I have always wanted to do this diorama since I saw the photo some years ago. Recently I met the TC of the vehicle and so now it has jumped to the front of the pile. I do not plan on superdetailing the interior but I did add a few footman loops to the right side where they would be seen even from the top. There are missing ones under the troop benches but they can not be seen from the top. In any case, lots of stowage will be under the benches too.

15 or so figures needed too. The TC advises guys were sitting inside as well.

Looking good!

YAT-YAS, I'll be track'n on this build.

Wow, looking forward to this one.. Looking good

Interesting subject! I didn't even know the Marines used their tracks for an amphibious assault during this campaign.

Good job on the interior so far.

Olivier

Nice book that one.
Are you going to use the Warriors 1/35 OIF guys??

Looking great Bob. I'll definitely be watching this one.

Cooool idea Bob (no pun intended ) I've noticed you've got late David Harper's great book to look into for inspiration.

H.P.

Yes, I will be using those figures but I will have to modify the arms to make them more relaxed like in the photo since the Warriors figures are firing.

I have some of the nice DML Marines too but I will have to hunt for more. LOTS of gear and figures to paint!

The crews were not confident the the tracs would float after all the hard campaigning so all hatches were open for the crossing. Guys lost their stuff too in the water so the third crewman was usually tasked with trying to retrieve gear with a boat hook as it floated by. I may try to depict something like that.

Bob

I remember crossing the Diyala, I was with an LAR company we reconned some of the crossing sites along with Delta Co. That sticks in my mind for one reason - we had gotten to come out of the chemical suits not long before and it was "nice" to be able to just wear the cammies, however the stench from the suits we'd been wearing continuously for the march up was really unpleasant when we burned them. I'm definitely going to be following this one, I know you'll do it justice, Rob.

John, did you get to see the crossing too? There seems to have been two crossings at the same time. All this while the grunts were forcing a crossing of the foot bridge. So you were in an LAV or Humvee?

Anyway, the tracs in the photo and my dio where reservists. When they fell on these tracs for the invasion they had to make do with plate armor on the side rear portions of the tracs. Not enough EEAK for everybody. The same plates used on the roof were used on the sides. So I will be scratching that for my build too.

There were definitely two simultaneous crossings, grunts crossed over a damaged bridge as well as the tracs swimming the river. They would have been from 4th Tracs, I had a couple corpsman friends who were with 4th Tracs for the march up. While RCT7 was making the crossing we were reconning possible bridge sites. My home for the war was in the back of an LAV 25. We crossed after they had the ribbon bridge in service, my platoon helped provide security while it was being built. IIRC the unit that built the ribbon bridge was an RC unit out of W. VA. The day of the crossing was a pretty busy day for us, thankfully we didn't take any casualties in my unit as we weren't around for the arty fire that hit our side of the river.

Yes, 4th Tracs. I will be doing a B Co trac. They were from Texas. A Co were guys from Florida. I'm used to tanks. I'm learning about the amtracs. Wow, they had a lot of tracs (12) in a platoon. Not like the tanks with 4.

There is a pretty good book written by an LAV company commander about OIF. I recall a lot of angst for those guys in worrying if they ever had to cross a river wet they could not do it since their vehicles were suffering a lot of road accident type of damage. As I noted above, the amtrac guys were worried about sinking when they got the order to cross. Many could not even get their bow planes to deploy.

I've read it, if you're talking about Highway War. The author was the Delta 1st LAR Commander. Those vehicles all had some really hard miles on them by then. I'm glad we crossed by the ribbon bridge personally.

Looking forward to this Robert.

Tom

Progress. One middle bench was hanging from the side, so I sculpted the sagging pad, with the underneath middle strap of the pad peaking out - the pads are held onto the benches by hidden straps underneath them.

Work continues on the interior. I have to weather a lot of the stowage still. I was not planning on adding too many extra details to the interior since there will be lots of figures, but I could not resist a couple of things, especially in the middle area where one will be able to see straight down into the interior.





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So far I have not had any fit issues. I have read that the upper hull does not fit when the fuel cell is glued in, but my dry fitting shows no problems so far.

I see you have a garbage bag hanging-good eye for detail.
Dan

Howdy Robert, nice looking Tuna Boat! You have done a great job with stowage variety and colors.

Mike sends . . .

Thanks guys. I will be working on soft stowage for the starboard side wall, and a distress flag that will go above the fuel cell. I think I will make a broom too that will be tied to one of the pipes. And some chip bags and water bottles too.

My Brother in law was an AAV company commander in Al Nasiriyah...I'm planning on building him an AAV as a retirement present (should be retiring in the next couple years.

Here's an article about a school at Lejeune that he had named after one his guys that got killed there.

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?27567-Lejeune-school-honors-Iraq-hero&s=b054999a83dcae1e66dab76739d0e203

And PDF about the battle

http://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/U.S.%20Marines%20in%20Battle_An-Nasiriyah%20%20PCN%2010600000700_1.pdf

A little update. I added some new and crushed water bottles. Drinking tube on the camel back. And I made a Pringles can and Doritos bags. I hope they can be seen once the standing figures are in. Chips and scratches and some streaking.

Time to start on the sitting figures.

Padding for the hatch rings, a broom for the interior, and a start on the figures.

Wow ! Great job Robert.

Which kit is it ? Hobby Boss ?

That's very nice.

I'll be following your build.


Cheers

Richard

Very impressive interior so far.

Yes, this is the Hobby Boss kit. I am impressed with the details so far, especially what they included for the interior. They did not take too many shortcuts. The big issue is that they give no callouts for colors of all the detail, so you really should have some reference material at hand.

My initial plan was not to do too much extra detailing of the interior since there will be 12-15 guys just in the back and so I expect much to be blocked by the figures. But the broom I could not resist. And a few other odds and ends like footman loops in some obvious places.