101st AIRBORNE AT CARENTAN, JUNE 1944

[Steve Zuleski]

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.

[chromdome35]

This is a masterclass in figure painting and diorama building.

I am interested to see how you use the dried roots.

[Tobi]

Bread, sausages and beverages look tasty. The gold foil on the bottles is an extra nice touch. Everything looks so life-like.

[406 Silverado]

Saw this yesterday and was going to comment but I could only view it on my phone at the time which does no justice to the magnificent work that I see here. Now that I'm on my PC, I get to see the details in all their glory. One of the things that I like about your figure building is that there's just as much emphasis on the story as there is on the building/ painting of the subjects. VERY good work and imagination going into this Steve!!

[Steve Zuleski]

Thank you, Gentlemen!

Brian, I'll take progress pics on the veggies so you can see how my attempt pans out, lol.

Tobi, those YT posters really have some incredible SBS' on making miniature items, impressive. I followed the steps and poof, tada!

Joe, there's gotta be a story behind every build, otherwise it's just paint, IMHO. Thanks, buddy!

[Leon]

This is looking really great Steve!

[Steve Zuleski]

Tanks, Leon, muco aprecciado!

[Steve Zuleski]

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.

[stikpusher]

Looking great Steve! I can't wait to see all of this put together.

[chromdome35]

Beautiful work Steve. I really like the look of the super-leaf shrubs.

Where does someone who doesn't have a garden source those roots, they look fantastic!

[406 Silverado]

This all looks VERY tedious Steve but the results speak for themselves. Dude.......this is looking nothing short of spectacular bud. WOW!!! Kitty litter with a wash applied over it for depth. Now THAT'S something that I never would've thought of.

[Steve Zuleski]

May 6, 2023 15:31:25 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Looking great Steve! I can't wait to see all of this put together.

Thanks, Stik. I always enjoy the ground/base work, it's a sign of "close to completion".

May 6, 2023 23:00:54 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Where does someone who doesn't have a garden source those roots, they look fantastic!

Good question, Brian. Since I live in the boonies it's everywhere up here, but ya gotta plan ahead for the drying time. One idea, I would use any old potted plants. I try to avoid buying ground work if possible, so even a stroll through the park you can find large clumps of crab grass or small shrubs in an out of the way location and pull em, dry em, and they're ready for whenever you need em. Unless you live in a concrete jungle you should find something that will work.

May 7, 2023 0:19:56 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Kitty litter with a wash applied over it for depth. Now THAT'S something that I never would've thought of.

Even if you don't have a kitty, which we no longer do, it's a main-stay for decent ground work. Just make sure there aren't any large clumps in the mix, HA!

Thanks, Gents!

[406 Silverado]

May 7, 2023 11:36:44 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

May 6, 2023 15:31:25 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Looking great Steve! I can't wait to see all of this put together.

Thanks, Stik. I always enjoy the ground/base work, it's a sign of "close to completion".

May 6, 2023 23:00:54 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Where does someone who doesn't have a garden source those roots, they look fantastic!

Good question, Brian. Since I live in the boonies it's everywhere up here, but ya gotta plan ahead for the drying time. One idea, I would use any old potted plants. I try to avoid buying ground work if possible, so even a stroll through the park you can find large clumps of crab grass or small shrubs in an out of the way location and pull em, dry em, and they're ready for whenever you need em. Unless you live in a concrete jungle you should find something that will work.

May 7, 2023 0:19:56 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Kitty litter with a wash applied over it for depth. Now THAT'S something that I never would've thought of.

Even if you don't have a kitty, which we no longer do, it's a main-stay for decent ground work. Just make sure there aren't any large clumps in the mix, HA!

Thanks, Gents!

Now that's funny right there!! Did you get your VPN ordeal sorted out?

[`Boots`]

If ya wondering what that noise was it was my jaw hitting the floor!!.....that is outta the ball park Steve, the detail work is sensational fella

[Steve Zuleski]

You are too kind, Boots. Thanks for the kind words.

[Steve Zuleski]

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.

[chromdome35]

Looks great Steve!

[tcoat]

May 11, 2023 10:09:03 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

Unintended Consequences, or Not.


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.

I would never, ever, ever, no matter how hard I tried, manage to duplicate it if I wanted to!

[Steve Zuleski]

May 11, 2023 10:45:36 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Looks great Steve!

Ya killin me, Smalls, ya killin me!

Ya, Tcoat, let it ride!

[Steve Zuleski]

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.

[406 Silverado]

Gonna come back and read all of what you wrote as I've gotta jet for a Mother's Day morning but will be back this afternoon Steve.

[Steve Zuleski]

Ah, no worries, Bro. Ruck On, Bby!

[M1Carbine]

Freaking stunning!

-Bob

[bradley25mm]

Absolutely stunning work. Your figure work is inspiring.

Chris

[Steve Zuleski]

Thanks, Gents, I appreciate that!

[deafpanzer]

I am glad I didn't miss this thread. I returned after your great posts and it has been bookmarked! Your work never cease to amaze me!

[Steve Zuleski]

Andy, you are too kind Bro; tanks, Man, Tanks!

[brandonk]

Wow, great work and neat subject. Love it!!

[mrversatile]

Awesome work as usual, Steve

[Mike]

Masterful! My mind is blown! Absolutely amazing to my eyes!