"TARFU", Seelow Heights, 1945

[panzerconor]

Good evening, gentlemen,

Big dioramas, however cool they may be, just take too much time, and I don't have that kind of attention span. So! I'm going to stick to small scenes for a while. Like this;

TARFU is just some obscene military acronym, and I figured that was a good enough title here. The idea is to portray the confusing, back and forth action when the positions on the Seelow Heights finally collapsed. Honestly, I don't know too much about that battle, but this scene doesn't really require much knowledge...

Basically this is just a way to use up some figures that have been kicking around the back of the workbench for a while. All Verlinden. First is their "Battle!" figure set, which I love, and second are two German casualties I bought 2 years ago and abandoned soon after.

The PaK is the old Italeri kit. Great build, but like most of my builds, it sat around for over a year. Also, it broke



The basic layout...



Figures...



I'm experimenting with the two "Battle!" figures. Trying multiple layers of thinned paint, going from dark to light. It's coming along ok for my first attempt.



I really overdid the blood and holes on him back when I first got him. Luckily, I still have putty and paint.





Still a lot of cleanup. I'm a bit nervous about the two casualties though. Like I said, they're old, so I'm missing an arm and a foot. Looking in my stash, I had no extras, so I went with this:



Is it too much? If so I'll gladly try to sculpt an arm or just toss the figure all together. This isn't a stand around the tank scene, it's a knee deep in battle one, but I'm still a bit iffy about it. I wouldn't be showing it off, it would be weathered over and partly hidden as well. I still consider myself kinda new, and I don't know if I'm breaking some unwritten rule here? I hope not, I used a lot of putty on that mangled mess...

But anyways, this is the four of them so far:





I'm most proud of this though. The face on him is coming along great:



Thanks for looking!

-Conor

[panzerconor]

Okay! I did some stuff. Finished 3 figures, minus the little touch ups where paint has chipped. I used AK enamels and pigments exclusively for weathering. Now that I've figured out how to apply the pigments, I gotta say, they're amazing.

Face painting was done with 3 skin tones by Model Master. I thinned them a bit and mixed them around. Trial and error, but it's worked out well enough. (On a side note, I got Vallejo skin tones in the mail today, I'll give them a shot later) Alright I'll shut up, time for pictures:





His eyes are crazy at the moment, but I'll fix that.



Mud mixed with earth pigments, and I went over him from the neck down with pigments at different consistencies and thickness.



These two poor guys will have met their end in one of the many hell-on-Earth artillery barrages that plagued the front line at the Seelow Heights. That's why they're so filthy looking.









And here's our last WIP figure. I almost went with a camo scheme for the trousers but decided to leave them as they were. Pretty crummy looking but we'll see how it goes. Wasn't quite sure what Mr. Verlinden was doing about the does, so I just assumed he had his socks pulled up around his pants. After weathering it probably won't matter.



Next I'll repaint the PaK and start on the groundwork. Aside from ammo and weapons, what would you typically find in a late-war gun emplacement?

Thanks for looking!

-Conor

[deafpanzer]

Nice work! I'd hate to be one of those fallen soldiers... good job on the camo!

[bbd468]

Hello Conor, Those fellers are havin a BAD DAY! Nice works there Conor.

Gary

[Leon]

Nice work Conor. :)Glad to see you toned down the blood on the one figure.

[panzerconor]

Apr 30, 2013 0:16:36 GMT -5 Leon said:

Nice work Conor. :)Glad to see you toned down the blood on the one figure.

Oh yeah. I don't know what I was thinking when I first made them a couple years back lol...

I guess the whole purpose of this diorama is to depict a bad day haha.

Anyways. . . 

Well since my last figure's face was TARFU (haha), I gave him a try with the Vallejo paints. I saw Spud's how-to with the Vallejo paints and I went out on a limb and bought their skin tones. And I think for my first try with them it came out great:


IMG_0663 by ronoc29, on Flickr


IMG_0662 by ronoc29, on Flickr

His eyes look a bit messy and need touching up still, but I think the green pupils were a nice touch. Granted, nobody's gonna see it when all is said and done, but hey, it's there. Now with that little issue fixed, I'll be able to sleep at night.  So, Spud, if you should happen to see this, thanks for the tutorial! It really helped.

-Conor

[Leon]

Nice work on the figure Conor.Keep it up.

[panzerconor]

Okay, update time:

Gave the PaK a half assed spray with an old can of Tamiya dark yellow, gave it an improvised camo, and made it damaged.


IMG_0683 by ronoc29, on Flickr

IMG_0682 by ronoc29, on Flickr

Made the base in one day, let it sit overnight, and this happens:


IMG_0684 by ronoc29, on Flickr

Fixed everything, except in where the picture is lol...it actually ran down the entire base.


IMG_0677 by ronoc29, on Flickr

IMG_0679 by ronoc29, on Flickr

IMG_0680 by ronoc29, on Flickr

IMG_0681 by ronoc29, on Flickr

It's all been worked on since the photos were taken, but I really don't like the base. It came out good, but it just doesn't sit right with me. But whatever, I think the figures came out great.

So, next update will either be my triumphant finish, or, my scrapping the base and starting a new one. 50/50

Thanks for looking!

-Conor

[panzerconor]

Yes sir! I've got a bunch of junk lined up to scatter all over the place hahaha. Probably going to use balsa wood for facing. I've got a 3 foot strip of it I haven't used...ever lol