101st AIRBORNE AT CARENTAN, JUNE 1944

[Steve Ski]

Oh, Bob,…What Were You Thinking?

It's been a long run, but not longer than most. We're done with the figures, finally, and Bob has rounded up the crew to wrap up this set of figures. This was my third run at the splinter pattern and it gets easier each time. Once the initial pattern is laid down the rest is just a matter of keeping the liner brush straight when making the splinter strokes. No, it's not easy, but it's just as matter of staying focused on each and every stroke.









I'm satisfied with the results, so carry on we will,………… The shadows and highlights are a simple matter of blending in some dark oils in the creases and lighter tones of the initial coat base onto the high points. The helmet decals were printed to scale and touched up with oils for more clarification.

Let's make some Whiskey bottles, Champagne, or even some vino bottles, shall we? Let's make em. Here's how;




This was a pretty slick way to get a few more extras into the scenario, so just a bit of practice and we're good. Good thing my pretty little woman had some glue sticks in her inventory. After making the bottles I used Tamiya's clear colors to make the bottle tones, simple enough. I ran a search for WWII French bottle labels and printed them up and glued them in place. The possibilities are numerous, but this scale worked for me this time since I've never seen 1/16th​ or 120mm wine bottle anywhere, just scratch built.

Time for dirt work and veggies, and then the base will be ready for figure placement. Now the show begins, cause if this ain't right, it's all in vain, and we didn't come this far to jack it all up, did we? Ruck On, Bby!

More to follow soon. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Belugawrx]

Looking good Ski !
Like the bottle idea...works a treat
Cheers

 

[mustang1989]

Forgot that you were over here too Steve. Can't get over all of the details that you're putting into these figures .....and THEN.....you bust out with the wine bottle trick.

Looking forward to that dio base to tie it all together bud.

 

[Steve Ski]

Thanks, Gents. Ya, that bottle idea was a fluke. YT can be useful, lol. got a collar correction;

 

[Steve Ski]

Loaded Up with Booty

Now that all the figures are basically done until I weather them to match the base it's veggie time. But first, here's a few pics of Bob's booty haul from the local neighborhood. He's loaded alright; sausage links, cheese, bread, wine, and even a few bottles of some really good cognac.



The base work is straight forward using some 3/16th inch MDF (medium density fiber board) under standard blue construction foam glue with good old Elmer's wood glue. Once the foam and MDF were solid I cut some slight elevation features and then mixed some wall putty, Elmer's glue, rocks, and sand. Then I poured the base layer and smoothed everything out. I also added fence posts in place to make sure they were solid. The perimeter of the base is a thin strip of styrene for easy painting and also to retain the wall putty.



The veggie work is underway and so far, so good. I had left several tomato plant roots in the green house to dry over the winter for this very job and it looks like they will do just fine. The plan is to add some bushes, ivy, and summer grass on the base. I'm going for a semi-hedge appearance as a backdrop for the scene.



As you can see from the pics this will be the basic layout. I didn't want to give away the plot already, but you can pretty much tell by the placement of the figures that Bob is not in a good position to argue about anything, HA!

The first photo is rather blurry, I caught that one too late, my bad.




More to follow soon and thanks for watching. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Pantherman]

Loaded Up with Booty

Now that all the figures are basically done until I weather them to match the base it's veggie time. But first, here's a few pics of Bob's booty haul from the local neighborhood. He's loaded alright; sausage links, cheese, bread, wine, and even a few bottles of some really good cognac.

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The base work is straight forward using some 3/16th inch MDF (medium density fiber board) under standard blue construction foam glue with good old Elmer's wood glue. Once the foam and MDF were solid I cut some slight elevation features and then mixed some wall putty, Elmer's glue, rocks, and sand. Then I poured the base layer and smoothed everything out. I also added fence posts in place to make sure they were solid. The perimeter of the base is a thin strip of styrene for easy painting and also to retain the wall putty.

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The veggie work is underway and so far, so good. I had left several tomato plant roots in the green house to dry over the winter for this very job and it looks like they will do just fine. The plan is to add some bushes, ivy, and summer grass on the base. I'm going for a semi-hedge appearance as a backdrop for the scene.

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As you can see from the pics this will be the basic layout. I didn't want to give away the plot already, but you can pretty much tell by the placement of the figures that Bob is not in a good position to argue about anything, HA!

The first photo is rather blurry, I caught that one too late, my bad.

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More to follow soon and thanks for watching. Cheers, Ski.

Looking like party time for Bob !!!
Pantherman

 

[Steve Ski]

Thanks, Pantherman.

The AB boys are gonna party now, lol.

 

[blakeh1]

Such attention to details!

And now it's Bob' s Party Tiime...

 

[Steve Ski]

Lol, Bob's not happy, may need a few more drinks.

 

[Steve Ski]

Ground Work in Full Swing

Continuing on with the base work, I began with a basic acrylic earth tone painted over the entire base. Next, I added Heki Grass, #1576 Wild Grass, sheets placed in the desired areas. I found pulling and stretching the sheets gave a decent appearance for my purposes. After the Heki grass was set I scattered crushed cat litter over a wash of water thinned Elmer's glue onto the open areas, but leaving the outhouse area clear. Before going any further with any more grass effects, I gave the cat litter a thinned oil wash of Burnt Umber for depth, then finishing off by highlighting all the gravel with an acrylic light earth tone. Placing sand and small stones in the small wash area was the last step until minor water effect is added. Time to work the brush.



As mentioned before, tomato and even rosemary, roots seem to work really well when making these bushes and shrubs. Pretty much any dried roots will work, but I preferred the tighter clusters for making the shrubs. Mini-Natur has a full line of useful vegetation for what I'm attempting here, even for the larger scale of this diorama. If it looks natural it will work. The root clusters were placed on scrap foam board for easier manipulation. Now it's just a matter of making the bushes and shrubs look as realistic as possible.







I also tried out Super Leaf from Scenic Express. These tiny leaves are more in the 1/35th scale but I wanted to see how they would work for shrubs which would have a tighter foliage than the other bushes. I still need a bit more experience with this material, but I think these two shrubs will work well with my planned placement.





Next on the list in the sequence was the ivy crawling up the sides of the outhouse. Using some of the more open pattern dried roots I placed the skeletal frame work in the desired locations and then went back and filled in some areas with tighter root clusters. There is no easy way to make a realistic ivy vine without printing up leaves and cutting each and every one out with an Xacto knife. This is very time-consuming and tedious.









After I cut and pasted the desired leaf photos to a Word doc and printed them onto heavy paper, I painted the back sides of each sheet a dark green tone. Save a step and do it now, right? Once all the leaves are glued to the vines you still need to go back with a light green acrylic tone and touch up each exposed edge. If not, you'll have quite a few white lines showing all throughout the structure. This too was time consuming and required a steady hand. The ivy work was close to two weeks in the making, but I just had to have that old over growth appearance.

There is still quite a bit more veggie work to do, but the major heavy lifting is done. Once all the bushes and shrubs are in place I will go through and add plant debris and more grass clusters as well as alter grass tones where needed.


More to follow and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Pantherman]

Ground Work in Full Swing

Continuing on with the base work, I began with a basic acrylic earth tone painted over the entire base. Next, I added Heki Grass, #1576 Wild Grass, sheets placed in the desired areas. I found pulling and stretching the sheets gave a decent appearance for my purposes. After the Heki grass was set I scattered crushed cat litter over a wash of water thinned Elmer's glue onto the open areas, but leaving the outhouse area clear. Before going any further with any more grass effects, I gave the cat litter a thinned oil wash of Burnt Umber for depth, then finishing off by highlighting all the gravel with an acrylic light earth tone. Placing sand and small stones in the small wash area was the last step until minor water effect is added. Time to work the brush.

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As mentioned before, tomato and even rosemary, roots seem to work really well when making these bushes and shrubs. Pretty much any dried roots will work, but I preferred the tighter clusters for making the shrubs. Mini-Natur has a full line of useful vegetation for what I'm attempting here, even for the larger scale of this diorama. If it looks natural it will work. The root clusters were placed on scrap foam board for easier manipulation. Now it's just a matter of making the bushes and shrubs look as realistic as possible.

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I also tried out Super Leaf from Scenic Express. These tiny leaves are more in the 1/35th scale but I wanted to see how they would work for shrubs which would have a tighter foliage than the other bushes. I still need a bit more experience with this material, but I think these two shrubs will work well with my planned placement.

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Next on the list in the sequence was the ivy crawling up the sides of the outhouse. Using some of the more open pattern dried roots I placed the skeletal frame work in the desired locations and then went back and filled in some areas with tighter root clusters. There is no easy way to make a realistic ivy vine without printing up leaves and cutting each and every one out with an Xacto knife. This is very time-consuming and tedious.

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After I cut and pasted the desired leaf photos to a Word doc and printed them onto heavy paper, I painted the back sides of each sheet a dark green tone. Save a step and do it now, right? Once all the leaves are glued to the vines you still need to go back with a light green acrylic tone and touch up each exposed edge. If not, you'll have quite a few white lines showing all throughout the structure. This too was time consuming and required a steady hand. The ivy work was close to two weeks in the making, but I just had to have that old over growth appearance.

There is still quite a bit more veggie work to do, but the major heavy lifting is done. Once all the bushes and shrubs are in place I will go through and add plant debris and more grass clusters as well as alter grass tones where needed.


More to follow and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

Your eye for details is amazing. Great work as always.
Pantherman

 

[Steve Ski]

Thanks, Pantherman!

 

[Steve Ski]

Unintended Consequences, or Not.

Just a heads up, I've run across a fluke, or unintended consequences, that can't be changed and will now become part of the narrative. The plaque has already been ordered and reads accordingly.

At this stage of the game one might panic, freak out, soil one's drawers, or go berserk, but I pulled some heavy G's climbing out of this mess and it looks like I got lucky with an additional useful effect completely by accident. HA!





I knew there was something up when I used Rust-Oleum Matt Varnish to secure some of the ground work. I would normally use Dull Coat, which has a much finer spray, but the Rust-Oleum was just handy at the time. I went a little too heavy on the spray leaving a beading effect on the Heki grass, but a surprising effect was created when I continued on a few days later.

I won't reveal it now, but I'll give you a hint, DEW. I don't think I'll become a hero of the creative effects world or make a mint from discovering this accidental effect, but it could prove useful for other applications, who knows. Regardless, it stays now, too late to change.

More to follow soon and thanks for watching. Cheers, Ski.

P.S. I'll need to work the path from the tracks and wheel, and maybe even some footprints, but this shouldn't be too difficult to adjust.

 

[Steve Ski]

The DEW Effect

This diorama has been completed and is on the photo bench, so now I will explain how my freak discovery occurred. As mentioned before, I inadvertently mixed a few chemicals that reacted unexpectedly and came up with this DEW effect. Again, I say, completely by accident. However, the results appear to be acceptable and this may turn out to be a decent effect, but there should be some refining of the process.

How did I do it? The three ingredients in the photo below are all that is needed to experiment with this process further. Items needed: Rust-Oleum Matt Clear, 90% Isopropyl Alcohol, Heki grass. I also used a small spritzer bottle and an old hair dryer.



After the Heki grass is secured to the base/test board, spray the grass using Rust-Oleum Matt Clear with a "light coat." Let that set over night. The next day, using a spritzer filled with 90% Isopropyl Alcohol, spray the grass again and immediately start drying the area with an old hair dryer on low temp. You will begin to see a white DEW-like effect start to appear on the Heki grass.

Remember, Rust-Oleum is a heavy spray right from the can, but Dull Coat is more of a mist and should be more suitable for smaller scale effects. Be aware that the heavier you spray the Matt Clear the more out of proportion the effect will appear, so you'll need to be measured in your applications to avoid a heavy overdone appearance. Play with this technique to see how this will work for you.

Lastly, I simply do not have enough Heki grass to make a full investigation into whether this will produce consistent results every time, but you can try this for yourself and let me know how it works.

That's a wrap! Final pics coming soon and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Steve Ski]

Embarrassing Moments In The Early Mornin Dew, Carentan, June 1944

120mm Airborne Resin Figures Sculpted by Maurice Corry, offered by Mitches Military Models, Freedom Model Kits 1/16th​ German Sd.kfz.2 Kettenkraftrad Typ HK 101.

Resin figures painted in oils over an acrylic base. Scratch built outhouse and fencing with standard ground work applied over blue construction foam.

Bob was not expecting guests this fine June morning when he made a quick stop to take care of business. Freddie and Billy, however, were pretty giddy when they found a prize souvenir and plenty of chow and booze in the back of the track-bike. Sgt. Hank kept Bob under guard while the booty was tallied. Poor Bob!

This was a really fun build with a great set of figures and some good old scratch work as well. This is by far the quickest I have ever produced a Large-Scale figure diorama, just under six months.























All comments welcome. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Steve Ski]

 

[Pantherman]

Embarrassing Moments In The Early Mornin Dew, Carentan, June 1944

120mm Airborne Resin Figures Sculpted by Maurice Corry, offered by Mitches Military Models, Freedom Model Kits 1/16th​ German Sd.kfz.2 Kettenkraftrad Typ HK 101.

Resin figures painted in oils over an acrylic base. Scratch built outhouse and fencing with standard ground work applied over blue construction foam.

Bob was not expecting guests this fine June morning when he made a quick stop to take care of business. Freddie and Billy, however, were pretty giddy when they found a prize souvenir and plenty of chow and booze in the back of the track-bike. Sgt. Hank kept Bob under guard while the booty was tallied. Poor Bob!

This was a really fun build with a great set of figures and some good old scratch work as well. This is by far the quickest I have ever produced a Large-Scale figure diorama, just under six months.

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All comments welcome. Cheers, Ski.

Awesome as usual.
Pantherman

 

[Steve Ski]

Thanks, Pantherman!

 

[ssgteverett]

Thanks for sharing - Wonderful technique and build.

 

[Steve Ski]

Thanks, Sarge!