I'm looking to *someday* do a diorama using two vehicles, an E8 Sherman and a M3A1 halftrack, based around a small town in Western Germany near the close of WWII. I plan on making it small(er), if you call small including two vehicles. I already measured out the length of the kits I will eventually be using so I have a rough estimate of what it may be like. But I just don't know the approximate length and depth of the buildings to use. I'm guessing the base length and width to be approximately.... 18in x 6in... Maybe I didn't think this through enough throughly. But always a good learning experience.

Dear Mickey,

First of all, Merry Christmas to you!

About the buildings: first of all, try to find out where you want to locate your dio regionally, than decide if you want to be in a big town or a small town.
After that, you may find heaps of buildings on Google. Remember, in the beginning and mids of the 20th century, most German cities had their own characteristics. Eg, in the Eiffel area you would find quite some so called fachwerkhaeuser, in the north red brick buildings and in Berlin a lot of classic inspired buildings.
So, your question can be answered rather eay by yourself if you define your dio more specific.
Furthermore, MiniArt has a wide choise of buildings, which easily can be combined.

Hope I have helped you a bit!

Looking forward to see your dio,

P.

Hi Michael,
Miniart website can be useful for you. Go to catalogue, building and accessories.you can find some sketchs there like this one and 1/35 building dimensions are given on the box cover.

best regards
Engin

Paul, it's Mikey not Mickey. And I'm looking to do this around Erfurt, Germany.

And thank you guys.

"Erfort?" (Sorry, that´s slang )
Pretty nice city nowerdays, with a quite impressive Christmas fair...
Happens I´m a bit familliar with the region, shurely an interresting place for a Diorama.
Some of the smaller villages around and some areas outside the city center of Erfurt have lost a lot of their flair, but there is quite a lot of that left.
Older buildings are averange sized, the ones around the Dom (something like main church) are mostly Fachwerk (frame work). Roughly guessed about 5-10m long, stories about 2,5-3m high each. Everything pretty usual. If you need more Info, drop me a line.

I'll definitely be doing that. Still not fully decided on any specific area yet. I'm mostly using this article for ideas as it tells a bit about the 50th AIB during the closing of the war. Exactly the time I need. And they have half tracks and mention being with some tank battalion. Plus they mention passing through many towns and cities.

http://www.super6th.org/50thAIB/LastBulwark.html

But I think I have a problem as I can't find any decal sets depicting the 6th AD in Germany '45 as far as I've looked.

But I think I have a problem as I can't find any decal sets depicting the 6th AD in Germany '45 as far as I've looked. [/quote]

Try Archer Fine Transfers. They have a number of vehicle sets depicting 6th AD late war.

I've already checked. They don't have specifically M3A1 halftracks for the 6th AD. I've been looking now for some pictures of plain Jane M3's of the 6th but it's slow going.

Does anyone know if armored divisions would run with other armored divisions? Like the 4th doing operations with the 6th? It certainly would save me some headaches.

Sorry to say,not very likely. We didn't have a shortage of tanks at any time during the war so what would be the reason? A USArmy armored div would have at least three bn's of tanks so not much reason to gang up with another unit.
J

Well that makes my life just a tad bit harder... Now to search for good pictures of 6th AD halftracks. But people from the 50th AIB 6th AD would travel with people from the 68th TB 6th AD, correct?

And actually I think I'll plan on doing something based around the town/city Sömmerda, Germany or around that area in 1945.

You are correct. The 6AD would use assets from its' integral units when they made up combat comands. A typical CC would have a Bn of tanks and a Bn of infantry combined with various combat support elements like engineers,aaa and field arty. These would sometimes be broken down further into smaller elements for control purposes so you may have a Tank company with a platoon detached but with a platoon of infantry attached.
The same overall concept as the German Kampfgruppe.
J