MILITARY DIORAMAS by Paul Asaban

Photo Album 27 - The Mother of all Battles

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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
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MODERN ERA DIORAMAS
"The Mother of all Battles" - Desert Storm
M1-A1 Abrams
Iraqi T-72

Mother_of_all_Battles_-_Overall_View.jpg

Above: Operation Desert Storm. An American M1-A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT) rolls by a knocked out Iraqi Soviet made T-72 MBT. A victim of an earlier battle, the T-72 lies derelict and burned out on the side of the road. Strewn alongside are woven Arab blankets, buckets, ration boxes and other debris of war.

Mother_of_all_Battles_-_M1A1A_Turret_top_View.jpg

Above: A top view of the Abrams. The model is actually an M1 that I converted into an M1-A1 by adding the thermal sight on the top of the turret, as well as upgrading the gun from the older 105mm to a 120mm. The tank is named for Creighton Abrams, one of George Patton's favorite tank commanders, who later became Army Chief of Staff. The purpose of this MBT is to provide mobile firepower for armored formations of sufficient capability to close with and destroy any opposing armored fighting vehicle in the world, while providing protection for the crew in any known combat environment. The Abrams is capable of engaging the enemy in any weather, day or night. The orange tarp is for aerial identification for friendly air power. This crew has given their tank an appropriate name!

M1A1 - Back of Turret.jpg

Above: The back of the turret on the M1-A1. As in previous wars, modern US tank crews carry a ton of extra equipment on their MBTs. Most of this equipment seen here is built from scratch. Bedrolls and back packs are made from tissue and/or clay.

Mother_of_all_Battles_-_M1A1A_Gunner__and_.50_Cal_Closeup.jpg

Above: The tank commander takes a gander at the T-72 as his tank rolls by. He mans an updated version of the venerable Browning .50 caliber machine gun, a WWI design by John Browning that marches on. Note the desert colored body armor over the standard NATO/US type Euro uniform.

Mother of all Battles - T72 Closeup.jpg

Above: The Iraqi T-72. This MBT has taken several hits from an American Abrams in the right fender. Easily penetrating the Soviet armor, the AP rounds have "brewed up" the Iraqi tank. The intense fire has buckled many thinner metal parts on the tank, including the rear engine panels. The right track has broken loose, and the rubber on the road wheels has melted and flaked on the ground beside the tank.The side "skirt" armor has been blasted away by the hits. Additional small hits from a CBU, or cluster bomb unit, can be seen on the rear right fender. A CBU is a container, dropped from an attack aircraft, that breaks apart and releases dozens of small, armor piercing "bomblets" that are meant to destroy groups of armored vehicles. Smoke has blackened every opening in the tank, including the driver's viewport in the front glacis plate. The "V" on the front of the tank is to divert water away from the driver's view when the tank is fording a river. The sign in the background welcomes Allied forces into sunny Iraq, courtesy of the 24th Mechanized Division of the US Army.

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