1/25 VW Junkyard Microbus

[CN6401]

I thought that I could get some honest comments on my VW minibus Diorama!
I know that you guys will give it a good shake down.
Thanks to Ken Hamilton (WildHare Models) for the Shopping Cart. When I got the Pitbull in the mail it looked like toy so I added some polyresin to enhance the muscle tone and repainted it.
Please feel free to lay it out there, I can't improve if I don't know what to change.
Thanks
Ralph

[CN6401]

Here is some more pics.

[CN6401]

...and more

[finescalerr]

Well, that is some outstanding modeling so I really have to nitpick here and, if you agree, it would be very easy to make changes. The tall grass, foliage around the tree stump, and the rotting wood assembly on the ground seem (from the photos) not quite up to the exquisite standard of the vehicle and junk. Of course, it's possible others won't find anything at all imperfect about the diorama or maybe they'll criticize something I think looks fine.

You asked for a nitpick and that's the pickiest I can be. But, honestly, if it were my diorama I'd enter it in a contest!

Russ

[lab-dad]

All i can say is excellent.
Took me a while to find things I could pick at;
I think there is a slight color cast. I expect it looks better in person or take it outside for better lighting.
The front glass - I think some spots should be clear(er).
And the dog is cute but I have yet to see animals in miniature look real.
Just no way (that I know of) to model the fur in miniature.

Again, just being really picky.
What contest are you entering it in?

-Marty

[Design-HSB]

This year, the VW bus is 60 years old and such a historical Samba Bus is in the original well restored worth about 100,000 euros. So a restoration would be worthwhile, because apart from the PC dummy a really absolutely successful diorama, which can make you forget that it is not original. The make many small excellent details such as the shopping cart and the wheels possible.

[Ray Dunakin]

Looks gorgeous to me. The only very small nits I could find to pick have already been covered.

[EZnKY]

Great work Ralph!  I'll echo the previous comments on the plants and the dog - both are very hard to pull off convincingly.  I think you've done an admirable job with both, but I don't think they're up to the same very high standards as the VW. 

I'm also not convinced the three-tiered base is doing anything for you.  It's well done - don't get me wrong - but it seems fussy to me in a way that distracts from the really excellent work on the VW.

Just my two cents.

Personally I love the fact this group isn't afraid to give feedback. You said it right - we can't improve without input!

[CN6401]

... I'm also not convinced the three-tiered base is doing anything for you.  It's well done - don't get me wrong - but it seems fussy to me in a way that distracts from the really excellent work on the VW.
Just my two cents.
Personally I love the fact this group isn't afraid to give feedback. You said it right - we can't improve without input!

EZnKY, I should have explained the idea behind the base.
When I was planning the scene I originally planed on having two sections of the fence meeting at 90 degrees. The problem was that with a 90 degree corner section of fence would make it difficult to view the many details that I put in the van itself, so I decided to use only one small section of fence on a  circular base. Since I put so much into this model I wanted people to be able to view it easily so I installed a lazy Susan and the bottom base. So far it has served well, the few times I have had the dio in my LHS no one has even tried to touch it once they know it turns just by spinning the upper blue base.

[EZnKY]

Ahhhh...
It makes more sense now.

[CN6401]

Marty, you should have seen the dog before I made the alterations, as for the contest, I will be entering this in two local IPMS contest here in the Toronto area.

Russ, for the grass around the tree trunk, what are your suggestions. The grass I used was a mat form to which I added some of the sand and dirt I used for the rest of the diorama.

Thanks
Ralph

[Bill Gill]

Ralph, I'm hesitant to critique modeling that is much better than what I could do. Your scene is excellently done and very interesting to examine.

In the nitpicking category here are a couple things that might be slightly adjusted:
The tall clumps of yellow grass in front of the bus look a little too compact at their bases and a bit too symmetrical in height and location, each fairly centered on the concrete blocks holding up the front end.

The color of the green grass by the side door looks lush compared to the rest of the vegetation, though that might be a result of the camera setting rather than viewing in person.

The ground looks very smooth and flat. Everything else seems to sit on top of it with no weight.

The Microbus and the fence with hubcaps look terrific, and I like the dog too!

[finescalerr]

I was hoping Chuck or Gordon or somebody with more background than I would suggest alternative foliage and (if you agree with Bill) terrain techniques. I thought the grass by the tree looked better than what looked in the photo like green paint on the trunk (I'm guessing it's not paint but maybe some kind of moss). Could be more a photo resolution problem than a modeling issue. -- Russ

[Dave Fischer]

Ralph-- Hello to a fellow IPMSer! It's a BRAVE soul that invites the criticism of his peers, especially modelers, but I believe that everyone benefits from the comments. Your model is really fun, particularly around the tailgate and open hood (very convincing!) with plenty of thought and lots to discover-- it should do well in competition. I would offer three suggestions, to incorporate into FUTURE projects, that have colored the way that I now work...

First, the kit-- the quality of the details and finish you have added far surpass the quality of the kit you started with, but the kit still shows through. A little attention to distinctive VW details would take this model to a whole new level, and the know-it-all VW expert would have to save his caustic remarks for the VW model next to it (yes, I HAVE been to a few conventions...). I am looking specifically at the window frames and front door hinges-- some work at the beginning, but a BIG payoff in the end!

I, too, am not happy with the dog, partly because of the impossibility of making his coat look as real as the rest of the model, and partly because he seems a bit big for the car (a VERY intimidating giant Pit...), but mainly because of something I learned reading about photo-realist sculptor Duane Hanson-- his early work depicted people in active poses, frozen moments in time where they looked like statues, but his later work had people reading, or staring at the ground, or sleeping in the sun, so their inactivity allowed them to exist in OUR time, and you would not be surprised if they moved when you said something.

Finally, the turntable base is a great idea. The last model that I showed at a convention had a lazy-susan bearing built into the base with a note on the table saying that it could be turned by the edges only. I saw many people turning it carefully and nothing got broken. My plan was to add detail to the sides as you did, but I thought it would confuse where the model ended and the base began, so I went with a simpler edge treatment to keep focus on the model.

Keep up the great work-- you are certainly going to deflate the other modelers showing in your category! I'll be waiting to see your next efforts...  DF   

[Chuck Doan]

I have had and seen very nice results using jute macramé for grass. It has a fine appearance and it is easily worked. Once installed it can be painted with thinned gouache if you want to add some green and yellow to its natural dead grass color.