Desert Beetle

[Tyrel]

Hello all.

I finished a mini dio and thought I would share some pics with you.

After defeat at the second battle for El Alemein in November of 1942 the German forces retreated to Tunisia. This diorama shows one of many desert vehicles and soldiers in the retreat determined to slow the British advance by planting mines on choke points and tank trails through the rocky valleys. Although not shown, there are numerous other vehicles and troops in the immediate vicinity of this VW who are all planting anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.

1/35 CMK Volkswagen kit was spiced up with parts of CMK resin interior kit including seats and photo-etch dash details. VW Body paint is Tamiya Dark Yellow with Red Brown pre-shading and buff highlighting. Interior and on board equipment painted with Vallejo acrylics. Upper rear Holy Shit handle scratch built from spares box. Fire extinguisher was also from the spares box and was finished with an Archer placard. Weathering done with Mig Washes, Artistes oils and pigment powder. Figures are from Verlinden and Jaguar. Uniforms and accessories painted with Vallejo acrylics. Flesh painted with artists oils.

For the base I used air dry modeling clay, fine grain sand, mold poured boulders and kitty litter. Painted with Tamiya acrylics and finished with pigment powders.

 

[Tyrel]

 

[Gern]

Another beautiful piece of work Tyrel. *****

Gern

 

[spanner570]

That is a gem of a mini diorama Ty, loads to see.

Well done.

Ron

 

[Ian M]

Excellent figure work. The VW is something we have not seen to many of either, Nice little mini dio..

Ian M

 

[Fenlander]

Very nice Ty. Really nice work on the base but the car and figures are stunning. As a whole it tells a really believable story and that is the mark of a great drama.

 

[phalinmegob]

i really like this and would be proud to have it on my model shelf

 

[Bunkerbarge]

Superb job, loads to look at and absorb and a pleasure to take it all in. Lovely modelling and a great layout obviously as a result of good planning.

 

[andygh]

Lovely

 

[tr1ckey66]

Excellent mini dio. Top quality as usual.

Cheers

P

 

[rogue-one]

fantastic work. great clean photos too.

 

[treyzx10r]

Excellent work Ty, it really draws you in. Great skills and well executed top notch dio!!!

 

[Hunty22]

That my friend is brilliant! I have just started painting my very first figures.....I'm a country mile off where yours are! How do you get the detail so clear, and the shading and the weathering? Amazing, well done.

Steve

 

[Tyrel]

Thank you for the kind words everyone. Next up is a Panzer I ausf.a along with an Adler Kfz.13 Armored Car on patrol in Poland circa 1939. I'm going to try a double diorama that will have each vehicle with troops on a separate cobblestone base but the bases can be pushed together to form a larger diorama. At least that's the plan for now.

That my friend is brilliant! I have just started painting my very first figures.....I'm a country mile off where yours are! How do you get the detail so clear, and the shading and the weathering? Amazing, well done.Steve

Steve, figures can be a challenge but for me it all kind of boiled down to creating light and shadow and using drybrushing to create the light and washes to create the shadows. That's my method for uniforms. Also, even though the name "uniform" implies that everyone is the same, achieving different shades of the same colour makes for a much more interesting group of figures. To that end every figure is dressed in tropical German uniforms I try and mix up the shades a bit for each one. For flesh tones the following link demonstrates my method for achieving light and shadow.

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/painting/9629-tyz-guide-figure-painting.html

Keep practicing. You'll get the results you want.

Cheers

 

[Hunty22]

Thank you for the kind words everyone. Next up is a Panzer I ausf.a along with an Adler Kfz.13 Armored Car on patrol in Poland circa 1939. I'm going to try a double diorama that will have each vehicle with troops on a separate cobblestone base but the bases can be pushed together to form a larger diorama. At least that's the plan for now.Steve, figures can be a challenge but for me it all kind of boiled down to creating light and shadow and using drybrushing to create the light and washes to create the shadows. That's my method for uniforms. Also, even though the name "uniform" implies that everyone is the same, achieving different shades of the same colour makes for a much more interesting group of figures. To that end every figure is dressed in tropical German uniforms I try and mix up the shades a bit for each one. For flesh tones the following link demonstrates my method for achieving light and shadow.

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/painting/9629-tyz-guide-figure-painting.html

Keep practicing. You'll get the results you want.

Cheers

Thanks for the link, thats a really helpful guide. I will keep practicing and hopefully will soon start to see improvements! Thanks again!

Steve

 

[noble]

Tyrel i love the little dio i have this kit in my stash, how was it to build? your figures look cool and i love the colours.

scott

 

[Dwarfed]

I hate to be the new guy making a first post that is.... somewhat negative, but...

You have so much great detail in your work, but then...your tires don't "feel right"...there something wrong with them.

Perhaps it is the lack of tread, or too much "sand" in the sidewall treads.

I think this dio is awesome, except for that one little detail.

 

[geegad]

Hello bud I find this dio one of the best I've seen on this forum so much detail and so much going on I love your figures that is the place where I get stuck one day...anyway looking forward to seein more of your work mate

Geegad

 

[Richy C]

Fantastic dio Tyrel (again) 5 stars top off the class from me , Hi Dwarfed - German desert tyres although I`m no expert I think he has pulled this one off , the guy knows what he`s doing and is very good at it the quality of his work is 2nd to none

I may be wrong but the dio still gets 5 Stars from me again

Richy

 

[Dwarfed]

Rich,

I have no doubt he knows what he is doing...

But, as you can see in this picture;

the tread is wider and it protrudes....

So that leads me to think either the kit was partly at fault for the inaccuracy, or Tyrel could not find a decent enough reference to model the tire after.

Again, I think this diorama is great, mostly because he has/can do much what I have yet to perfect.

But the tire, to me; is much like seeing a beautifully detailed interior, but the modeller forgot to take the time to buff out any mold injection marks.