What are the different ways of attaching flying aircraft to dioramas? I've seen some who use transparent acrylic rods, glass tubing, monofilament and wires through trees. I want to build a Warthog flying over a desert. Ideas, guys?

You could add a background to your diorama base and have the A10 attached to some sort of rod from the background to the farside wing of the aircraft. It would limit how you could view it but would be almost invisable from most sides.

You don't pick an easy one do you! The only thing that I can come up with are a couple of ways to camouflage the rod. You could have a Maverick launching and the smoke trail connecting a rod to the plane, or if you're down molesting the camels, maybe a burst from the Avenger with the gun smoke hiding a rod

Nice ideas!

Sometimes I look too far ahead. I find that it helps guide my steps

Another possibility is both of your ideas combined: a printed background, a rod through the exhaust of one or both engines, camouflaged by black smoke representing an engine fire. I have to admit that I might be in over my head

Hard to find Warthog fodder in 1/72 though. These tips could still apply to:

a Typhoon vs a Panzer
an Su-25 Frogfoot vs (M1?, M60?, IDF Sherman?)
a Stuka vs Sherman

Thanks a lot! Keep 'em coming!

Revell Germany has a T-80 out in markings for Tony the Tiger's open air Outhouse in 1/72 , and I've seen several other new modern 1/72 Russian made vehicles in my local shops. Technically not accurate for the Gulf War Part 1---another option is the new Italerie 1/72 T-62A:-H

Did the T-80 face the Warthog during the Gulf War? As far as I know the 'Hog only ate -60s and -72s. I could be wrong though. The Revell T-80 is available here. I'm still waiting for the new Italeri tanks.

I think the rod from a background is a cool idea. I've considered doing it myself. Here's a pic of this method put to use by Scott Murphy with a refueling setup. Pretty cool.
http://members.tripod.com/scottsmodels/in-flight_refueling.htm

I don't think that there were any T-80 proper over there in '91, but I think that the Yugoslav made T-72M-2's that the Republican Guards had are close enough that a T-80 could be backdated. I don't have any schematics to compare so I can't say definately.
Just looking the box over at Hobbytown, the Italerie T-62 doesn't look too bad, it comes in either Egyptian or Syrian markings for the Yom Kippur War; I've heard that these new 1/72 Italerie are reissues useing old ESCI molds.

I was there on the ground and all we saw were T-72's. I heard there were a few T-80's but they were kept near the capital and under wraps so they were not taken out. Held in reserve to Protect Saddam.

Tin_Can: A local modeller also did this. He used a Hasegawa KA-6 and a Hasegawa F14 in 1/72 and attached it to a backlighted sunset background. The effect was absolutely stunning! It won Best Diorama in the recent IPMS-Philippines Exhibit. Sorry, no pics. Cameras were banned at the exhibit

BlueBear: Backdating a T-80 to a T-72 should not be a big problem (I hope). Besides, a lot of detail is lost in 1/72. Will keep an eye out for both kits though.

Josenhans: Thanks for that first-hand tip! Did the Warthog use its Avenger on those tanks?

Guess I was wrong. Major backdating!

No joy! No joy! Maybe a better bet would be to try the T-62's, MTLB's, and M-1989 SP 122mm's for prospective Wart-Hog bait. I think that there are BMP's available too in 1/72. :-)

MTLB

T-62


Searching for M-1989. Found M-1981 SP 122mm. No pics though.

Might have better chances looking for BMPs. BMP-2 most likely?

It might be the M-1981 that I'm thinking of, I know it was a 122mm ---looks kind of like an old American M-109 155mm, but with better shape. They have a couple of them over at my local hobby shop in 1/72 from one of the new Eastern European or Russian companies.
ESCI made a 1/35 version of the Iraqi BMP-2 back in the early 90's. I remember seeing one in the base exchange when I was back in A-school---30mm auto-cannon with a Spigot AT launcher instead of a Sagger on the turret? Again, one of the new Eastern European companies has it outin 1/72. I'll try and get some solid info later and get it into this post.

Found the pic!!! :-)

Looks good, but that Turkey crew would probably be blowing chunks into their masks from getting bounced up and down like they were riding a yo-yo! Those down and out angled exhaust cans on the Intruder are set just about right there to be shooting onto that Turkey's tail-feathers. They're a pain to have moving around on the flight-deck too---if you don't watch out and realize that there's an Intruder or Prowler turning, you can easily get sent rolling across the deck non-skid like you were a bowling ball!

Bouncing up and down like a yoyo while trying to snare the fuel drogue with fuel warnings on your console is not my idea of fun. Refuelling on the old Nintendo "Top Gun" game was hard enough (failure rate of 100%).

Lack of 1/72 'Hog fodder might change the theme a bit. My girlfriend also did not like the idea of a big diorama base since she has already seen my Academy 1/72 Warthog. A Typhoon harrassing a Tiger might be more manageable. I'm not giving up on the 'Hog yet though.

Jey Jeepney! That mid-air pic is great! Do you know how the backlight is made? What the light source is, etc.

Toni

Toni: crismag and I both think a flourescent lamp was used to backlight the diorama. It looks better in person because the background is yellowish so it looks like sunrise or sunset.

This is a preliminary sketch of my first dio. The setting will be an open grassland with a few trees. The Typhoon (with D-Day stripes) will be attacking a Tiger I.

The Typhoon will be supported by a wire through its left wingtip. This wire will be connected to one of the trees. I plan to launch one of its rockets. This rocket will also be supported with a wire from the pylon which will be covered by cotton representing smoke. The base of the diorama will be rectangular.

I will be using Academy's 1/72 Typhoon and Revell's 1/72 Tiger.

Comments and suggestions are definitely welcome. Thanks!

Jeepney, your idea sounds good to me! One thing that has to be considered is the dive angle and distance from the target...You will have to shorten that distance (from a real case) to make it fit on a base. One thing that helps to show the distance bigger than it is, place each model close to the edgesof the base. This way you would also have a dynamic space between those models and you have room for your rocket. With the rocket, find some good preference pics showing the shape of the smoke trail. It´s easy to ruin a good diorama with clumsy effects!
Typhoon is a great looking plane, plus the D-Day stripes...wow.

Good luck with the project, these were just the first thoughts!


Toni

Thank you for the vote of confidence Toni! I'll look for references for that rocket.

The Typhoon is also one of my favorites especially after I read Pierre Clostermann's (sp?) book.

You could have the effect that the Hog just rolled in on the tanks blowing them all to hell and have the smoke from the tanks hiding a rod to the Hog as it pulls up or manuvers to avoid flak.

Like the Cat dio.

Here's one of my all-time favorites. It is by a Taiwanese modeler Leo Shu. The aircraft is merely touching the ground, the snow is blown up by the engine, the soldier running for dear life. There's plenty more where that came from : The Camo from Taiwan





Jan

In order to keep the base a reasonable size and yet give a sense of distance between the subjects, it may be better to use the "forced perspective" technique. This is the use of models of different scales, for example-a 1/144 aircraft and 1/72 tank. This would work best as a boxed diorama, so you have a fixed view point.