Well gentlemen,
Since my last builds are approaching the paintingstage, I would like to take this opportunity to intoduce a new project of mine: Salvaging the past! put bold text here
I got the idea when I was about to get Maquette's Befehlspanzer 38(t) airborne on a collisioncourse with the nearest livingroomwall. Iheld my temper however and just put it back into it's box, thinking it might come in handy someday.
Then I came across this picture, which caught my attention:


Around the same time there were a few posts about WW2 german armour being salvaged in eastern Europe.... The wheels in my brain started to turn and before I knew it I had cooked up another idea.

So what do Maquette's Befehlspanzer 38(t), Joal's JCB435, Military wheels' UAZ-469, Verlinden's newsteam and 'Preiser's workmen in common???
They will be used together in my new diorama!!!
The story in short:
the 38(t) sank into a lake during the winter of '42-'43 somewhere on the eastern front and has been rediscovered recently. Now it is being salvaged with the help of the JCB.
A newsteam heard about this, got into an ex-army UAZ and drove to the salvagingsite to cover it.
To give you an idea of it all, here's the cast for this scene:






This will be my first major diorama, so wish me luck!!!

its a very good idee its something diffrent than the ussual diorama's good luck with it

Never heard of this JCB
YOu can also try the one from MIG really good
Cheers and good luck
Will keep an eye on that one
cheers
seb

Hi

Sounds great Ron, looking forward to updates.

My only thought is that you may not find a suitable model of a JCB type vehicle. I think MIG does a military one, although that may have forks for pallets rather than a bucket and it might be too expensive. Alternatively I've seen modern armoured recovery vehicles being used. Thinking of a Stug pulled out of a river recently, I think that had one being used. Plenty on You Tube on this and others.

Great idea, looking forward to it, especially making good those Preiser figures

Alan

Never heard of JCB....good grief

Here you go, the man who's name makes up the initials and the concept which has been copied around the world.

Rightly proud.

JCB

Alan
Don't get me wrong I mean never see such Kit before I think it is a die-cast right

cheers
seb

Hi Seb

Oh, I see, no problem. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Yes it does look a bit like a toy. I'm hoping it's just Ron illustrating the type rather than the actual model he intends using. Britains Toys use to do a lot of stuff like this but I think the scale may be wrong. I know that JCB themselves use to give out and market scale replicas. The only other I know of off hand is a company my son had a model/toy from. A German toy/model manufacturer I think. I'll check.

Alan

Ron
You must check mig website for the wheel loader



77 euro not bad for the quality
cheers
seb

What a great idea! I'll be following this one. Good luck!

Cant wait to see this one progress, Just like watching the military channel... Good Luck on this one.. milvehfan

Thanks for the support, guys. I guess I'll be needing it on this one...
@ Seb: I got my JCB for €5. Beats the €77. And yes it is a 1/35 diecast, which I will be getting up to a real "modelstatus".... or at least try to with a lot of sanding, rebuilding and repainting.
I'll give more details in about a day or 2.

Here are some of the details I promised.
First of all the JCB. It is a 1:35 diecast vehicle, looks a bit like a toy. This has to be enhanced, with all kinds of additions, improvements and details.
here's what it looks like now:


Here a picture made to show the size, JCB, 38(t) and workman:


The next pictures are to show the diorama I had in mind.
W = water
1 - 5 are the figures. 1,2 and 3 are workmen, 4 en 5 are cameraman and soundtechnician.
Large X's are trees, small x's are treestumps.
Diagonal stripes = marshy vegetation
vertical stripes = shrubs and undergrowth
dots = grasses
UAZ and JCB are... well, guess what...



Here's one with models in place. The Kübelhull is to show the UAZ's position.


and a view from the side:

im watichin this one with great intrest!

Well drop the JCB Ronnie go for Mig
You project deserve a better wheel loader
Look like s*** and you will work like hell to render a better one
so time of work + raw mat = 77 euros for Mig

Cheers
Seb

I dunno I think the JCB is going to look good with a bit of work and still cheaper than MiG's Seb.

Great work, I really like the Idea, Ron!

Marek

Well the JCB would need is to fill the holes, remove moulded on detailes and maybe open up the operators station and put son detailes in side.Sides that a lil paint and weathering it will look the part. Sides the JCB looks like a more common front end loader than the MiG one. Keep up the great work Ron I will be following this one.

Cheers Alex

Ron, I really like the whole concept. Your tentative dio looks really good, especially the slope from the river up to dry ground.

With respect to the "debate" about using the JCB front-end loader vs. the Mig front-end loader, I think I would side with the Mig, but that's just me. Of course, to hasten the "beat up" look to the JCB, just try kicking it down the street for about 20 minutes, that should give it the scratch & dent look!

Keep at it!

Tim

I have a couple of the JCB construction vehicles. From ERTL Britains. $7. bucks each.
Mig looks good military, but the price vs. JCB?!?
This diorama is a unique idea. I clicked subscribe and will watch this one.

I really like the concept but from a realistic point of view, I don't think that it will work. from looking at your proposed layout, you want to show the front end loader pulling the tank out of the pond, right? The biggest problem that I can see would be traction. Even is the Loader would have enough power to pull the tank up and out of the water (which I doubt), lack of traction would prevent it from doing so unless the loader was sitting on some type of paved boat ramp. A very large tracked machine could probably do it, but not a wheeled one. The loader in question looks like it would be in the same weight class as a light tank like that - I realy do not think that it would have the power to pull the machine out of the water. When you add the fact that the pond / river bank will probably be muddy, I really think that a machine of that size and type would be hard pressed to pull a pickup truck out of the water. Wheeled loaders are designed to load loose material onto trucks. Unless the loader had tire chains, the loader would have trouble pulling itself up a muddy slope that steep. If I am wrong on this, someone in the know please correct me, but even if you had the perfect machine for an poeration like this, like say a tank retriever, you would anchor the retriever (with it's dozer blade) and use a very large winch to pull the tank out of the water. Maybe the Loader could be shown spreading loose rock to make a temporary ramp?

All looks good to me. I have just been sent an e-mail of a T-34 being pulled from a pond somewhere around poland. A JCB pulled it out from a distance with what appeared to be few problems. Looks all good to me and a great idea. Can't wait for more progress reports.

Thomo

Great project and you are doing well.

Evening Ron

I have found the e-mail of the T34 being recovered. It was found with German markings. A Komatsu D375A-2 pulled the tank from a lake near Johvi , Estonia . I was a bit off in the country. The Tank was at a depth of 7 metres and it was resting under a 3 metre layer of peat. The pulling operation began at 09:00 and was concluded at 15:00, with several technical breaks.

If you wish, I can send you a copy.

Cheers
Thomo

Great idea and good work so far - just 2 suggestions you might be able to use.

1) place the tank and the JCB in oppersite corners, it will give the dio a bit more life.

2) sometimes entreprenours use steelplates to make a makeshift road to prevent heavy equipment from sinking or damaging the paving etc. it might ad some more realism to the JCB pulling the tank.

Keep e´m comming those pictures.

Cheers/Jan

Hi guys,

don't mean to fan the flames here.....

But there is an alterntive: RoG's Radlader Liebherr 534 (or something...).

Very nice indeed (better definition than the JCB), but still need the finals to meet real "model" standard. Snap-Like kit in plastik and a great one at that.

Price: EUR 14.99.

Just some friendly advise. And you can have a belt-driven vehicle too.......

Best regards,

Mike H.
Denmark

great idea good luck