Looking pretty good so far! Am looking forward to seeing further progress!

Hi Chuck!

You have sheep... errr, sharp eyes!

Jean-Luc

Perhaps a solution to the space problem would be to change the shape to the earlier square design.
The walls were pretty much the same but in a large squared off open U.
There is a good picture (from a german bomber on 18 August, 1940) during the attack on Kenley.
The picture is in Alfred Price's "The Hardest Day" - following page 102.
I have a vacuform 1/72 version put out by ?? many years ago.
I think the point about towing the A/C in is well taken - even lighter planes take a fair amount of muscle to move around. Maybe they used some sort of winch to tow it into the triangular version - certainly a big twin would have taken some real huffing and puffing.

I think it was Dragon made some 1/48 Luftwaffe "Day Fighter" figures that had a few in the set that could be recruited to cross the channel.

As for how they might get the aircraft into the pen ? Three or Four guys could push a fighter into position, but it may take six to ten to move a twin engine bomber, ten if she's bombed up.

Of course on a hot day the preferred method is :

Here's an idea. Why don't you put the sheep where you think they will look good, and post some pictures of that for us to see.

The enbankment parallel to the side-not a problem.

You dont like the grass tufts. How about a Sergeant Major supervising a work detail, cutting down the tufts with scythes. Humor is good.

Size and orientation looks good to me. Hard for me to picture without seeing the figures in place.

Sheep- I think that would be nice. Maybe you can have one of the figures checking the bottom of his boot for sheep pooh? Humor is good.

I really think it looks really good.

That would also help to explain why the tufts of grass are there in the first place. Fertilizer

Hi all!

Time for an update!

Thanks for your comments about the dio. Trenor, the U shape would have been a solution but the only walls Mark58 produced so far are for E shape dispersals. But, again, if you look at the picture below, even in U shape dispersals, there wasnt much more space. In this example however, the larger area was separated by a wall.



I made some progress on the Tilly Truck. It is almost finished, I have to add small details and weathering...





The various equipment is almost finished as well. Here again some detail painting and some weathering and I will be done.



I received my Hold and Fold today! I always thought it was an expensive and useless tool but now I think I should have purchased one earlier. If one day you happen to build a Flightpath PE set from their diorama range, you will see that without proper tool it is almost impossible to work with it since the metal (brass?) used is very thick and hard to bend. Anyway, with it I managed to bend the posts of the warning sign which I will place in the diorama's dead space.
I'm looking forward to use the Hold and Fold for other projects...



The figures are what I enjoy the less doing... But I guess I have no choice since I want to do a dio. So far I only painted them in blue and applied a light dry brushing.



Since the Typhoon is a little too big, I decided to build a Hurricane for the dio. Why a Hurricane? Because we already have too many Spitfires on Aeroscale! Sorry Mal!



To be continued...

Jean-Luc

Hi Jean-Luc

nice update! ..


same here .. but I know you have a lot more talent than I so you can at least cope with it ..

honestly, I do not think the Hurricane will be much smaller than the Tiffy ... have you measured it?

best wishes

Steffen

Hi Steffen!

You are quite right, the two planes are very similar in size. The wingspan is only 1cm shorter on a 1/48 Hurricane model. The Spitfire's is much smaller but I think I'll stick to the Hurricane...

So you don't like to paint figures neither! That's strange, we are probably the two people here who get the more excited when a new 1/48 scale figure set is released. We are probably a little bit masochistic.

Jean-Luc

The shape focuses my eyes on the empty space in front of the HH so make sure you position equipment there.

The space in the top right should get some attention from the add on kits too.

The overall color is a bit on the bright lime green side.

That might be true

.. I just like dioramas, which do not work without figures

Dios are what got me hooked up on Digital Dioramas and then on Armorama ... and I am very glad we have the "All latest post" page again ... It is just amazing what some guys can do (especially in the Diorama and HF sections)

good luck wih your Hurricane

cheers

Steffen

Hi again!

Thanks for showing some interest guys!

below is a picture with the various elements in place. This is approximately how I would have placed them...





Scott, I'm not sure to know what HH means? As for the grass, remember it's England! Jokes aside, I can tone down the green by spraying some heavy diluted brown/ochre at the end. Or maybe add pastels. The concrete is too shiny anyway.

Steffen, thanks! I will try to make a speed build of the Hurricane kit. Not a 24 hours build like last year with the P-40 but maybe a week build...

Jean-Luc

Jean-Luc the figures really bring it to life, nicely done.

Looks great. I was hoping to see a Sergeant Major scraping his boots though.

Hi Chuck!

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words especially when they are coming from a diorama (and sheep) specialist!

Jean-Luc

Specialist, I think not, but I know what I like and I like what you've done.

Hi again Chuck!

You are too modest: CRS Portfolio. Your dioramas and those of Stephen Lawson are an inspiration for me.

Thanks again...

Jean-Luc

Looks great, Jean-Luc!

Thanks for sharing your work

Hey Jean Luc. Great diorama. What bothers me is that the green grass is just too "green" and uniform and it looks to industrial (out of the bag). The same goes for the earth. I would spray some of the grass randomly with darker shades of green and the same goes for the dirt. (use two or three different tones). And don't forget to oil wash and then dry brush the sections of the earth.

But it's just a suggestion. It looks great already.
Look how my display base turned out using method described above.

Jean-Luc, you are a GOD!!!

That is one of the most beautiful dioramas I have ever seen.

Congratulations, ans since you have mentioned Hurricane....well, I can hardly wait to see one!

Hi all!




That's what I did but maybe not enough. I used the same technique as you described for the base of my Texan for example. It looks very similar to what you have done...



Nevertheless, I will try to work on the grass to make it look less artificial. But one thing I have to consider is that the diorama is rather big and a too "patchy" grass ground would look visualy too disturbing in my opinion. On small surfaces it may not be the case but on large surfaces probably more. I'll see what I can ameliorate, thanks for the heads up about that!




Gabriel thank you! If only my wife would think that of me!

Jean-Luc

Jean-Luc

I do not think Grega is right ... it is all a matter of lighting. Maybe try to go outside and take some pictures there (not in the full sunlight) .. from the early pictures with artificial lighting I think you did a great job!

viele Grüße

Steffen

Two things I have tried, in dioramas, to get the "natural" uneven look are 1. Premix the grass with varying colors and texture, 2. To do a very messy job of applying an earth tone base coat of color to the dio base before I apply the grass. Just a couple things I've done, not a criticism of your work in any way.

Oh, and possibly a third thing, Don't be too neat in your application of any ground cover.

Your Dio does remind me of the peaceful rolling English countryside, as I remember it (true or not), from my brief visits there.

Hi all!

Another update...

Below are pictures of the finished equipment with weathering and all. I replaced the vinyl hose of the Revell kit by a piece of wire I bent to shape. Looks far more realistic I think.



I also painted the figures. A personal note to Steffen: the new Eduard figures are not better.



I have added two "ambiance" pictures taken without artificial light. I didn't thought of that but maybe Steffen is right and some comments about the color of the grass were made because of the strong neon lights is use in my basement's workbench. They are located just a few cm over the diorama.





I think I will start the Hurricane now...

Jean-Luc

Jean-Luc those close up, low level photos are terrific