Stalingrad!

[Grumpa]

Brutal house to house fighting.

 

[Grumpa]

This one was inspired a bit by a certain famous photo of a dead German soldier in a doorway.
Built in early 2000s.

Jim.

 

[BarleyBop]

This dio really does illustrate your approach of creating a 3D 'painting', telling a story while leveraging your skill.
It can be challenging to view, especially when the execution is so well done and doesn't get in the way of the message.
Lately, I've been thinking of your dios more as bronzed, artist maquettes, studies for what could be much larger pieces or installations.
Just like the moral drama unfolding in the street, the frame of the house is being laid bare.

 

[creading]

After viewing all the dioramas you have posted here, I find the color palette you use is grim and bleak, which is really good based on your diorama subject matter. It really evokes desperation and ruin. As mentioned above, it's like viewing a 3D painting You are a master at debris - something most diorama artists underdo.
Kudos to you sir on a series of unique, masterful dioramas.

Cheers,
C.

 

[Airborne01!]

Your works have always been grim, evocative and sobering mate. They touch on the themes too may modellers find too sensitive to approach, I find them salutory ...
Steve

 

[Grumpa]

This dio really does illustrate your approach of creating a 3D 'painting', telling a story while leveraging your skill.
It can be challenging to view, especially when the execution is so well done and doesn't get in the way of the message.
Lately, I've been thinking of your dios more as bronzed, artist maquettes, studies for what could be much larger pieces or installations.
Just like the moral drama unfolding in the street, the frame of the house is being laid bare.

After viewing all the dioramas you have posted here, I find the color palette you use is grim and bleak, which is really good based on your diorama subject matter. It really evokes desperation and ruin. As mentioned above, it's like viewing a 3D painting You are a master at debris - something most diorama artists underdo.
Kudos to you sir on a series of unique, masterful dioramas.

Cheers,
C.

Your works have always been grim, evocative and sobering mate. They touch on the themes too may modellers find too sensitive to approach, I find them salutory ...
Steve

Thanks so much guys, I am truly humbled, my style is a bit dark and grim, but what is bright and happy about war?
True there may have been some lighter moments here and but they were only desperate distractions from the pain
of not knowing if one would ever return to loved ones again or what will one's ultimate fate be.
Will I make it home in one piece, or at all? Will I suffer a slow and painful death in some obscure, lonely ditch somewhere?
Will I finally make it home, but only as some mutilated half a man?

All these haunting thoughts follow a man into combat like some unshakable invisible demon gnawing at his very soul.
When the inevitable fire fight comes it is as almost a relief.....for now the dye is cast and what will be, will be.

Jim.

 

[Aya]

Hi Jim.
Very strong and descriptive words, which stand side by side with your amazing artwork. Brilliant diorama and very powerful too.

 

[Steve Ski]

Dang, Jim, that does look a bit dark. Not the scenario, but the base color tones. It's almost like you are going for a chromatic effect, but I might be wrong. If you were going for a night scene or low light, you pegged it!

 

[Grumpa]

Hi Jim.
Very strong and descriptive words, which stand side by side with your amazing artwork. Brilliant diorama and very powerful too.

Thank you so much Aya, if only words could truly express the sudden reality of a young man's experiences
when just with a plane flight can be plunged into a hostile and deadly alien world where everything he
has known and loved is as if it has never existed and might never exist for him again.
This reality is immediate and shocking to the very core, the awful smells of destruction and death
hit you like a sledgehammer before you even finish walking down the gang plank (as it was called).
No more sympathy, no more love, no more coddling, no rest. Only rushing headlong into the abyss
of the unknown which for an 18 year old could be enough to break him before he even got anywhere
near a 'hot zone'. They cried like babies, they called for Mama, and kept repeating almost robotically
"I wanna go home-I wanna go home" The only thing to do with such cases sad to say is to kick the
shit out of them. Heartbreaking to have had to do this but it was the only way to get their minds right
because no matter how much they moaned and wailed.......they were NOT going home to Mama and
if they did not "get right" fast they went home to Mama alright......but in a box!

I wish I had more time at the moment to elaborate a bit more but must be off
just keep in mind what our real combat vets have been through and for many (too many) who
must re-live the persistent nightmares they are still going through and
realize that PTSD is just as real "shell shock" and "battle fatigue" was in wars gone by.

And just think, our young lad hasn't even been near any real fighting yet, but he will be
and they all will be looking for a "Papa" or an "old man" to cling to....but they will be few and far between
Imagine being an "old man" at Twenty two

Jim.

 

[BarleyBop]

night scene or low light, you pegged it

That's exactly it! Bookmarking this one for future ref! Like moonlight... eerie