I call this one "At 16 Fathoms"

I have a small placard with this diorama which reads...September 2nd 1945, 2 years and 3 months at 16 fathoms" My wife is a registered care giver from the Philippines and at the nursing home where she works was an old Navy pilot who flew the F6F-3 Hell Cat. In a nutshell the old guy could talk your ears off, and I did love to here his stories. He had shot down 11 Japenese aircraft and was telling me one night about his toughest "dog fight" . Well he won out and put the "ZEKE" in the deep. He told me the date and it was 2 yrs and 3 months before VJ day. He passed recently and this is my tribute to him.

Thanks for looking...

Doug (RR)

this piece looks awesome and what an inspiring story to boot, our "greatest generation " is leaving us fast,glad he inspired you to honor his memory with this dio.  love the crab on the rear horizontal stab....hope it's a crab cause my first thought was how did that orange tabby get that far underwater? looks great from the pix here.  happy modeling and thanks for sharing your time with a veteran.

Thank you so much from an old Marine... Old Mr. Saunders used to ask my wife , Is your husband coming tonight? When will he be here? Drove her nuts, But all he wanted was someone to talk to,(in my case just to listen) When she called the night he passed, I wish I could have been there just to here one more story...    Oh, Yes it is a crab,lol...Did you see the shark at the starboard wing tip? Thank you again... Take care armornut.

I. love. THAT!  Great idea and execution!

Great diorama! I made a similar one with a P-51

Well done.You really nailed the look.

Nice work. I love dio's that have a story behind it. Any chance you will be doing a dio of the Hell Cat he flew?

Great work, man.  And a touching tribute.  Salute.

Ghost 180... I had thought of trying to reach his daughter,(met her once in the "home",) but not sure how to... info like that is private and I dont want to get any one in trouble for devulging it, Great idea though... Old Ordie, Thank you, He was a good old guy, Like I said, he could talk your ears off... But I did love his stories.

Really great idea and great dio.FSM magazine featured  one like that a few years go now.

Very well done, and a proper tribute to the passing pilot.

MIKE t.

hey rigiy, seen the shark now, way cool. being a vet myself (U.S. Navy  AE3 VAQ-131 ODS /129) i hope that there will be someone to listen to my "sea stories" when i get to the point that my body won't let me pursue this hobby,my apologies for not replying soner but i'm actually activily building again,feels great,we'll catch you on the forums .      BTW keep the shiny side up

You and me both brother... Thank you much, My son is serving now in the Navy,So far he loves it! Hes an airman and just loves working on multi million dollar toys as he calls em. Take care!

Simply beautiful, thinking about making something lime this but on 1/72 scale with a SBD Dauntless from testors, we'll see how i do on my first destroyed aircraft diorama.

By the way, that's an amazing story and makes me sad to tears to think that the greates generation will be gone well before they can teach my generation about real heroics and honor.

Thank you and luck with your "dio" if I can offer help or tips just let me know. Yes old Mr. Saunders was a nice old man, He always used to say, Well enough about me, tell me some of your stories and before I cound open my mouth he would be off to the races again! LOL... Its OK I enjoyed listening...

Take care Rafael.

Great work!

Rigidrider

Ghost 180... I had thought of trying to reach his daughter,(met her once in the "home",) but not sure how to... info like that is private and I dont want to get any one in trouble for devulging it, Great idea though... Old Ordie, Thank you, He was a good old guy, Like I said, he could talk your ears off... But I did love his stories.