Okay, so i salvaged a base, a few figures and the Tamiya M16 halftrack from under my bed. I plan on putting them to good use. So here's the basic idea.
The Halftrack has drove off the road and into a pond. Its hit a rock and snapped the front axle on the way in, and took a fence and sign with it. The crew bailed out and waited for some help.
I'm thinking somewhere in normandy.
Now for the pictures.




Everything you see here minus the Rather wrecked Shermie will be being re-vamped and used.
The Shermie is there as an idea as to what will be attempting to pull the Halftrack out.

The area around the front of the halftrack will be water, i'm thinking of making the water just seeping into the front cabin. But it might be a bit too high. We'll see.

Hi Scott,
I think the basic idea is sound, but there should maybe be a few tweaks.

The angle that the half track is to the pond seems kind of sharp. It would have had to have driven straight through a corner to be in that sharp, less angle might be better, even with it coming from that angle the driver might have turned to avoid going in the pond.

As a fourwheeler, it takes a lot of impact to break a Rockwell axle which is actually inside the axle housing. If it did break the housing normally stays intact. Even bending the housing is rather improbable but not impossible. More than likely the axle housing would ride over the obstacle and the oil pan might get nailed if there isn't a skidplate there.

Most likely the steering tie rods, drag links and endlinks would get taken out in a crash such as you plan to depict. So it gives you a reason to have the front wheels pointing in wildly opposite directions.

Hope this helps,
Dave S.

Cheers for the quick response David.

"Most likely the steering tie rods, drag links and endlinks would get taken out in a crash such as you plan to depict. So it gives you a reason to have the front wheels pointing in wildly opposite directions."

Phew, at least i don't have to repair the wheels then.


You can't really tell this from the photographs as i haven't laid down proper ground work, but this is a T Junction, the 3rd road enters right where the shermie is, which would explain the straight line into the pond.

Nice salvage job.
If the corner is going to be water, the three figures at the front end of the M16 will have to relocate or redress in waders.
There is quite a bit of free open space that will be a challenge to fill and add interest.
Maybe a ditch vs. a pond. You still have water, you have an obsticle, and you can detail both sides (into the corner behind the fig. with is arms crossed).

Scott, i was just going to make it look like the GI's had waded in in uniform, just to see how badly damaged the Halftrack was.

Looks good, should make for an interesting dio.
I agree that the crew wouldn't have bothered to don waders to check out the damage.
However, the whitewash camo would not have been applied during the Normandy campaign as far as I know, as the allies had pushed further east towards the 'sigefried line' by winter 1944/45. Perhaps the Ardennes offensive?

Have fun with it,

James

Hey guys, just a wee update.
Started work on the groundwork. Will have photo's up soon.
I've started adding stowage etc to the jeep&Half track, Will re-prime and re-paint soon.
Expect pics this weekend.

I need some help, i need a suitable idea for a wall or fence to go around the pond, something not to hard, as i will be scratchbuilding it, also, anyone got any idea's for the groundwork for normandy?

Update:

Okay, so here are some of the pics of the mud. Its still wet in the pictures. Will get some more after i finish off the puddles in the tracks.

Scott. Great idea for the dio. Taking shape nicely. My suggestion for a barrier around the pond/mudpit would be a small wire fence. You could incorporate it into the undercarriage of the halftrack as well to add more tangle to the wreck. Small wooden dowels roughed up a bit are inexpensive and add nice detail.

Keep it going, it's looking great.

Like the mud Scott.
I think a wire fence would do the part nicely too. Easy enough to do: Simply choose what you use for the posts (Use tamiya's posts from their barricades set or cut up a 3-4mm diameter wooden rod) and get some picture hanging wire from you're local hardware store (the thinner the better). This not only makes great tow-cables but by unraveling it you get a nice thin wire to use for the fence.
Set the posts in the dio base at regular intervals (with one or two knocked down under you're half-track) and loop the unraveled wire once around each post near the base for the lower wire (a little glue will help it stay in place) and then along to the next post and so on. Then do the same for the upper wire. Hopefully my little diagram below should show you what you'll end up with!

Post
-----I---------I---------I---------I- Upper wire
-----I---------I---------I---------I- Lower wire
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ground surface

This creates a convincing looking fence without too much hastle. For ease id suggest making sure you have a post at the edges of the diorama as otherwise your fence disapears into nothingness or appears to stop abruptly. Good luck with it and feel fre to PM me if you need any help with it.

Have fun,

James

Looks to be coming along nicely Scott. I only have one suggestion. I am no half track expert by any means, but I would tend to think the tracks from the half track would have had enough "umf" to pull the body out regardless of any front end damage. Perhaps you may want to sink that thing deep into the mud do simulate that the half track had been trying to pull itself out, but only got stuck further. keep us posted

Cheers for the feedback guys.
We've hit a bit of a problem.
In adding puddles into the ruts left by the tracks, i gave the resin a yellow tint. Unfortunatly i may have overdone the yellow 'cause she's dried bright yellow.
I'll have to start again with the water.

Update


Okay, i've started on the halftrack, i'm aiming to get something like this.




but have the boxes lying in the water.
Anyone got any idea's for scratching the boxes?

By the way, does anyone know of any company that makes pond life? Like ducks etc?

It's certainly been a while since i updated this thread.
Anyway, here's the progress so far.
Ignore the groundwork, the mud is two different shades
&The grass is just there for the now, so i know what it might look like. the foilage is just sprinkled herbs.

I still have a lot more work to do on both the sherman&halftrack, and more weathering, the pond needs water now, as the "water" you see didn't turn out right, &I need to paint the figs.

Better go lock myself in the cupboard for a while.

btw. excuse the bad photography. I've yet to build a photo booth, so this is taken in my (Rather messy) room with just a flash.

I've weathered the shermie a little more.

Just need help on the foilage, what would be best to represent long grass?

Cheers,