Thanks, Warhammer, all the intel I can get is always a help. Maybe post your first name, or nick name?

I read numerous articles on the camo patterns used by the 17th SS Panzergrenadiers. Many used mishmash sets from all over. The 17th SS unit was formed from scratch with veterans and conscripts from several nations. I also read that the helmet markings were ordered removed, but you can find many photos showing they were still in use, mainly by veterans, and the use of helmets left over from prior units that had not been altered.




https://alexanderandsonsrestorations.com/understanding-wwii-german-helmet-insignia/

The collar has been corrected, btw. Thanks, Buddy!

Thank you, Nigel!

Thanks, Stevo! I've also got some cheese and sausage links in the works, lol. Taking my time, I'm having too much fun.

That’s cool, I must admit I don’t know much about the 17th SS. The collar looks ace, as does the whole figure.

Excellent work.

Malc

Sorry for the delayed response, my bad. Thanks, Gents!

Kevin, I always take care of my pretty lil woman, she's a keeper! No penalty for being tardy, you're good.

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 glued 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.

This is getting better and better, love how this is taking shape.

Malc

Wow, this is going to be amazing. Great work, very well done!!!

Thanks, Malc!

Thank you, Nigel!

Thanks, Kevin. Nope, just two open bottles, and yes, Bob is in a slightly awkward potition, lol.

Excellent progress Ski, nice to see all the elements all together to get an idea how things work for the scene, looking good!!
Cheers
Steve

Thanks, Stevo. I'm working the veggies, requiring lots of patience and I’m making it up as I go, lol. More to follow soon.

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.

...if I ever need someone to give my back garden a bit of a make-over, I'll let you know, Steve-of-the-green-fingers...

Also your gardening skills are very impressive. Thanks for taking pF along on yet another jopurney.

Karl

Great work.
Once you've finished Karl's garden, mine awaits.

Malc

As long as you got lunch cookin on the grill, I'll be there, I work for food, HA! Thanks, Karl.

Same for you Malc, lol. Ya know, when I used to help coworkers with their concrete jobs I usually required steak and shrimp after the pour, but I'll settle for a really good ribeye.

Thanks, Kevin. This still looks disjointed, but blending everything together will make it more natural looking, and that is the key.

Thanks again, Gents!

Superb ground work, really effective A few final tweaks and it will be stunning, especially in that massive scale!

Now the fun begins!! been looking forward to seeing more of the groundwork develop and glad to see it is coming on well, nice work on the foliage, the vines look excellent.
Cheers
Steve

Thanks, Nigel and Steve! Interesting developement to follow