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Logistics, Base & Buildings, Updated Feb. 13, 2020

Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

seeing all the builds and knowing that those aren't all vehicles in the final dio ... that's spaaaaaaarta!

just great, lovely, extreme in all aspects, phantastic, wunderbar!

:mpup
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

I am sailing along now Laura, especially on the softskins and the armor!

Thanks,

Bob
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

Can't wait to see how you fit all those vehicles onto the dio, Bob. And particularly looking forward to your figure work (I'm a figure guy at heart :) ). Will you be showing us figure progress in the same vein as the other components?

Rudi

p.s. I showed The Missus that low angle photo of the station and buildings with the primed loco in the foreground... she says to tell you if it wasn't for the primed loco she'd never have known these were models, and not a photo of the real thing. IMO, compliments don't get much better than that for a dio builder! (y)
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

Really I am not sure how you do this, unless of course you never stop to eat, sleep, heck pay your taxes! This project is larger than my output since I was 7 years old, 40 years of modeling!!!!
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

JSteinman said:
Really I am not sure how you do this, unless of course you never stop to eat, sleep, heck pay your taxes! This project is larger than my output since I was 7 years old, 40 years of modeling!!!!
Click to expand...

JOHN,

Haven't you learned by now ... BoB Letterman is a Machine that no mere Mortal can compare !! I secretly believe that He has been cloned & there are actually 3 BoB's in th Workshop toiling away on these Omnipresent Dioramas !! The Iron Man of Model builders !! :D (y) :notworthy :hmmm

iron_man.jpeg
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

Rudi Richardson said:
Can't wait to see how you fit all those vehicles onto the dio, Bob. And particularly looking forward to your figure work (I'm a figure guy at heart :) ). Will you be showing us figure progress in the same vein as the other components?

Rudi

p.s. I showed The Missus that low angle photo of the station and buildings with the primed loco in the foreground... she says to tell you if it wasn't for the primed loco she'd never have known these were models, and not a photo of the real thing. IMO, compliments don't get much better than that for a dio builder! (y)
Click to expand...

Hey Rudi!

Yeah, in a few weeks, I will open a new thread called Logistics, the figures. I have always classified figures as Historical figures, which Giovanni's work would be, and diorama figures, which is what I will be doing. I already have around 50-60 posed, built and ready to paint. When I really get started on them, the more I make, the more complex they will be. I use a lot of the same figures and so to make them appear different, it requires more converting and posing. The most I have ever done in a diorama is about two hundred.

This one will push the limits with three hundred. Every time I build a diorama, I try to break old rules. Too many vehicles, (or figures), on a diorama, has long been a no no in diorama building. To prove that wrong was the purpose of Logistics when I began. You see, I believe that anything that occurs in real life can be miniaturized effectively, and there should be no rules like that at all! Of course, there is always the possibility that I will be proven wrong. We'll have to wait and see.

With figures, I work in an assembly line and will take, say, fifty figures , and paint all the flesh parts, then the uniforms, accessories, etc. until complete. I try to make them as detailed and lifelike as possible, but there are limitations due to the sheer numbers and time. Hopefully, they will look good, but not the quality of an historical figure. If I did that, Logistics would become the unfinished diorama. You have to remember my age.:idonno :idonno :idonno

Hopefully, I can still SBS sufficient quality for some of our beginner figure painters to learn a bit.

Tell your missus that I appreciate that very much. Since I was a kid, my goal on model building has always been to photograph them and to fool people. Most modelers can tell, but many "civilians" actually think they are looking at the real thing. That always makes me feel like I did good!

The first shot is from the original Legacies, built in 1983 and the next photo the rebuilt version from 1990. You may notice my improvement in quality in those seven years. These photos, at least to me, show the realism I try to achieve every time I build. Don't always manage, but I keep trying.

prisoners~0.jpg


Legacies21~0.jpg


Sorry for the length of this, I got carried away! Bob
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

JSteinman said:
Really I am not sure how you do this, unless of course you never stop to eat, sleep, heck pay your taxes! This project is larger than my output since I was 7 years old, 40 years of modeling!!!!
Click to expand...

Hey John,

Thanks!

You know, I'm not either. I have just always done it since I was four, and over that 66 years of doing this, I just do it. I have never tried to show off by doing it, I just happen to build fast. I was a closet modeler until the 70s, and had seen a picture of a diorama in a catalog that blew my mind. It was Shep Paine's "The Eve of Essling", a Napoleonic diorama that looked to me to be very large. That really impressed me and I set out to build "The Winds of War", on a 4 ' by 8' sheet of model railroad board.

When I entered it in the IPMS Nats in 1982 in St. Louis, it really messed with my mind. I asked somebody where the large dioramas were and they started laughing. It was then I realized that mine were huge compared to everybody else's.:blush:
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

Bob,
Thanks so much for taking the time to detail all of this. It is great to watch it grow and come alive.
Cheers

John and Maureen.
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

:notworthy What can I say that has not already been said......
I am just overwhelmed by the work you have put ito this! Just amazing - I can't wait to see this finished.

Thanks for sharing Bob.
Ian
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

johnbowery said:
Bob,
Thanks so much for taking the time to detail all of this. It is great to watch it grow and come alive.
Cheers

John and Maureen.
Click to expand...

Thanks John,

I haven't answered until now as I have been really busy. In the last week I have built, modified, converted and detailed 180 of the 300 plus figures I have to do for this dio.

I will open another thread, the last one on this beast called, "Logistics, the Figures" later this week. I actually, finally feel like I am really going to finish this thing!:bang head :bang head :bang head

Bob

Brokeneagle said:
:notworthy What can I say that has not already been said......
I am just overwhelmed by the work you have put ito this! Just amazing - I can't wait to see this finished.

Thanks for sharing Bob.
Ian
Click to expand...

Thanks Ian, as I just told John, I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel When you see my new post later in the week, you will understand why.

Bob
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

Andy, you're pressuring me! I can't handle it! Gonna go work on it! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Thanks Bob
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

of course Im not pressuring you ,ok but just a lil bit :popcorn ......Im just excited about seeing the finished product (y) (y) (y) :D
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

He also has a bridge he wants to sell you, Bob! :D
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

andyfettes said:
of course Im not pressuring you ,ok but just a lil bit :popcorn ......Im just excited about seeing the finished product (y) (y) (y) :D
Click to expand...

Andy, nobody wants to see this thing finished as much as I do. This is probably the most difficult and complex thing I have ever done in my life. Probably hell, it is the most difficult and complex thing I have ever done in my life! It is so far beyond "Legacies", already, that there is no comparison. (Most people consider Legacies my best work.) I am super-detailing everything that goes into this one. Never before have I put this much detail in anything of this size before.

It is going to be my "Last Hurrah". I have no more space for another one of this size, and I'm 70 years old, so it will be my last "Superdiorama". I want it to be my absolute best ever! I now have all but 8 vehicles built and base coated and a few finished. As of today, I have close to 300 figures built, posed and converted and ready to paint. Only another 30 or 40 to go.

Once the vehicles and figures are done, then I will return to the base and buildings and finish those up. It's really hard to say, but I am guessing another year to 2 years until it is complete. I could be wrong about this, but I think it will be worth all those years of work. I sure as hell hope so! It looks great in my mind's eye, but you know how that goes! :unsure: :unsure: :unsure:

Bob

Iron Mike said:
He also has a bridge he wants to sell you, Bob! :D
Click to expand...

Hey Mike,

Yeah, Andy's my pal! I'd actually buy a bridge from him...... Well, maybe! :hmmm :hmmm :hmmm :D :D :D

Bob
 
Re: Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

I really do not know what to say, I am speechless :eek:hmy: :eek:hmy: . This is something really fascinating!!! (y) There is so many, many topics and National Geographic should do the show: Bob Letterman Superdiorama Declassified (like Area-51).


Thank You Very Very Much for sharing Bob!

All the best!!! :drinks
Dusan.
 
Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

I thought I would post a few shots here and there of the base and buildings. I haven't done much except place some vehicles around. I still have a lot to do to the base and buildings, completing the buildings, adding all those tiny details that are found in urban settings, plus a ton of rubble and destruction. The 370 figures will really populate it as well as the 50 vehicles. I never really consider where a particle;ar vehicle or figure will go. I have a lot of ideas but they are never etched in stone until the diorama is finished.

0g00_zpsaxyregpi.jpg


A Bird's eye view of the statue.

00g_zpsydy0myxu.jpg


This will be the location of General Patton directing traffic. The generals and staff will be in and around the jeeps, staff car, Patton's 3/4 ton Dodge and the motorcycle escorts.

0g0_zpsr7kmq1q6.jpg


Here is the street that will be filled with refugees and ambulances carrying wounded G.I.s to the rear lines.

gggg_zpsdoreyg4b.jpg


This truck column will have six deuces in it with a Jeep convoy commander. It will be stopped at the intersection by General Patton, who will, of course, be giving priority to his tanks.

gg_zpsjmvndao8.jpg
 
Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update 4/24/11

In that last picture I see the back of the building on the right is not finished, will it be? Is it going to be a 360 display? I know it's a WIP, not rushin' ya.
 
Logistics, Base and Buildings. Update May 9th 2015

What more can one say. Just WOWSERS :D
James
 
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