hi all, i am planning to build my next diorama, however it will be my first ww2 dio and i want to make it on normandy, for anyone who has seen band of brothers, i want to make my dio when easy company takes out the guns , i want to include one of those guns in my dio with the camo netting and the trenches, i do know how to make camo nets, but i do need to know , what type of guns those ones were that e comapon y destoyed in the seires, and i need to know how to make the trenches with the wood walls on the inside of them, and the
little bunkers that had grass growing over them. all answers to my questions are deeply appreciated, any more info would also be very deeply appreciated, thnx

matt,

cheers

phantom major, thankyou for your advise,ww2 isnt my era either i am more modern but i want to ate least have on dio that is ww2, i am however very familar with turf and all that , i have been in the dio making for almost a year now, i just never have done trenches or artillary before, but in the seires band of brothers the bunker that were at the artillary gun sited had tin roofs( i dont think they were actaully firng bunkers but more ammo, cover shelters, i didnt think of doing polyestering, ( i was going to do paper mashe) but now that you have said it i am going to do exaclty that, all i nedd to know now is , how do i do the wooden suport walls that were inside the trenches holding up the walls, and what kind of artiallry guns were used, thnx

matt, all answers are greatly appreciated

I think those were (or were supposed to be) PaK 43 88mm guns. I'm pretty sure I've seen a resin kit of this. It's similar to, but not the same as the more famous 88 anti tank/flak gun. If you can't find it, you could use artistic license and use a more generic German artilerry piece.

Hey Mattomlin
I cant remember how the bunkers and trenches were from that scene, but making trenches are quite easy. Firstly get your base ........ a photo frame is ideal. Then build your trench reinforcements. These are usually made of timber and supporting posts. You can use ice lollipop sticks, stirring sticks or balsa from the hobby store. Its a good idea to design these on paper first, so you know what you are doing (measurements etc). Depending on what height you want, have about 4or five flat then two support posts. For these use the same sticks, thicker balsa posts or even small straight branches to look like posts cut from nearby trees. It all depends on your reference and what you want. Even diagonal support boards can be used. Dont make all the sections the same. Then make more of these sections and make you total trench walls, on both sides. When the trenches you want are ready, make a frame around the base the same height ........ a heightened frame looks much nicer than seeing all your packing and side views of your ground work. With the frame and trench complete, now fill up the areas in between with expanded polystyrene (from packaging) or those ceiling tiles available from hardware stores. Now use spackel or polyfilla to cover over. Build some lumps up in front of the trenches where the soil was dug out as well ..... extra cover! Now paint. For tin ...... use corrugated cardboard, this usually can be bought in hobby or art stores. If the bunkers have a certain style of slab covering the nests .... build these likey did in real life ...... cast them from hardwall and place, then cover with your ground cover as wanted.
This is very generic, but should help somewhat. With your reference, you can design it as wanted, but dont be afraid to use a little artictic license as well to suit, practically or for better appearance, suit of figures or artillery.
A good site for explaining all these with pictures is Doc´s dios. I find it very useful and most of these tips are explained better there. Feel free to ask more questions if this is unclear! Good luck!!

Another thing I forgot to add was, sandbags can be used for cover on top of the trench as well. On Roadkills website. The tin (corrugated cardboard) can be used as trench lining as well for variety!

Actually the guns were 105mm leFH 18's. You're in luck because AFV Club is bringing (or already has) one out in 1/35 plastic.

ajlafletche, thnx, but i dont know if my nearest hobby store has resin kits, but i do know tamiya has a smilar artilarry gun, hopefully its the same as the one in band or borthers ( normandy)tnx for your imput.

PLASTIC BATTLE thankyou very very much for your informative answer, i now know a few skilled tips, however i few things i could not understand what your talking about, so i will have to read several times and/or just impravise ( whats spackle and where do you get raised frames) thnx for your input

matt

uk geof, thnc for input, but who are afv club is it a company brand, ???

thnx

matt

Matt, yes AFV Club is a model manufacturer. Here is a link to the gun i mentioned on the Hobbylink Japan site AFV Club 105mm gun

Spackel is hardwall in a tube, already prepeared. Its like polyfilla for fixing holes in walls or cracks. By raised frames I mean using Balsa or similar to rise up the picture frame along the sides to hide the packing and sides of the ground work. See how this is done on Doc´s Dios

or use this link if picture doesnt link
raising the frames or sides
Hope this helps

ukgeoff, thnx for the info, but i am afraid this is the wrong type of artiallry the germans used, the ones easy company took at at normandy were larger and had a knob thingy at the end of the artilary gun pole ( or whatever you call it ) however your idea is appreciated, there is a 75 mm anti tank gun from tamiya, i might go ahead with that one as that looked similar

thnx for all your input

and thnx plastic battle i will include raised frams now

matt

Matt, the later types of that gun did have a muzzle brake fitted, there maybe some aftermarket ones intended for the Tamiya Wespe, which used the same gun.

uk geoff, hnx for input but i dont quite understand what you mean ?

matt

uk geoff, hnx for input but i dont quite understand what you mean ?

matt

dont worry people, problem solved, i got the pics for matt and hes no longer confused, cheers