The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

In one trial, not shown, I had pulled the right front corner both forward and to the right but it left too much open ground, so I went with just forward, but a higher grade. I have some other thoughts -- such as doing the base part in oils to provide some feature to the terrain -- but I want to see what the artist can do or if I'm to be handed off on someone else .... If you get an M-16 dangling from a pearl necklace, you'll know I had problems communicating ....

Mine's working -- artist has the base in hand. He's near 80, a youth at Pearl Harbor; vet of Korea and Vietnam; a real character. Spent an hour or so talking about the halftracks he had in Germany. You never get out with less than 5 "war stories"; it doesn't help that we trade them.

I've got to get back to work on the vehicle & soldiers ... shouldn't take long, if I just get a chnace to sit down. Still plan on mailing by 1 October or sooner.

<steady drum roll> Excitement builds

Well, we may have a problem ....

Despite my explanations and my mock-up, my buddy got fixated on my request to fill in behind the half-track with something that might look like the bridge at Remagen ....



So it's not exactly a replica of the box-art ....

I'm still working on the muzzle flashes and the crew members, although in that respect the box art is pure fantasy -- it shows someone in the right rear handling ammo, who wouldn't fit back there, and several guys sitting in seats who wouldn't be there anyway, this isn't a troop carrier.

I can make a bigger explosion -- it may not show, but it is somewhat 3-dimensional.
The smaller airplane is pasted directly on, the larger one has a spacer to lift it off slightly ...

Thoughts ?

Hmmm artist's and their integrity eh, at least he didn't paint cows

Yes it definitely needs bigger explosions. I would consider just having a quick bash at doing an impressionist backdrop yourself don't get hung up about getting its exactly right just get some paint on the paper. You don't have to show us the results if you're not satisfied. If you post the dimensions of your diorama I'm willing to have bash too or maybe someone else?

I'm with Brews - the original boxart is fairly blurry and predominantly green with little of the atmosphere of, say, the Walrus boxart - if you lowered your camera angle to just above the level of the top of the half-track I think that you would be pretty close to the boxart...

Yes, a lowered camera angle would make it look more like the boxart -- but viewers at our table will be standing above it, unless we could mount it on a 5-1/2' high platform. It's a problem with whatever I do with this particular scene which is why I tried tilting the front edge up, but it still isn't enough. There has to be something behind the vehicle and the problem is then the perspective & depth is way off ... For example, I can do the bigger explosion but the problem is then the same as the original box art -- the half-track ought to be flipped over from the blast it is so close ...

I'm just beside myself ... I tried Photoshop'ing it and proved that's not a skill set I have ... Maybe if I leave more of the text in, it'll go better ...

I'll see what I can do ...

You could add an image to your display of the diorama snapped from the right angle to show desired perspective and relationship between the diorama and the boxart...? Either way, i'd be really keen to see a shot of your diorama from the same angle as the boxart - I think it will look great...

I wouldn't worry about the low view point issue John. A number of dioramas have this including both of mine. The design of your base excellently suggests this but I'm also planning on having these dioramas on a raised tier along the rear of the table. Therefore people will be closer to the correct angle - there will also be lots of kids who will be the right height

With a larger explosion, ignoring the rough cut, is this closer to acceptable ?
Explosion could be larger, I guess.
It would probably be too hard for me to lower the background (which would help).

I'm sure that'll be fine, John! You could also consider introducing some "fog of war" by mounting a sheet of translucent tracing paper or drafting film (3M also do some stuff for fixing to windows) in front of the background image - perhaps with your target aircraft stuck directly to it. By varying the distance between the film and the background picture, you would be able change how "impressionistic" the background becomes...

Just a thought...

bestest,
M.

Thanks, Matt ...

Here's a bigger explosion, still rough cut ... I could pull the a/c off the background a bit to "force" the background further into the background (say what?) ...




And here's same bigger explosion, but I also (photo-wise) clipped about a half inch out of the river to pull the bridge down some ... cannot go much more ... and how I actually would do this is another question, best left for later ....

New explosion looks way better!

You could also help imply movement by sanding most of the detail off the wheels and tracks for more of a blur of motion; and also show mud 'flicking of the wheels and tracks by using a spray of fine wire with brown putty on it to show a spray of mud coming off...

The new explosion improves things a lot. Good work John.

SJPONeill wrote:New explosion looks way better!

You could also help imply movement by sanding most of the detail off the wheels and tracks for more of a blur of motion; and also show mud 'flicking of the wheels and tracks by using a spray of fine wire with brown putty on it to show a spray of mud coming off...

Yes, but a moving while firing M16 is as much a fantasy as all the folks riding serenely in the back .... and that the M16 survives the bomb blast ...

Anyway, I'll keep playing ...