discussion peter's 1/72 scale D-Day diorama. (Greof's D-Day GB)

[Peter Gillson]

Here is my contribution to the GB. i had been thinking about this and had already added the kits I need to the stash, which are:

Pegasus infantry:


Some more US infantry I had pickedup off Ebay a while ago:


Pegasus LCVP landing craft; a ver simple kit:

millicast deep wading Sherman

Anti-tank obstacles

Dragon LCM(3) landing craft, it also has a few action figures:

View attachment 510765View attachment 510766
finally, an Airfix Sherman which I plan to add deep wading equipment to it;


the idea is a diorama with the two landing craft and the deep wading Sherman between them just on the edge of the water, the Aifix Sherman depicting a tank half sunk in the sand - like Cannonball. This Sherman will give some of the soldiers something to shelter behind, other soldiers will be in the open. If i don't get bored of painting small figures I think I will have over thirty in the scene.

The Dragon kit comes with quite a nice scenic base of transparent plastic to represent the beach and sea - hopefully i will be able to make some use of it.

I may need a second Airfix Sherman, not sure at the moment but my local model shop usually has some so I can decide later on.

the set of figures I really like to have is a set by Preiser. Great looking figures in a number of action poses - it has been advertised for over a year and the release date keeps being postponed, now it is the end of July so probably too late for me - if the set is released!

Peter

 

[A_J_Rimmer]

Absolutely loving this idea - can't wait to see more!

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Looking forward to this Peter!

 

[Guest]

Superb, going to enjoy this coming along!

 

[scottie3158]

Peter,
Chair pulled up to watch the magic happen.

 

[Guest]

an Airfix Sherman

Don’t fit the rocket launcher, though — those only came in about six months after the Normandy landing

 

[Lee Drennen]

Peter great idea seated next to Paul. I’m going to try to use that small Dio of water with my LCVP that’s in the Pegasus kit. I may have to resort to a different resource.

 

[Waspie]

Bowser's Peter, you're setting yourself a right project there. This should be one to watch.:thumb2:

 

[Jim R]

Sounds well thought out Peter. It will be interesting to see how it develops.

 

[Andy T]

One not to be missed, I'll find a chair away from the rabble in case they get rowdy.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Just a little historical note. The DD Sherman's launched off Omaha never made it to the shore, which is one reason why that turned into such a bloody mess
The story goes the Omaha assigned wading tanks were launched too far off shore and were all swamped. There are any number of rumours why that happened

On every other beach, including UTAH where 'Cannonball' was pictured, the Shermans were pretty successful

 

[Peter Gillson]

Hi guys. - welcome sboard. i too am interested in how this is going to go. It is s while since I did anything in 1/35. I a, imspired by Ron's work:

https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/dog-green-omaha-beach-6th-june-1944.40037/

Chris - absolutely, I had also read the\ag they were deployed too far out on Omaha. It must have been horrible fof the crews. Here is al ink tosome research about Cannonball. According to it the 70th tank battalion had both DD Sherman and deepwading Sherman.

https://ww2in172.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1-CHART-1-1024x790.jpg

as an aside - the first German shots fired to fend off the D-Day invasion was actually fired on 5 June, it was AA fire against the Us paratroopers whose flight path took them near Alderney before they crossed the Nomanpeninsular and approached the beaches from the West.

Peter

 

[Lee Drennen]

in case they get rowdy.

You know we will better sit in the back I’ll relay updates

 

[Tworrs]

I will join the rabble, I'm up for the noisy section. :smiling2:

 

[Lee Drennen]

I will join the rabble, I'm up for the noisy section. :smiling2:

Got you a seat saved up front

 

[Tworrs]

Got you a seat saved up front

Thank you kind Sir.

 

[Geoffers]

Wow Peter, looking forward to following your epic build :thumb2:

Geoff.

 

[Peter Gillson]

Good progress today. i had forgotten how quickly some 1/72 kits go together. I am building them OOB with no extra detailing, unless I can see something obviously wrong. So far I have nearly completed:

Higgins boat:


A LCM(3):


Both almost finished. A few smaller parts will wait until the composition is decided and most of the painting finished - less chance of knowing bits off!

... and some beach obstacles:

The larger 'hedgehogs' at the top are from the LCM kit, the remaining from a kit I got on ebay - unfortunately it was somebody selling off bits and pieces so i do not know the make.

Next up, the Milicast DD Sherman, which is not as good as I had expected; some of the casting plugs are on the large side, and there are a lot of bubbles, and some of the detail is a bit rough - you can see part of the towrope has not cast properly. a bit disappointing.


the most annoying part are the instructions. There are some nice photo and a list of the resin parts along with numbers which match the photos, but the parts are not numbered, and there are no numbered photos of the partson the sprues; so it is a bit of guess work to decide which part is which.

Peter

 

[Guest]

Not the greatest resin kit I’ve ever seen, no … Is the track warped, too? It looks like it’s bent inward a little at the sprocket end.

 

[adt70hk]

Off to a nice start Peter. Not the best resin kit is it. Millicast can be a bit hit and miss in my experience. Some of their stowage is great.... Some not.