hi,

I wish to make a diorama setting futuring the following;


- 2 railroadtracks next to a large mountainside(mountainside on the left of the dio)

-a Tiger I (with Zimmerit coating) which bursts through the trees and undergrowth upon the tracks (trees on the left)

-a few waffen ss soldiers running along the tiger and a few in fire combat on the tracks


here are the things I have some questions about;

-what oakleafpattern would the waffen SS soldiers need?
the reason I ask is because I guess this is quitte late in the War somewhere in Italy or something (Hungary?)and I don't know when which oakleave patterns were used.

-is it possible that these waffen ss soldiers were accompanied with a zimmerit coated Tiger?

-and is is possible at all that something as this happened, that is; would it make sense?

it makes sense for me but it would be perfect if the above combinations esspecially with the mountainside and the railroadtracks.


please let me know if I should give this project the green light

I'd question the mountainside logic and railroad line. Tracks that are laid next to a steep hill are usually in a relatively narrow valley along a river's edge. (At least here in the States). Second, the area along the edge of an active track is typically kept free of vegetation for a few meters anyway. Given those two issues, I'd drop the mountain at least, if not both mountain and trees, as these will increase the size of your base to the unweildy.

You'll wind up with a lot of dead space with the plan you have as I visuallize it. You want you scene to be easily understood by the viewer, and adding the excess ground work will reduce the visual impact.

If you were doing a desert scene, a lot of extra space could be effective to give a feel ing of vastness.

Hey bro, youve chosen a huge project for your next diorama. Im not sure if youve built any dioramas before since your new to the site. But this is quit a task for (im assuming?) a begginer. Also, it seems like a pretty simple setting, "a slice of history". I will inform you a little about making a cool diorama, and maybe youll reconsider on this diorama. Combat scenes are the easy types of dioramas, they have that "slice of history" theme to it, where there really isnt anything that you can connect emotion to really. For instance, your diorama a tiger braking threw trees. Somewhat cool, but nothing is really an eye catcher. Do you catch my drift? Small dioramas usually are the best ones. They are the ones that you know exactly what is happening the moment you look at it. Say a diorama of 3 marines with suvineers getting their picture taken by the famous photographer that took the famous picture of "the flag raising" on Iwo Jima.
These are the dioramas that are the most complicated to think of. But it really catches the observers eye.

BTW: to answer your questions:

About the oakleaf pattern, since its late in the war, there is quite a voreity of SS patterns.

SS companies were supported with zimmerit covered tigers

I would give up the mountain and just have the Tiger and troops coming out of the woods along a flat section of track

The good thing about a late war diorama is that any uniform combinations are realistic. Soldiers wore what they had and it was hard to get uniform replacements, so it was common to see old uniforms in use right beside newer uniforms. Good luck with your project.

Patrick

I'd agree with Shermie's and Al's suggestion, too. The mountain would be too unweildy. You could always fashion the groundwork to have a few contours. Maybe the tracks are raised on a slightly raised piece of land?

I think it would be best if the Tiger lurches out of the bushes or small trees. You can add a little folliage to the Tiger for camouflage.

On the issue of dead space, I think the tracks and the gravel where the track is laid on will do the trick. Add a few telegraph poles beside it and it will solve the dead space problem. Plus, you can always add a few more soldiers to the fray to fill up dead space.

Overall, I think your idea is excellent. Really cool! With a little tinkering and positioning, I think it would be ready for the workshop.

Angela

Hi People,


thanks for the suggestions, I also made several sketches on the subject.
I'll make a foto workshop on it as well for the different stages (I have seen it on Armorama before and with such a project as this it seems like great fun!)


I am very excited about this one esspecially with those tracks and all, I'll save the mountainside for another project.

in time I'll show some pics here

a little thought from a Train modeller is the track going to be standard or narrow guage because that will depict how well maintained and how close the woods,why not look at metre guage -very european and lots of areas to use odd sizes of sleepers and rusty rail. also don't forget that they ran telegraph lines alony railline either via posts or close to the ground -look up some narrow guage modelling sites for railways
All the best ian

damn those poles indeed, now that you say


how would those poles would have looked like, I assume they looked differnet than the ones there are standing nowadays and what would the distance be between the poles (in cm's ) on 1/35 scale?
and would they be on both sides of the track?
it'll be a single track, because I also noticed that on several pics, and this leaves more space on the groundwork.

the thing with those poles could be nice if the Tiger merely just bumped one with it's sides so one is slightly standing off.


I did some foto researching on the web and even found some cool pics of germans on a railroadtrack in full assault!

what immediately was seen that a lot of those traintracks we're quitte overgrown with patches of grass and all (even on the sides tatally overgrown!), I think that at the last years of the war and in certain areas of europe there was no time to clip the grass gheghe

this one will be awesome, ass a matter of speaking I am going ahead with it right now.


keep yer eyes posteth on thiseth topiceth (old english )

Ola Oorlogsverf

Well Basically those poles vary from land to land and often even from region to region. It all depends on which front your dio takes place. Overall in Europe the wooden poles were used. Basically this is a wooden pole around 10 to 12 meters high with on the top 1 or 2 smaller beams attached to it with isolators, through wich the wires run through, on it. Some countries also had Concrete poles with were a bit different in Shape. Not round but more square and conical to the top. And they had holes in them through 2 sides to spare concrete and make them lighter. The Concrete poles were reinforced with metal rods.
One thing you will often find on the Telephonepoles are metal steps to climb in it for doing maintenace on mostly the isolators.
When visiting the Ardennes region and France a couple of times I found some Telegraph/telephone poles which were quite old, Would not say Original from WW2, but still you can get a good idea of the distance between the poles which I estimated At between 15 to 20 Meters.
The Isolators are found in 2 types I noted Glass and Porcelain. Although the latter might be more found.
Do a search on Google for Telegraphpoles, Telephone Poles and look pics of the French and Belgian Countryside to get an Idea of the Telegraphpoles there.
I found an article on the internet while searching for Telegraph poles a while ago. It is from a railroad modeler. And Although not really to scale for the Railroad thing it gives you quite a good idea of how to make those things.
Making Telegraph Poles

Last but not least. Grass only grows around railroadtracks if it isn`t used much. Look at the tracks of the NS here in Holland and you`ll see that were the trains go (if they go) there is no or at least very little grass between the rocks on the banks. When you look at old tracks you will see a lot of grass.

Succes with your dio I`m looking forward to it.