i have problems with dio planning and i was wondering what u guys think
Armor and vehicle kits:
1/35 dragon tiger initial prod, and a 1/35 tamiya German supply truck(the new opel)
fig kits:mini art German tank repair crew or German tank crew at work im not sure which kit , and i am trying to find like 2 or 3 figs unloading fuel for the tiger
could u help me which would make sense mechanic or crew and i am trying to find fuel suppliers

Ola Thomas

As for germans unloading fuel this might be the set for you.

Yeah it looks like they are loading fuel but turn around the German rolling the barrel to the vehicle and have him roll the barrel to another collection of barrels away from the truck and near the tiger and it should do the trick.

This might also be a usefull set for you
Academy German tankcrew refueling
Nice set comes with a lot of extra';s. You can even go with some guys in normal wehrmacht uniform to go with the truck. Put it next to the tigers reardeck and have the tankers refueling the tank from the back of the truck bed

i am definitely gonna get this kit but would it be possible for the tiger to be almost out of gas and the track blown up by a mine at the same time

i may be wrong, but given how precious fuel was, especialy on the easten front with its long supply lines, i think they wouldnt want to risk fueling up the tank till they had it fixed and knew it would need the fuel to go on fighting, if that makes sence. i have no proof of this but thats what i would do.

neil

if this is true would u rather have the fuel crew or the mechanics

well thats upto you.

you could build the tiger with the tracks complete, but with say a couple of new links ( a diffrent colour, rusty or painted to match the turret sides where as the rest of the tracks are muddy from the ground around or even abit blackened if it had been shot off or hit a small mine) and the guys clearing up the tools to put back on to the truck, with a few damages links laying on the ground.

or you could go for the all out machanics scene, with the tanks tracks n a few wheels in kit form, the tow cables layed out ready to pull the tracks back on....... then you could have 3 vehicals, the tank, a maintaince crew truck and prehaps the fuel truck arriving, with the driver leanin out askin if he can help?

there are meny diffrent ways to do the sceen, but i just wouldnt have them fixing it and fueling it at the same time.

neil

thats a great idea but what kind of maintenance truck would it be the same as the supply truck or etc

now that i dont know. i'll have alook through the books i have, i guess it would depend on the size of the tools carried. they would use standard trucks, i think some where fitted out as workshops, with drills n lathes, i'm not 100% on that though, or a small crw might have something like a steyr 1500a (tamiya kit) n just the hand tools in the back. or a big recovery and repair crw would have a famo or one of the other halftracks maybe,

i'll have alook through my books, but try lookin photos up online, if you base a scene on a photo no-one can say its wrong!

neil

yes i will try to look some up and ill try to look at the famo and see what i can find and thanks for looking for some pics i am looking on Google images and web and i really cant find any good pics do u no a good website

later: hey i snooped around and it cant be a famo it was used for towing tanks or artillery so norrowing it down to the steyr or half track

here are a couple i have. sorry they aint very good, if one or 2 stand out to you, i'll try n photograph them better, they are in a magazine i have.
tiger havein a track fixed

ammo loading a tiger

fueling up, though this time its a stug.....



hope these help
neil

yes the third 1 works i totally recognize it it is a opel maultier and should the track of the tiger and wheel in the hole when the mine hit or should it be like pulled out of the hole

i'll try n get a better shot of the fueling pic tomorrow then, in day-light. (oh, note they havent unloaded the drums, just pumping it out)

i dont know exactly what they would do, but i would think they would pull the tiger back/foward out of the hole, then they would drag the track out and lay it out flat/ straight behind or infront of the tank (after fixing the road wheels the best they could)
then pull the tank back onto the track, then using the long thin tow rope that is on the side of the tank, pull the long end of track over the top of the wheels and join it back up at the front or back.....

neil

ok because i saw this dio where the the track and the tiger was still in the hole im guessing it was inaccurate and would a famo with a crane or what

it might not be wrong, it could be based on a phot or something, i'm just going off what i have read. i dont know what u mean about the famo. some famos where fitted with a crane, i cant remember if it was a 6 or 9 ton lift though......
but all famo's also had a huge (sorry i dont know the rating) winch fitted, some where then fitted with a spade on the back to anker it when using this winch.

i'll see what i can find. sorry but i'm calling it a night now, i'll reply again tomorrow.

neil

srry i meant would the famo pull out the tiger and i found a mod of a opel and a famo that had the mechanics workshop and another 1 with fuel but wouldnt the base be to crowded

here you go mate, the better pic's......



neil

yes but i am worrying with the figs im gonna use has a suppytruck with fuel being unloaded and my tank crew at rest and my mechanics working right by their vehicle wouldnnt it be a little to crowded

i guess that just depends on what size you want to build the base. both the scenes in the photos above are crowded, fixing a damaged tiger would be a big job, and i imagin that it would be a priority job, as there wheren't that meny of them really. if they where on a push forward n it wasnt to badly damaged then they would want it fightin again as soon as possable.

so yes it could be a large, busy scene, but then i think it would be in real life.
in the photo of refueling, there are 3 stugs, the truck and a motobike.... i count 17 people. the tiger photo i think there are 7 people in the picture, but the background aint very clear in that shot.


neil

yeah i agree but less than a 24 by 24 and that is the highest for our competition in our state so it has to be that or smaller but im thinking a tamiya famo with a recovery set ( resin) and having the mechanics tolls and stuff on the famo and have a opel truck come and unload fuel for the tiger and the mechanics are working on taking out the wheels and a new track link and putting on a new 1 and the tank crew resting playing cards or should the tiger crew be working with what

24 X 24 (inches u mean?) thats a big base, you could get alot onto that. i havent built meny dioramas but the ones i have, i have not yet built over 12" x 12".
i think that if the tank was close to the front then the crew, or some of them would be helping the mechanics, get the job done quickly, i belive the driver was asigned to the tanks maintaince so he would be helping.......
just another thought, why not move the dio back alittle.........in the battle field that is...... to a small rear supply depot.... you could have the tank, with just the one track on and the mechanics repairing the wheels, have the track layed out ready to put back on, then there would be the mechanics vehicals and you could still have the fuel guys unloading the barrels and putting them with a small pile of others and jerry cans and things.
in a scene like that then you could have a tent or 2, and the crew waitin round, playin cards or something (do you mean the masterbox set, SKATSPIELER) i have that set, lovely figures, the jerry cans aint great but they could be replaced with tamiya ones.

just a few more ideas.
neil

yeah that would would be better if it didnt have a road it would just not look right but yes in mean inches and i will prob replace the fuel drums with tamiyas but would there be like a small build custom shack or just out in the open and the tank crew plying cards while the fuel crew is unloading obliviously fuel and the mechanics and the but since neil said the driver would be helping the mechanics and the other part of crew would be relaxing but i cant find a tank commander to substitute for the driver or can just all of the crew play and does the tank commander have to have a hat or cap

awnsers anyone

yeah i like to build a road into a dio base. that would look right if it was set at a small supply depot, but if you where going to do the original idea, with the tank next to or in the hole the mine blew, then i probubly wouldnt have a road, a small muddy track maybe but most of russia then didnt have meny roads, they where earth tracks mainly.
as for the crew, yes they would stay cose to their tank, probubly not just next to the fuel, but possably the other side of the tank to it. the figure set i mantioned has them sat on jerry cans, but well i guess you would grab anything better than just the ground.
i read in a book, the forgotten soldier, at one point in that the guy the book is about came across a panther in a snow drift, n the crew where still with it, they where holding a defencive line, n even though the tank was damaged and imobile, it could still fire so they stayed with it, for nearly a month, to help slow the retreat. doesnt bare thinking about really, a month in a frozen, imobile tank, gettin shot at n very low on supplies.

but thats abit off topic........ i duno what vehicals to put with your tank really, i guess you have the opel and the guys offloadin fuel barrels (almost a scene within a scene) and then some sort of mechanics truck or halftrack, with the tank. you'd be best to try n search out photos to work off, i'll have another look through a couple more of my books.

neil

the commander wouldnt have his hat on all the time! it could just be on the ground next to him or maybe on the tanks coupler? just a thought.

yeah interesting story ill look some up on the internet and see if i can find anything ok thanks but i was wondering would i a small shack or just in the open and have a opel with the mechanics tools and stuff there intsead of having it in the small shack? contact me soon
Thomas