I posted this in the dio forum, but wanted to see if I may also drum up some ideas here.

I have an M1A1 and an HMMV that I wanted to put into diorama form for an upcoming art show at my university. I was looking for a possible design or ideas of how they could be setup so they were interesting to the casual observer (I doubt most of the folks at my school are hardcore armor fans). I was thinking of something during Desert Storm, but was uncertain of a good layout or design as this will be my first diorama. Any help that you folks could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot and happy modelling,

Jeff

Jeff,

Over at AMPS, we have some photos of the last AMPS-02 models. Some of these had both the M1's and Hummer's, and they might be of help.

Dave

How about this idea, it really happened to me:

During REFORGERs, my company commander used to tell us to "follow him" whenever there was a FRAGO (fragmentary order) issued over the net. He would take off in his HMMWV and we would try to keep up in our tanks. He would go down these "spider trails". Spider trails were small dirt roads in the German woods, sometimes barely foot paths. Many times we would come to points in the spider trails that the trees were too close for the tank to pass through. He would always tell us, "You're in a tank and it's a tree, what's the problem?"

You can do a dio in the woods with a tank trying to fit down a trail where it is too narrow to go without taking down a tree.

Rob,

an excellent story you shared with us here. After 10 years without FTX I almost forgot how it was.... You brought back some beautiful memories to me....... I remember those little trails as my AFV platoon following was my Landrover.........

I learned one thing...... Your Company Commander was right !!

Excellent story and......I believe this could be an excellent dio too !

Grasshopp12...

Here's one that may be interesting to you... On a few occasions in the field, we've had some M1's running on turret /vehicle master power only for extended periods, which resulted in batteries draining and the 1SG having to slave (jump start) the tanks with his Hummvee...

my $.02

One more idea is the HUMMV belonging to company XO directing traffic for M1 column. The HUMMV parked across paved road, directing tanks down dirt road into assembly area.

Been there but with M151 & M60A1 (giving away my age!!

Yes, but the XO lost his secondary ride when M151s were exchanged for M998s. We turned in 3 M151A2s for only 2 HMMWVs. XO's been tank bound ever since.

How about something humorous? A Humvee smacking an M1? Or the other way around. :-)

Thank you everyone for the input!!! While I like the idea of the tank chasing the HMMV through the woods, I was hoping to keep with current events as my classmates could probably relate to it as it is on the news frequently. I must say that I like the setup with the two M1s in the middle o the desert there and am probably going to do something along those lines.

Thank you again for your time and input and happy modelling!!!
Jeff