Small Scale Military Headquarters

I've made enough progress that I thought I'd share some pics of the diorama I have in progress. It's an urban scene from the Long War:







I still have a lot to do -- there's no street surface, lots of details needs to be added, etc. But I've been busy constructing the buildings, making custom SFOR guys and "locals," putting my regular troopers in early GWOT desert camo, etc.

i take it you made those buildings?

TEXAS_HOSS wrote:i take it you made those buildings?

Yes. So far, that's been most of the work I've done, in terms of time and effort. There isn't a lot of detail in them yet, but they're designed to come apart easily so I can pull pieces out to work on them more.

what stuff did u use, supply list?

TEXAS_HOSS wrote:what stuff did u use, supply list?

The large, flat surfaces are foam board. This material is incredibly easy to work with. Just draw the layout of the wall -- edges, doors, windows -- and then cut with an X-acto and a metal straight-edge. The door and window frames are made from balsa strip, glued with white glue, with dimensions to snug-fit into the openings in the foam board.

The flat wall surfaces are a neat trick I learned from my wife, who is an artist -- paper. You can get all kinds of cool "art paper" with different patterns and textures at an art or "women's hobby" store (Michael's in Houston). More texturing can be done with the paper by crumpling it and then flattening it out. I glue it onto the walls, then cut out the openings with an X-acto, then add more color with acrylic washes. The detail of the layered coloring didn't show up in these pics, but it really looks like textured concrete or stucco.

More details (like the columns on the mosque, the balcony railing supports, etc.) are made from hardwood dowels.

The "onion domes" and minaret are made from cardboard tubing and foam "eggs" -- also bought at Michael's. The surface texture is wood putty, buttered on with popsicle sticks.

Other curved shapes and details, like the inside of the archway, are made with paper over wood forms. Paper really is an amazingly great material for this sort of thing!

Very cool, i think ill have to get some of it

Excellent work so far!
Love the buildings. Very nice use of XD Eastern Warriors, IJ Monkey Man, IJ Cario bad guys and IJ Sallah. I see head and body swaps all over the place. Very nice.
Thanks for the pics.
Razor

Always cool to see a modern "Middle Eastern" dio. Nice work with the buildings.

OMG i want that M113!

Very nice Dio!!!!!!! I don't collect modern 1:18th but this looks great.
The craft paper and the putty give a great affect.
I can't help but wonder how the storyline will play out...........

VERY COOL gburch.

The buildings look AWESOME.

Man the buildings look greta.

That is a clever idea using the paper

Great work on the buildings!

* That's really good "gburch".


- Mitch v MG

That is just too cool, excellent job.

Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the positive feedback. I don't feel quite so crazy for spending so much time doing this (but I still DO feel crazy).

I've been fiddling with creating more figures -- modest customs that are still kind of rough ... I'd say some are "impressionistic" ... Here's the latest since the original post:

This guy's not happy his nap in the Humvee got interrupted (and that he'll get chewed out for not having his body armor on):


A "student" at the madrassa looks down from the mosque as all hell is about to break loose:


The lieutenant wonders whether it was something he said:



"Yeah -- I used to be in the army, so what?"


The Colonel tries to calm down the hotheaded little guy from Blackwater:


Tex be stylin' with his Cabella's shooting glove:


... more to come ...

AWESOME JOB gburch, can't wait for more

Great work!!!!

this is AWESOME. can't wait to see the finished dio!

very awesome well done

Some new and/or improved figures:

A squad builds up on a roof on the north side of the square:

Detail of hand-painted ammo belt:


A reporter and his local muscle confer:


Suspects being lined up for questioning:


A resident of one of the apartments on the east side of the square watches as things get tense:


Thanks for looking and stay tuned!

so who is the suicide bomber?

LOL LOOKS GREAT.

Some new figures: