Just the figures remain!

My friends, the resin pour was an absolute success. 

Taping the sides was the easiest task from all of my epoxy adventures so far as the "dams" are very small and simple in shape. Then I sealed the bottom of the creek with a reasonably thick layer of Still Water because the terrain was extremely porous. So much so that it was impossible to blend any paints on top of it, they just got immediately absorbed. I wasn't sure how much resin I would need, so I mixed 60 ml of total volume, and used it all! The water level just barely touches the water wheel, mainly because of my design of the base (there was simply no way I could go higher with the water level without spilling out of the creek), but hey, it looks like a working water wheel! 

There was also barely any resin creeping up the sides, and this was partially because I didn't "help" it to spread everywhere using a toothpick, I just left it to solidify on its own and then covered the untouched areas with transparent Water Gel while I was making the water ripples. 

Some extra vegetation was added, and these are all paper plants from various manufacturers. I painted them all in a black-brown base color and then hit them with green acrylics, just as in my previous videos. 

I wasn't sure if I wanted to add the rain gutters. 7 out of 9 water mills in my references don't have any, but they're a nice detail, right? Also, it didn't help that I'm reaching my limits with this diorama, and I'm starting to feel seriously burnt out. Basically I reached a point where I just want to get it done and move on to another project. But I went ahead with them anyway! The gutters are the same 3D file I created for the Normandy diorama house, I just adjusted their length, and the downspouts are plastic Evergreen tubing with lead foil strips. 

This leads us to the final element, the figures. This diorama concept started very differently compared to all my other creations. The composition and setting was all set in stone - or rather, in plaster - as the whole diorama is a commercially available kit. Therefore, I had to come up with a story that would fit the setting, not the other way round. As I kept working on the scene, I started to realize that this diorama is mainly about the scenery, not the vehicle or the story taking place around it. My initial plan was to fill the scene with 5 figures - two soldiers having a drink on the porch, truck driver waiting for them in the Chevy, and a soldier giving a bar of chocolate to a little boy just to fill up the area in front of the water wheel. If you remember, most of these figures were plastic kits from Miniart. 

During my work I figured a better, clearer composition with less figures. Soldier and the boy on the front porch, and a truck driver waiting in the vehicle. This way it would be clearer that the soldier is presumably "paying" the miller's son for the supply of flour in the truck. Luckily, these two figures are excellent 3D designs by Dynamo Models from France and their quality is top notch. However, the truck driver from Miniart, although it's tailor-made for the Chevy truck, just doesn't  fit into the cab! Not to mention the quality is subpar compared to these resin beauties, but he just doesn't fit into the open door. As I said, I'm reaching my limits with this project, so you can imagine my tolerance for such BS is next to zero at this point. So I decided to reduce the "population" of the scene to just two figures made from resin, which is very manageable for my standards. 

Another point is that I wanted the boy to sit on a few more sacks of flour just to push the story even further... but again, the idea of sculpting and painting them was so revolting to me in this current mindset that I went the lazy way and he'll be sitting on a generic wooden crate. 

Basically I'm trying to get this diorama done by the end of this week so I can then have the next week for video editing, because I can already tell this won't be just a video, but a lengthy movie :D So I appreciate every one of you for being patient with me during this enormous project. It's been a ton of work, and it's gonna be even more work before it's completely finished (including the video), but when it's done, it's gonna be worth a watch! 

I'm also extremely stoked (I wasn't this hyped up in a long while) for what's coming after this one. It's gonna be something we haven't done yet, and no, it's not gonna be a military model or a diorama... something special, new, and fun!