I'm putting together a WWII Pacific diorama for the father-in-law as a present for Xmas.  Last year Nik very kindly agreed to do a WWI one for me (which can be seen here: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,1863.0.html), but this year I decided it was about time I had a go myself!

Now this is actually the very first time I've painted anything, the most adventurous I'd previously managed was the show display for the trees!  I've tried to follow a lot of the tips I've read on here, but any feedback will be very gratefully received.  I've only got a couple of days left to finish it off, so I hope I make it on time!

Basic layout, Japs top tight, Marines bottom left.  The bit of plastic is where the sea will be.


And another view:


First, the figures have been glued to painting strips and sprayed black.  Then the Marines have been given a coat of Vallejo US Dark Green, followed by a highlight of the same green with a bit of Khaki mixed in:


Japanese have been done in a variety of Khaki/Dark Yellow and Yellow Ochre I think, I just moved from one to the other for the basecoat.  Then I've added a bit of Buff to those 3 colours for the highlights:


I've also now done the flesh and guns, more pics to come.

Let me know what you think!

Good stuff there Leon - shaping up nicely 

Have you thought about how you will build up any incline on the beach or are you going to keep it shallow?

Looking good, I would shelve teh beach quite a bit on a wooden former, before applying textures.
Oh, don't forget to include my favourite marine MC4! Why, here's his photo:

I'm going to cut the 170mm x 170mm base first, and then do a second one with a squiggly line through it, at around a 60/40 split.  The smaller one will fit on top of the larger, and give me 3 tiers of beach altogether.  The sandy paste will go on top of those to provide the beach-iness!  I'm going to add a second layer of paste, putting the painted figures in as I move across the base, which will hopefully work OK.  Then I'll PVA the paste base and add my sand on top.  I'm sure it won't go as smoothly as that, but that's the general plan anyway!

Quote from: mad lemmey on 21 December 2011, 01:17:41 AM
Oh, don't forget to include my favourite marine MC4! Why, here's his photo:

I've reset that code back to the generic image for you!

Phew, thanks!

Quote from: mad lemmey on 21 December 2011, 01:17:41 AM
Looking good, I would shelve teh beach quite a bit on a wooden former, before applying textures.
Oh, don't forget to include my favourite marine MC4! Why, here's his photo:

I thought perhaps he'd been hit by some sort of death-ray. 

Just a thought, and only as an aside because you've got the marine range nicely displayed here Leon...
What does MC4 actually look like? 

Quote from: mad lemmey on 21 December 2011, 06:56:20 PM
What does MC4 actually look like? 

I did cast some off, but it appears they didn't make it into the final layout... 

Got some more done tonight!

Rifles, flesh, webbing/packs, and boots done:










And then bases painted to blend in with final sandy base, flag painted, and random bits tidied up:










And the Buffalo:





I'm not sure yet on what else to add to the Buffalo.  I could open one of our decal packs, but it seems like a bit of a waste just for a couple of stars!  I've seen some pics online with coloured stripe markings, so I might go down that route.

Brown wash to come, and then it's on to the base!

What date is this diorama - ramped LVT's dont appear till 44.

IanS

Quote from: ianrs54 on 22 December 2011, 09:21:53 AM
What date is this diorama - ramped LVT's dont appear till 44.

IanS

My money's on 1944 onwards then 

Quote from: ianrs54 on 22 December 2011, 09:21:53 AM
What date is this diorama - ramped LVT's dont appear till 44.

Quote from: nikharwood on 22 December 2011, 04:36:08 PM
My money's on 1944 onwards then 

More done tonight, only two days left to get it completed!

Here's the 3-tier base (the sea's the blue bit...  )




Sea highlighted and my bit of contoured plastic added (the white isn't my highlighting, it's the PVA which hasn't dried yet!):




Now I was planning on taking pics as I moved across the base, but once I got started I didn't want to stop halfway through!  It's gone together pretty smoothly to this stage, the only problems were the trees occasionally toppling over, along with the Jap standard bearer.  I worked from shore to sea with the paste, which in hindsight would have been better the other way round.





It's sat on the side now drying out before the next stage, which will be PVA and sand.  I'm not sure yet whether to highlight the sand, so I'll wait and see how it looks bare.  Also I'll be adding some rocks scattered about, and the pegs through the middle are going to have barbed wire strung between them.  More pics to come!

Looking good Leon .

Shaping up nicely, looking forward to see how it turns out!

Any reason you chose to do a (1944+) Pacific diorama, rather than NWE or Eastern front or whatever?