- Member since
December 2002
- From: Massachusetts
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15 Things I Learned About WWII from Scale Modeling
Posted by ajlafleche
on Monday, October 28, 2013 12:23 PM
- It started raining in Europe on 1 September 1939. When it wasn’t raining, it was snowing. The sun finally reappeared in May 1945.
- Paint fell off vehicles as soon as it was applied. What didn’t fall off at the factory, wore off as soon as it was touched, except for the paint in inaccessible areas that wore off for no particular reason.
- Rust never sleeps. All ground vehicles turned rusty as soon as it rained and/or the paint wore off. (See #1 and #2).
- There were approximately 612,000,000,000 Germans in the military. Every one of these has been molded in plastic, resin, or metal at least once.
- The allied ground forces included 27 men. 11 Brits who alternated between the Desert Rats and the Red Devils, 12 Americans, evenly divided among the First Infantry and the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, Ike, Patton and MacArthur. The Japanese military consisted of 5 guys, a pilot, an officer armed only with a sword and 3 guys who ran behind him.
- When 2 or more Germans met, or even faced each other, at least one automatically began pointing randomly.
- The Germans had no sense of direction. When confronted with ay intersection, they instantly evacuated their vehicles and began pointing randomly. (See # 6)
- German tanks and other armored vehicles invariably drove around by themselves. (See #7)
- The Germans developed 212,413 different types of armored and soft skinned vehicles, and repurposed about a thousand other types of captured vehicles. Every one of these is available from at least three model companies.
- The allies developed four workable tanks. Only two of these have seen light of day in plastic.
- The greatest hero of the war was Michael Wittman. To wit, everything he ever sat in has been produced in plastic, including the outhouse he used at the Kaiser’s Kamp fur Kinder.
- Tanks engaged each other at distances of as much as 30 feet.
- The most effective camouflage for a tank was to apply bags, boxes, ammunition, including uncrated shells, and clothing o every horizontal or vertical surface.
- Tankers were trained to leave their side arms on the piles of stuff they accumulated and threw on the tank. (See #13)
- Every European house had a main floor capable of supporting a 50 ton tank.
Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
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