Hey guys This has A little bit of every subject I would like to make a Dio with two tanks going at it!!Sherman most likly and any German AFV I ahve a few Tigers,Panzers, and 2 King Tigers.I want these tanks to seem to be firing on each other.So how far would these tanks be from each other?(In Dio measurements of course 1/35)Any pictures showing them fighting and having battle damage.I know one hit from a tiger or heavy panzer would knock out a sherman so help me out guys thanks.

I'm not sure on my calculations I believe 1000yds would scale to 80 feet.

Ola Jackalone.

In my opinion there are only a couple of ways to put 2 or 3 tanks together without needing to buy an Aircraft hangar.
As Shermiesrule already pointed out there were quite a couple of tanks who could Kill a Counterpart from about 1000 Yds and they did that more often then real close combat. Why risk your tank and crew on a fight of 100 yards if you can do it from 1000 without being seen.

Now one of the most effective ways to Put two or three tanks Of two fighting sides is probably to show them in an Ambush position. Or In case a german tank in a deserted Ambush position with some US tanks driving by. In this way you still can show the tanks of both sides only in a different context
Another way is to show a part of a Factory where they built tanks during the last years of WW2 with some Allied tanks Inspecting them. Now from the last thing I don`t know how accurate it would be but the Ambush option is always a good one

Yep i bet on whats said . Even in 1/35 the distances would need your entire house to build the dio !! So maybe can have eone german tank in a trench maybe with a track problem or something but with the crew alive and trying to fire and the enemy tank caught them sleeping from behind or ambush them. Normal Tank firing scene will be out reality look i think so better avoid it. i always dreamed of huge 50 sq. meters dio that could throw in 5-6 battle tanks but ....just dreamed of it

i once had an idea to do a dio of the last action of the arras counterattack, with an 88 firing on open sights at matildas, but as the real action took place at some distance, i worked out i would need a dio with a length of around 50 feet.

some more ideas for you,

bocage-tight hedgerows, ambushes etc
urban scene-often tanks fought in close quaters in built up areas,

one specific battle that springs to mind is the action at a place called prophorovka during the battle of kursk. the action involed clashes with panthers and tigers, and several T34's.

the tanks got so close, that many crashed into each other, and aircraft and artillery were hitting their own units!

im thinking of making a dio based on that action as soon as i clear some shelf space!

cheers

joe

I think the best way to include lots of tanks in a dio is to make it in such a way that there will be destroyed tanks all around- among which the tanks of the victorious side are passing by after the battle. The destroyed tanks should mostly be of the retreating side. If you want to make a dio of a tank battle which is still continuing in 1/35 scale, you have to be richer than Michael Jackson, who has his own funfair, to buy some estates to build your diorama on. In fact I thought of a field battle at the scale of 1/700 scale when I first saw your heading. I may try that later, but 1/35 scale is a nice idea for a tank battle but not quite feasible in my opinion. Good luck.

How about this as an idea - this stems from KFMagees newest creations and a CD kit I saw recently.
Make two bases each about 12"x12" (or however big). One for each tank. Build them with very similar techniques and foliage or buildings etc. Build each tank as if it's firing or ranging or targeting on the other.
Then once each is done you display one on one wall of the house and the other on the other side of the room. Each pointing at the other. In essence you put the view right in the middle of the action. Get two small curio shelves or nicknack shelves. You can build them with figures pointing across the room. You could even taper the bases to draw the attention toward the other side of the room.

Slodder has a excelent idea!!!!!

ANOTHER THOUGHT… is the effect range of the Tiger was one reason the Shermans use outflanking and speed, not effective killing range or frontal attack to take on these beast. So...

How about a Tiger in Ambush and Sherman breaking through a building, wall, hedgerow to take it on from behind. Shocked German crew and equally shocked Sherman crew.

Read a diary excerpt once of a Sherman crew, knowing the German Panzers were near and ambushing Allied Tanks, they were trying to maneuver in a small village to find them and get off a rear shot before that 88 started up. They came through a wooden fence and ran into the Tiger... literally. No traffic cops nearby, so they opened up with their 76MM at point blank range - concussion and shrapnel nearly killed the unbuttoned Sherman CO. Scratch one Tiger.

John
www.johnneill.com

ive got some great ideas for dios now!

cheers

joe

You must admit though guys, an 80 by 80 dio would be awesome to look at #:-)


I like the one idea, have a sherman coming through a building, walking right into the back of a german ambush completely surprising bothe crews.

You could always recreate the scene in Kelly's Heros, where Oddballs crew sneaks in behind the Tiger, only to mistakenly fire a paint marking round into its rear. Of course then you'd have to recreate the "upgrades" Oddball made to his Sherman. Well just an idea.

I say go for the buy an aircraft hanger and turn the whole floor into the battle of Kursk. That would be interesting.

I was going to suggest a tank driving buy its "kill" that is on fire. Just a thought.

I have got two Ideas:
1) to have the two tanks together you can make as if the crew from the tiger is inspecting a captured sherman, or the opposite
2)another Idea would be to make a really small ally in a bombed out Berlin, where by an unhappy coincidence, the two tanks get in the alley at the same time, and the infantry are killing each other.

I know, I went kind of crazy, let my imagination go too far..... #:-)

In the opening stages of the Battle of the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), on Dec. 18, a small group of Shermans and M-10's (possibly from 741st Tank Battallion and 644th Tank Destroyer Battallion,possibly the 9th Armoured Division, as that seems to be the only armour available at that date in that area), and bazooka teams slugged it out at point-blank ranges with Panthers from 12th SS Hitlerjugend in a small farming town called Krinkelt.. The buildings were mostly built of stone with narrow streets restricting use of the Panther's long gun. This action delayed 12th SS, and Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Armee 3 days.
In another action on the 21st at a farming manor near Butgenbach, 2 Shermans (again, probably the 9th Armoured) and two Pz. lV's from Hitlerjugend destroyed each other at point-blank range in the ruins of the manor house itself. Again construction was of stone. The Shermans were again accompanied by infantry and bazooka teams. Later the same day, 4 M-36's arrived and destroyed any remaining Pz. lV's in the farm buildings at close range. In a photo, the barn, where most of the action occured, was made of wood, and some smaller out-buildings were of brick, with the manor house itself built of stone.
Although this was mid-December, not much snow was on the ground and temperatures were above freezing, making conditions wet and very muddy.
Build a great diarama!

How about a shadowboxlike thingie with a 1/35 in fron and a 1/72 in the background ?

Running with the street theme, why not have one raming the other.........With infantry runnung about...........

You might also do a steep hillside dio with a Jagd-something..

There was an annecdote in a late war history book about a Jagdpanther and a JS152 (?)
Both met and had to jockey for position since neither could depress their gun far enough for a shot if the opponent was below them on the hill. Supposedly the fight took place at stone throwing distance.
I'm not doing a god job of describing, but it was a riviting 3-4 paragraph read.

Mike

Warrior, that was the exact same thing I thought of when I read the main post. I guess great minds do think alike.
Kyle

My 2-cents.... first, most Sherman tank commanders would be hightailing it , if faced in close quarters with a Tiger, Panther, or KingT.... Even from point blank range, the 75 and 76 had a hard time piercing the front glacis of one of these brutes. So close quarters face-to-face is unlikely..... but close quarters where they were concealed and waiting for a rear shot or side shot could be quite interesting.

That said... how bout a few "dead shermans" with a panther hiding in their midst as a form of camoflauge, waiting for the next victim... kinda like a spider amongst the flies caught in her web?

Some great dio ideas there,like the one about kellys heroes had that in mind before i read it dam beat me to it .right have you seen band of brothers i think its eposode 4 or 5 where easy company has liberated eindoven ,later on you see a couple of cromwells and shermans advancing towards a village.but what they dont see is a tiger hidden next to a building covered in hay .At that point a paratrooper from easy company climbs on to the cromwell to point out the location of the hidden tiger.well they took a lickin,just a good idea may do it after my dio is finished.do you have an attic or loft imagine the diorama you could make in all that space????

I was thinking of doing a dio with two tanks... One destroyed... Putting two or three crewmen from the winning tank posing victoriously on their prey, then maybe have another crewmen with a brownie camera snapping a photo.

Pheonix, Good call on the great minds.

I just thought the scene would be hilarious, a well weathered and detailed Tiger, with a huge splash of bright orange across the back, as the tank commander asks "WTF?".

I also love the idea of the Band of Brothers scene. It would let you get very intricate in the camoflaging the panzer with netting and foliage. If anyone tries either of these, please post. I would love to see it.

there is a picture on one of the modelling mags of a guards officer who rammed a tiger or two not sure which why not try something like that