Jerry,

An intriguing project. I look forward to the results.

You all astound me with reworks that do, if you can't find make it. Maybe you should make a resin casting later, I'm sure somebody will need this figure later on down the road .

Well Mr. Rutman I can't really see anything that needs work. Looks awesome.

Nice work, Frederick. The gunner is coming along fine but the kneeling GI is terrific. The one hand he is motioning with looks great. Keep up the good work.
Ironmike

Nice to see some US stuff from you Mr. Rutman! The pose you have the Section Leader in is fantastic- it really does look like he's telling the gunner to adjust his fire- excellent work.

Jerry-- great work. May I suggest you adjust the T&E mechanism so the weapon points straight? If your intent is for the gunner to be firing down hill, the weapon appears to not have much room for barricade material.
DJ

Jer,

These guys are looking pretty good. I'm anxious to hear and see more about the plan and composition of the diorama.

In regards to the heavy MG and gunner, the pose right now suggests to me that the gun is positioned on a hill top or slight rise, maybe just back from the topographical crest, and he's firing downhill across the forward slope.

Being slightly back from the topographical crest puts the gun position in dead space, and the top of the hill provides the desired cover. In this kind of location, the actual firing position doesn't need much preparation.

(For other readers here, think of the MG equivalent to a turret-down tank position.)

So, on the diorama, if the gun barrel is more or less parallel to the slope forward of the gun, then the crew has a good position - grazing fire and protection through the good use of the dead space. I could easily see the gun positioned to fire between some tree roots or rocks with maybe a shallow scrape for the gunner to lie in.

Of course, you, old friend, having a hard earned master's degree in "Infantry-ology" know all this already. However, for some of the others here, trust me, the pose so far looks just right and very realistic.

Looking forward to seeing more...

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Jerry-- great work. May I suggest you adjust the T&E mechanism so the weapon points straight? If your intent is for the gunner to be firing down hill, the weapon appears to not have much room for barricade material.
DJ

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Good point. The gun is still just cobbled together and almost no work has been done on it. Plenty of time.
The units history and log books do indicate that there was not much prep time between the op order and the execution of the attack. I don't think,therefor,that much could be done in the way of digging in. The weather was cold but above freezing and the top soil was very wet with the sub soil being kind of laced with ice,much like it gets here in Penna a lot in winter so that also hindered digging in.
I plan to have very hasty dug in positions and in fact,the gunner has an empty e-tool carrier on his other side.
The weather was misty and so the fires were too high at first plus the Germans had great positions picked out with the un armoured flak halftracks being sited behind nice roadside burms in hull down positions. Heck of a fight. Lots' of lead in the air that day on the two way rifle range.
Both side lost the wartime equivelent of a Bn of men from the 3/504 PIR and the III/SSPzGrenRegt2.
The German Bn commander was kia along with most of his company commanders after leading a violent counterattack. The american Bn had very few officers still on their feet at the end of the attack.
J

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Jerry-- great work. May I suggest you adjust the T&E mechanism so the weapon points straight? If your intent is for the gunner to be firing down hill, the weapon appears to not have much room for barricade material.
DJ

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Good point. The gun is still just cobbled together and almost no work has been done on it. Plenty of time.
The units history and log books do indicate that there was not much prep time between the op order and the execution of the attack. I don't think,therefor,that much could be done in the way of digging in. The weather was cold but above freezing and the top soil was very wet with the sub soil being kind of laced with ice,much like it gets here in Penna a lot in winter so that also hindered digging in.
I plan to have very hasty dug in positions and in fact,the gunner has an empty e-tool carrier on his other side.
The weather was misty and so the fires were too high at first plus the Germans had great positions picked out with the un armoured flak halftracks being sited behind nice roadside burms in hull down positions. Heck of a fight. Lots' of lead in the air that day on the two way rifle range.
Both side lost the wartime equivelent of a Bn of men from the 3/504 PIR and the III/SSPzGrenRegt2.
The German Bn commander was kia along with most of his company commanders after leading a violent counterattack. The american Bn had very few officers still on their feet at the end of the attack.
J

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Jer-- which action are trying to display?
DJ

Thank you Sir! (with crisply rendered hand salute)
I wonder if you ever saw the "tank like" vehicles our Tank Bn was issued in 82nd Abn up to the 90s?
Cute little things made out of aluminum that would come apart at the seams if they burned in on a heavy drop.
J

Fascinating read Gentlemen, I enjoy Dios and Vignettes w/ a backstory logged behind them!

Will be following this one Jerry, Thanks for sharing all you have so far.

Cheers
Dave