7.5cm PaK 40/4 RSO by Bernie Dietrich

 Bernie placed the Dragon 7.5cm PaK 40 RSO in a winter setting for this small diorama.

Stalingrad Diorama by Dave Blankenship

 This small diorama makes use of the vacuform building from the MiniArt "Poland 1944"  kit, replacing the Miniart Russian7.62cm gun and figures with a Dragon German 7.5cm PAK 40 and crew.  The figure straddling the left gun trail is a modified Tamiya figure from their PAK 37 kit.

The MiniArt bases are fairly plain and offer a lot of opportunity for embellishment. Crushed plaster and assorted detritus were strew about to give it a more realistic look. All-in-all, a relaxing and enjoyable build.

 

"Farewell to Heroes" Diorama by Chan Jackson

Chan added Tamiya's M4A3E8 turret to their M4A3 hull to create this Sherman. He painted it with paints from Tamiya and the AK Olive Drab set. The base is  a VLS product while the building corner is from an "unknown" source. 

 

The figures are from VLS Warrior, New World Miniatures, and Parcell. The Jeep ambulance is Italeri's.

 

Panzerjager IV70 (A) by Chan Jackson

 Chan finished Tamiya's new Panzerjager IV70 (A) using Tamiya paints and added it to a Precision Models base. The motorcycle is also Tamiya while the figures are from Alpine, VLS, and Mk35 (the officer.)  Another outstanding job by Chan.

M18 Hellcat by Terry McKeown

Terry's build of Tamiya's recently released M18 Hellcat set in a small diorama. The diorama base is Miniart's "Country Road" vacuform finished with craft paints and tea leaf "ivy" on the wall. The Hellcat was painted with Tamiya and AK 3rd Generation acrylics. The figures are all from Tamiya and the packs and gear stowage is from various sources. Tissue paper was used to create the tents and tarps.

 

 

"Cossacks" Diorama by Chan Jackson

 Chan used Zvezda's Cossacks set and one of Doug's Original figures in this diorama of Cossacks in pursuit of retreating German forces.    The vehicles are an abandoned Italerei Horch and a Techmod T-70. He used Mig's winterizing set for the winter diorama effects on the base and Mig's Winter Camo set for the T-70. Since building this diorama, Chan found another Doug's Original Cossack and will attempt to somehow fit it into "Cossacks". 

 

 

"Desert Adversaries" Diorama by Stew Langenbeck

 

 Stew put a lot of time and effort into this diorama of  LRDG/SAS and Italian desert groups facing each other across hundreds of scale miles of North African desert. The base is a shadow box with a map of Libya from a West Point military history atlas.

 

 

The Saharianna AS 42 is from Italeri with PE/resin from Royal Model and Part. Stowage includes ammo boxes from Italeri. The majority of the packs & bags are from Tamiya and Airfix. The tarp and convertible top are scratch built. The front wheels/axles were modified so they could  be turned. The British Lewis machine gun is from Italeri. The vehicle was initially sprayed with gray primer and then hand painted with lightened/faded Model Color green ochre, and finally "weather-dusted."

 

 

The SAS jeep is based on  Italeri's Commando car with kit bashing from the old Tamiya SAS jeep. Machine guns are from a variety of after market sources, including Academy's early 50 cal.  Def Model provided commercial tires for the jeep. A lot of  Eduard PE was added to the model. The tarps were scratch built. The front wheels, axles, and steering gear were modified so they could be turned and brake lines added. Leaf springs also modified with aftermarket and scratch built pieces. Other scratch built items include: 50. cal . mount, early ammo box, radiator catch can, and RAF vibration-proof compass. Initially sprayed with Testors U.S. Army green and hand painted with muted Model Color desert yellow and a "home made" dust/weathering mix.

 

The LRDG and SAS figures are from D-Day Miniatures and a Vietnamese E-bay vendor. All but one of the Italians are Chinese knock-offs. 

 

M4A3E8 (75) W-HVSS Sherman by Chan Jackson

 

Chan built this "oddball" version of the  M4A3E8 Sherman from the Tamiya Korean War boxing of the kit and added some Value Gear stowage. . The crew figures are from Scale 75 and the motorcycle and figure are MiniArt.

 

 

 

 

A9 Diorama by Chan Jackson

The A9 is a Bronco kit. Chan felt it's a good kit with decent photo-etch frets. He was very happy to see the kit had link and length track. The build wasn't too bad. He used the Mig British Armor (smart set) paints and opted to make a vehicle from the BEF fighting in France in 1940. The diorama depicts the rear guard fighting around Calais to protect the Dunkirk evacuation. The figures are the DML BEF machine gun team set which he felt was a decent set.