Simca diorama

[Leighbo]

Hi All

Got next week off work so after completing my Rat Rod Jeep I have made a start on my holiday project, which is a Dragon German infantry set and a Tamiya Simca staff car.

I really enjoyed my last dio the TKW build on a small base as I didn't get caught up trying to fill a big space due to using an oversize base which can happen and I didn't get chance to lose interest so I thought I would carry on the theme on this build.

So the base for this is approximately 7cm x 7cm, but I am going to hang the car over the edges leaving a small area of focus on the figures. I am going to use just two of the figures in the pack along with some hornet heads and try and concentrate on improving my figure painting by not taking on too many and rushing them.

The Simca will be in a faded Winter whitewash and I am going to have a play around with different techniques than usual to achieve this.

The car is really tiny, dwarfed by Tamiyas usual box, and I have spent some time working out the position. I am trying to portray a car which has been attacked and forced onto the verge and the two occupants are defending the position.

To create the concrete road I made a small mould from plastic strip and then poured in plaster mixed with black pastel to darken and stippled with a sponge to get the texture. When dry it enabled me to crack it like real concrete and hopefully look realistic.

Anyway heres the pics so far,

Thanks for looking

 

[Mfun]

I love this small vignettes and promises to be a great work

 

[Junkie]

Cool!

 

[JohnSimmons]

Fantastic! So much drama Allready 8)

 

[Cave_Dweller]

Looks really good so far Leighbo! Lots of action and dynamic poses, also quite crisp details on the figures.

 

[Leighbo]

Thanks for commenting guys

Cave Dweller they are pretty good figures, and I haven't made any changes except undercut some of the details with a scalpel. You can't usually go wrong with Dragon, although I did swap the heads out for Hornet ones.

Talking of the figures I thought I'd share my progress as I have them painted up now, all with acrylics. I am terrible for rushing through figures to get to other parts of a build but decided to give them the time they deserve on this project. I am quite happy with the results although, they probably look a little over exaggerated in the shading some practice is needed to help me improve

Anyway see what you think

As always any comments are welcome, thanks for looking

 

[Mfun]

Leighbo, if you can (and if you want) make a belt to the rifle (Tamiya tape or aluminum foil), gives a more realism

 

[Leighbo]

Good idea mfun, I'll add that later on.
Thanks for pointing that out

 

[Leighbo]

I Love being off work, even though my wifes got lots of decorating organised for me I still get chance to put in some modelling hours!

I've been working on the car today, I got it put together just left the body off the chassis for now to make painting easier. I was going to remake the convertible roof from green stuff, but had a go undercutting and defining it with a scalpel and added the internal frame from brass rod and was quite happy with the result.

I wanted this to be a worn winter whitewash so first I airbrushed with Vallejo German grey then sealed it for the decals with gloss, once done I followed with a satin coat. I painted in a few details before using the mapping technique to paint the worn whitewash in with acrylics. Once i was happy with the white wash I used white oil paint to blend it in.

Heres the pictures

And how it will look on the base

Unfortunately oils will stop play for a few days until they dry, so I might have to start another project to keep me busy! Thanks for looking

 

[geegad]

you've done it again superb little dio..got them figures on order they look great in this dio

 

[JohnSimmons]

So good

 

[Leighbo]

Cheers guys

You cant go wrong with dragon figures gee!

 

[Fredrik64]

Excellent !

 

[Mfun]

Good work, Leighbo

 

[Junkie]

Sweet work.

 

[WebbyNZ]

Brilliant, what else can I say.

 

[Leighbo]

Thanks for the previous comments guys

I managed to get this one finished up, I did a little rain streaking to the Simca and then added lots of stowage inside, which I tried to make look like it had fallen to the bottom of the car when the car was ditched, which included the grenade case which came with the figures and had the grenade racks inside. One pain was trying to fix the door as it only attached at three points so i used 2 part epoxy and cocktail sticks to hold it whilst it dried.

I also added some bullet holes in the windscreen with a hand drill, to explain why the car had been forced to ditch.

Here are the photos, I hope you like

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6j3aoQYX6fo/UhsnbQjjB6I/AAAAAAAAHmM/ERD_Lz9NBjg/s800/20130826_105731.jpg[/img
[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-OLVU16_9OI0/UhsnfiXbUzI/AAAAAAAAHmU/1661jNwrqno/s800/20130826_105436.jpg

Thanks for looking

 

[Cave_Dweller]

That turned out incredibly nice, Leighbo! Very dynamic posing, and that guy's wide eyes just say it all. Run for cover!

 

[zappa]

Awesome!

Zappa

 

[Biskup]

That's one great diorama.
Good Job.