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Yeah I think you guys have it, black pants are most likely in.

Bit of progress:


I could have picked a more neutral blue rather than the teal but I dunno it kind of works.

I'm thinking of doing dark red armor, shiny black is also an option, thoughts? Still planning on a pattern on the cloth in white, may or may not stick to the triangle/lines thing.


Ran into a snag on this dude. None of my inks or glazes are an appropriate red color to get the metallic red I wanted. What about doing the bright red with black in the recesses? Obviously it would need highlighted and stuff but just as a general idea? I'm thinking to keep the armor around the red as white, and the pants will probably be black. The sword will probably be black with white along the edge like a Bleach soul reaper sword.



A lot further behind than I'd like to be but at least I've got paint down on the models. Please to giving your guidance and criticisms, they are much appreciated at all times!

Help appreciated! Which final layout should I go with?



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I'll still do a camo effect on the sniper ninja but I'm not as concerned with blending her into the wall as I was before. Which is the most dynamic/best position for the actors?

I also made a poll if anyone reads this first and is bored
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/jforum.page?module=posts&action=list&topic_id=621538&viewResults=true

Best one is Mushashi with his back against the wall. Gives the impression his only way out is through them.

So that's one vote for position 1. I don't disagree, though I'm pretty wishy washy about the whole thing atm. I really wanna grit down and paint though so that's why I'm asking for help

Paint the guys first then worry about position.

Definitely it the back against the fence, his sword should do quick work of that, or he should do the Jackie chan/Tony Jaa thing and run up the fence/wall and go over. I have his back against the wall myself as the way the diorama is set up like a horseshoe then you are looking directly at the main character instead of side on.

I like 1 and 4 the best.

From all if my various sources 1 and 4 are pretty far ahead. 1 a bit more so.

With 1 I can also probably paint the sniper to match the sand a bit too, while partially cycling out of stealth.

I kind of prefer the sniper on a raised position. I like 4 best since you've got the Oniwaban cutting off the samurai's escape route while the sniper covers him.

The Oniwaban is looking good, too. If I even get one, I think I may have to do something similar. the red artificial muscle with the white plating really does give him a striking appearance.

I like number 4 composition best as well. I think the sniper looks better up high too. On the ground he looks weird to me, unless he had some cover. But he's TO camoed so he doesn't need it (I'm talking in a diorama sense)so it'd be weird. So yeah, put him up high I say

Number 1 is cool, but going to be difficult to see the two figures in the foreground, so my vote goes for number 4 as it has the same tense 'backed into a corner' feel but you can still see all the protangists...

Still considering between 1 and 4 and probably will be until I get around to painting the sniper. I'm leaning towards 1 though.

The oniwaban is, perhaps, done. What do you guys think? Feel free to zoom in but things may get ugly, remember the human eye can't see as well as my camera








In situ.

Thoughts? Is the white too plain? Did I go overboard on the glowey green bits? Gonna start working on Mushashi in any case, but I can always come back to this before I'm done. I'm wondering at this point if dipping is going to be used. It would dirty the white to the point that I'd have to repaint the flat parts, and I'm not sure how much benefit the models would see since they don't need the extra protection and they'll be getting washes and highlights.

Soooo yeah. Sorry about the mega-delay :(

I was shooting for november 17th and found out the bday was like the 5th or something, was confusing it with someone else =/

That kind of temporarily crushed my enthusiasm but I've got a bit more work done so pictures:





Also a request, I'm looking for suggestions for finishing out the piece. Does it need some grass? I'm thinking it's kind of a desert/wasteland/dry lake bed or something, but maybe some tall grasses? I was thinking a tumbleweed type plant blowing past the empty space between the combatants could also work Or should I just leave the sand plain with no plants (irrespective to the tumble weed, that's a separate idea).

I was going to put warning labels on the barrels but this is supposed to represent a desert/wasteland/whatever outpost and I doubt they have many safety rules or regulations there y'know? Plus I went a little happy with the rust and it would be a bit harder to add them in now. Well not on top, which is not where they usually label barrels, but since these are so rough on the edges it would make more sense in a way. Should I add some warning labels? I can get rid of the rust in the middle of the barrels on top, or add a label and have the rust showing through or whatever.


I decided against any doors or windows here. I get the feeling that the building may be larger than the set piece, but the barrels are creating an effective wall, there could be an access/employee/personnel door just on the other side but out of reach. I'm thinking the wall should either have some kind of graffiti or maybe some posters, or both. Thoughts?

How about scatter on the ground, I already asked about plants but what about some loose papers or magazines etc? Too much, too minor, or just what I need?


As always thanks for looking. I'm planning to have this done in time to make a christmas gift out of it so I should *hopefully* be updating a bit more.

I think there needs to be something on the wall. Graffiti a poster a door (Maybe a chained one), maybe even some tools or equipment leant up against the wall anything to break up the background.

Some dry looking grass tufts would help break up the ground a little too.

I think the OSL on the Ninja is a little too OTT. Also the white makes the ninja look a little unfinsihe, though that could just be because I know you primed it white.

I think the ninja will look more complete when he's off of his base. His feet may be getting dusted up a little bit too to help tie him into the board. Oh and he's already had the OSL toned well back, I just didn't update this blog with any pictures of it

I need to think of some good posters/warning signs etc. I'm thinking about putting the warning-you-about-zombies-without-saying-zombies sign up on the fence... I'm not sure about graffiti. The DBX logo could look cool but this is being done with Infinity models.

Maybe some Nomad graffiti, REPENT in typical tagging style possibly sending a confused/mixed message

Something big may take too much focus though, wonder if I can come up with a good poster somewhere.

Alright got some more scatter.

What do you guys think about the layout for the posters and scattered bits, nothing that's new in this picture has been permanently secured yet.

Do you think the placement of the grass works? What about the arrangement of the posters on the wall. The bounty notice for mushashi on the ground is meant to look like he tore it down and dramatically slashed it with one of his swords for emphasis, he was in the process of doing the other but his assailants showed up right then.

Magazine by the fence look ok?


Does it need more?

Less?


Thanks for looking


Oh btw, posters were all nabbed from the same person who made them for his Yu Jing board so props to him for making them in the first place

Can you chuck the models back in place and take another picture mate would help with the composition.

Personally I don't like the tall grass the placement is fine and ensures its not blocking sight of anything important. It just sticks up too far to be the only foliage around in my opinion. It looks too arficial I think because its too tightly clumped at the bottom and too wide and tall at the top. If its possible to cut a little off the bottom I think it would work better.

More like this?

I'll get you the picture shortly.

All of the images will be flattened out and weathered up a bit for final implementation, this is just another test. I think I like the extra clutter though.

What about the grasses, too much? I like them a lot better like this than before for sure.

What about the little hazard signs on the barrels?

The grass looks a lot better much more natural. Posters are maybe a little much though. Think it makes the background too busy and takes away from the models a little.

So here we've got the posters, trash, grasses, and warning labels all glued down with all of the paper stuff weathered a little bit. I think the stuff on the ground may need a light dusting of the sand color. Most of the posters and labels got some brown/orange washing to simulate rain and dirt mixing and dirtying them up. May not be enough yet, they probably need some rips too, but that may be difficult given the material.

So anyway:





If I don't do any more work, I think I can be happy with it at this point, but we'll see what I have time for after I get the ninja and mushashi finished.

And here's my efforts on the sniper assassin. I decided the armory bits should be white to match up with the other ninja, made a nice stab in the dark for a glass effect on the helmet, did a bit of pink hair (probably needs another highlight) and a wash of the brown parts.

It's kind of hard to leave her like this, but you aren't really supposed to be noticing the brown so much since it's optical camo. I hope she looks good when installed into the dio. Thoughts?

I may do a little bit more work and then seal her, but it's not like that would prevent me from coming back and re-touching. May move on to Mushashi and make a stab at getting this done.

Maybe have the nearest leg decloacked too if it's not too much effort.

Helmet looks great btw.

Thanks. It wouldn't be hard to have the knee sticking out but I have two compelling reasons not to:
1.) Most of the things that are showing are 'sticking out' like the field only goes so far or is being shut down and it's like folding in on itself, anyway *reasons* that the extremities are the first things out. The knee isn't sticking out that far, though it's hard to tell from that one angle.

2.) (possibly more importantly) that leg is going to be largely hidden from a bush and it hurts me to do details that will never be seen


She's more or less done, so is Mushashi. I foresee potentially getting them both done tonight and sealing them. But I probably won't get them all on the display base because I'll want to give the sealer time to cure before I manhandle them to saw their slotta-bases off. But maybe tomorrow morningish.

Understandable. Just figured slightly more non cloaked might make you happier with it.

Really looking forward to seeing this done. You have inspired me to make a last of us diorama for a friend btw.

I think she looks really good.

Glass on the helmet = Success!!

Honestly I kind of want to get another ninja with sniper rifle and paint her in this scheme from the ground up. Even a whole JSA faction, I'm really liking the white and black colors in conjunction with the armor/uniforms. I'm planning on doing a similar scheme to this with my corregidor/qapu khalqi forces but I think it really shines on the JSA units. But she's doing her job and I'm ok with her staying as is. She's one of the antagonists and she's *supposed* to be blending in so I'll live

Your dio sounds cool, I'm curious to see your 28mm interpretation of this clacker or clicker or whatever they are, aside from vaguely terrifying

I'm quite liable to rush things and buzz those two off of their bases tonight. Oniwaban is already sitting on the dio lol.

@EyeamRai ninjaed me lol, thanks

Sorry, no time to read other suggestions, but how about a sign or something that WAS vertical that he may already have sliced in half. You know like the bamboo poles they always show people chopping/slicing with their swords.

Hah, that could be cool. I think I'm about locked in at this point... but at least he *did* already slash a wanted poster of himself


Automatically Appended Next Post:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-70053-44376_Samurai%20Showdown.html


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'll do a proper update about it tomorrow or later on tonight. Please bear with the simple gallery photo dump for now. I'll see about doing a post mortem too as this is definitely not what I was originally planning on several levels.