D-day, Omaha Beach diorama WIP UPDATED 1/24 with pictures.

Looks like it will be action-packed with all of those troops in the scene. Keep us updated.  kudos, your Auntie

Hey thaks, and haha, I know what you mean about the skiing.  Ive got the whole racing thing down pretty well for my first year, but now Im working on park on my twin tips.  That can make for some classy falls.

Hey,

Great Job so far man, I tried Skiing before it was more like falling with class hehe. I wish ya luck on the finished product man.

Guido

Thanks, and yeah, Ive considerd them, but I wouldnt even like to imagine the cost of enough resin figures for this diorama .  Anyways, Ive been wanting to get a few plastic ones under my belt before shelling out that much money.  I think after Im done all these I might try a couple for specific figures in a diorama, like a tanker, for that extra bit of detail.

Have you ever considered using verlinden figures? really nice quality and they're usually in interesting poses. Only problem being that its about $12 for each 2 figure set.

Haha, who would worry about a couple MG's when youve got that beast ready to slice a limb off .  Anyways, thanks, Im a kid so I dont have much else to do, especially since ski practice was cancelled today--why would you cancel skiing because its too cold?  Its like deciding not to go sun tanning because its too sunny out. GRR!

I like that totally evil looking hobby knife front and center - no wonder no one got down the ramp alive ...

All kidding aside, I look at work like this, and then at my static (not a figure in sight) models and think, Wow, I have got such a long way to go. to you!

Ya Im going to remove the back bags and the leg bags before final use.  Also, I did not notice the guys next to each other, one yelling advance, the other signalling retreat, since theyre just placed for fun now,  but I like the way you pointed it out Im going to use the tital "Phobos and Deimos" (fear and confusion (thanks again Rabiteatsnake) and that would really add to the feel.  Im going to make some other figures that are doing stuff other than just running/shooting/crouching.  Ive got one guy on a radio with a map in front of him, and the guy in front of him is yelling as he points up the cliff.  Stuff like that to give it a little more of the feel that its not just a picture in time.  Thanks!  I can't wait to start painting, although Im a bit scared!

Really nice job on everything. I don't know if you did this on purpose, but i like how you've got the guy telling everyone to move forward and the guy telling everyone to stay back right next to each other. Helps to show what a mess it was. And if you're going to try to convert the paratroopers, i suggest that you remove the musette bags from their backs because they weren't issued to regular GIs.

It looks great! The way you have it set up brings to my mind's eye the devastation the initial waves on Omaha must have experienced.

 

Thanks AirTrans crash! for your request, I took some pictures.  I was going to wait until my compressor arrives so I could finish the sand with my Airbrush, but thats going to be like 10 days, and Im too impatient.  Also, the pictures are rushed and bad quality since my dads camera only had a couple minutes of battery left and I didn't have proper lighting.  I added some seaweed on the barricades and along the shoreline, its the real stuff, right out of my fishtank . The sand still needs some work, but looks better in real life than the pictures, which are too dark, and make it look reddish, which it isnt.  I added bullet holes in the hedgehogs, on the sides facing the cliffs.  The thing you see on the ramp to the LCM is just an exacto knife holding it down while some glue dries, but I sitll need to replace those lines before Im done.  As you can see, I couldnt help myself from playing with the figures .  Ive still got some casualties and soldiers wading ashore to make, but overall I think most of the figures are done and ready for paint (yikes, thats gonna be a big job!). Anyway, here they are:

 

its not fun getting shot at I'll tell you that, but you get used to rockets and mortars to the point you sleep through them. anyhow... post update pictures! I wish I had the skill you have.

Thank you very much.  Im only 14, and of course cannot even begin to imagine war, or even the military, but I personally, would fully respect a soldier, even if they ran to cower behind a wall and wait out the fight, because fighting for our country in any small way is an incredibly admirable action to me.

Ian,

  Don't worry so much about offending people by portraying some soldiers in shock or completely gripped with terror. This is a part of war, and anyone who is offended by it, 99.9% likeliness they are not veterans of ANY war. I can tell you that we do not look down on someone that breaks. And In interviews I have seen, this is the feelings of soldiers in any war. Every soldier is gripped with fear sometime in their career, and during a fight like D-Day, it is expected. only a non combatant idiot who stays in the rear (I am an aircraft loader, so I guess I am an REMF too) would try to have an attitude like that.

 so basically, to hell with what anyone says, you are making an ernest effort to show the true colors of D-day, and that is very admirable. I look forward to watching the build progress.

 

SSgt Crash     OIF/OEF USAF

By the way, to RabitEatSnake, the more I think about it, the more I like your tital suggestion, "Phobos and Deimos" (fear and confusion).  Thanks for the idae.

Thank you Alumni, and Im sorry to hear about your relatives.  Im going to try to show the horrors of the deadly landings, but do it tastefully, as not to offend anyone who was there, or any war for that matter.  Based on everything I have seen/read/watched you're right, there was as much fear and panic as bravery and fighting.  I dont mean that as an insult to the courageous men who fought and died on those shores, but I think its the truth.  The figures Im using in the diorama will reflect this.  Some are crouched, covering their ears from explosions, and some hiding from the onslaught.  By the wy, My lack of new pictures doesnt mean Ive stopped work on the diorama, Im just shopping for an airbrush compressor to complete the sand, and then its backto work.  Thanks.

Ian,

Your work so far is very impressive - I can't wait to see the finished product!  My uncle was in the first wave at Omaha - I never talked to him about it becaose a) he died when I was 14 and b) the experience changed him so much I was scared to death of him.  I only ever heard about his experience from my father (his brother), and I'll tell you how I picture his experience.  The image I have in my mind is of someone crouched behind some small barricade (maybe the shale wall, I don't know) covering his head with his arms because of the heavy machine-gun fire from the cliffs, just waiting until it happened.

He was a cop in Newark, NJ before the war and went back after the war.  He was working during the Newark riots of the mid-1960s, and what my father told me was that someone threw a glass soda bottle out of a window at their patrol car.  It sounded to him like a gunshot and he flashed back to Omaha, dove out of the car and started firing up at the cliffs (apartment buildings), believing he and his partner were under fire.  My father never knew what happened at Omaha because his brother never talked about it - and if he told anyone it would have been my father.  He was a very strong man, both physically and mentally, by all accounts - whatever happened at Omaha I can't begin to imagine.  All I know is, he had a Presidential Unit Citation with oak leaf cluster, but I don't know with what unit.  That may have been a common award after the D-Day landings - I have no idea.  What I'm getting at is, if there's any way to express fear in a diorama, that would certainly be a chief component to display in the figures.  I don't know if they make figures showing fear - but they should.

Hey Dave, Im sorry to say I dont think Im the one for your project.  Ive never tried a large scale ship like a battleship (well, thats not completely true, I did butcher an ancient Titanic kit when I was about 6, but thats an incident I'd rather not speak of)  Anyways, the people in the Ships section of the forum  is more like what your looking for.  Why dont you start a post?

You seem very handy with warships....I've been browsing this site for modelers who might be interested in doing a project for me...basically it's a 3-d version of an image my band "The Gunship" uses as a logo...If you're interested at all contact me. The best way would be through Myspace .....our site is www.myspace.com/thegunship thanks. -Dave of The Gunship

Thanks for posting the pictures my Dad took, Ian. Further info on the load carried in his LCT. The main cargo was a bulldozer pulling a sled of planking. The bulldozer was tasked to punch holes in the shale wall and lay the planking down for wheeled vehicles to cross the sand. Behind the sled are a couple of jeeps and trailers belonging to 5th Rangers. They were a recon team and had the arrow street signs for marking roadways off the beach and inland.

The jeeps were chained to the dozer. When the LCT grounded and dropped the ramp, they were hosed by MG fire. My Dad said the driver raised the blade and motored off and ran right into a runnel at the surf line. The dozer dragged the jeeps and crews through the runnel (submerged!) and onto the beach.

I've read many accounts of the Omaha landings, but few mention the tactical significance of the shale wall and the arrangements made to overcome it. Notice on the Easy Red picture that there is another bulldozer down the beach already knocked out. As my Dad said, many of the early landers sheltered behind the shale and were covered from the MG fire. The killer at this stage of the fight was the mortar fire.

Hey, guys, sorry no updates sooner, but the holidays were busy.  Anyways, sorry it took me so long to post the pictures, but here they are, with a description from Stephan:

Hi Ian,   Here they are, and please post them to the forum. I can't figure out how to do it.   Let me know if they arrive safely.   Picture DDayact is a fuzzy inside shot of the LCT544 during the approach to the beach.   Picture Dad-1 is Easy Red about an hour into the invasion. You see the shale stone wall, which was the limit of the advance there at that point. There are a few vehicles (DD Tanks, bulldozer) knocked out.   Picture Dad-2 is of Fox Green about 40 minutes into the invasion. This is where LCT544 was supposed to land, after the DD Tanks and infantry had come ashore. At this point, only a handfull of DD Tanks had landed and all were knocked out. The men hiding behind the shale wall are the crewmen from the tanks.   Picture Dad-3 is a shot of the Susan B. Anthony, which has struck a mine and is sinking. LCT544 was called alongside to rescue duties.   Picture Dad-4 is also of Fox Green and shows an LCT(5) landing its tanks on shore, rather than at sea. This is about 40 minutes after the start of the landings. The handful of tanks were quickly knocked out. Notice the shell splash next to the LCT(5). This shot was a through and through that sank the LCT. My Dad's skipper decided not to land here since the fire was too heavy and motored down to Easy Red which was safer(!).   The chronology of the shots is ddayact, 4, 2, 1, 3.   If you look under "O'Neill" in Ambrose's DDay book index, you'll get some narrative of what happened. My Dad was interviewed for the book.   Steve

 

Thanks a ton, they were all very interesting!

Happy new years, and thanks for the comments.  To wilbur, I beleive the pipes you were reffereing to are Bangalore Torpedoes, which like you said came in sections and could be screwed together to form longer poles. They were used for clearing sections of barbed wire, and I do plan to ahve some in my diorama.  Rabbiteatsnake, I see you read my post somewhere in the figures section, but don't worry, that was when I was six .  Also, thanks forthe tips about resin and water.  Ill try to get some pictures of progress, plus the ones I recieved in my e-mail by tomorow, but right now, Ive got some skiing to do!

Me again just read some of the strands you got, descendents of the greatest generation, wow.  My father was in the 45th inf div.  Libya, Sicily, monte cassino, lost his hearing to incoming 88s.  yet when I watch that footage of Omaha I thank the good lord that my pop wasn't there that awful day, and never forget the dreadful task and the blood paid out to keep us and millions round the globe free.  And let us never squander it.

 

  Up to now I just thought you were half mad w/ battle fatigue from garden hose blowbacks,while defending earth from dino mounted nazi cavelery.  But man you're quite a little modeler, I'm no expert on landing craft, but it has the air of real machine(looks heavy&steeley.).  Kudos on the subject matter, scenes of good natured storm troopers swigging a hard won Becks, or rescueing stray kittens, or some other boy scout schmaltz, has been done to death. And doesn't speak to the nature of war. You could call you're piece,"Phobos and deimos"(fear and confusion). I have been planning a couple of dios myself, both russian frt both steeped in grim appalling narative. Not gory but unflinching in depicting death and despiration. The main one would be huge, 40 or50 figs half doz horses three tanks & several field pieces. It would recreate a painting by a master of military art James Dietz,Whom I've have been emailing lately. If you want to know more I can email you about it, I'd love to have a collaberator as I would probably never do it all by myself.  I caught a post of yours about epoxy sticking to alum forms, well duh! if you take a shallow sandbox lay a coat of that indus plastic wrap over it and push ripples into it with you hand it would make a dandy negative. And epoxy should not stick too aggresively to the wrap, if you get it just moist enough you could form breakers begining to crest. Now heres a cool trick I learned a million years ago, in a mag called military modeler(FSM was one of the last nails in it's coffin.)again take plastic wrap roll a tiny tube maybe an inch long take a saw blade and with a combing motion tear and stretch at the tube. when it's nice and frayed glue the clean end to the water, coat it in clear nail polish to represent hoary little geysers like a mg team has our boys pinned. and thats all the typeing I can stand, keep post IMG's and keep on doingthe beutiful work on your little homemade slice of hell.

all the best Rabbit

The combat engineers were carrying pipes that looked like a 4 ft piece of lolly column that day. These pipes were filled with TnT. I'm not sure if you can see this in "Saving Private Ryan" or not.

This is from a first hand account from the 116th attachment. I am very fortunate to have been able to sit down with my uncle and get first hand documantation. I know that the D-Day museum sent someone to interview him at one point. He ended up also fighting at the Bulge.

My grandfather was at Monte-Cassino. Can anyone imaginge modeling that?

I can't even put into words what good men like this meant to me and this country.

Happy New Year to all !!!!

any progress lately?i know its tuff after the holidays but ,.i just recieved my three stug III's.all dragon all F models ,and all destined for the same dio.how are you at figure painting?personally i need lots of practice.any engineers blowing up beach obstacles.it is a very labor intensive even on a small scale to go after asubject as complex as beach landing.it looks like you have a good plan in place and i look forward to seeing more.

Ian,

Your project is coming out nicely.  Can't wait to see the final work. 

Thanks wilbur.  Its still kind of intimidating to do all of the figures since Im still pretty new at them, but it should be fun.  I received the pictures mentioned above, but for lack of time , can't post them for a couple days, but they are absolutely amazing!  I was suprised how many people on these forums have told me of the history of relatives being their on the very day.  None of my relatives were actually there, but my grandmas first husband was killed in Normandy, Her second (late) husband, she met while they were both on medical duty in WW2, and a few months before she died a year ago, she had a boyfriend in the nursing home (at the young age of 89) who used to be a WW2 fighter pilot.  I guess that proves that women love a man in uniform!  But back to the forums, I have the sand almost finished, and its looking pretty good, plus I got my first airbrush for christmas!  that should help finish the sand.  Next I added lots of bullet holes in the Czech hedgehogs, on the sides facing the cliffs, to give the effect that the german defenses were trying their hardest to pin down the Americans from their bunkers.  Pics are coming soon, as long as the ones I got, mentioned above. Thanks.

That is looking fantastic. Very good size as well and will look great with all the figures. Great job on the landing craft as well. My Uncle was on Omaha at zero hour plus 15 minutes, as part of the 116th combat engineers attached to the 29th.

 

I hope to do an Iraq dio with a lot of figures and one or possibly two vehicles.

Looking forward to seeing your progress.