Coming along nicely ... and nice finger camo Conor!

—mike

I know I've said it before but it's really really cool to see how far you've come since the first time you posted here. Not even in the same league any more.
J

Thanks fellas, I'm just slugging away at this one brush stroke at a time. Anyways, I've touched up the marsh pattern a bit, and I've got the most basic painting done so far for the other two. Field grey with highlights and shadows, and the beginning of Splinter camo trousers.



Improvement?





Vallejo field grey for the pants, and German Tank Crew no. 2 for the tunic. I use Afrika Korps Tank Crew for some highlights, and sunny skin tone mixed with the respective base colors for highlights. Shadows are German Dark Green, as simple black is too dark, and Shadow Skin Tone is too different a color. While I did use the two different colors primarily, I put a touch of Field Grey in the Tank Crew, and vice versa, to help the colors subtly match as much as they subtly differ. Field Grey seems to never be the same color from one piece of clothing to the next, and I think I've begun to capture the little differences in a good way. I think they look too much like plastic army men when they're the same color on torso and legs.

Here's my 2 with the Field Grey tunics side by side, to shoe the differences.



That nasty shine has been taken care of with some flat coat, it hadn't dried before I snapped the photo. But you can see the little differences, how each is slightly different. I guess that's something I'm proud of. It's easy since there's no intricate camo involved haha.

Aaaand, this guy.



Splinter base mized with a little field grey, then given a burnt umber wash. Might redo it with more field grey added. I saw a pair of splinter camo trousers at an army surplus store, and the Wehrmacht version of Splinter had a darker, more field greyish base.

That Stalingrad figure though, i'm glad I got him. Might be a tad smaller than the Germans, but that'll be okay. He was a breeze to assemble, little to no extra sanding and other work.





And the casualty is a bit bigger, of course. He has some gaps to fill too. I don't like the head on him. It isn't bad sculpting, I think I just want to whole face/head to be more or less hidden by the hood. We'll see though.

So that's all for now. Don't know what's next, but I'll have pictures of it hahaha.

Thanks for looking!

-Conor

Hey Conor - wow - those figures are looking nice! Looking forward to the next update
Cheers
Nick

Thanks Nick. If I thought of it in time I would have outsourced the structure building and painting aspect of this to you! Your Afghanistan diorama looks great. Next time.

I've got a splinter. As in pants. As in splittertarnmuster trousers. It did not take too terribly long, and I followed the same "Painting 1/35 scale Fallschirmjagers" that I used for the sumpftarnmuster smock. My process is just to try and mimick the pattern on the jump smock, and applying it onto the pants. It was more or less my guide, and it's impossible to copy it 100%. It did help having an example of the shapes and design right there for me though.







Right here I tried to make the tear more prominent by having it break up the camo.


And the two camos side by side:


My Achilles heel will be the rain marks. They're a pain. Anyone else have experience with that? I know it takes a small brush, and they're pitifully small details, but they do make all the difference.

Also, after a little stint of cutting into the resin casualty, I made him a machine gunner. Following Jerry's beyond wise observations on the sit and the hang of gear on figures, I cut away the basic shape of the two elements before fitting them into the gaps.



I like the little garrison cap the casualty came with. It's a nice touch. Hoping the casualty helps convey the mood of the scene. Nothing like a dead guy or two to liven things up, yanno?

Thanks for looking!

-Conor

Hi Conor,

nice progress on those figures Sir!! The faces are coming around!!

If you allow me one comment: the proportions of colours in the splinter pattern camo are a tad unbalanced, as is the light colour in hue.

Look here: http://www.zeltbahn.net/wh_camo.htm

I would perhaps choose a darker tone and add a little more green/brown.

Cheers

Romain

Yes I was worried about that. I might try a wash with a bit of brown and field grey to tone it down. I used Vallejo Splinter Base for that, with a little bit of field grey thrown in. Must be the base for the Luftwaffe version? Regardless I will go and try toning it down.

This first trio is actually finished for the most part, except boots and headgear. I jumped the gun a bit and fixed the rifle to his hand, so it'll be a bit harder to get at the trousers, but I'll manage.

-Conor

I see...you know, the problem might come from the base colour being aimed at smaller scale figures...and the smaller the fig, the lighter the colour (as a general rule).

I don't like these pre-mixed colours too much! I'd rather take an original object (or photo of such) and try to match those colours on the figure in hand (imagine that would be a 200mm figure). I'm aware that colours are always a tricky business!!

Cheers

Romain

I think you nailed it right there. I hadn't thought of that before, but it might be the case that it's aimed for smaller figures? Anyone's guess haha. I like the geometric aspect of this attempt though. I may have to re-do the splinters when I go voer it again, but that's not an issue.

Regretfully, I don't think this will make it to Armorcon. Not going to rush it. I've done what you guys suggested for rubble, i.e. building it over architectural structures. I just used little wooden blocks to build over. A good chunk of my rubble will be floor sections built from balsa wood, which you can see in the picture. This will help me avoid the tricky spots. Do pardon the mess, as I haven't laid down a coat of primer yet. The brownish debris is just the mix I used to glue down the debris. No real proportions to it, I think it was maybe a tablespoon or more of Elmer's glue, 1/3 cup of water, and a table spoon(ish) of paint.





The small debris was from dried plaster in the solo cups I use to mix with. On top of that I put a half inch of plater into a tupperware cup, let it dry, then broke it up for use in this, towards the bottom of the piles. I know the smaller debris right not doesn't "fit" with the structures, but it's only the beginning, and by the time it's finished, it'll blend perfectly. Well, I hope so at least.

Onto the figures, which are mostly done, save for the very last detail work, and weathering. I love the little Alliance decals. Very delicate, impossible to read with the naked eye, but cool as hell.









That rifle isn't as low as it looks. Appears to be stuck into the ground, I know, but the angle of the camera tricks the eye, and the figure will be standing at a bit of an angle on top of that.





And finally, my favorite. The marsh swamp pattern isn't as great as I wanted, but for a first try, it'll do.







His face seems a bit pudgy, but I can live with that. The boots need their final highlights and shading, then the mesh helmet needs to be painted. I learned from older figures that constantly handling them once painted leads to chipping, so I've started leaving small areas unpainted until the last possible moment.

So! That's it for now. Thanks for looking!

-Conor

Edit: There's a big ugly seam line in the MP40 guy's right hand. Terrific.

Hi Conor,

You're right, better take your time and not rush things too much!

Your skin tone is brilliant! And your Feldgrau is just fine!!

Of course there is still the issue of the sheen that must be dealt with!


Yeah, the seam line on the hand is probably due to the "rushing"!?

Another thing I noticed is the gap visible at the bottom back of the Panzerfaust fig. You will have to fill that one!!

Both camo patterns could do with some filters to tone them down a bit, especially the Sumpf pattern, well known for his less perfectly defined colour fields!

And finally...just a suggestion...and maybe it's just the photos??...the entrenching tool holder would probably look much like the content, but you could use it here for a bit of contrast. On one of the pics it looks almost gunmetal!


Well done so far m8!!

I'm impatient to see the other figures now!!


Cheers

Romain

Nice progress here. I think Romain already hit on all of the areas that jumped out to me. The Panzerfaust could be resting on his shoulder though. It was pretty heavy to be held up like that. Of course,maybe this guy was Arnold Schwartzeneggers' Dad?
Heehee
Lookin good. This will be a nice one.
J

Thanks fellas. Jerry, the whole concept of this diorama originally came from your sanatorium diorama, where you used the same panzerfaust figure. It just made me want to buy the set, and a month or so later, this happens hahaha. Interesting that you point out the weight of it. A quick google search shows it held resting on the tricep, or tucked under the armpit when fired that way I'll have to look up Schwarzenegger's father to see if this is a plausible scenario for him (you never know...)

The gap! Yes, I've known about that. I have a plan in mind, don't you worry The seam on the hand, however, that's a result of being a little over-eager heeheehee. The shine to them is tricky. Part of it is the lighting for sure, but then again, part of it is just the fact that they've got a bit of a shine in places. I gotta work on that.

-Conor