Hello fellow builders,
This is my newly finished Falaise Gap diorama "Achtung Jabo!".


The vehicle is the old Tamiya Sd.Kfz. 251/1 kit I had laying around with the addition of a Tamiya 2 cm Flak 38 and really old (can't remember the manufacturer) Sd.Kfz. 251/17 conversion kit.


The reworked building and embankment wall are Verlinden.


The ammo trailer is scratch built using the Flak 38's trailer.


The figures are Tristar and Dragon.



Hope you like it! Comments and critiques most definately welcome.
Thanks for looking. Jerry

I love it. A great looking diorama. Vehicle, building, figures and groundwork all look great.

Only nitpicking I have is the top of the white wall. If you look at the last picture, the top of the wall looks quite clean. A top like that would be colored by the weather and accumulate lots of dust. It might pick up a little debris from the roof as well.
Could just be the picture though.

Thanks for sharing this beauty.

Hi Jerry, this is a fantastic diorama. I like the work on the figures and the vehicle. As Jesper says some weathering on that wall would be nice. I love the sunflowers, they've added some color to your diorama.
Thanks for sharing.

Nice dio! Bit clean but very nice none the less. Nicely animated and love the rifleman thinking he can bring down a Typhoon with a rifle ! Very natural posing.

Very nice, and very good presentation as well.

Henk

Good work Jerry, nice composition and good photography. I like all the vegetation especially the creepers on the Cafe wall.

Jerry, you have put together another fantastic diorama. I love the setting, and the action portrayed. The vehicles are great, I love what you have done here and the figures from what I can see are very well painted. I would love to see some up close detail shots of the figures and their uniforms as well as of the vehicles, and the surrounding, I can see there are things happening that look quite nice down below your wall and would like to see some nice close ups. My only nitpicks are with the others as far as the side wall and its capstones being to clean as well as the faces of the buildings, I would love to see some more rain streaking and dust as this appears to be a well traveled road. Just my opinion but would be simple fixes to add to an already outstanding diorama of a unique vehicle. Thank you for sharing it with us. Cheers Kevin

Very nice compact scene. I don't have anything else to add. Nice action, nice base, great combination of figures.

Thanks everyone for the kind words!

The wall is too clean. **Slapping my forehead** I knew I was forgetting something! That part of wall was a last minute addition and will get some pigments weathered on very soon.

As for some close up pics... I'll take a few more of the uniforms and vehicle and post them up (after correcting a few things). :-) :-) :-)

Thanks again!
Jerry

Gday Jerry
Great attention to detail here! And as the others have said it is really well laid out
The grasses have been well applied IMHO, especially around the pole and along the fence...
One thing though... The foliage on the halftrack is PE right? I really have failed to see it modelled convincingly... Nothing personal here (as you have done it better than most I've seen!) but to me it never looks like anything else other than PE! Maybe more pieces overlapped? Have nothing but praise though for WS 'fine-leaf foliage'...(Not spruiking here!!) As it is a natural product it really looks like scale branches, especially attached to a vehicle...
But have to say, I like the historical aspect also!
Cheers
Brad

Hi,
Congratulations to a very good looking, action heavy dio.
You did put a lot of details in it to make it interesting.

How long did you work on it?

Cheers
Claude

Superb i Love it, I particularly like the Cafe, Nice one

redleg

I think that's an excellent dio and well presented. I'd love to see more pics.

My only quibble is that I'm working on a Falaise dio called "Achtung Jabo!" myself and now you've stolen my thunder :-) :-) :-)

Sean

Very very nice job. My only nit pick would be to echo the others who said too clean, other than that I give you a 10.

I especially like the second picture. The camo job blends right in.

Great job Jerry. Fantastic dio. I love the action, and the story it tells. Like Sean (Pilgrim) I too have been working on a Falaise Gap dio. Although, I have a different named planned (thank god!) I hope mine turns out half as nice as yours. Thanks a lot for sharing, and I would also love to see some close ups.

Looks excellent, I have never seen the main vehicle before, it fits the seen perfectly though. Incredible job on the trailer as well.

Love to see more like it....

Ola

Yup Yup Yup, a very good dio:) you already know that some bits are too clean, but overall this is great, Congrats my friend:)

Cheers,
dsc.

Hi Jerry,

Great looking Dio, got the poses of the figures just right, give a sense of urgency with a little panic.

Someone legging it would be good, most soldiers wouldn't hang around if they were being attacked by a plane.

Lots of brilliant stuff, love the sun flowers, vehicle and trailer look great but a bit too clean for me. The building is excellent but some soot damage might be good. (these might well be there but lost to the camera as often happens)

Sorry don't mean to be critical those are just my thoughts - really excellent bit of work with lots of interesting things to catch ones eye.

Thanks for posting this, most enjoyable.

Cheers

Al

Very good depiction. Dragon made some real nice figures that could go with this. You can really pick out the fear on their faces. A friend of mine did a much larger version of this theme a year ago. He cleaned house with a best in class, best diorama, best in show, and a show favorite award. His figures were incredible. Couldn't get him to post it on armorama thought more the pity

Thanks to everyone for the comments and critiques!

I went back and weathered the building a little more, especially the side wall. Looks a whole lot better!

And here's a couple close up pics of the figures some of you asked for.





Again, thanks for looking.
Jerry

Two points
1. I'm glad you read the posts and took the critiques well and made changes.
2. I'm glad you like the changes.

Well done - feel free to submit an OD feature.

Jerry, VERY NICE diroama. I love the Cafae' Falaise sign. Is that a decal?

Great dio! Love the figs, the poses, the vehicle's finish, the building, the foliage, the sense of tension. Really well done.

I have one question though. Why the choice of vehicle? To the best of my knowledge, only a few Sdkfz 251/17 were made, and they were used earlier in the war I think exclusively by the Hermann Goring Division, which, of course, never served in France, at least during this time period. Almost any OTHER flak vehicle would have worked here, except maybe a Wirbel-or Ostwind. An Sdkfz 10/4, 10/5, 7/1, 7/2, Flak 28t, Mobelwagen, even a truck like an Opel Blitz or Maultier with Flak 38. A little historical research would have clinched this as one of the top dios I've ever seen.

I hope that doesn't sound overly nitpicky, b/c the DIO is great.! The history just isn't. To me, this is the equivalent of doing a great Jagdtiger with Afrika Corps markings. However, the only dio I've done so far PALES in comparison, so I'll shut up now.

rob

meant 38t above. My finger slipped.