Hello,

This was my first diorama. It is titled Marsch zur Front - Belgien 1944.

This diorama depicts a movement to the front to the German lines in the Ardennes region during the Battle of the Bulge. A column of German Volksgrenadiers, led by a Panzer IV H tank, travels down a dirt road to the front lines. While doing so, they pass by a German machine gun emplacement where a reconnaissance briefing/planning is being held. The emplacement speaks of the German's dire supply situation, with only a few boxes of rations, medical supplies, ammunition and fuel barrels available.

This is my first diorama. I worked on this dio for around eight months. Technically, I wanted to depict "little scenes" which would somehow tell something about a bigger scene without confusing the viewers. My aim is to allow lines and visual suggestions to guide the eye around the little stories. It is also my aim to let the viewer feel the gloom of the German soldier's condition during this war.

This is a feature in the Armorama website.

More pics...

































Comments are very much appreciated.

Big Dio.. Looks good though, but i believe it could be improved with a better seat of all the vehicles to the groundwork. Currently the vehicles appear to 'float' over the ground.

sllim

really a busy dio!!!
it let you have the different view from different angle! (words stole from CK ;p)
nice little details and weathering are full loaded!
i love the 8th photo which shows the sun shine falls on the dio and produce the show. give me feel like a real life photo!

btw, the overall look very dry. perhaps some little wet spots of snow melting due to human activities will make it more variety! just my personal points!

SUPERB... ;)

Angela,
the overall layout of this piece is great. The variation of the different subject is very believable and can catch the eye for quite some time because of the various busy like feel of the whole scene.
Taking the photos at human eye level gives a sense of realism on the whole piece and is very commendable. You may want to look at this few minor things ( but having worked on it for 8 months, I don't think you will! :lol: )

1) trees. The barren trunks enhances the gloomy feel. Perhaps some finer twigs to lighten the branches can be superglued on. Has a better scale effect. entwined thin wires work too.
2) ropes and cables. Some seem overscaled and are not secured down. I know its tough to get scaled rope. You may want to run a lighter over the threads after painting to get rid of the loose hairs before fixing them to the subject
3) grass: I had the same problem earlier when attaching grass, they turn out rather stiff especially if I use bristle hair. I have resorted to use hemp instead now because they have a good natural flow to it.
4) sandbags. This is always difficult to make them sit well and compact. What did you use here?
5) snow. Always an interesting subject.You may want to blend the whiteness into the figures as well especially at the boot area.
6) zimmerit: Not too sure here, bit unlikely to have zimmerit at this stage of the war. I may be wrong
7)hand pump: you may want to man a guy pumping the fuel to the 222
8) uniforms: there a rich mix and match. Works great on the scene but if realism is what you are after, you may need to restudy this.

This would be a great piece to have in the display cabinet. i can just imagine it as a centre piece, litted with a warm display light, in a quiet evening... Ahhhhh.....

well done.

Loo

ps: angela. Have you penned in an intro of yourself?

Thanks for the comments.

Hmm... I still dunno how to reproduce melted snow. I don't know how it looks like; I live in the Philippines, a tropical country that doesn't have snow.

1) Trees - I already glued some fine twigs and roots to have more branches.

2) Sandbags - I used modeling clay wrapped with tissue paper and soaked with a water/white glue solution.

3) Zimmerit - Yes, it was being used at this stage in World War 2.

4) Handpump - Hmmm...that's a good idea.

5) Uniforms - The mix of uniforms was done deliberately for variety.

However, this was during the late stage of the war in the Europe. In the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans were desperate. It could then be implied that they would have worn any uniform they can lay their hands on as long as the uniforms would keep them warm.

Yes, I already introduced myself.

Angela

A,
I can't seem to find the page in armorama. any chance that you can post the link?
thanks

I remember this one well as I liked the gloomy, cold mood created. Loo this was done by Angela quite a while back. For those interested in reading how this well composed dio was made and the detailed effort that went into it:

Feature Article

Do have a look Gentlemen as there's lots of nice 'mood' not to mention very realistic shots.

Angela,

NICE!!!

Sarge.

angela...

nice is all i have to say .. :D

kuman

;) what can I say..yours better then mine..never build a dio before.. :D..keep up a good work.

Nicely done, Angela. Very comprehensive and inspiring.

Well done :)

very nice dio...as for the uniforms i do belive prior to the start of the offensive the German army were well equip with winter clothings with reversible camo uniforms.anyway it is a very nice diorama depicting the Ardennes offensive.

Angela, your first dio is much better than mine. Good work. :D

My first are like pre-school work, nice.

Wow, pretty good for a first timer at dioramas, Angela.

As Loo mentioned you've got all the basics well pegged. Very interesting that you wanted to create small little scenes within the dio itself. It would have enhanced the overall dio if you had one main central focused area in the dio surrounded by the little scenes but after spending 8 months on it even I wouldn't change it.

My first adventure into dios were really amaturistic using stuff like plasticine, real moss that needed constant watering...can you beat that?

Some points to consider:

1. However bleak the atmostphere you want to depict, always ad highlights to bring out detail.
2. To break monotony, stark contrast colors here and there will add interest to the scene eg. a drab scene will jump up with stark white bandages with one or two spots of blood.
3. For your dio a few more patches of snow or frost will show up the vehicles and figures a little more and perhaps may segregate your little scenes into pockets of interest.
4. I guess these guys are moving under the cover of fog as they're quite exposed.
5. Beachbum has some references to making trees, check it out. At least one of your trees could have more branches.

The above comments are just what I would have done but what you've acheived beats.... I wouldn't say more unless I hit some of the guys egos. :lol:

Can't wait to see more dios from this level onwards.

Way to go girl!

Richard.

Richard actually Angela has another nicely done dio following her first one that I know of which was featured in Armorama as well but its only fitting she do the honors.

Angel.. you have outdone me, so far I only managed to do a few small vignettes, noting of this scale, this is very nice work, good work..

Wah! More eye candy. Seriously nice dios always inspire me to work on one or re-start stalled projects.

Nice to have another WW2 kaki(compatriot in hokkien I think) and a lady at that. :lol:

So, please show us the other dio too. :D

Richard.

Rtfoe,

I'm not a first timer at dios. This was just my first dio.

If you look at the dio from a perspective, the first thing you can clearly see is a column of soldiers (and a tank) moving down the road. That is the main scene. If you look closely and follow the lines, you can see the little scenes. I deliberately did it that way.

1. The higlights are there. Unfortunately, I'm not a good photographer.

Also, I don't want to overdo the higlights/shadows, because they look just right in the real dio. Overdoing the higlights/shadows for the sake of photography will make the actual dio look artificial.

2. I deliberately chose and painted everything that way to depict a bleak atmosphere. I wanted to make my viewers feel the winter.

3. I didn't want to overdo the snow, because I wanted to depict a light snowfall. For me, the amount of snow is just fine.

4. I'm not pretty sure about "moving under the cover of fog." That never occured to me; all I wanted to depict are soldiers en route to the front line. Also, fog would be impossible to depict in the real diorama unless I constantly expose it to smoke or artificial fog made by a smoke machine.

5. As an update, the trees now have branches.

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions.

Angela

Good work, very busy scene and lots of things to see. The dio masters already gave you all the tips they can, so I have not much to add except one element, try to focus the story.. Diorama of this size always difficult to highlight a focus point for viewer, given this is your 1st dio it is really great and beautiful work, if you can master the story telling then you dio comes alive.

Happy modelling
Allan