¹⁄35

Flankers

“FLANKERS”
The 101st Airborne in Normandy
A 1/35TH SCALE DIORAMA
By Barry Gazso

Back into modeling

After almost a year with my modeling gear packed away for our move from Michigan to Wisconsin, I finally got my room squared away and was ready to do another diorama. But which one of the half dozen ideas I had floating around in my head should I do? I had picked up several of the excellent Nemrod U.S. Paratroopers before the move, and they were calling to me from their place in the drawer of my workbench. The troopers were depicted in the M1942 jump uniforms, which set the timeframe to the Normandy jump at the latest, since the Paras were issued the M1943 uniforms for the Market Garden jump. I decided on a scene late in the para’s part of the Normandy Campaign, and settled on the 501st P.I.R. of the101st as the unit to represent. I decided to include a Warriors paratrooper because of the pose.

I then thought about the overall composition, and started doing some freehand sketches. I had never done an artillery piece before, so decided to have one in this diorama. After reading some reviews, I bought the AFV PaK 40 kit. It was really a toss up with the Dragon kit. The gun went together pretty well, and thank goodness I bought the AFV brass stud set for the gun shield. I can’t imagine trying to clean up and assemble the kit supplied styrene parts. For the crew, I picked up the 2 Warriors sets of Waffen S.S. PaK crew. I was looking for figures that would be in full-blown manic activity, since that was integral with the idea.

Frankly, I was struggling with just how to incorporate the gun, crew, and troopers within a relatively small base. I thought about the troopers making their way through a blown up street after the PaK, but it seemed forced. One night I was describing my dilemma on the phone with my friend Rhodes Williams, and he suggested I use terrain as a separation, referencing a scene from “Band of Brothers”, where the troopers assault a German MG42 position from a ditch. That was the answer.