Diorama "Normandy 1944"

"Dogfights" is quite an entertaining series. Looks like you got lots of enjoyable hours there ahead of you MM. As for me, while I enjoy computers and the internet for research, I am still old fashioned. Nothing beats thumbing through a good book full of nice large size pictures...

You're right about the Internet. This month I've been assigned to design 15 multiple-choice examination questions on Project Management and Computer System Development for use in my bank's officers promotion. I don't have any books on those subjects, so I made extensive research in both Thai and English on the Net and finished the job in just two days.

Books? You gotta be kidding! Here we're in the age of computer and DVD. I got 5 DVDs whose volume is named "Dogfights - Firepower"from a fellow modeler many months ago but haven't viewed any yet or even looked at their contents. Your suggestions made me take a look at them. Here they are:

Disk 1:
Dogfights Season 1
1. Mig Alley
2. Air Ambush
3. Flying Tigers
4. Guadacanal
5. Hell Over Hanoi
6. The Zero Killer
7. The Last Gunfighter
8. Death of the Japanese Navy
9. Long Odds
10. Dogfights of the Middle East
11. Hunt for the Bismarck

Disk 2:
Dogfights Season 2
1. Kamikaze
2. Jet vs. Jet
3. Thunderbolt
4. Gun Kills of Vietnam
5. Desert Aces
6. The First Dogfighters
7. Luftwaffe's Deadliest Mission
8. No Room for Error
9. Night Fighters
10. The Bloodiest Day
11. P-51 Mustang
12. Dogfights of Desert Storm

Disk 3:
Dogfights Season 2
13. Tuskegee Airmen
14. MiG Killers of the Midway
Dogfights Special
- The Greatest Air Battles
Discovery Firepower
1. Assault from the Sea
2. Artillery Strike
3. Battle Tanks
4. Missile Copter
5. Special Ops. Wing
6. Royal Air Force
7. Airborne Assault
8. Strike Fighters
9. War on Wheels
10. Mirage Jet
11. Combat Vehicles
12. Armour Force
13. Desert Wargames

Disk 4:
Discovery Firepower
14. Armoured Vanguard
15. Destroyer
16. Warship
17. Test Pilot
18. Wild Weasels
19. Strategic Air Power
20. Stealth Jets
Program - VLC 0.8.5 Win32

Disk 5 Bonus track:
E-Book
- Osprey
Aircraft of the Aces (73 volumes)
Combat Aircraft (18 volumes)
Vanguard Warships (20 volumes)
- Squadron
Walk around (19 volumes)
Warship in action (6 volumes)
- F-14A/B/D Bible
- F/A-18A/B/C/D Bible
- Jas-39 Bible
Modeling Books
- Verlinden
- How to build diorama
- Terrain modelling
- Painting girls in miniature

I think I'll just copy disk 5 and give it to AI!

Other modelers also offer other DVDs with other contents - you name it, we have it! but I think my information is overloaded now!

Thanks for your kind suggestions anyway, stikpusher, I know you're a well-wisher ;-)

Rounds completed!

Yes we are very spoiled with the internet for research these days. I own a decent library of books trhat ahve lots of pics, but 20 years ago that was not the case. These days I have jsut as much fun browsing thru photos and all the nuances of markings, as I do building and painting...

MM, If you have access to the products and feel so inclined, I think if you got a few Concord books to loan to your builders to use as reference there work would become even more sharp.

Thanks so much for your kind comments, Hans and stikpusher! As for uniform colors, I think AI followed the instructions provided by Dragon and this figure set is named 'US Army Airborne, Normandy 1944. AI doesn't have Internet access, so research is hard to do. Last week I gave him a 200mm resin figure (Adolf Galland WWII Pilot) without any picture or boxart. I told him to see the pictures of the same kit on a local site. He had to wait until Sunday when he came to his brother house in Bangkok to have the chance to view them.

Thanks, Stik... Like I said, I'd never seen any like that...

Actually those marking were applied on Army Shermans, 2nd and 3rd AD during Normandy. But they large turret markings and stars were removed when the tanks were camo painted shortly before Operation Cobra. They arrived in Normandy solid OD with the large markings. Hurricane has shown up in at least two photos from the campaign.

MM, tell AI he needs to do a bit more research into US Paratrooper uniforms. In Normandy US Paratroopers wore the Khaki colored M1942 Jump suits. The Olive Green M1943 would not be used by Airborne until Market Garden in September.

I gotta agree with the others on the setting, especially since Normandy in the American AO was criss crossed with so many waterways. Very nicely done.

I think the Sherman's wearing USMC markings on the turret... At least, I've never seen those markings on Army M-4s...

The mixing of 82nd and 101st Airborne troopers did happen here & there though, especially near St Mere-Eglise..  Nice touch...

Overall, it's a pretty good one and I especially like the water and culvert...

Many thanks for your kind comments on the dio! Stephen is right, I saw earlier that the tracks were put on backwards. AI seems to have forgotten the hint that I told him some time ago, that German tracks point up and American tracks point down. As for the patches I'm not sure. If no decals were provided then it was AI who painted them.

I'm with Stephen on this one AI put the tracks on backwards

Model Maniac,

      It's a nice dio. Unfortunately I believe Art Instructor put the tracks on backwards. The chevrons should be facing down not up. Other than that it looks nice.

-Stephen

I like the dirty water and those guard railings. What was used for the arm patches?