In the first place a salute to all you! I'm Matteo form Italy (sorry for my English...)
For me this is the first one post in this forum!
This is my question:
I want to realize a diorama in ambient "battles city" between modern armies.
To the inside of the diorama, I would want to place a destroyed armor, or better an abandoned armor 'cause hit and partially set afire.
I would want to know how to construct and color the "points in which the armor it is perforated and damaged" (small holes of crews antitank or small artillery pieces).
I would want some elucidation on the techniques to use, eventually also some link.
;-)
Thanks
Bye

Matteo

Hello Matteo !
Welcome to the site from the other side of the Alps !

You should check the page :
http://www.sura.ru/~tam/english/afv/t-64.htm

Matteo,

First, welcome to our little hiding spot.

Are you talking about modern armor (after 1960), or WWII era? There are differences in the appearance of battle damage between those periods.

I can help with modern armor. With modern tanks, the fatal hit is often a fairly small hole (less than 5cm), but this usually causes an internal explosion by setting off the ammunition and fuel inside. So modern vehicles hit anywhere in the crew compartments will often have the turret blown off, and parts strewn over the surrounding area. Any resulting fire usually strips the metal parts down to blackened skeletons. I have good photos of the results of a tank battle fought here in Bosnia about 6 or 7 years ago. The photos actually show where an HE round hit the tank and failed to destroy it, but further searching shows the small hole that actually killed the tank. Of course the non-armor parts of the tank are shredded by the subsequent explosion. The turret has been put back into place (sort of) for display. There is another tank sitting near it, and a truly messed-up APC that I can't identify.

Once Jim is settled and ready for submissions, I will get the photos together and send them in.

PenPen... couldn't get your link to light up, even with "copy/paste"... could you check the link?

First of all, welcome! Secondly I will add to what Argenca said, by saying that you should keep in mind what is burning and what will be laft when it is done burning.

First rubber and plastic, when burned, leave a greasy, black residue and a little amount of ash. Wood and clothe will leave ashes. After paint has burnt off, it will destroy any type of metal treatment to whatever armor has burned, so it will rust quickly. You will need to determine how long the diorama is after it has burned. Brand new rust will be bright orange and there will be ashes everywhere, but if the diorama is a month or two after the fire, the ashes will have blown away and the rust will have turned dark brown. Shortly after the fire there will be black, greasy carbon stains everywhere, but the rust will soon eat this away.

The penetration point will have a shiny starry looking pattern chiseled around it, which will also rust after a short time.

An internal explosion will cause some of the seams, where the armor is welded, to burst and split apart. Fire would have poured out of this and left carbon around the holes.

Damage can range from barely noticable to complete obliviation. Demolition charges often had worse effect than the enemies rounds.

Email me and I might be able to find a couple more pictures to add to the other guys.

[email protected]

Rob

I have several books that cover WWII ETO and there are a great deal of photo's of brewed up vehicles. The effects of armor penetrating rounds, cooked off ammo, blown hatches and melted rubber are pretty universal. I would think this "destroyed" armor effect would be pretty universal even on modern armor. The photo's that I have seen of the Gulf War showing retreating Iraqi forces looks alot like the Germans retreat from the Falaise Gap.

The older Squadron Tiger in Action has some good close ups of hits that didn't penetrate.

Penpen, I got the link to work. You left out a bracket and slash at the end. Do we have any indication of where and why those two vehicles were knocked out? I can see that one got hit in the suspension, but I can't see any burning. Turret (two turrets=two vehicles...can't slip nothin' past me!) number two also does not appear to have burned. Target tanks, maybe?




The tanks I saw had a very inocuous looking hole less than 5cm in diameter (caused by a APDS penetrator, I believe). One did have the HE strike that I mentioned, but this did nothing more than mar the armor in a splash-shaped pattern to about 1.5cm depth. One fascinating thing is that a round piece of the shell fuse is still embedded in the armor, welded in by the blast.

Neither of the tanks had split seams from the secondary explosion, but the APC certainly did. The round that killed it entered the rear and exited the front. The resulting explosion left the APC looking like a squeezed grape, with virtually no recognizable structure inside. Most of the outside attachments, like fenders, were blown off by the force. the seams surrounding the exit point were badly split, and the longer upper side seams were also split. Once I post the photos, you will know what I mean. Adding insult to injury, it was shot again later (I think...I wasn't there) in the rear corner, tearing the armor up a bit more.

Sorry guys !
I repaired my earlier post, so the adress there is now OK !

I don't know anything about the destroyed T64s there... I'd guess they were used for some kind of training or experiment... The pictures are on TANKMASTER's site, so he might be able to answer if you ask !

First, Thanks to All for the answers!
To ARENGCA: I'm talking about modern armor, in Libano war, like soviet tank in Sirian service, or Merkava in Israeli service.
To Rtwpsom2: the diorama is a month or two after the fire, and the armor will appear like "an old broken tank".
Note: if you have some photos on your pc, you can send me to: [email protected]

I would like to see that pic also Arengca if you dont mind.My email is [email protected]