"To Make or Break an Invasion..."

[Guest]

Hi all,

Well, with a month and a bit left of this GB, I've just got time for one more entry. I've decided to abandon my idea of doing another 1/72 build, and instead am going to be going for my first 1/35 diorama.

In the largest naval invasion in history, millions of shots were fired in the first 24 hours. The scene I'm going to depict will be that of one single shot, a shot which debatably was the most important of the entire invasion, the outcome of which held thousands of lives at stake, and in a worse case scenaro, could have lead to the failure of D-Day.

Except I'm not going to tell you where or when this took place until the build is finished.

For that reason, I'm not going to post any box art; instead I'll post work-in-progress pics as I go along, and see if anyone can guess in the meantime

Expect the first pics tomorrow.

[homechild]

Okay, I'm very intrigued now...looking forward to the pics.

[spanner570]

Got me glued too Greg (awful pun)

Had a think what the subject is and though at first it was the distruction of the building containing the demolition charge switches which would have blown the Pegasus Bridge sky high.

However, this was done with grenades and no switches were found anyway!!

So thinking cap back on....

Ron

[Guest]

A good guess Ron, I had intended to do something along those lines in 1/72, but lack of time and space shoved me towards something a little smaller. Perhaps this will serve as a clue

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[Guest]

Looks like a lower hull of a tank to me!

[tr1ckey66]

Looks like a french tank chasis? Hotchkiss?

Either way I'm intrigued - nice suspense you're building up here!

Paul

[Guest]

straight back in with an other greg?! and now your teasing us, ha haa, i'll let the others guess and just sit back and watch it build.

[Guest]

Been a bit delayed on this one, but I'll be doing some more tomorrow. It is indeed the lower hull of a French tank, but not a Hotchkiss. More pics over the weekend, hopefully

[Guest]

The tank is finally taking shape, missing just it's tracks, weathering and decals. Oh, and some of the hatches, but those are supposed to be missing, for reasons that will (hopefully) soon become clear.

These not-so-common tanks are interesting to build. I can see myself doing an some early-war work at some point in the future.

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[spanner570]

Let's have another wild stab at the theme....

A shell accidentally hit this tank (Though why a French tank would be there is another matter) and disabled it, causing it to block an important road / causeway, thus delaying the German reinforcements.

No, I didn't think it would be right either!!!

Ron

[Guest]

On a similar kind of line, Ron. You're closer than you might think

As an update on the Somua (the tank's a Somua, by the way), I perhaps went a little crazy with experimenting by trying to model an explosion. It's still a work in progress, but I think it would take a lot of practice to get this sort of thing looking good. The impact on the tank is an important factor in the scene I'm trying to represent, and I've tried to show the sheer power of the striking warhead by blowing the hatches out and sending smoke in all directions.

It looks a bit poor compared to the few other models I've scene depicting an explosion, but it's a learning experience. Serves me right for diving straight in

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[spanner570]

That's going to be one mother of an explosion Greg.

Try this then....

The tank had been commandeered by a high ranking German and the shell hit had killed him so he could no longer muster a counter attack?

Quite right, wrong again!!

Ron

Just found out the Germans actually used these captured tanks during the Normandy landings, so perhaps we are getting close now!

This is fun!

[Ian M]

This was the tank that was the coming invasion!!!

"Destroy that bloody tank before he gives the game away"..........Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaboooooooooooom

Looking good by the way.

Ian M

[homechild]

It's quite obviously something to do with Michael Caine..."You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off..."

No?

Okay, I'll get my coat.

[Guest]

Nice guesses guys, getting closer. I've attached a pic that should make it a lot easier

Ron, you're quite right, the Germans did use early-war French tanks such as the Somua in all theatres. I suppose technically, this is a PzKpfw 35.9.739 (f), rather than a Somua. In fact, the division in question had 23 of these in service at the time of the invasion. That might be a clue.

I've started work on the base as well, but it's taking a while because I've decided to make some stone walls, which are taking ages.

This is my first attempt at a 1/35 figure (no weathering yet), and I've now got a new respect for those who have made these in other threads. There's little room for error, and details need to be a lot finer to look realistic. That's something I'm going to need to practice with if I'm going to make more in this scale (and I've just realised how ineffective my filling has been) :P

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