Mixing 1/32 and 1/35 Kits Question

You don't want to get so close to the deck that the other guy can hit you with a rock, which is what your diorama would require if you choose 1/35th and 1/32nd scale models. Seriously, "close to the ground" means a couple of hundred feet, which is nearly six feet in

1/35th scale. Remember all that neat gun camera footage in the documentaries, in which something being strafed blows up, and the plane has to fly through the debris? Even hundreds of feet up, the plane is danger, since the debris could knock off a propeller blade or penetrate a fuel tank. Lower than that, an explosion could engulf the aircraft (remember the accident on the set of the "Twilight Zone" movie--a special effects explosion blew the tail rotor off a Huey helicopter, and the aircraft spun out of control and crashed, killing actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, and that was mainly just a flashy pyrotechnic, not high explosives). Even in 1/72nd scale, you'd need about three feet of clearance, though I guess you could depict a really crazy pilot who's flying below 50 feet, and doesn't mind being shot at by rifles and submachine guns as well as cannon. Wargaming scales go all the way down to 1/285th, though I don't know if they also offer any aircraft. Gerald Owens

well another idea bites the dust.

Hold on a second Craig.

Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, top American fighter ace in Europe during World War II, flew so low on his last WW II mission that he clipped his propeller on the ground.

( He should have jumped on the transport home and got married ! )

During a strafing pass of He 111s parked on the airfield at Bassenheim, Germany, his Thunderbolt's propeller clipped the runway, bending the tips. The damage caused his engine to vibrate violently and he was forced to crash land. Gabreski ran into nearby woods and eluded capture for five days, but was captured. After being interrogated by Hanns Scharff, Gabreski was sent to Stalag Luft I. He was liberated when Russian forces seized the camp in April 1945.

Sorry Gerald ... there were lot's of " crazy " pilots who flew VERY low on strafing missions. Mr. Gabreski just pressed his luck too much.

Chris

Hi Craig.

Perhaps the aircraft is damaged or out of ammo and is on the deck to avoid being spotted. The aircraft could be shown flying over the vehicle which has its gubs pointed in the wrong direction. Said vehicle could be placed between 2 stands of small trees. You could have a crewman from the gun shouting and pointing to the P 47 as the other cre frantically swivel about. The head from an Academy Israeli Tank commander set is perfect for the shouting figure.

Cheers from Peter

thx for the ideas. I did want to have something like you mentioned, maybe a damaged plane just trying to get home and surprising a few Germans as it flies overhead.

Craig

snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote: : thought about a diorama with a P-47 buzzing a German AA halftrack on a : bridge, etc... figured I would suspend the plane with wire out of one : wing tip. : : but if the idea requires the plane to be a few feet above the ground, : then the idea is kaput because you will lose the theme.. : Instead of trying to make this all one scale (more or less), why don't you make it a forced prospective shadow box? (See the latest issue of the IPMS/USA Journal, and flip the perspective).

Also, you may want to consider why the 'track is on the bridge - that is a pretty exposed position. From my reading, most of the AA/AAA was along a tree line, which provided more cover, and made it harder to see them.

Bruce

I say go for it. Just about everything with building & posing scale replicas is a compromise, so feel free to take a little artistic license. I would consider a "disconnect" between the two vehicles - instead of a pitched battle I would make one unaware of the other. The Jug could be flying low catching the master race napping, or the flak meisters could be camo'd and hunkered down really well catching the P-47 in a slow bank. You might even place a third vehicle in the open (possibly knocked out armor) that the Germans are using as bait. Any of these setups (and more) would rationalize why a Jug would not be in a conventional attack position.

Like I said, before you toss your concept - work with it a little. The worst you can do is wind up with two models and two dioramas. You might stumble on the right mix in the process. And consider this, how many box art scenarios have you seen that stretch credibility? I almost get a picture in my mind that the setup you're describing has actually been done on a box top somewhere, at some time. Just like a diorama, a painting has a limited amount of space to tell a story.

And you know we're all suckers for nice box art.

WmB