Help! I need advice on my Lebanese M41 diorama –

Okay, here’s the situation and my conundrum. Inspired by the superb work I’ve seen here, I’ve finally endeavored to create a diorama of my own.

My “theme” is a Lebanese government M41 Bulldog that has been knocked out and abandoned after hitting a mine / I.E.D. which has destroyed much of the track and part of the suspension.

In order to depict this damage I took my handy Dremel motor tool to the front left fender of my AFV Club M41 kit and removed, thinned, and bent a good bit of it.

I also have AFV’s “working” M41 tracks so I plan have a bunch of the links on the left side missing and thrown about as if by and explosion etc.

Finally, I wanted my M41 to look like it has been subsequently “looted” by the combatants after it was abandoned so I bought Edward’s PE set and will depict many of the tank’s tool racks and machine gun mount empty.

So here’s my question:

My gut instinct is that the government crew would “spike” / disable the tanks main gun before abandoning it so it could not be used by the militant factions but I’m hesitant to depict that with my model.

Simply put, do you think damaging the tanks barrel would look like overkill? If I do it, I’m afraid people are going to look at the diorama and are going to think: “this tank hit an I.E.D. and lost its main gun at the same time – that’s highly unlikely etc”.

So what do you all think? Should I spike / damage the barrel too?

Thanks,
Noah

BTW – I know pictures would be helpful, I’ll try to upload some tonight

my huble opinion. spike it, most people who would appreciate the work put into a dio, would know what a spiked barrell looked like. maybe caught in the act of spiking the barrell, combatants would flee. i.e. wires leading to det still in barrell after being blown.
just a thought.
kenny

I say don't spike it. Abandoned military vehicles are usually abandoned in place, as is. They are rarely spiked by the crew. Usually, the damage to the interior from a mine strike or tank round is quite extensvize, leaving them inoperable and the gun disabled. I would simply leave the gun in a drooped position to show it as not being functional.

Thank you for the replies –

You both have very good suggestions and I find each of the scenarios you’ve mentioned compelling. I might learn toward the “as is” drooped barrel idea just because it’s a way of keeping the M41’s “T” shaped muzzle brake which I really like…

Gino –

When you mentioned the mine / I.E.D. you brought up another good point. As the damage currently stands on my M41 I’ve removed part of the front fender and suspension but I have not depicted any penetration of the superstructure / hull itself. Should I, and if so, how much?

Thanks again,
Noah

You might also think of this, we were told to place a thermite or incendiary grenade in the breach to render it inoperable if we were to purposefully disable our track. Just a thought.

Exactly, that is why there would be no outward damage to the gun, except for the barrel in a downward-pointed position.

For a hull breech, I would go with either a buckled panel where the weld joint failed, or a relatively small hole in the bottom or side where it punched through. I would not make the hole much bigger than 4-5 mm in diameter, with jagged and pushed in metal around it.

Good luck.