Hi all.

Here's something I have been working on and off for the past 5 years. Normandy Era, U.S. airborne stumble across a German inhabited old farmhouse accompanied by a preying Tiger tank. It is not done yet. You will see the grass is floating as it is not glued down yet. the creek does not have any water yet. the stone walls isn't finished. I still need to put another 4 German figures in. the house still needs things put inside of it. But the house is totally scratch built and the tiger is obviously not finished yet. Thought its about time I put some pics up. Let me know what you all think. Cheers.

Nice diorama

Hi Matt, (it is Matt, isn't it?)

thanks for sharing your work with us!! It has very inspirational elements no doubt!

First, I'd like to say that your 3-dimensional set-up is very good!! It is not distorted (frequent error in dios), i.e. the height ratios are perfect!

Then, I like your terrain palette (grass/earth/trees) a lot!! Highly consistent!! (Foam may not be the very best foliage material, but that's another story)

The development of the story is great as well. The paras will have a tough nut to crack....and the germans will learn to be afraid of the paras! The paras might have too many bazookas, but that's not important!

Your sandbags are great!! They look "heavy", and not floating!!

There are however a couple of mistakes if you'd allow me to be of assistance!

First the building itself is not "logical"! The high part is too narrow, and it's not clear what purpose it should serve!! We are in the country...and there is no reason to build narrow houses like in a medieval town!

then...the vertical beam inside the farm....what would it be resting on?? There is nothing underneath but a floor of normal boards (itself resting on beams that are far too narrow)! That would not hold!

The roof is not fixed to the walls as far as I can see! One of the Normandy storms, and bye, bye roof!

The door into the farm looks good (as do the shutters), but then the fence aside the Pak looks wrong (too mint, wrong style for a Normandy farmhouse).

The tree canopy is quite massive for the tiny stem!

And finally...the tufts of unravelled hemp grass....better than many, but still not convincing!!!

Just my 5c-worth to help you improve your dios!

Cheers

Romain

Hello there,

Agree with the above, there's a lot to like here, especially the different terrain levels. I think it works really well.
Couple of small points....
Although it affects the title of the whole diorama, there were no Tigers in the area where 101st dropped in Normandy, even given their fairly wide dispersal.
As per Romain's comments, the house looks a bit un-Norman, as does the fence, especially for a rural dwelling.
Have a look here for some photos of typical Norman fences, gates and buildings:
http://normandyimages.blogspot.fr/

Keep it up, look forward to seeing updates.

Cheers,

Sean

Thanks for feed back guys,

The Fence is gone!
I will install a 2nd vertical beam on the first floor.
I will minimize the tree foliage. (never thought about that one but totally agree).

The Farm is a Farm/workshop. And it will have a powerpole with lines going to it. So it I only on the outskirts of a town. The narrow part of the roof and type of house? I don't understand exactly what you mean? my inspiration for the design of the house came from a pic of a house from Normandy.

I thought the tufts of grass were accurate. What should I do better about them?

and finally. Yes I was worried about the accuracy of the tiger and para's. Whats should I do about it?

Also, did Normandy have rock walls?

Hello Matt,

Where in Normandy? The architecture varies quite a bit within the region.




Yep, still does. Normally of the same type of stone as the buildings (granite, limestone etc...).

Cheers,

Sean

Hey Sean,

Not sure. It was from a collection of images I googled. It had soldiers just outside of it that were from 101st. but its never said where exactly. just Normandy.

what do you think I should do with the accuracy and the tiger? Put it somewhere else in France? Maybe Operation Varsity in Germany?

If you want to keep the scene in Normandy you could switch the Tiger for a captured Renaux tank? Or,like you say ,you could switch the scene to Germany but I would go with central or southern Germany as the Tiger would be more likely there. But,now that I think about it,your paras are wearing the earlier style jump uniforms so...Normandy it must e.
J

Yes, there is hardly anything other to do than switch the Tiger for a vehicle more compatible with the paras...and save the Tiger for your next project!

Hopefully your photo was not from the film set of Ryan or BoB!! While they were quite good for a movie set, they were not without flaws!

What I meant is that farms in the country are not bound by space limitations, so they tend to be rather wider than narrow.

You are going the right way!! A few more corrections..and you'll have built a brilliant diorama!!

Cheers

Romain

You could replace the Tiger with a StuGlll G with zimm. German inf and Stugs counterattacked US paras near St. Mere Eglise the day after the landing, but were beat back. 17th SS, with Fallschirmjager (but still no Tigers) also counterattacked near Carentan a few days later and were also beaten back.

suicide mission?

Yep, if you want to stick to Normandy which given the figures attire is best, then there are other options for German armour:

StuG III (as per Biggles2) from 243.Inf Div
Marder III M from 243.Inf. Div
Marder I (Lorraine, if you fancy having a go at the RPM kit, or maybe you don't, I wouldn't.. .. ) from 709.Inf. Div
Hotchkiss and Renault tanks from Pz.Ers.u.Aus.Abt.100
Pz IIIs from same unit
StuG IV from 17.SS Div (from 13th June onwards...)
Technically all the above except the StuG IV were more in the 82nd Airborne area so your Screaming Eagles would have to be mis-dropped, but this happened an awful lot so is pefectly plausible.
Personally, I'd go for a StuG III but it's your model

Whatever, good luck with the continuation.

Cheers,

Sean

Hobby Boss has a (?) Marder 4.7 cm (t) on a Renault chassis which is also a good candidate. Except for a small problem with some stupid PE, it is a well detailed kit with complete interior - engine, transmission, fighting, and driver's compartments. Just needs an appropriately posed crew.

Thanks for the replies guys. Appreciate the input.

Might have to settle for an inaccurate diorama. Its my very last one. Cant really replace the kits and save for anything else. Plus I love the tiger tank! Weird coz the airborne are meant to be from operation varsity late in the war where there were tigers. the kit itself must be in accurate to have the earlier get up. I was originally going to have this diorama set up for that campaign. Anything I can do with the troops then? replace them outright? or should I just settle for historical inaccuracy and just enjoy a diorama for a diorama?

Any other feedback besides whats been said?

Cheers and thanks again.

I think what threw us off was your first post. You said"Normandy era". These figs would be inaccurate then.
But if you are going for "Varsity" then all this stuff on your dio works. Except for some building details and such,which have already been addressed. Remain calm brother and have fun!!!
J

Replace your US troops with British, and shift your location to near Caen! Take a Google 'drive' along Normandy highways to see typical scenery and architecture. Of course, some has been moderized, but a lot of original WWll, and pre-WWll buildings remain.

Ok. I put the bottom support beam in (dah! don't know why I didn't think of that at first). Put a new floor in and weathered to look real old and neglected. putting in a combustion stove. and put in a fold down table upstairs which will be used as a bed by the german machine gunner I will have posted up there.

How are we looking now gents?

cheers.

Matt, my friend,

if you decide to depict aged wood....it really looks old and worn! Congratulations!!!

The beam looks a lot more logical too!

What bothers me a little is the stove.....it's met grey and absolutely untouched or mint! Not a single stain.....!!

Moreover, I wonder where those cardboard boxes are from?? Apart from the fact that the german army was not using cardboard a lot, they seem huuuuge!!! Imagine their weight (unless they are meant to transport styrofoam) and the limitations of cardboard stability...!!

Cheers

Romain

Romain
It's like you are reading my mind!! At least I don't have to type that much as you said it all already
J

Thanks for replying.

Yes, the cardboard boxes are a little big. But they are bought ones from a model shop at 1:35 scale. so don't know why they appear as massive. but yes. so I might leave them out. As for the stove, I think it matches my met tiger tank. haha they are both untouched as I have not yet painted them. when I get around to doing it, I post pics.

Cheers guys.