it here.
The kits used were CMK’s Volkswagen, Tamiya’s Sdkfz 223, and DML figures. Some spare Tamiya equipment was added as well. All the kits went together quite well with no putty.
The base was scenic sand from a craft store mixed with elmers glue placed on a wooden plaque.
I Hope you all enjoy the photos (especially since I finally found out how to post them)
Great dio the setup and layout is very nicley done but there are 3 things that catch my eye
1: the skin tone on the figures is just a tade to light being in the desert they would get a tan.
2: You might want to give the figures a slight spray of matt finnish to get rid of the glossy look.
3: Unless they were fighting in the sand dunes most deserts are covered with small rocks and the such and also a little vegetation.
Derek-I built CMK’s volkswagen and even bought the aftermarket detail kit-wasn’t much better than the kit parts. I think you’ve done a fine job here all I suggest is some interaction between the base , figures and vehicles. By that I mean tyre tracks and footprints. Don’t ever feel that you are ‘done’ with a build-you can always go back and make improvements. I do-and it’s cheaper than buying more kits! Also-try dusting some pastel chalks on everything-if you don’t like it you can rinse them off (hopefully you’ve clear-coated everything).
Hi Derek,
Well done mate. There are some nice touches there…like feeding the desert fox. How did you get the skin colours? No matter how hard I try I just can’t seem to get the colour right and it’s starting to really annoy me. Is that real sand you’ve used? Looks good. One of my future projects rolling around my head is a DAK dio with a Tiger plus figures, so you’ve given me some good ideas there. Thanks and post some more pics of future dios.
Take care, Rich
Thanks for all your comments. I guess adding some rocks and desert foilage might help the base look better. Tire tracks seem like a good idea to (maybe on a future project). I didn’t weather any of the vehicles as it seems every time I try i over do it and they look worse then clean vehicles. I also did not dry brush or add shading to the figures and used paints straight from the bottle. I have done this on past figures but determined the results (although more realistic) are not that much better compared to the time it takes to do them as I have several kits in my collection and still plan to build them all.
The paint I used for the skin colors was Testors Tan (square bottle) straight out of the bottle. The sand is real sand from a craft store that carries sand for sand art, it was mixed with white glue and dried hard.
Derek-I understand your over-weathering concern-I’ve done that myself. The nice thing about pastel chalk dust is that once applied and a dull coat sealer is sprayed on they fade-so it’s easy to control by building with light applications of chalk and dullcoat (dull coat should always be applied in light coats). Some weathering powders are also available but I haven’t used them and they can be pricey. I just buy a cheap set of artist pastel chalks (not oil pastels) and scrape them onto a paper plate-and apply with a soft fan brush-then knock off the high spots with my trusty fingers.
Suggestion: Replace the gerry cans on the armored car with aftermarket items that have real handles. Those ancient Tamiya things realy detract from the sense of realism you’re trying to get.
