I'm working on building all forces present for the first Battle of El Guetar. So far, I have a M3A1 Stuart, 105mm Howitzer, US Infantry, and a Panther tank. I have given it some thought, as the kits are all 1/35, and would like to put them on a Lazy Susan for ease of viewing. Would this be practicle, since all kits are from the same environment? Constructive critisism only, please.
TIA
Matt N.

Matt,
Don't know about any of the allied pieces but there were no Panther tanks used in Africa. Panthers came onto the battlefield beginning at Kursk

C.

Further information: Battle of El Guettar
By this point the newly reorganized U.S. II Corp had started out of the passes again, and were in position to the rear of the Axis lines. The 10th Panzer was tasked with pushing them back into the interior, and the two forces met at Battle of El Guettar on 23 March. At first the battle went much as it had in earlier matchups, with the German tanks rolling up lead units of the US forces. However, they soon ran into a US minefield, and immediately the US artillery and anti-tank units opened up on them. The 10th lost 30 tanks over a short period, and retreated out of the minefield. A second attack formed up in the late afternoon, this time supported by infantry, but this attack was also beaten off and the 10th returned to Gabès.

The US was unable to take advantage of the German failure, however, and spent several frustrating weeks attempting to push Italian infantry off two strategic hills on the road to Gabès. Repeated major attempts would make progress, only to be pushed back by small units of the 10th or 21st Panzer who would drive up the road from Gabès in an hour or so. Better air support would have made this "mobile defence" difficult, but coordination between air and ground forces remained a serious problem for the Allies.

Both the Eighth Army and the U.S. II Corps continued their attacks over the next week, and eventually the 8th broke the lines and the Axis was forced to abandon Gabès and retreat to join the Fifth Panzer Army to the north

says nothing about panthers.

OOPS, just found out that there were indeed no Panzers in El Guettar. Charles, do you know what version of the Tiger tanks were present? I'm thinking that they should be mid-production, but not sure?
TIA Matt N.

Early production, I believe. Tamiya has an African Tiger, and Cyber Hobby did as well, and it is now exceedingly expensive.

There were plenty of Panzers in North Africa, but no Panthers.
Panzer is short for Panzerkampfwagen, or armored fighting vehicle, and denoted a tank.
Panther meant panther, a jungle cat, and was the designation for the Panzerkampwagen V, a larger medium tank intended to replace the Panzer III. It made its combat debut in July 1943 at the Battle of Kursk on the Eastern Front. It appeared in Italy in early 1944, but wasn't committed to combat there until May, 1944.
The Tigers in North Africa were initial and early models (in modern parlance, and corresponding to those Tamiya kits--in reality, Tigers were improved piecemeal all through their production, and can be identified to the specific month of production in some cases, by examining small details). Only 33 were sent total, and no more than 22 were on hand in Tunisia at any given time. All had the original drum cupola and Feiffel air filters.

whatever kits end up in the end project still leaves a lazy susan underneth.

Would there be a traditional cohesive diorama on top or more like segments/pie pieces for each individual kit?

The tranditional diorama would be more adventursome as you would need to be totally 360 degrees of viewing and to get that many kits on a circle would be challenging.

Matt, I am not sure how viable your idea of using a Lazy Susan to display all types of equipment used at the Battle of El Guettar is. It would have to be a very large Lazy Susan even if you just planned to line the equipment up in rows, much less, try to create a true diorama that tells a story using every piece of equipment.

Keith

About the lazy susan, I can make the top piece as large as I need. This is pretty easy. It will be circular and would have about 8 kits, each occupying approx. the area. It would be a cohesive. The desert floor doesn't have too many fiddly bits to be much of a problem. As for the 360deg., I would never leave detail out even if the view is impossible. 8 kits with about 4" rear would be 32" in diameter. If there is enough room left in the center, I will raise it slightly to show off Gen. George Patton and Gen. Omar Bradley. I just need to figure out what 7" would make the proper size of the lazy susan. Oh, I like the idea. I've seen plenty of single kit displays on smaller turntables and want to mix it up a litte.
Thanks for all the input.
Matt N.

OK, I have a Tiger I and an early production Sherman on the way. Already have the Stuart and 105mm Howitzer. Still need a Marder and some German infantry. The infantry I have no problem with. Several sites offer 1/35 scale Afrika Korps infantry for a few dollars. Found the Generals for the center. I can include Rommel with Patton and Bradley, even though he was not actually present. I have decided to leave out the aircraft, due to the fact that I would have to figure out how to support them over the dio. Does anybody know where to find a lazy susan, anymore? I think Walmart or Target may have one, but keep forgetting to check. Oh, I would also like to include a US command car. Anybody know what it was based on? I've seen some based on a M3A1 and M2A1. From what I have seen of Patton's command car, I should use a 6x6 and two jeeps. I would also have that as a center piece. Another concern is lighting. I want to be very uniqe and have some LED lights wire up through the center, then out to the areas in between the kits. Please keep up the constructive critisism.
Thanks Matt N.

Matt, the use of a lazy susan will work. I'm not sure of the size of your project and the stability of such a large peice. I have a ving. on one just for the pupose of getting an all around veiw. It is an alley with a wooden fence for a partial back yard filled with a water pump, chicken coop, cloths line, stacked fire wood, tools and a tree. Having to turn it without the l.s. is a pain but with the l.s. it's a breeze and Idon't worry about parts on the edge breaking off. It has a front position by the placing of two engraved plates. Being able to turn with ease to veiw all the areas is a benifit and I will do more like it in the future. You might even put a divider in the middle to seperate the opposing forces, such as a hill, wall or something. I have one planed for the mobile kitchen units of the major combatants of w.w.2. I like the idea, go for it.

Innovative display bases are the heart and soul of modeling! I would encourage you to persist, and experiment, with different possibilities, until the form of your inspiration is realized. A good, old-fashioned hardware store may have a 12-inch diameter ring, with bearings embedded between two metal plates. Each plate would be screwed to two different wooden base-works. The diorama may be built up to your vision from any sound base-work. If the 12-inch ring is too small, you my construct a larger one by mounting a series of caster wheels between two sound bases.

Hi Matt,

You can make your own all you need is some wood & a swivel bearing.

That way you dictate the size & finish from beginning to end

Matt,

The turntable idea is very interesting. Will it be a permanent installation, or do you plan to transport it to shows etc? I ask because if you have to move something that size it will dictate how you build it to avoid damage when moving. At 32" diameter you can't carry it through doorways flat - it'll have to be tipped on its side. That means making sure nothing will fall off, and that nothing delicate will get knocked off. (This comes from my model railroading days, where the typical layout module is somewhere near 2x4 feet. Typical solutions include adding removable "transport" sides and top to effectively box up the delicate module while moving.) With a modicum of forward planning it should be quite a good display!

Tom

Matt -

1. This is going to be a huge dio.....
2. I really like the lazy susan idea.....
3. Please share pics of the project.....perhaps as a build log or feature (or whatever they are called here).

Great idea.

Semper Fi,
Dave

I have put this project on the back burner, in leu of running a campaign and building my bomber collection. I will not have the kits attached, so that I can package them separately and be able to transport the base with ease. I will attempt to keep a photo log of the project. I intend to start on it by the end of next month. The first kit will be a Tiger. Then, some DAK. On the Allied side, I will have a 105 Howitzer and a Sherman, as well as infantry and a command car. I have not decided if I want to include the aircraft, yet. More to come.