MILITARY DIORAMAS by Paul Asaban

Photo Album 15 - Normandy Ambush & more

Home
About me
Photo Album 1 - The Road to Minsk
Photo Album 2- The Road to Minsk
Photo Album 3 - The Road to Minsk
Photo Album 4- OS2U Kingfisher
Photo Album 5 - Flakvierling
Photo Album 6 - Building the Flakvierling
Photo Album 7 - Dauntless SBD
Photo Album 8 - Dauntless SBD
Photo Album 9 - Channel Gazing
Photo Album 10 - Stuka and Matilda
Photo Album 11- ME-109 and Spitfire V
Photo Album 12 - Anzio
Photo Album 13 - Anzio
Photo Album 14 - Bastogne Aftermath
Photo Album 15 - Normandy Ambush & more
Photo Album 16 - The First Time I Saw Paris
Photo Album 17- Aachen 1944
Photo Album 18 - Aachen 1944
Photo Album 19 - PT109
Photo Album 20 - "Corner Kick" Curtiss P-40
Photo Album 21 - Building "Corner Kick"
Photo Album 22 - Black Widow
Photo Album 23 - Assorted models
Photo Album 24 - Somewhere in Saudi (A-10)
Photo Album 25 - Top Gun Air Show
Photo Album 26 - Top Gun Airshow 2
Photo Album 27 - The Mother of all Battles
Photo Album 28 - The First Night - F-111
Photo Album 29 - My kids are in on the action - Christian's Dioramas
Photo Album 30 - My kids are in on the action - Nicole's Dinosaurs
Photo Album 31 - Coming Soon - Operation Market Garden
Photo Album 32 - The War Room
Photo Album 33 - Antique Ships Restoration Project
Photo Album 34 - Restoration Project II
Photo Album 35 - Restoration Project III
Photo Album 36 - Restoration Project IV
Contact Me
Related Links

WORLD WAR II DIORAMAS
Normandy Ambush
Lend Lease
B-25 Gunship

AmbushinNormandyOverall_view.jpg

Above: My second armor diorama. A Panzer IV is ambushed in the hedgerow country of Normandy after hitting an anti tank mine. Note the rolled out tread in the foreground. Any thoughts the German tank crew may have had about fighting it out have been quieted by the flame thrower in the right foreground. Better a POW than broiled alive! The tank commander is covered by a GI with a Garand in the foreground center, while the driver is staring at the barrel of a Thompson in the hands of the GI to the left. The kit is Tamiya, the GIs are Tamiya, the rest is me!

AmbushNormandyCloseupview.jpg

Above: Another view of the ambush, with some realistic background added as special effects for the picture.

Lend_Lease_-_P39_Airacobra_Overall_View.jpg

Above: Lend Lease in action. A P-39 Airacobra in Russian service. Not a very popular plane with the Americans (who used it as designed - a fighter), the mid engined Bell aircraft was well liked by the Russians (who used it for ground attack) because the Oldsmobile-built 37mm cannon was very effective against German light armor. With two .50 cals in the nose and four .30 cals in the wings, German troops also had much to fear from the P-39. The tanker trailer is scratchbuilt from a prescription medicine container. Typical of Russian vehicles and aircraft, a patriotic slogan is painted on the side of the trailer and the fuselage of the Airacobra. The snow is baking powder, sprinkled over the trees after they had just been sprayed with dull coat. Repeat this procedure several times to build up the snow layer.

B25H_MitchellOverall_View.jpg

Above: A B-25H gunship is serviced somewhere in the South Pacific. The brainchild of Paul "Pappy" Gunn, a USAAF colonel in the Southwest Pacific, the evolution of the Medium Bomber gunship/skip bomber (B-25's and A-20's) was a devastating development for the Japanese. The original glazed nose of the earlier B-25's, home to the bombardier, was removed (as was the bombardier) and replaced with 4-6 .50 caliber machine guns and a 75mm cannon. "Twin packs" of 2 machine guns each were added to the fuselage sides. Add the two fifties in the top turret, and there you have it. With the 10 forward firing .50 caliber Brownings and a 75mm cannon, these gunships could rip a small freighter in half or annihilate a row of aircraft in seconds. Small coastal ships literally vaporized under the withering firepower of these low flying predators. Pilots flying them often said the aircraft "stood still" when all the guns opened up. The 75mm had to be loaded manually, and this slow firing gun was deleted in later models. Pappy Gunn also developed the tactic of "skip bombing". The gunships would attack vessels at mast head height, opening up with the guns to keep the enemy gunners "preoccupied". Then, from just a few hundred yards out and maybe 100ft or less above the water, the bombs would be released by the pilot and "skipped" over the water into the side of the target ship. The tactic was terribly effective and the effects devastating.  This model is a "breakaway" model - the tail section comes off, the windshield glazing can be removed, and the fuselage opens to show interior detail. The searchlight trailer in the foreground is wired and lights up the model.

PREVIOUS PAGE

NEXT PAGE