Korean War dio - "Street Fight" - FineScale Modeler - Essential magazine for scale model builders, model kit reviews, how-to scale modeling, and scale modeling products

gx007

Member since
October 2007
From: Southern California

Korean War dio - "Street Fight"

Posted by gx007 on Monday, July 7, 2008 10:24 AM

Here's my Korean War dio, "Street Fight", with a Tamiya Pershing and figures from Dragon. The rail road and power line pole are from Verlinden and the tracks are AFV T80E1. My references include Oscar Gilberts' Marine Corp Tank Battles in Korea (Casemate Pub.), Zaloga's M26/46 Pershing Tank (Osprey), and various web sites.

I was inspired to create a scence from the battle of Seoul after looking at pictures of the Marines in the city. Here are my reference photos.

The sand bags are Tamiya and looked very boring and seemed to not fit in, considering they had three molds. In reality, the North Koreans used rice bags filled with dirt as a barrior. I pasted gauze bandage to them and painted it.

Interviews from veterans stated the power and cable lines were down everywhere and the cables got entangled around the turrents, restricting their ability to traverse.

From this picture, you can see the rail road tracks are really street car rails. In my dio, I just didn't have the courage to cover up the beautiful mold details and painting I had rendered with dirt over the ties and gravel.

I wish to thank those people that posted their Pershing tank comments on this forum, especially the Korean War builds. It helped quite a bit.

Comments?

Regards,

Greg

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tigerman

Member since
March 2003
From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA

Posted by tigerman on Monday, July 7, 2008 11:52 AM

Stunning Greg. I really like the simplicity of this dio. The sandbags look great. I love the Pershing and the working suspension adds character. Thanks for sharing.

Eric

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TacoBuff

Member since
March 2008
From: Colorado

Posted by TacoBuff on Monday, July 7, 2008 12:56 PM

wow, that's a real beaut!

did you use the tamiya provided tracks? I'm thinking of building this kit, was it a good build?

the composition of it all it simply amazing, great work.

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gx007

Member since
October 2007
From: Southern California

Posted by gx007 on Monday, July 7, 2008 2:37 PM

Thanks TB,

I used the AFV T80E1 tracks since Pershings in the Korean War used those tracks. The build was fine however one needs to decide on making the track suspension static or in flex postion. Since I decided on making a dio, how I laid out the suspension came into my design. Also, if you decide to make a Perhing based on Korean War, assembling the T80E1 track set is time consuming. The Tamiya provided tracks are WWII type.

It's an enjoyable build.

Greg

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stikpusher

Member since
July 2004
From: Sonora Desert

Posted by stikpusher on Monday, July 7, 2008 4:36 PM

Very nice work! Great use of the Dragon Iwo Jima Marines with the M26. An interesting note is on one of the upper photos it appears what may be an M26A1. The head on shot shows what looks like a bore evacuator on the main gun tube. The Marines used folded up side fenders or field added wire racks to hold ammo cans on the fenders. Also I have seen many photos of Marine Pershings in Korea with the earlier single pin tracks, especially in their earliest periods of use (Pusan, Inchon). It's really great to see a depiction of "the Forgotten War" in a diorama!

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

- Plankton

LSM

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Buddho

Member since
March 2003
From: Newport News VA

Posted by Buddho on Monday, July 7, 2008 5:00 PM

What an incredibly detailed and well executed diorama...nice!

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, July 7, 2008 10:19 PM

Very nice...sandbags are hard to get to look "right" in dios...you managed to pull it off...nice touch to add actual pics of the battle scenes you were trying to replicate...I am a big fan of research...nice job...

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dj898

Member since
December 2005
From: Down Under

Posted by dj898 on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 12:37 AM

very well executed diorama!
Loved how you finished the sandbags.

I do wish though there's the section of building to convey it's in Korea as bit hard to see where this scene is located from the diorama... Just minute nick picking~ ^ ^

people living in glass colonies shouldn't throw nuclear stones.

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IanIsBored2000

Member since
August 2006
From: The Green "Mountains", Vermont

Posted by IanIsBored2000 on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 9:57 AM

Looks great, especially the Pershing. The finish on the tank has just he right "sheen"--it isn't dead flat, but it isn't glossy and toy like. It seems like a minor detail, but it makes the difference between a painted plastic look and a weathered metal look.

"Scanlon: work your knobby hands on the table in front of you, constructing a make-beleive bomb to blow up a make-beleive world."

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gx007

Member since
October 2007
From: Southern California

Posted by gx007 on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 11:37 PM

Thanks for your comments guys.

Well, in 6 hours I'm on a flight to the mid-west for two weeks and plan on getting into the Patton Museum at Fort Knox.

Take care,

Greg

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 7:42 AM

dj898 wrote:
very well executed diorama!
Loved how you finished the sandbags.

I do wish though there's the section of building to convey it's in Korea as bit hard to see where this scene is located from the diorama... Just minute nick picking~ ^ ^