Battle of the bulge dio help

the doog wrote:

Take a look at the "Worms dio: finished" by NucMed Tech a few posts down here in the dioramas forums--sometimes the best way to depict the enemy is NOT to portray him at all. NucMed Tech did a fine job of doing exactly that. Perhaps you could think along that line? I think the idea you proposed--with three tanks in such close proximity--would hardly be believable...

 

Sadly, those pictures are removed:

/forums/2/975886/ShowPost.aspx#975886

 

-Lasse

This might work if say the stugs were behind a hill someware a little ways away.

Joe, the 500 meter range mentioned above would be almost 7 meters in 1/72, over 21 feet.

Take a look at the "Worms dio: finished" by NucMed Tech a few posts down here in the dioramas forums--sometimes the best way to depict the enemy is NOT to portray him at all.

NucMed Tech did a fine job of doing exactly that. Perhaps you could think along that line? I think the idea you proposed--with three tanks in such close proximity--would hardly be believable... 

as everyone has pointed out  this is a large dio   but it can be done in 1/72 scale  so the footprint of the dio would be reasonable small

me i have been collecting (still am) all the pcs to make it on a 4x8 sheet of plywwod in 1/72 scale 

A shadow box is basically a box that you insert a diorama inside of.  The diorama is viewed from the opening in the front, called a reveal.  The shadow-boxed diorama allows for forced perspective and lighting effects.  It's particularly good for dioramas that take place in an interior room, or such as inside a gun turret on a battleship, hangar deck on an aircraft carrier, sci-fi subjects, or outdoor scenes that call for forced perspective (such as our friend's ambush dio here).  You can control the view-point and the lighting, making any type of effect you want, such as night scenes, overcast, etc.... Wiring shadow boxes for light is no more difficult than wiring a model railroad, and really bring models to life.  It turns a model or models into a 3-d painting as well.  In his book, How to Build Dioramas, Shep Paine goes into shadow box basics.     I've built several over the years, mostly sci-fi ships that I wanted suspended in "space".  All it takes some basic carpentry know-how, a bit of electrical work, and your imagination.  Kinda like making a minature movie set, as it were. 

What is a shadow box?

Tankluver wrote:

Would this be a plausible situation. Got this from the movie Battle of the Bulge. Say a M36 jackson and some US infantry are trying to hold out against one or two Stug's that are rolling over the stone wall that they were using as cover The M36 would be trying to fire its gun at the closest threat while the US infantry are firing at the supporting fallschirmjager and SS infantry. P.S. Did SS infantry and fallschirmjager work together at all during the bulge?

During the battle, it's plausable that you'd have SS Infanterie and Fallschirmjager in the same place, but pretty unlikely in a small action such as what you're describing. It could happen though.  You could find it when units were tasked with a specific mission objective and have other units attached for specific reasons, say an SS armor scout unit needing infantry support for a particular objective and none of their organic infantry or panzergrenadier were available, but there's a Fallshirmjager Kompanie that's been attached to support or augment the SS.  SS units were a bit elitist when it came to asking for outside help, since they considered Heer units to be less than quality troops, but they did work with Fallschirmjagers fairly often after the Normandy breakout.  The thing that you need to remember in planning this kind of stuff is that SS units would never be subordinate to the Luftwaffe or Heer.  It's be an SS op and everyone else would be subject to the SS commander's orders and plans. 

 

For dioramas showing armored vehicles engaged with each other, you should consider using mixed scales in a shadow box.  Using "Forced perspective", you put the models in the larger scale in the foreground and the small scale in the background.  It gives the appearance of a much greater distance between the opposing forces than you actually have modeled.  Put your 1/35th vehicles and figures right at the foreground, with, say, 1/72nd scale vehicles at the rear of the box.  Looking through the window of the box, viewers will be "fooled" into seeing much greater distances between forces.  Forced Perspective is especially effective in model photography.

Tankluver wrote:

...I've been trying to think of an idea for a lay out for a battle of the bulge dio....I want to have the U.S. infantry inside a French farm house with the French gate in front of it...Would that work....

 

No disrespect, but the Ardennes Offensive/Battle of the Bulge took place in Belgium and Luxembourg. 

Would this be a plausible situation. Got this from the movie Battle of the Bulge. Say a M36 jackson and some US infantry are trying to hold out against one or two Stug's that are rolling over the stone wall that they were using as cover The M36 would be trying to fire its gun at the closest threat while the US infantry are firing at the supporting fallschirmjager and SS infantry.

P.S. Did SS infantry and fallschirmjager work together at all during the bulge?

That would allow you to give both sides without a lot of open space in between.

So make this a two part dio? And then for the Stugs I could make it a seperate dio from the Amerian defensive unit.

Tankluver, this seems to be a common theme with your questions. Your questions show a tendency to lean toward bigger settings. In combat, vehicles tend to be at least 50m -100m (absolute minimums) apart to keep more than one vehicle from getting killed at a time if possible. Engagement ranges are typically 500m or more. Distance gives time and survivabilty. If a spot is not conducive to defense, it will be abandoned in favor or a better spot. Fields of fire are a critical aspect here. The distances a target can be engaged at make the difference between life and death. Vehicles operating too closely together can be destroyed or severly damaged if only one of them takes a catstrophic hit. While they may occasionally get close together for the commanders to talk without tying up the radio, this will be when the tactical situation permits.

I was thinking more along the lines as the americans defending that spot against the Stugs

Are you planning two seperate dio's, or one large one?  Because it seems like it would have to be a pretty huge area if you are planning on having the American and German forces far enough away to be oblivious of each other.  Or were you thinking more along the lines of the Americans setting up an ambush/road block for the Stugs?  Sorry if I'm not understanding the idea correctly.