Dioramas
Do you love dioramas & vignettes? We sure do.
It’s a GAZ (GAZ GAZ)
jrutman
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Posted: Tuesday, October 17, 2017 - 06:36 PM UTC

Quoted Text

That one’s called “The Great Day of His Wrath” – kinda how I feel about the local weather right now. Anyhow while I’m here, waiting (waiting waiting) for calm conditions I tried out an idea today that woke me up one night recently - I think it might have some...wait for it...traction, although still need to work out if/how it will work in the main convoy dio given the number of vehicles...



(Picture quality's compromised because it's a video frame)



That is freekin awesome dude ! Totally fools the eye. Except maybe the tree that's fallen over.
J
165thspc
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Posted: Tuesday, October 17, 2017 - 07:56 PM UTC
Nice!
justsendit
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Posted: Tuesday, October 17, 2017 - 09:37 PM UTC
Suspended road dust effect?! ... You had me at “Diodrama!”

—mike
Stickframe
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Posted: Wednesday, October 18, 2017 - 08:45 AM UTC
Hi Tim - great update as always!! Your blending of the cinematic and skilled model building eye is great!! Really something!

Let's hope the weather changes and you can get back to the main show!

Cheers
Nick
Dioramartin
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Posted: Thursday, October 19, 2017 - 06:29 PM UTC
Thanks gentlemen – the drunken tree shows what I’m up against wind-wise, along with some faulty rooting...now that’ll bring a smile to Aussie Slang aficionados’ faces

And so it came to pass that yesterday was calm enough, meaning Sequence 2 (the attack run) cameras finally rolled with 3 of the 6 or 7 pics completed (pending MK’s post-prod tweaks) just before some spectacular clumsiness by ahem the Director dislodged the small plane’s pole-support that its lines were attached to. Pity the video wasn’t running - starting from 36” altitude it fell in a terminal tail-down stall but gracefully levelled off to make a perfect 3-point landing on the styro base - could have sworn I heard a chipmunk “Scheiiii...” coming from the cockpit. Rudel really was some pilot - damage report: nil; Forced Landing/Shot Down score: 31

Some Thumb-Rushes, just teasers:









Meanwhile home on the Range, Melania and Ivana finally went off together (it was only a matter of time...) so big bird’s primed to complete Seq2. Bucketing down today, time to chill until the next time it’s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNoF-B2XCQ4
jrutman
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Posted: Thursday, October 19, 2017 - 06:38 PM UTC
You really have the knack for taking well framed dramatic pics! Nice angles,etc. You missed your calling brother.
J
Dioramartin
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Posted: Saturday, October 21, 2017 - 05:14 PM UTC
Thanks Jerry - who knows what any of us might have been...although looking at your ace Falaise project today probably a good thing you missed any calling as a sign-writer

It’s beyond tedious giving a weather report with every post - suffice it to say I got thunderstormed off the field a lousy 10 minutes before being ready to take probably the 3 best photos so far in this marathon...and that after 3 hours setting up...so plenty of blue air. At least I took some test shots in time so here’s a few more twiddled thumbs while thumbs are twiddled for a better day...







Dioramartin
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Posted: Thursday, October 26, 2017 - 05:15 PM UTC
Sequence 2 shooting’s finally completed, so for anyone interested in (certifiable) Process here’s some pics showing the assembly of a relatively simple set-up for a seemingly simple result – big bird’s canons firing with prop-spin, on video:





Fixing the brass tubes to line up invisibly below the plane’s plastic canons wasn’t so easy for various reasons. During tests the Ipad screen shows the starboard tube stepping way out of line...



The launch checklist ran to 18 items taking around 7 hours over 2 days before I’d settled on the best furniture/orientation/angles of the ecliptic in the constellation Ursa Minor. At the last minute I had to abandon the hair-drier due to airflow/vibration issues so by the time I was ready to shoot I’d already decided there would be no Take 2 (so completely OVER IT was I), and when the smoke cleared I was convinced the whole idea had been an abject failure. Not a nice feeling when the reality fails in every way to match the ideal image in the mind’s eye, particularly after so much trial/error/prep including building the plane & dio too.

However...as I dismantled the canons later that day (too ticked off to check out the video) I was surprised to discover Melania’s shell was missing – strange because according to my eyesight (while taking cover) the charge had backfired out the fuse-hole. On the other hand Ivana had fired with good muzzle-flash but the shell comically just plopped out the end of the barrel. Reviewing the video frames (and partly thanks to the audio) it turned out not only had Mel fired (with the faintest puff-ette of smoke caught in one single frame) around 0.25 sec before Ivana, but the shell missed the GAZ truck by an inch & ricocheted right off the balcony. The frames don’t help me calculate an accurate velocity but it was around 20 ft per sec...I’m not sure it’s valid to scale that up from 1/35 but if it is that’s 700 fps - the full-size 37mm clocked 2,600 fps but hey I didn’t exactly have Rheinmetal’s resources. In fact my canons’ calibre scales-up to 70mm if that makes any difference.

So Ivana’s shell wasn’t tight enough in the tube, while Mel had a perfect seal for a micro-second before the breech failed and let at least half the blast escape - who knows, with better smithing it might have doubled its velocity. To summarise: Ivana failed/succeeded & Melania succeeded/failed...I think there’s something there for all of us. More to the point I evaded arrest again, and a couple of frames look like they can be salvaged well enough with some gentle Post-prodding if Mike K agrees.

Moving on to Sequence 3 (the main event) a fresh environmental challenge has just appeared...



Jacarandas, it's Springtime. No colour-tweaking, that’s what it looks like out there which makes using the skyline as additional distant foliage problematic. I feel a great Dio title coming on though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae23y2D8VSI

justsendit
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Posted: Friday, October 27, 2017 - 07:24 AM UTC

Quoted Text

... a fresh environmental challenge has just appeared...
Jacarandas, it's Springtime. No colour-tweaking, that’s what it looks like out there which makes using the skyline as additional distant foliage problematic.


Call in a Napalm strike on those coordinates! ... 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 ... problem solv-ed!

—mike
Dioramartin
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Posted: Saturday, October 28, 2017 - 03:30 PM UTC
Funny you say that Mike, reminds me of the patent 1/35 operational flame-thrower I made last year for some Kursk trench-combat scenes which ended up on the cutting room floor...let’s not go into why. Maybe I should dispatch a fuelled-up squad to deal with the tree, like the platoon in Toy Story 1

Just add it to the charge-sheet
kurnuy
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Posted: Sunday, October 29, 2017 - 11:54 AM UTC
Hi Tim ,

forced perspective i love it and you did a great job so far . Keep entertaining us .

Kurt
165thspc
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Posted: Monday, October 30, 2017 - 12:53 PM UTC
OK, Tim, Mike - I got this . . . . . . .



Yes, It is real - not Photoshop!
Dioramartin
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Posted: Monday, October 30, 2017 - 03:35 PM UTC
Thanks Kurt - you’ve been quiet recently, great to hear from you!

Hey Mike how about 'shopping this sample? – I couldn’t get close to the right flame/smoke. (Why it should seem any more horrific than other weapons beats me, but it does - which is another reason I abandoned the idea...)

cheyenne
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Posted: Monday, October 30, 2017 - 04:31 PM UTC
Beautiful work Tim , great planning and execution !!!!

Hmmmm , retired , to much time on your hands , alcohol and flame throwers , this has got to be one of those " hey yall watch this " moments .

Speaking of flame throwers , I mean how was that thought up , a couple a guys sittin around and one says to the other ....... ya know I was wondering , how could I set those people over there on fire ............
strongarden
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Posted: Monday, October 30, 2017 - 10:57 PM UTC
Ah yes, the good ol' flammenwurfer!
This is becoming mad, and more mad, and I love it!
Kinda reminds me of that late scene in Bridge on the River Kwai when Major Clipton standing afar, makes his exclamation after the bloody bridge finally gets blown.

Tim, thanks for the behind the scene peeks at how you got everything rigged-up for production. Great stuff M8!

Cheers again
Dave
Dioramartin
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Posted: Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - 05:34 PM UTC
Thanks guys - Cheyenne your vision of how (modern) flamethrowers originated is probably a perfect description of the development of the giant WW1 British fixed trench prototype – there was a doco on History Channel a few years ago where they dug up the original remnants in France/Belgium & then built a (maybe half-scale?) operational replica & “fired” it. The tube was about the size of a 15” naval gun, range around 150 yds. Main limitation - the enemy had to agree in advance to all stand in its target area, and even then they were probably in less danger than its crew. The top brass didn’t warm to the idea...

Yes Dave, Mike/justsendit bestowed the very same er compliment either here or in a past project so it must be true...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9N8piRFVcU&list=RDC9N8piRFVcU&t=35

(Ab)Normal service will be resumed on the weekend
Dioramartin
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Posted: Friday, November 03, 2017 - 05:54 PM UTC
Ho hum – Rain for 10 of the next 11 days, great news for flora & water-resource management but not me. At least by the time it’s over the jacarandas should have shed their flowers (beautiful as they are) and made with the standard green stuff. So, awaiting a reliable forecast for 3 straight semi-perfect days to shoot Sequences 3 & 4, a progressively more complicated outdoor set I don’t want to dissemble every evening, or risk getting wet or blown away overnight. No tent or canopy can be secured well enough out there so 15 + 24 + 15 consecutive becalmed hours required.

Meanwhile I’ve re-opened Seq 2 to add some extra narrative images – here’s some over-cropped mono-thumbs below from the past week that didn’t make the cut...







...and some virtuoso Waiting music for your entertainment. If you thought you could play the piano...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXhcplwkATo

justsendit
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Posted: Friday, November 03, 2017 - 07:56 PM UTC
G’day Tim,

That last pic had me fooled for sure — thought it was clipped from a newsreel! — maybe because I’d only gotten halfway through my morning cup o’ jarvee ☕️ ... naw, you’re just good ... reeeally good!

Quoted Text

If you thought you could play the piano...


I would never lay claim to such a rediculous thought. The only YAMAHA I could ever handle (barely, at that!) had two wheels and a throttle! Lol!

Cheers! ☕️
—mike
jrutman
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Posted: Friday, November 03, 2017 - 08:32 PM UTC
Nice screen grabs for sure. I love the cascading spent shells
J
Dioramartin
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Posted: Sunday, November 05, 2017 - 05:19 AM UTC
Thanks guys, slowly slowly coming together – Mike K likes the spent shells too (possibly because he doesn’t need to p/shop ‘em) - I was lamenting I’d made a bunch but that they’d never be seen strewn on the floor of the Quad, until I had a rare moment of...Clarity

165thspc
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Posted: Sunday, November 05, 2017 - 06:55 AM UTC
Tim other photos not received. - Mike K.

Stickframe
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Posted: Sunday, November 05, 2017 - 07:10 AM UTC
Wow Tim! You and Mike make a strong combo!! Thanks for all the updates - fun to see! As for the rain, we are waiting for it here - wet streets in the AM last week, but no real rain yet! There were some big wildfires here a few weeks back - I live about 60 miles from the fire - but the air was thick with smoke for a couple of weeks - the rain did freshen the place up - ash was thick. Made for a smoky office and home so not good for work or building models!

Back on point - eh-hem...thanks for showing lots of your process - really interesting!

Cheers
Nick
Dioramartin
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Posted: Sunday, November 05, 2017 - 08:37 AM UTC
Holy KFC Mike! That’s superb, I had a feeling your er team was fryin’ the bytes on that as a side-order. Many thanks, it’s not part of the GAZ convoy but I’m reconsidering those old images sitting on the...wait for it...back-burner...maybe they’ll rise phoenix-like from the ashes..I know I really need help, it’s a sickness. (Copy that, will resend the first 3 Seq 2 images)

El Sticko! (sorry, having seen Toy Story 1 again after a long hiatus I had to see TS2 too, Spanish-speaking El Buzzo still guaranteed to render me helpless for several minutes) glad to hear you escaped the worst of that calamity - JR registered concern a week or more ago in either his or your blog & the silence was getting louder. I know we sent some fire-fighters over, hopefully they’ve helped & all got medals along with your guys. They may have to reciprocate after Xmas, preventive back-burning over the past months here will be nixed by the current rain-dump, the last thing we needed was major growth in Springtime ahead of a probably dry summer.

PS go to bed guys, it’s way past your bedtime if it’s 14.40hrs here!
165thspc
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Posted: Sunday, November 05, 2017 - 07:19 PM UTC
Glad you guys like the flame thrower photo.

One year as part of the big annual Memorial Day public event at the Patton Museum at Ft. Knox they brought in a Hollywood special effects person who's "thing" was flame throwers. He rigged up one to replace the co-driver machine gun in the Sherman and then also had a restored backpack unit that he demoed. I was lucky enough to get photos of both.

Dioramartin
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Posted: Thursday, November 09, 2017 - 05:26 PM UTC
Now addressing some burning issues with the convoy too, such as...











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmEEMd5CQ0c