<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi)."]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/56.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). This turned into creating a miniature diorama for the tanks, as the 2.5"x3" base is a great size for allowing some story to be told with the tiny tanks (each barely an inch long!) that fits nicely on my computer stand for display when they're not being used.
Having never worked in such a small scale before, or even having tried to produce such realistic terrain, each diorama base is a learning experience in which I'm trying out new techniques, improving on past techniques, and seeing just what I can do.
I plan to mostly work in WW2, but I've also got plans for some Titanicus stuff and whatever odds and sods that take my fancy.

Join me on this journey, learn from my examples, and share your own tips!


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I'm going to start by sharing my inspiration for this project.

The work done by Gareth, at WASP, is amazing and these are what inspired me to go the route I have and I love his work and it is the quality which I aspire to.
https://wargamesasp.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/6mm-bases-for-rommel/

^ KV-1s cross a wheat field


^ Infantry crosses a field


^ Infantry encounters a stream


^ Infantry takes position behind a wall

I'm a big fan of history and I have fiercely enjoyed the work I have been able to produce thus far and view it as an incredibly learning experience to further my skills.


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This was my first attempt at a diorama
Spoiler:

Churchill VIIs fan out across a muddy field

Techniques I used;
The Churchills were painted with a dark green, dry brushed with a lighter green, and washed with a thinned down Agrax Earthshade. At a distance I am happy with these colours. However forgetting the colours I used inspired me to download and use an app to track the colours I use with each specific project. I think my phone camera is a little too good, it captures so much dust and debris on these models that just does not exist to my naked eye!
Spoiler:

The grass was dark green sawdust flock. I was not happy with this effect, at all! The flocks looks like, well, sawdust dyed green. I decided to replace this with proper static grass in future. I also find it too dark, it blends with the hedges too much.

The hedges I was very happy with. This is just fine green flock I picked up at my local wargaming shop.

Spoiler:

The mud was GW's Astrogranite painted Scorched Brown (and old pot), Agrax, then drybrushed Mournfang Brown. As the Astrogranite was drying, I pressed the tanks in to leave tracks.
I found this technique to work okay to create a very muddy environment. Although it leaves much to be desired, the Astrogranite is fairly self-levelling and it doesn't want to hold small track marks until it's almost dry, at which point it's still fairly stick and difficult to get exactly like you want.

The tree is twisted florist wire fanned out and covered in milliput and the same flock as the hedges.
It's quickly washed in black ink and I called it done for the painting competition deadline. But I felt the tree came out so good I never went back to improve it later, as I felt the grass was the sticking point anyway. With a little extra TLC I think this tree technique can produce very good results.

Overall I think this diorama was a strong start but with some clear targets of improvement.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11136892.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11136892.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11136905.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11136905.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11136906.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11136906.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi).
Spoiler:

^ Panthers Caught in Ambush!

I am very happy with the finished product. The smoke and fire is very successful, the grass is much nicer, the fence looks good, every element I would describe as successful.

Spoiler:

The camouflage is all Vallejo colours. On a Dark Yellow base, a short, small brush was used to stipple the camouflage on in small/large patches with Burnt Red and US Dark Green. On the large splotch camos, a fine detail brush was used to place dots of Dark Yellow and Burnt Red all over. This was to evoke the impression of the German 'Ambush' style of camouflage. In-scale, the dots are hilariously oversized and should be all but invisible. However, I think these larger dots are much more visible and ultimately look much nicer and are visible at a reasonable distance. An all over coat of Agrax was then used. I initially used a roughly 50/50 thinned with water, but felt it too light and went back with a straight-Agrax wash. Very thinned down black was then painted into recesses like the engine grates and muzzle brake baffles.
Vallejo's Dark Yellow is a tad green and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's worked well here, but I think I may need a less green colour if I were to do a plain Dunkelgelb scheme in the future.

The fence is constructed of 1mm balsa wood sheets, cut into sticks. It was then painted GW's XV-88, washed with Agrax, and drybrushed with Mournfang Brown. I think it's a too brown. In future I may experiment which a much greyer colour. But the actual construction method is good. Again, in scale they'd be a stout 1ft thick, but I think the wood-texture of the balsa wood is much nicer and says "wood" to me, as opposed to more in-scale card which looks too flat to my eyes.

Spoiler:


The hedge recipe hasn't changed, it's still out-of-the-bag dark green flock. I soaked it with watered down PVA a couple of times to harden it a little, which was a good idea imo. I tried drybrushing a lighter green but it didn't take. I may try this again later with more PVA hardening first.

The road used the same Astrogranite technique, this time painted XV-88, Agrax washed, and Vallejo Khaki dry brushed to give a lighter colour.
I found the same issues as with the Churchills, additionally, I had tried to build up a berm for the hedges, laying down a stick of balsa wood first. This failed, the Astrogranite was too fluid and formed too shallow of a slope down. I also tried to create accurate mud-heaps where the tanks have turned, but again this just isn't supported by the astrogranite, in fact the ruts I created collapsed and the once it dried the tanks don't properly sit in them.
I consider Astrogranite workable but far from ideal for this purpose. Looking for suggestings on alternatives? I may try wall filler or air drying clay next time.

The grass is some 'spring meadow' 1mm static grass. I think this is much better. I like the brighter tone as it helps the otherwise drab camouflaged tanks stand out better.

The smoke and fire was originally made with a painted pipe cleaner.
Spoiler:

I wasn't happy with this, at all. It looked like a painted pipe cleaner.
So I went back and tried the same hedge flock superglued to a paperclip and painted.
Spoiler:

This is much, much better.

Overall, I'm very happy with the results.
The smoke and fire I think is locked it as the technique to use.
There's minor improvements to be made on the fence and potentially the hedge.
The muddy road these leaves some to be desired as I'm looking for a material/technique that allows me to work with it better.



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Next steps;
There's a lot of stuff I want to try out and experiment with; stone walls, ruined buildings, shell craters (in grass/dirt and roads), paved roads, longer grass, wheat fields, infantry, civilians, animals, etc.

Next diorama I think is going to attack stone walls, ruined buildings, paved roads, and both types of shell craters. It's going to be an ambitious jump and I need to buy some supplies, but I'm excited.

I'm going to try;
Sand paper for the paved road.
Glued/molded course ballast for the wall(s), and purchased ruined buildings.

What do people think?
It may be a few weeks, but stay tuned!]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11136918.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11136918.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11137954.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11137954.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi).
Looking forward to seeing (and stealing) how your ideas pan out. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11137966.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11137966.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11137993.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11137993.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi).
 Malika2 wrote:
Cool cool cool! Will you also be doing more scifi/grimdark oriented stuff?

Yup! A Shadowsword is printing as we speak!
This whole exercise started as practicing basing for my Titanicus stuff, but I enjoyed it so much its grown into its own thing!

To update you on progress; I've had a play around with creating my own stone walls from ballast and pva, basically mixing the two and casting it into shape.
Initial results have been promising, but flawed. Watch this space!]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11139946.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11139946.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi).
As for the Titanicus basing, do you have some samples of that?]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11140264.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11140264.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi).
But I'll be going for a sort of green pasture effect.
I love the artwork of the Scythe game, the dichotomy of peaceful farmers disturbed by huge, hulking, industrial, war machines is a great image to me and is heavily inspiring my Titanicus stuff.
]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11140267.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11140267.page GMT Re:Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11140694.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11140694.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi).
(yes, you should look up Turnip28, whilst more Napoleonic in nature, there have also been WWI themed variants of it)]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11140733.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11140733.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). I've actually already done a bit of work mating WW2 with 40k, check out my gallery for a Leman Russ converted from a German Neubaufarhzeug tank
Thats regular 40k scale, but I have plans for tying that into 6mm scale. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11141884.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11141884.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi).
Spoiler:


The walls available for purchase just looked too fake, like a bunch of ovals stuck together.
So to make my own, I eventually come to the conclusion spreading a thin layer of PVA over a strip of paper, and sprinking 1mm stone ballast over the top is the most effective solution.

I've also improved making the gate. Instead of just cutting my 1mm balsa wood into sticks, I then cut those sticks into halves or even quarters. This much thinner wood allows me to make smaller objects and just generally looks better.
It's certainly fiddly though!

My friend should be 3d printing some terrain for my Shadowsword piece tomorrow, so stay turned for that!]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11153402.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11153402.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). It has been ages since I dabbled in 6mm

for other scales, any woodwork I had tried balsa wood, but found I preferred cardboard ..( not the smooth type of course )
I also used card with a watery coating of 'Tetrion' filer which worked great for any stone work
when I made stone walls/ buildings I scored the cardboard before cutting to size, then applied the Tetrion

I digress... I have just joined the forums, and saw your post.. as I said.. really nice work :-D
]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11163344.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11163344.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). My friend's 3d printer broke, which put an end to my initial intention to make a 40k diorama with a shadowsword.
So I pursued other projects.

But now, these buildings have arrived in the mail.
I tried making my own, but these buildings just look better.
Spoiler:
]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11199016.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11199016.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi).
I bought clear plastic display boxes so I'm now using those rather than just some plasticard, looks a lot more professional now! They'll also be stackable and keep the dust and grubby hands off.

Spoiler:


Also included some farm animals and farmer figures.
I'm not so sure on this wall filler I've used as the ground, it's relatively moldable and can be quite easily kept workable with water, but it doesn't seem to dry fully hard and remains a bit soft afterwards.
I'm loving my walls though.

Next up is installing a fence to keep the cows in, adding some rubble and sundry to the house and craters, then painting, then building a static grass applicator, then grass.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11209098.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11209098.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11209110.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11209110.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). Debris, fences, and a couple more figures.
Spoiler:

Next job is painting, that'll bit a bit more of a wait as I'm taking a week off to visit family.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11209662.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11209662.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi).
The paint I'm saying is finished, next job just building a static grass applicator and applying the grass.

An overview.
Spoiler:

Given I had no idea what I doing whilst painting those ruins, I'd say they came out rather well.
I also tried out some homemade weathering powder, crushed black chalk. It worked excellently.

The figures;
Spoiler:


The cows were really easy, very pleased, they look great.
The humans less so, that detail is devilish but I'm very pleased with how they came out. If I ever start a 6mm WW2 army though, I don't think I'd want to apply that level of detail to an entire company of miniatures though!
Also visible is the wooden fence. I think I did alright, it's not quite right though. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong! In youtube videos people are throwing in all sorts of weird purples and greens and it looks great, not that I could match it! Certainly workable though and definitely looks like old wood.
The wall as well looks good, there's green mossy patches in there but it's very subtle. I'll go heavier next time.

The armoured cars;
Spoiler:

Very pleased with these. 6mm vehicles are so easy to paint! The fuel cans were a little awkward though, but that's besides the point.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11216511.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11216511.page GMT Kiro's Adventures in 6mm Dioramas (WW2 and Sci-Fi). http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11216548.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/798674/11216548.page GMT