I just posted a new article by Keith Magee on his "Breakout!" diorama. Please leave your comments and feedback here.

Read/View "Breakout!"

Thanks Keith!

Cheers,
Jim

This is one of those dio's which has a real action feel to it, I can almost hear the bullets ricocheting of the building walls.

Like Keith said, a shelled building needs a lot of rubble and by looking at this you know that those soldiers went thru hell.

I just wonder: I like that picture frame (Hitler picture) very much, it has great detail, where can you find something like that??

An excellent job as always, Keith!

By any chance was this inspired by the final scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?

One small nit-pick that has nothing to do with Keith's modeling abilities: Look at the left hand on the figure that is kneeling next to the green barrel and firing his rifle -- that dude would have to have some sort of double-jointed wrist to grip his weapon like that. It may just be the angle of the photo that makes it look awkward.

Overall, an outstanding work.

I love your work on this one. I just have a question for ya. What colors did you use on the uniforms?

Azimuz - I used DecoArt paint (the Americana line is my favorite set). The actual colors are a combination of several colors. I was replicating the fact that uniforms of different cloth and age had different colors. Some are more brown or greenish, while some of the better (earlier!) uniforms had more of a bluish-grey tint. I just mixed till I had what I wanted, using Americana Khaki, Olive Drab, Dark Gris (Gray), Light Gray, and a bit of Uniform Blue.

As for the positioning of the hand, I can only assume that once again, this is my poor photography skills. The soldier in question is one of three from the excellent "Guzne Sangyo "FIRE!" trio, and the hands are actually molded onto the gun, and look quite correct in 3D.

Wonderful diorama, great action. One question? One of the last living Germans seems to be firing a modified MP-40. I cannot see a gun barrel beyond his left hand. Maybe its the angle of the photo, if so ignore this question.

VERY NICE DIO, GREAT ACTION.
CONGRATS

ROBERTO

It only hit me when this comment came up......... this was shown in the diorama section a while back and somebody else had noticed that. Keith hadn´t. I had read this before and still didnt see it this time. Keen eye sight GSPatton.
Excellent dio again Keith. Still waiting on your own homepage where we can view all your work together plus your tips and items you cast yourself!

Sadly you are correct... the barrel on the MP40 broke off sometime when I was positioning the piece for the photos. I didn't notice it until it was mentioned before. While I went back and used CA glue to affix a .05 brass rod to replace the missing barrel, I didn't re-shoot the pics.

Also, Roadkill asked about the picture frame on the painting of Hitler (inside above doorway).... believe it or not, I guy stuff like this at the local doll shop... for around 30-50 cents per frame, and they have a great variety. They are cast in white metal, and I can either use my color laser to increase the size of the photo, or I can add a complimentary "border" around any photo to make it fit a desired frame.

The photos themselves come from the ART.COM website (1920's through 1945 section), which has over 300 WWII vintage posters, pictures, and commercial ads, all presented in thumbscale size. I just download the thumbnails and print! I now have a huge library of images broken down by country (English, American, Polish, French, Dutch, German, Italian, and Russian).

Very nice dio, great use of space.

One question, who manufactures the figures ?

Russ

Figures are from a variety of vendors... three come from GUNZE SANGYO, 2 are from Verlinen, there is one Warriors figure, and one that I built from the Airfix multipose German Infantry kit.

Amazing dio, man! In such small space!
Keep upp the good work, I always love to see your latest dios....
Cheers

Update - this one just sold for $450.... who says our hobby doesn't pay!

Shipping it to Birmingham, Alabama to a good home!

This is truly a fantastic work!

it has that dynamic feel to it. I can nearly hear gun shots and war cries.