“WHERE IS JOE”
The Creators:
The diorama was made by Luc de Dapper, chairman of the Eeklo (Belgium) scale model club and Marc De Greave, famous in Belgium for its ability to create figurines, starting from a bended paperclip.
The intention was to create a diorama, that was interesting 360 degrees all round. Right from the start, the theme would be “Where's Joe”. This gives spectators at venues the inspiration to start looking for the missing GI.
“The time frame is the “Ardennes Offensive” in Belgium around Christmas 1944. The soldiers are going to use the house, covered in ice and snow, to shelter some moments from the elements. The lady of the house is preparing soup from US rations. Something to look forward to in this cold environment. The cozy interior will make the GI's think of their family back home.”
The cameraman is making sure, that the loved ones back home can see, that Uncle Ben is still on the move towards victory.
Used Materials:
The house is from Mini Art, with self made added wooden floors
The complete interior (hundreds of details) is from Marc's stash.
Snow-Ice-condense is all over the diorama
The GMC is from Tamiya with a self made canvas to cover the load
The Jeep is from Tamiya, and a set from Black Dog
Several figurines from different brands. Marc changed the figurines anatomically to get them in the right position. Besides that he added extra winter clothes to most of the figurines.
The snow and ice is made from:
Precision ice and snow krycell fine (115gr)
Precision Ice and Snow wash (15ml)
It is always good to see, when to different disciplines are starting to work together. Planning, preparations and executing the whole diorama took two years.
Note:
Joe is on picture number 13. He is knitting a thin brown sweater.
Enjoy this nice piece of modelling.
Orion.
That's gotta be one of the better dioramas I've seen...just excellent craftsmanship, sir.
Absolutely stunning, words fail me.
Well done the pair of them.
Wow - excellent!
Fantastic work.
Beautifully done, full of little details that make the whole work together. Marvelous figures! Not a wrong note anywhere! Museum quality work.
Dioramas are suppose to tell a story. This diorama is like a story that keeps you spellbound! Excellent workmanship!
Great attention to detail. Superb quality.
That is so excellent. I see the camera man with that wooden tripod and wonder how he must have struggled toting that thing around with a 40 to 50 lb. camera. and I complain about my rig.
What a fabulous diorama, especially when you discover that there's also a backside that is just as interesting as the front scene. Very clever and brillianty executed
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
The attention to detail is quite noticeable, very good way of putting a story together.
Beautiful! I like the "backstory" as well - especially the bath scene. Poor girl has quite an audience!
Very interesting story filled with plenty of detail. It also has a lot of humour, which is a much needed diversion to "normal" operations in war time.
wow, simply "wow". I really love the snow, it is not too much as we are used to see on many dioramas. It is perfectly balanced. And the composition is very appealing.
This really pushes all of my buttons. Every. Single. One.
Brilliant planning and execution. It's like the modeler's nativity! So, in belgium 'knitting a thin brown sweater" is really...
Fantastic diorama. I can see that the builder is fully cognizant of what snow is all about. I can even hear the scrunchy footsteps of the soldiers. Glad to see 'Tomboy' and other on the tin roof; a nice addition.
@orion
Hello peter,
Thanks for your positive comment. I watched during the WIP. Amazing what a precision went into this diorama. Not to mention the time spend to get it finished.
Regards, Dirk / The Netherlands.