Leaderboard

This morning I received an email from “accounting@prolineds.com” asking me to confirm my membership suspension by opening and downloading something to sign-which obviously I did not. It was signed by “Assistant of Administration.” Has anyone else seen this and is our REAL website administrator aware of this? Should some warning be posted here on the Forum. Thanks. Nick

Because of the change to dioramas this year, I thought I would put my two cents in on what makes a good diorama. To me, dioramas and vignettes stand on three legs. The primary model(s), the base, and the story. They are all equal. I say this because I have seen many winners over the years which tend to push only one of the three elements. A winner with a super fine model, but a poor story and base, or a poor model, but good story, a well-done base with mediocre model and story. I have been building models for 65 years and 99% of what I do could be generally called dioramic. The only things I put on a decorative base art the large-scale busts which I do. I am a student of Shep Paine and have all his books as well as his biography. I base my opinions and ideas on what I learned there. It is true my concept slides a bit due to the type of diorama/vignette. Obviously, a small ship diorama might not have a lot of figures, or a figure vignette might not have anything but the base and some figures. But a beautifully done airplane needs the fuel truck to be as well done. What I consider the "base" includes the ground, trees, walls, buildings, and sometimes the figures. The model, or models are the kits which are the core of the scene. Buildings, etc, are part of the base because they remain even if the core model is removed. The story should be clear to everyone. I title all my works. That helps focus the viewer on what I meant the story to be. Admittedly, still some don't understand things. I did a simple scene of a Fokker D.VII which I titled "Not a Messerschmitt" hopefully playing on the old joke. But at least one person didn't get it. This is why having a team of judges works best. Dioramas and vignettes seem to be increasing in numbers in recent years, but it also seems many are reluctant to participate in the judging. I can't judge dioramas often because I am primarily entered there, so the job falls to many others who aren't entered. Thoughts, anyone? Dak

It's been over a year since I posted on this build. This is my update. The first set of pictures kind of show why it's taking so long. I'm not very neat or well organized, so 45 minutes out of each hour is used to fined something I need. My wife can't stand to look at this mess. Here are a couple of shot of the painted cannon. Still needs some touch up and weather, but it's pretty much done. Lastly some shots of most of the crew. They are far from finished very rough, they need lots of work, and need to make three or four more. Made them out of old sprue that I melt then shape.

MY WORK ROOM

Wow! That definitely looks "rode hard and put away wet"! Nice work!

Not being privy to all the discussions, I would venture an uninformed guess that by putting an aircraft diorama, say, in with the other aircraft it would have aircraft judges judging the aircraft. Same for mil.veh, etc. I know there are other aspects of a diorama to be judged, but those, such as theme, story, composition, etc, could be judged by any judge. However I know if I look at an aircraft diorama I can judge all those other aspects of it but do not have the expertise to judge the main object in it, the aircraft. Just a thought.