Hi All, this is my plan for a diorama inspired by the painting shown (thanks Gary!). I've added two more figures than originally planned to help "round out" the scene. Sorry for those who wanted to see Bismark but my original plan was for the focus to be on the King and his soldier's, but the base is too small for another mounted figure and would "crowd" out alot more than what I wanted.

The biggest challenge will be the connection of shaking hands between the King and the soldier- and making it look natural! I have a few ideas, but for now I plan on starting with the two figures on left rear of the dio and working my way left to right-back to front as the diorama progresses.

Please tell me what you think of the composition. Will appreciate any suggestions and or hints you may have.

Thanks for looking!

Ambitious! I'm looking forward to watching the progress. All the heads you picked seem to be exactly right.

Thanks John! Yeah, after my last dio, I wasn't sure if I wanted to tackle another. But every time I looked at this image, I told myself, it HAS to be done! I'll just take it one figure at a time

Really a great idea for a diorama! And I agree everything looks just right from the start. Good luck!!

Jason, where is the metal head from?

Wow, this is quite a project! I look forward to seeing it shape up. How long do you think it will take you??

AWESOME,Jason !! LIke the others,I'll be watching this thread very closely.Good luck,my friend ! Cheers.
Kenneth :lol:

Looking awesome as usual Jason. I was just wondering what company is the horse if from?

Thanks
Shawn Luchak

Wow!

That's quite the setup, and I look forward to following your progress.

Cheers
Andy

Dear Jason,

Superb, I will definitely be following this thread. The composition looks just right.

regards :lol:

Jason, My friend this is going to be fantastic. It would take me ages to just stage such a project. This will be great to follow. I've got a bunch of Hornet headsets on my Christmas list this, so who knows.

Bob, It's a Hornet head, probably before they went all resin, I have this one in metal myself.~Gary

Jason, My friend this is going to be fantastic. It would take me ages to just stage such a project. This will be great to follow. I've got a bunch of Hornet headsets on my Christmas list this, so who knows.

Bob, It's a Hornet head, probably before they went all resin, I have this one in metal myself.~Gary

Thanks Dan! Crossing fingers

Bob-It must be from Hornet. I have a resin one thats similar.

Thanks Kenneth!

Shawn-The horse is from Dragon's WW2 German Cavalry. There was some strange "grooves" in the neck of the horse-I'm guessing from the molding process, also the hair looked a little "thick" so I'll sculpt the whole thing myself.

Thanks Andy!

Thanks Wong!

Thanks Gary! I'm looking forward to seeing the projects you come up with using those head sets. Hey, how about some French turco zouaves!

Gosh! Don't know...My last dio took about six months and that was nine figures. I would like to cut that down a bit- but I'm in no hurry. I feel I've become more efficent with my time and I'm confident by spring I should be "wrapping" it up.

I think that this one will be a real pleasure to see in progress

Hey Jason,

It is for me the first time that i have the opportunity to follow the building off a great diorama.
I can't wait for the next pictures.
One question (maybe i am gonna sculp a figure). You start with copper wire for the legs and arms. I 've read above that you have the metal head from Hornet. Did you make the others in resin by yourself??
Still a second question: Where come the feet, hands, brest and pelvis from.
Thats less sculping than making a hole figure.
What you use for sculping??

so that are a lot off questions.

I hope you can finish it before next summer.

Greetings Marc.

Jason, I'm still trying to visualize the final composition. The only suggestion I might make is regarding the pose of the figure behind the one that is in front on the left side. Seeing that the King is the center of interest, all of the other figures are focusing their attention towards him. The figure in question has not only his head, but body turned away from the direction/person all the action is centered on. I'm sure this fellow is getting the attention from soldiers assumed to not be part of the scene. Are you going to pose him more in the direction of the king? Here's a suggestion. See sketch.~Gary



If both arms show action directed toward the King (see arrows) this helps to aid in the action going in a left to right fashion. You could also turn the head to face the viewer more (head B), as opposed to the current position (head A). Also note that his rifle is directed at the center of interest.

Marc-I will use Magic Sculp for the most part, with Kneadatite/Magic Sculp mix for belts, slings etc.

This takes some explaining: The torso, pelvis and boots are made of Magic Sculp. I made "masters" a few years and created a rubber mold. Just recently I've run out of resin to make more. Not satisfied with how the resin parts turned out after casting anyway (too many air bubbles), I decided to experiment a little. What I did was take a blob of MS and place it over the part I wanted and pressed the two molds together (I got this idea from a previous thread), and what came out was a surprisingly good cast. It's takes about an hour to set "set up" and much easier to carve to a desired shape than resin.

No, I did not cast the heads. The metal head is one of the older Hornets before they went to resin.

Wow! Thanks for the sketch my friend! This pose has me wondering too. Actually what I planned was for him to have his right arm raised waving his helmet (Bavarian) with the left holding his rifle. I could use a different head and turn it towards the rear of the scene urging his comrades up (I'm staring to like that idea). What do you think?

Thanks Jason.

Now i find it much more stunning. It is amazing.

Happy Modelling

Marc