Mortar attack

A few troops are sent to the front line to bolster the perimeter
France 1944
















Here they come ..ready.




Fire..





















Incoming mortar......















Incoming get Dow......





















Lest we forget....

It looks like you had some good fun setting that up, very good too! The smoke really adds something to the scene, the uniforms are very detailed

It's just like what I got up to when I got back into Action Man again 8 years ago, me and my cousin spent a whole day messing about with Action Man and a digital camera in his garden in the summer.

more wonderful action shots Dean! this is what action man is all about, playing in the dirt

Fantastic pictures! Takes me back to my childhood when my cousin and I dug trenches in the fields on our farm, then got told off for going back in the house with soil covered AM and stained trouser knees!

Outstanding Dean! These pics sum up everything that we love about Action Man.

I think you are the new Lowtown

Thanks for the comments guys.

peterodgers wrote:

Fantastic pictures!  Takes me back to my childhood when my cousin and I dug trenches in the fields on our farm, then got told off for going back in the house with soil covered AM and stained trouser knees!

I must admit , when I photographed this it did take me back as a kid digging holes for my action men ...I think we all must have done that ..

Brilliantly done! Nothing beats figures outside in natural light. You're going to need some fabreeze now to get that smell of smoke out of them.........Been there myself

Brilliant R-G some real thought put in this one excllent diorama

Rustygun wrote:

peterodgers wrote:

Fantastic pictures!  Takes me back to my childhood when my cousin and I dug trenches in the fields on our farm, then got told off for going back in the house with soil covered AM and stained trouser knees!

I must admit , when I photographed this it did take me back as a kid digging holes for my action men ...I think we all must have done that ..

Certainly did! Me and Steve (SKJ) were discussing this a few weeks ago.

We were thinking of the best parts of the garden to dig trenches in

These are just OUTSTANDING pictures. I bet you had lots and lots of fun setting up and then taking pictures.

Thanks for the kind comments..
Please do not get me in trouble with your wives,  when you are all out digging your lawns up this weekend..

Rustygun wrote:

Thanks  for the kind comments..
Please do not get me in trouble with your wives,  when you are all out digging your lawns up this weekend..

We normally use the excuse of the overnight foxes digging fox holes on the lawn (vam fox holes lol).

brilliant pics

Rustygun wrote:

Thanks  for the kind comments..
Please do not get me in trouble with your wives,  when you are all out digging your lawns up this weekend..

That's what I was thinking, everybody digging holes in their gardens.
How did you get away with it ?
Loved looking at these photos, you can't beat getting down and dirty with Action Man .
Great action pictures and nicely posed too.

This is probably going to sound strange Rustygun, but one thing (amongst many others) that I have to admire in all your set-ups is the way you are able to realistically capture the pose and attitude of those casualties.
This is certainly not as easy as just lying the figure down or dropping it and hoping it will look realistic. There is a real art to portraying the collapse of a human body that has suffered sudden and fatal injury. The limbs, the head and the entire body have to tell the story. Sometimes the figure will fall over other objects. All of this has to be considered. So many get this wrong and it just looks stagey and forced.

Your obvious ability in mastering this important factor adds so much more realism to all your photos.
Well done!

LeStryge wrote:

... one thing ... that I have to admire in all your set-ups is the way you are able to realistically capture the pose and attitude of those casualties.

Well... he gets a lot of practice. The body count in his photo sequences is always high.

But you make a good point. The believable poses of the wounded and dead are just another of the multitude of almost invisible tiny details that come together in these photos to set them apart from what many of us are able to achieve.

Plus, he's not afraid to take his accurately detailed period-appropriate figures outside and cover them with dirt! That takes a certain amount of courage in and of itself!

LeStryge wrote:

This is probably going to sound strange Rustygun, but one thing (amongst many others) that I have to admire in all your set-ups is the way you are able to realistically capture the pose and attitude of those casualties.
This is certainly not as easy as just lying the figure down or dropping it and hoping it will look realistic. There is a real art to portraying the collapse of a human body that has suffered sudden and fatal injury. The limbs, the head and the entire body have to tell the story. Sometimes the figure will fall over other objects. All of this has to be considered. So many get this wrong and it just looks stagey and forced.

Your obvious ability in mastering this important factor adds so much more realism to all your photos.
Well done!

Nice to see this come up again ...I had forgot I did this one ..
Thank you I appreciate your kind comments , I do take a bit of time to set the guys up , but my main trick is take loads of photos from differant angles , the worst part is going through the hundreds of images and deciding which ones to use and which to delete..

SCU_HQ wrote:

LeStryge wrote:

... one thing ... that I have to admire in all your set-ups is the way you are able to realistically capture the pose and attitude of those casualties.

Well... he gets a lot of practice. The body count in his photo sequences is always high.

But you make a good point. The believable poses of the wounded and dead are just another of the multitude of almost invisible tiny details that come together in these photos to set them apart from what many of us are able to achieve.

Plus, he's not afraid to take his accurately detailed period-appropriate figures outside and cover them with dirt! That takes a certain amount of courage in and of itself!

Thanks Dave ,

It’s nice that people appreciate what you do ...and notice all the extra bits. ( props). When I cover them in dirt , it’s strategically placed as not to get my guys to dirty...

Rustygun wrote:

but my main trick is take loads of photos from different angles

As I have mentioned before, camera angles are undoubtedly one of your strongest points. Their incredible dynamism absolutely elevates your scenarios to a "movie-experience" level.