Red Dawn Diorama thoughts

The new one has The North Koreans taking the upper mid west, the chinese taking the south west. and the Russians taking the east coast.

Ok so no M60, im just bouncing ideas out here, im thinking like the Russians make a barricade on the free way and have an SPG on it aiming down the road. Ill look into those contractors also, thanks for that idea.

Does the new movie have Russians as the invaders again? For  armed civilian type s Trumpeter makes a couple sets of Iraq/Afghansitan Contractors that might be a good starting point.  If you are doing it as the new movie an M60 would be out... those are pretty much long retired out of the US military except for those used at Hohenfels in Germany.

I watched the original with my teenage son last weekend. He had never seen it before and wants to go see the new one. He enjoyed it a lot and I forgot how decent of a movie it really was. A bit of a downer though.

So, I saw the new Red Dawn and I enjoyed it. It made me want to modernize my idea, I wanted to set it in Southern California. I was thinking it would be on the 91 freeway going west. I would Have a stryker with the mine plow on it, and maybe an Abrams, or M60 with it. I want to do the civilian truck with Fighters in it, but not to sure on where I could find the figures for that, unless they were also in military uniform. Then I wanted to place it like I said on the 91 freeway and maybe have them going through a Russian road block

Thanks for the info guys, im still trying to think of the dio and keep it on paper

I was gonna say the same thing as the T-64 had four return rollers and the smoke mortars in a similar configuration.

It looks more like a T-64.

Cool information, defiantly a excellent kit basking, conversion/scratch-building project!

Thanks for adding the reference pictures Gino.

Add the T-90 (or was it a T-72?) tank...

It was supposed to be a T-72.  The T-90 wasn't develop until the late 1990s, about 15 years after Red Dawn.

The fake T-72 tanks from the film were built on the chassis of  surplus M8A1 Cargo Tractors, which was a stretched version of the M41 Walker Bulldog with four return rollers and six roadwheels per side instead of three return rollers and five roadwheels.

The fiberglass turret of the faux Soviet T-72.

And from the Gas Station scene...

True, that is a cool scene, I think its a T-72, Russian tanks arent my forte

The scene at the gas station with the girl fleeing with the Soviet troops in pursuit just as the Wolverines sprung their ambush would make for a excellent diorama. The figures could all be sourced from a modern Soviet set and some minor conversion to the resistance fighters and the girl.

Add the T-90 (or was it a T-72?) tank and the gas station and you would have a shop stopper!

you know, I just remembered the scene at night where the helicopters are staffing the town and the zsu drives up, would the zsu have been airlifted?

im still considering doing it, I think  I would get the zvezda soviet troops, I think its there mountain/ spetznaz kit, those would be the defenders, and maybe have them dug in on the outskirts of the town, or hae like a building there using as an anchor point, linked with a trench from a shot up street. hmmm so many possibilities, im open to suggestions and ideas

Would love to see a dio like this come together. I've always wanted to do the same kind of thing. Except from the "American Insurgent" perspective. Like a burned out T-90 and an F-150 technical on a street corner with a .50 cal mounted in the bed. A few figures with M4s, AKs, plaid shirts and old OD/Woodland surplus stuff mixed in with the SOF guys in plastic helmets and Multicam plate carriers- the few remaining Green Berets leading the group trying to teach and train local military aged American citizens how to fight the occupiers before their underground resistance is totally wiped out.

I got my hands on a MIG Hilux when the American distributor sadly closed down, so I might get around to something similar one day...

The off screen tank battle in 1/35 sounds great though.

Thats true StikPusher, then again, the soviets have so much armor that they go park it out in forests unguarded. Im starting to get a diorama teeming up in my head

The stuff that the Soviets would sell to client states in proxy wars of the 60's compared to what they would use in an all out war against their prime enemy in the 80's are two different things. Yes the M42 Duster and other 50's/60's vintage gear could still be found in Guard units in the mid 80's. But lets just say that the Soviets are gonna re-position their fist line equipment from Central Europe, T-64/T-72/T-80 tank units, to their invading armies at the Bering strait and Mexico/Central America. Any captured WWII hardware will be way down on the list of resupply in effectiveness.

Yeah I noticed that too, it looks as if there 37mm German AT guns, but the Russians also had a variant that looked like that. Remember the russians gave the syrians stuGs and Panzer IV's, so they could of had left overs from the war

I'll wager the M42 was used because it was available, and "looked" military, not for being an actual item of TOE.

Rather like the array of bits and pieces on the flatbed rail cars in the next to last scene.  Pretty sure there is a pair of PAK 40s loaded out, IIRC.

That makes alot more sense, so most likely the M48s would be used, I noticed they had a burnt out M42 duster also in the movie. Would M51 Also have been used or would that have been to outdated for a national guard force?

They would have had some AT weaponry (the types I listed above in an earlier post here) with them, plus what ever was flown in afterwards until relief forces arrived. Soviet Airborne had light armor of BMDs and ASUs as part of their TO&E. Now mind you, the only Regular Army Mech unit in that part of the country at that time (mid 80's) was the 4th Infantry Division at Ft Carson. And they were not equipped with the latest and greatest (M1 Abrams/M2&3 Bradleys vs. M60A1/M113 mix) then as they would be years later. Any other ground forces would be Army Reserve and Army National Guard which would have had even older equipment such as M48A5s. Infantry can hold off Armor under favorable conditions. Especially if one side is better trained and more highly determined than the other. I don't think captured stuff would much come in to play in the Red Dawn opening battles scenario. Rather a well executed anti armor ambush at close range carried out against a not so well led and equipped Mech/Armor Task Force.

true true, so that means they either had air landed armor, or used captured equipment, I really doubt paratroopers with RPGs could hold off for sch a long time against armor

Tankluver

I know thats what im thinking, but they would of had air support, i mean logically they would of air dropped onto an airport and taken it, landed some armor while awaiting fr the main army groups to come from alaska. The again, helicopters flying from cuba, and there south american countries allied with the soviet union could of easily landed and refueled at newly captured airfields.

Yes but you are talking a time issue here. Helicopter Gunships flying at well under 200 knots would take a long time to reach Colorado from any FOB in Mexico even with refueling points set up in between. The Soviet airborne would have had to have seized an airfield capable of landing the AN-124s to get the Hinds delivered shortly afterwards. They then have to be rolled off the transports, prepped for flight operations, and then been able to launch. Not a short quick process.

famvburg

How would Hinds be brought in by An-24s? they won't fit unless they're turned into small parts and pices.

Sorry, I was thinking the AN-124 Condor, not the AN-24 Coke

I know thats what im thinking, but they would of had air support, i mean logically they would of air dropped onto an airport and taken it, landed some armor while awaiting fr the main army groups to come from alaska. The again, helicopters flying from cuba, and there south american countries allied with the soviet union could of easily landed and refueled at newly captured airfields.

How would Hinds be brought in by An-24s? they won't fit unless they're turned into small parts and pices.

WOLVERINES!

Im more interested with a diorama depicting the U.S. army trying to retake the town

I suppose it would be possible to take parts from different figure sets, some A and B epoxy and come up with some Wolverine figures.

If someone marketed a resin "Red Dawn" figure set they might run into some licensing issues with MGM.  Of course the set could be called "The Timber Wolf resistance. Most people would figure it out.

haha, I could see that being a good idea, but hell your good at this stuff, you should produce some and sell them

Yeah, I could do it but I'd rather continue to be lazy and pay good money for 'em when they come out...