Diorama Work in Progress: Fredericksburg Diorama

Okay, so update on the current status of everything I'm getting:

Michigan Toy e-mailed me yesterday and as you can see, some of the items of the miniature set (which I decided to buy) are currently out of stock but offering to swap them out for similar items. I went ahead and gave them the okay on it and Mr. Steve told me that by the end of the week he should have all the replacements gathered to ship. I suspect it'll take roughly 3 weeks to get here.

Product update.png


And as we can see, only my Union soldiers are currently on the way from Amazon. I've been on a bit of a book buying frenzy, but my diorama base and Confed soldiers should be here Wednesday and Thursday. Although in my case, it's Thursday and Friday respectively, as I get most packages sent to a PO box and not straight to my apartment. It's a whole issue that I won't get into!

Items being shipped.png


Once the diorama base gets here, I plan on going over to the local Hobby Lobby to see if what there is there in the way of paint for buildings.

I've also been spending time thinking about possibilities for my Chancellorsville diorama, and I've got some good ideas for it.
 
Honestly, being on furlough from my main job for the past month and a half and working only part time for my second job, I'm in need of a hobby to help pass the time until everything goes back to normal.
I can understand that. I've been doing gardening and landscaping and am getting ready to put some sod down in what passes as my front yard. I think when it starts to get really humid here next month, I'll be doing some figure painting when the A/C gets turned on.

Keep on post your diorama adventures, it's interesting to watch.
 
An update:

The good:

Today I got my Michigan Toys order. I was under the impression that miniatures were part of the order, but I was mistaken. The miniatures in the picture were only to show what type of soldiers they would be for.

IMG_20200608_162529[1].jpg


About a week ago I got my Union Great Coat soldiers, which I've left in the bag until my Confederates show up.

IMG_20200608_162505[1].jpg


The bad news:

My Confederates and Diorama base have gotten lost in the mail. Last update from UPS was last Tuesday when it arrived in Salt Lake City. From Salt Lake it only take a day to ship here, but on Saturday, they gave me a refund as the package has still not updated in the slightest.

So at the moment, the diorama can't be completed.

My plans today though are to begin painting the Union soldiers that I for certain want to use. I've been watching a lot of Sonic Sledgehammer Studio on youtube, a British gentlemen who does a painting tutorial series called "How I Paint Things". Some stuff I can't do with the paints I got (he does a layer of shade to help give depth to his miniatures which I don't have), but I feel that's probably a step for someone with a bit more experience with painting these small guys than I have.

At the very least I can start and see how it looks after my first attempt.
 
About 2.5 hours of painting and this is the result. I am placing them in the 20th Mass.

IMG_20200609_000602[1].jpg


Our poor fellow here I'm calling Leroy Scutworth. Scutworth was a banker who swears that he has no idea why the money entrusted to him keeps vanishing and ending up in his own bank accounts. Scutworth obviously is an alias, but he never told anyone his real name. Now, it doesn't matter how the money magically appeared in his bank account, does it?

The gaping hole was actually part of the toy itself, which was a relief. I was afraid I'd have to paint over something else instead of a readily made wound.

IMG_20200609_000651[1].jpg


Here we have Ted "Not a Murderer" Bundy. He has a very nice green scarf. His mama claims she made it for him....but so does his wife. Neither women like each other and while he proclaims it was duty that brought him to the Army, he's hoping that if the two women kill each-other, he will be too far away to be caught in the cross-fire between them.

IMG_20200609_000734[1].jpg


Now we have "Whiskey Jack" Layton. A fine fellow, grey hair. He was part of the Old Army and declared that if that "rascal Andrew Jackson got into office, I'll break my teetotaler ways!" Well, Jackson won and he took to the whiskey bottle. Problem was, it wasn't really Jackson but Taylor but he got confused.

IMG_20200609_000753[1].jpg


And here we have "The Irish Widower" Patrick Sullivan. He came from the Old Country and his wife ran off with a Southern gentleman after Lincoln got elected. He vowed to find Mrs. Sullivan and bring her back and he joined the Army to not only find her, but put an end to that home-wrecker of a gentleman, who he is dead set is in Virginia and the Confederate Army. He leaves no Confederate alive he shoots and has a tally of twenty confirmed kills.

Men know to keep away from him when he starts rocking back and forth, counting the rounds in his cartridge box and giggling say, "One little piggy for the scalawag! Two little piggies for the scalawag! Oh, what do we have here? Three little piggies for the scalawag!"

He was actually the longest it took to paint. He was also the first.

IMG_20200609_000831[1].jpg


While the paint jobs won't win any awards, I think they turned out pretty good.

IMG_20200609_000602[1].jpg


IMG_20200609_000651[1].jpg


IMG_20200609_000734[1].jpg


IMG_20200609_000753[1].jpg


IMG_20200609_000831[1].jpg
 
Last edited:
About 2.5 hours of painting and this is the result. I am placing them in the 20th Mass.

View attachment 361757

Our poor fellow here I'm calling Leroy Scutworth. Scutworth was a banker who swears that he has no idea why the money entrusted to him keeps vanishing and ending up in his own bank accounts. Scutworth obviously is an alias, but he never told anyone his real name. Now, it doesn't matter how the money magically appeared in his bank account, does it?

The gaping hole was actually part of the toy itself, which was a relief. I was afraid I'd have to paint over something else instead of a readily made wound.

View attachment 361758

Here we have Ted "Not a Murderer" Bundy. He has a very nice green scarf. His mama claims she made it for him....but so does his wife. Neither women like each other and while he proclaims it was duty that brought him to the Army, he's hoping that if the two women kill each-other, he will be too far away to be caught in the cross-fire between them.

View attachment 361760

Now we have "Whiskey Jack" Layton. A fine fellow, grey hair. He was part of the Old Army and declared that if that "rascal Andrew Jackson got into office, I'll break my teetotaler ways!" Well, Jackson won and he took to the whiskey bottle. Problem was, it wasn't really Jackson but Taylor but he got confused.

View attachment 361761

And here we have "The Irish Widower" Patrick Sullivan. He came from the Old Country and his wife ran off with a Southern gentleman after Lincoln got elected. He vowed to find Mrs. Sullivan and bring her back and he joined the Army to not only find her, but put an end to that home-wrecker of a gentleman, who he is dead set is in Virginia and the Confederate Army. He leaves no Confederate alive he shoots and has a tally of twenty confirmed kills.

Men know to keep away from him when he starts rocking back and forth, counting the rounds in his cartridge box and giggling say, "One little piggy for the scalawag! Two little piggies for the scalawag! Oh, what do we have here? Three little piggies for the scalawag!"

He was actually the longest it took to paint. He was also the first.

View attachment 361764

While the paint jobs won't win any awards, I think they turned out alright.

View attachment 361757

View attachment 361758

View attachment 361759

View attachment 361760

View attachment 361761

View attachment 361764
Love your enthusiasm. Keep pushing
 
Have you decided what scale figures you are going to use? If you have never painted before I would suggest going for the smaller scale of 1/72nd as you wouldn't need to paint as much detail . Esci and Imex both do an excellent range of Union and Confederate figures to choice from.
Looking forward to following your progress.
1:72 scale could be quite difficult for someone that hasn’t painted figures before, you need a really steady hand, Ive just painted over one hundred figures in the 28mm scale for a game called Lion Rampant, of all the figures that I’ve ever painted, 28mm scale was the easiest. There’s a company called Perry miniatures and they produce an excellent range of 28mm civil war figures and they are reasonably priced, they are mounted on a sprue and all you have to do is decide on which pose and weapons you want to fix them in. Very easy to paint when using an acrylic undercoat Spray, I now only use acrylic based paints on my figures and even though I’m an average painter I was pleased with the results.
 
Very nicely done. If that's your first attempt then you're a natural.

My main concern was that I don't have the most steady hands and that painting miniatures would be a little too detailed a thing to accomplish. However, maybe it's just the size of the figures, I found it wasn't as bad. Especially starting with the smaller items and working up to the bigger parts. Even if I made mistakes (which a few were made) I was able to go back and touch them up fine.

I agree with @rebel brit , nice job in painting them. And I love that you gave each a name and background.

Looking forward to the other figures you‘re going to do!

For this particular one, I don't plan on doing too many more miniatures. Sadly though I'm probably going to need to re-buy a new package of Confederates and the diorama base.

I had to say I was worried you would get your job back too soon, and we would be left with a half-finished Diorama; but what could be worse? The unfinished story-line! Keep it up...
Lubliner.

I'm really not in much danger of the job coming back anytime soon. They were telling me about two weeks ago they aren't bringing back people until the hotel has a steady business of 60% occupancy, which doesn't look like it's happening any time soon.

I'm actually working on getting back into school, which starts up in August. There's a community college a few hours from me that within two years I can get my associates in History. That's more likely to put the kabosh on future dioramas, like my Chancellorsville one I want to do next!

Nice work on the figures (!) and the back-stories are a great touch, including karma for Scutworth... Keep it up!

I plan on having a full story surrounding the diorama and the events that led to the exact moment being displayed. It's only natural that the miniatures also get their own individual backstories too. lol

Actually, depending on how it progresses, I just may use these guys as actual characters in my historical fiction series I'm working on at the moment.
 
DSC05807.JPG

...I remember seeing a diorama of the street fighting in the NPS museum at Fredericksburg and wanted to share it so you can get some inspiration, but I apparently didn't take a picture. :frown: Maybe someone else has one?
… You are correct, the street fighting on display in Fredericksburg is one of the nicer ones I ve seen. I don’t have a photo of it and I believe the building is covid19 closed.

Above is one I took during our marathon April, 2018 auto tour of Eastern battlefields.

20180413_093622.jpg


My friend Doug @1863surgeon Garnett took these next 3 photos of it as well. The scene depicts returning Confederate troops amid the devastation in the city following its occupation by the Union Army before and during the battle.

20180413_093613.jpg

20180413_093602.jpg
 
Back
Top