Here are a few pictures of my finished BOTB diorama. While this one is finished, comments and suggestions for future reference are always welcome.

Ciao Keith,
It's beautiful! Wonderful job and the action is really cool. Great job!
Ciao for now
Rob

Excellent dio

Only one fault if you ask me, i dont like the top of the BAR rifle barrel, the tank crew or the scouts can see it from miles.

Othervise nice and very "full of action" dio.

Keith, you've done a great job on this dio. The lay out is well balanced and keeps the eye searching to see all the detail. I like your weathering on both the buildings and the panzer & your cement columns on the brick wall turned out great. Your figures are well painted and look lifelike in their posing. My only concern (and its a small one ) is the rubble by the wall both side of the gate I can't see how this would get there since the wall would block the flying debris from the building. MHO and it doesn't detract from your dio, future reference only.

BTW what figures did you use here?.


Bruce

Wow! This is really nice! Great work! I think the G.I.'s behind the wall are screwed, although they do have the element of ambush on their side! One of them better get his head down!

I like your dio but my concern is with the placement of the GI troops. I have a feeling that because of their proximity to the tank they would have been spotted by now.

Wouldn't there be some snow/ice in a Battle of the Bulge scene?

You did a great (GREAT) job on the grass/weeds, and the figures look nice as well. Good composition and nice "action" story.... the good guys are about to brew up a kitty.

Fun stuff...

Keith you have a nice dio, great painted building and figures, great wheathering and a good story in it.
But just like marty says the GI troops would be seen by now. Maybe you must make the wall a little higher.

Greetz Rob!

Awesome. While I agree with the others concerning the placement of the U.S. soldiers, I would point out to all that "maybe" the intent was to capture a moment in just a series of events. I see that the G.I.'s are moving into postion in a split second - the bazooka man to take his shot @ the tank, while the other lays down supressing fire with BAR only to then to haul a** out of there.

Nice job! great composition. I think if you lost the one US fig facing the tank, you would solve the problems the others noted. but its great the way it is!

Hi Keith, You have indeed done some excellent work here. All around great job, I love it. I like the placement of figs, the ground work, models and figs. Excellent layout...everything!!!

Maybe the tank commander is telling them and his
crew as well?
I don't think the GI's are going to make it either!!

GREAT figures, GREAT looking derbis!!
Ron

Thanks for the comments. This was a fun diorama that kept growing as I went along. As for the placement of the GIs. The title of the diorama is "Foggy Morning at Krinkelt-Rocherath." This fight took place early in the Bulge (thus the lack of snow) between GIs of the 99th and 2nd Inf. Divisions and the 12th SS. It was a very foggy morning (don't know how to model that however) which allowed GI bazooka teams to get very close to the SS panzers and knock them out in the above referenced twin villages at very close range. There are some well known pictures of 12th SS Panthers knocked out in the streets, one with its barrel blown off. I took a bit of historical license and used a Dragon Panzer IVJ as I wanted to build a Panzer IV (second battalion PIVs could have been there!) rather than a Panther. The figures are from Nemrod (leaning SS panzergrenadier), Verlinden (tank commander), Michael Roberts (bazooka GI) and Warriors (all the rest) (if any one wants the specific figure numbers, PM me and I will look them up for you in my notes).

Keith

What does 'BOTB' stand for. If it stands for battle of the bulge, was there not snow?
Other than that, excellent dio.

cheers

Philip

Procrazy




During the opening stages of the BOTB there was NO SNOW.

When I finished my Ardennes dio I was asked the same question . Why there is no snow?
Keith your dio is very nice. I was wondeing about placement of figures but after your explanation everything is clear.

OK, cool.

cheers

Philip

Hi Keith
I really love the dio the figs and the tank great lay out ,i love the way the figs have been placed,and as you say fog is a very hard thing to model.
I think that what gets forgotten is that in much of this type of fighting in BOTB and in Normandy there were some very up close and personal incidents involving infantary and tanks and i feel that you have done a great job in giving that feeling.
Great Job Cheers Chris

Hi there,

Nice work on your models,figures and groundwork, but there's one thing I find strange. It looks like the GI's want to fire their bazooka on the tank, otherwise the GI with the bazooka wouldn't have it in it's hands with the German infantry nearby (he would carry his own firearm then) But the tank will be driving almost on top of them before they get a change to fire, So what I'm trying to say is that they're much too close for a shot with that bazooka!

You could explain it by saying they want to make a rear-shot on the tank and let it pass first :-)

Wow, that is absolutely beautiful. The model, the figures, the building and the groundwork looks great

excellent job! I like the placement of the figures, looks like it was a lot of fun building!

Another fine work there kbm. I see you appear to like long alleys in your dios. You're Kelly's Heroes dio was also the long alley scene where Oddball kills the Tiger from behind.

thast a sick dio, well painted and overal built!
Frank

KBM -

Outstanding. The composition and theme are well supported and the diorama is a success as is evident in all the "imagination" it has generated based on all the feedback/comments. PzKpfw IV "J" is a perfect choice and requires no need to worrying about using "artistic license" as the 12 SS Panzer Division had II/SS Pz Regt 12 equipped with IV Js as you mentioned. I'm thinking maybe the bazooka man is asking the guy with the BAR if maybe they shouldn't find a better spot, fall back, who the loader will be, dowe have time? That's what makes this diorama so good, it gives the viewer the pieces to develop his/her own story. PzKpfw IV "J" , figures, everything has great attention to details and very well presented. Thanks for sharing,

Blade48mrd

Keith, a fantastic Diorama !! Wow, this really came out nice

Poses of the figures give the impression of a hasty ambush, and the 2 Germans look like they know the enemy is nearby. The US figures look nervous, and have a sense of panic as the Pz IV approaches.

Love the groundwork and buildings, you did a great job on them. Pz IV Ausf J looks awesome as well.

I hope you can post some more pics !!

Cheers !!

Alpen