Hello dear all!

I have some problems in composing dioramas!
I have read the rules on this site very carefully (10 steps for a succesfull dio (or something like this)).
My idea was to present a Jagd4 of 25. PzDiv.
-I Panzerregiment 9 in a march 1945 dio somewhere around Oberdonau (Austria)
My idea looks like:
A jagd4 L70 is standing behind a fence. The commander is closing his cupola because the Russians have seen the jagdpnzer and started to attack. The gunner is firing out of his cupola with a small arm meanwhile trying to close the cupola…..it should be a very hectically scene, plates, spoons and food is lying on the Jagdpanzer, some clothes in front and so on….
In the background I will show a little house from which you see soldiers running out….
Also near the tank there will be a bath wan standing with a mg nest behind……
The landscape is like a romantic dream…snow is lying partly on shadow places..the grass get slowly green, a spruce is growing ………but in this romantic scenery soldiers are fighting each again the other……

But something is missing in this story…I don`t know what, but I feel it….and maybe you outside there can help me in composing a ”wow” diorama!…..


Thx a lot!

Gerald Riegler

Instead of having the crew firing with small arms while trying to box up the tank Id rather have one or two of the crew going down through the hatches (only two if Im not mistaken) while one is standing on the roof firing back while waiting for his turn to climb down into the safty of the tank.

You can also have a forth member looking over his shoulder in the act of climbing up on the tank. A nice touch would be a napkin still tucked into his collar, forgotten in the haste.

To indicate that theyre being fired upon you could make the fifth crewmember in a pose thats hes being hit in the back while running towards the tank.

I would make the scen so that the tanks left side will be closest to the viewer and the threat coming from the side farest away. Just tilt the angle a little bit to avoid having it parallel to the frame.

I didnt understand if the soldiers running from the house were to be friendly or the enemy. If they are to be russians I would leave them out of the picture to be able to cut the size down and perhaps it would feel that they would be too close anyway.

The MG nest should be supporting covering fire in my opinion.

Well thats my suggestions, I hope they could be of some use.

Janne Nilsson
IPMS-Stockholm

Hello Janne,

hmm...what you write take sense...it brings more exitment in the dio.....
the soldiers running out from the house are german....
Do you think that it`s a good idea..or should the stay in the house fragment backwards....
i want to show some water fountains in small rain puddle to show that they are still under fire...because i will not show dead or hitten soldiers on my dios!

gerald

..you should drop the soldiers running from the house.

Delete them out of the scene or make them running for cover, or taking their firing positions. Concentrate on the main scene, I would think of the house and soldiers as props and extras.

Instead of having the fifth crewmember biting a bullet (although I personally think that my original idea was more dramtic and bringing in other elemnts in the scene) you can place him taking cover behind something as if he is being cut off by enemy fire from reaching the tank, which could be done by making the splaches from bullets in the pudles youve mentioned. This would be more dramatic if the pudles are close to whatever hes taking cover behind so it looks like they are almost scratching him.

Another thing to increase the dramatic impression is to have him taking cover behind something thats so small that its barely covering him.

Good luck Gerald. And please share the finnished result with the rest of us.

Janne Nilsson
IPMS-Stockholm

I like the idea of the solider being hit , but understand your feelings about depicting woulded or killed troops.

I also really like the idea of a figure, cut off, hiding behind something too small. There is a Verlinden (?) figure of a Panther commander sitting /squatting that comes to mind

Am I to understand they are being attacked by infantry and not armor?

If so, there was a late war Berlin dio in MMIR a while back with a knocked-out Panther that had a figure retrieving Mg ammo from the tank for a gunner on the ground who was obviouslly out.

Maybe someone is handing out ammo/grenades from the vehicle.
I'm not too up on the jagd4 L70 , it did not have a cupola/roof mount mg, did it? Did it have a co-ax?
Maybe someone handing the co-axial mg out the hatch?

Or is this too far into the action for the scene you are trying to set? (were you going for the 'first moments of contact' sort of thing)

My $0.02 US
Mike

(who has good Dio ideas, but living in an apt w a wife and 2yr old, will have to wait.)

Infantry were assigned to individual vehicles in small numbers (if at all) by March of '45, 2 or 3 was typical.
However, one of the practices was to keep an infantryman on watch, ahead of the vehicle or in a location with good visibility. For some reason, when infantry was around the Panzer men didn't have to pull watch.
You may find this handy for incorporation into your dio.

Thank you all for your comments....

now my idea is more clear.....
when it` s finished I will show it on this side...,(but it will take time...I`m only able to build one or twice the week...)

So thank you all for your comments..

but how I can imagine this with the 2-3 soldiers with the tank......
they are only there to support the Tank crew?....they are only watching for enemys.....?
to whom they belong usually....(infantery, panzergrenadiere....?)

thx in advance gerald