Keith Magee gives us his interpretation of the Marine invasion of this island.
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Thanks!

Nicely done. I really like the tunnel system in the back of the dio. Great stuff!

Very cool dio. I love the fact that it is something not often done as its a south pacific dio, I also love the multi level approach to it. The tunnel is real cool too. All in all great work. There are only a couple thingsI feel that could be added. The first, Although I'm not certain as I cant tell by the pics, is that I think there should be a lot more footprints in the sand, this was a defended japanese position so I woulf think there would have been a lot of foot traffic. Again if its just the pics please disregard this. The second thing is I feel it could use some vegetation. I looked at the pics on the link that was provided and under the topic "Hill 100 Monographs" There is a great pic of what I would think it would look like with vegetation. It would be an easy fix if it was wanted and again its just my two cents so take it as that. Congrats on another great dio from you Keith. Cheers Kevin

Wow, this dio looks very good. If i may add, there is just somthing that is missing to me, somthing, but I just dont know what. Its not a huge factor so your dio can live without it. But when i figure it out, i will definatly send you a PM and well exchange comments. Other than that, keep up the great work bro, and keep us posted!

Keith:

So nice to see another example of your fine work, once again. I was most impressed with it and — as Jackhammer81 and others have mentioned — I really think the addition of the "cavern" in the back of the piece with the lighted torches from your battery powered system was a very nice touch. It took me a while to figure out what you'd done to create that shock and awe smoke filled background sky, since you threw it, effectively, out of focus in the pix. Then I realized it was your airgun shooting out patterns in dark gray, etc. on a blue piece of paper, etc. Most effective and helped to create the drama of the scene. Congratulations on a very nice presentation.

The drawing shows a tunnel entrance. I can't see any entrance in the pics.

very nice, the cave is awsome, Never seen it done that well in a dio. Only thing is the sand, looks to white.

shain - the sand did appear to white to me at first. Then I researched it and found that it actually is quite light in color and it contrasts with the volcanic matter on the island. In a small area it does jump out at you.

My neighbor served at Peleliu. He was artillery. The Japanese were "dug in" in these caves and wouldn't come out. Evidently the Japanese were being told of Allied atrocities and not to surrender at any cost. His unit was instructed to aim the artillery into the holes. And you can guess the rest. Pretty gruesome as he tells it.

Thanks for clearing that up, I knew it didn't snow on Peleliu! only kidding, I should have known this though, I read a book on it...very good book actually

thanks for the clarification
-Shain

This is a very well put together dio. I really like the tunnel system that we get a veiw of from the back. I was worried to about the sand at first until i did some research on it and found it to "match" very nicely. Two things that i did notice is that maybe the sandy areas could have been a bit more "disturbed" and perhaps a bit more vegatation, (granted destroyed, burnt etc.). Other than that, i think its great.
Mary (++)

Though the sand may in actual fact be very white, for "artistic effect I might tone it down. It is very striking in this dio format and takes away from the overall effect of the dio.

So tone down the sand and we will concentrate more on what is going on in the rest of the dio.

Cheers, Michael

Thanks for the comments fellas.... couple of observations of my own.

In the book "D-Days in the Pacific" Pelelieu was described as having a volcanic bed, and a corse white coral covering...not quite sand (which was by the beach), but as you went inland, it was like micro-pebbles of bleached white coral.

The entrance/exit to the cave can only be seen in the photos as the "sky" in the tunnel photo over the soldiers shoulder. From the surface, it is very near the two remaining palm trees, where the standing NCO is shouting.

In the book it is said that a lot of the caves were never cleared... the US simply took a grenade and chunked it in the hole, then covered the entrance with ton's or rock using a bulldozer! I imaging quite a few guys were burried alive.

As for the vegetation, the photos I used as reference showed next to nothing more than 2 feet tall still standing, and the majority of the vegitation was absolutely 'gone'. Further into the Umbrorogol range there was still quite a bit, but in the base foothills, it was hard to find a weed still standing from the photos I saw.

This was a pretty variable subject. The island had every kind of topography you can think of... beach surf, bare volcanic, ranging forrest, and desert island.... I guess it all depends on the area you have in mind as to what it should look like.

I appreciate the comments and feedback.

KFMagee

Well Keith, that explains why there would be not very much foot prints or vegetation. I think it dipicts what you were after very accurately then. That being said it is very well done. I also have to say that I have come back and look a lot at your tunnel its fantastic. thanks for sharing it with us. Cheers Kevin

The photo that best shows the "cave entrance" is below... from the article, it is the first sidebar picture, without any figures.... almost dead center at the very top of the picture you can see the dark spot which is the entrance. In the finished piece, there is a tin and straw camoflaged cover that is laying nearby.



In the finished photos, you can just barely see a japanese marine emerging from this entrance.

An awesome dio! Everything seems to be in place... In order of battle! The dio is full of action and very well built! I like it a lot! Congratulations on a wonderfully successful mission, soldier!
Cheers and happy modeling!
Prato