France, June 1944

[Pangaea95]

Wishing to avoid the Allied jabos(fighter bombers), the Wehrmacht Mayor(Major) roughs his way through a wooded area In an attempt to make his way to the front.




He Is being sent forward to take command of roadblock set up to deter an Allied breakthrough, Wehrmacht intelligence has reported a strong Allied taskforce preparing to advance on this critical crossroad.




The Allies knowing that german resistance Is being pressed to It's limits has assembled a large taskforce to punch a hole for thier armor to break through into Brittany hoping relieving some of the pressure being put on Montgomery's forces In Caan






The germans have fortified this crossroad In anticipation of the breakthrough, and are anxously waiting the impending advance, they were promised armour support, but with nothing but a few antitank guns, and a mixed understrength company they await thier destiny.








The GI's are ready for a fight, and keep an alert eye. They know that the enemy Is still strong, determined, and prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.




The taskforce makes It's way towards the heavily defended crossroad ahead In the French wooded area, they are prepared to meet thier destiny, confident that they will prevail, they are unaware of what lays ahead.






The germans hearing the approaching colume ready thierselves for the worst, they have been In constant action since June 6th and are well aware of the power the Allies posess.










The taskforce enters the woods not aware that thier movement Is being tracked, they don't yet have the roadblock In thier sites, unaware of the hellstorm that is about to be released on them they make thier way forward.







The lead tank Is In the range of the german guns, still undetected to the Allies, the destiny of these men, of both sides, Is about to be met. Should the Americans breakthrough the way into Brittany will be clear, regardless of the outcome of this day, history will be written In thier blood.


To be continued?

[Pangaea95]

A big thanks to all the guys In the FSoNE for making this story possible, the pic's are from our last shoot at the Military Musuem In Conneticut. We are getting together again this coming Saturday, and I hope to continue the storyline. Big thanks to Don(Cavsgt) and the Musuem for making this happen. For more info visit The Fighting Sixth of New England or the Military Musuem of Southern New England

[Reizbar]

Great stuff Randy! The mortar pits look great.

[Pangaea95]

Thanks Tim, that cool little pit was done by Fredric(LRic54) Using his FJ's and mortar, the nice thing about the shoot was everyone pulled together and helped each other to set up, we had both old and young, kids and adults work together on this shoot, It was a nice group effort that I look forward to doing again

[inxsone]

Nice photo story there Randyman... Looks like it was lots of fun... Make me wish we had a more cohesive group here in So Cal to do stuff like that...

[chavaTX]

That's a pretty cool set up. I really like all the Allied vehicles y'all have.
The PAK40s look pretty cool to. Thanks for posting the pics.

[johnro6659]

Very good Randy! I had a blast! Love the story I was wondering what you were going to come up with.

I really liked the way everyone pitched in as one to get this dio and shoot going and done. It was a tuff fight to clear the area and make it look decent in the short time we had to get ready but it was worth the pain. Thanks to Don finding this place and the museum and their staff for allowing us to tear up their land! LOL I hope the next shoot will go as well. I bought a new camera so I can get some better pics. I have been working on a few things hopefully my car will be out of the shop in time so I can get it all down there!

I hope a lot more people will make the trek down if not for the Dio to visit the museum it's worth the trip alone. I really wish I was closer I would go more often.


US Military Museum of Southern New England

[Leatherneck]

Nice dio! Looks like a lot of fun.

[Unkn0wn]

Wow, incredible Dio, story & pictures!

I love scenes with lots of soldiers, both infantry and armour.
And I swear, show some pictures to people that aren't in the hobby and they'd tell you that they're real.


Hope this is going to be continued!!

[Pangaea95]

Thanks guys, much appreciate the feedback There was some really neat stuff that people brought, Don's WC Is very cool. Can't wait for saturday

[Unkn0wn]

It's a pity simulating the actual battle on 1:6 scale is difficult, but not impossible.

I hope you'll give it a try to continue the story because I'm really looking forward to it.

[FooFighter]

You had me mesmerized. Nicely done. I would imagine that setting up a diorama of that magnitude is exhaustive work to say the least. The results are most impressive.

FooFighter

[pomz99]

Great outdoor dio shoot, you guys have too much fun.
The b & w photograghy adds a nice touch.

[BigFergSS]

Very cool, Randy!! Looks like you guys had a BUSY day!! I see there looks like there's another shoot coming up for you guys!!

Hmmm...maybe we here in NC could start a group...Scale Tanks in North Carolina (STiNC)
Well..maybe not, at least not with that name!!

[johnro6659]

I always prefered B&W photos for W.W.II shoots. I know there were some color back then but 90% of the photos taken where B&W.

I try and add scratches and fading to my pics with photoshop to give them a bit more of an original look.

There are a few rules to follow when snapping pics of models. always stay low, eye level to the figures, you don't need a huge set up smaller is better. Your better off making small mini dios and alternating the pics in a photo story. Try and get anything that's not in scale pushed away. Your better off setting up and shooting in dirt than grass you can dig up dirt and make fox holes, grass makes the stuff look like toys. Randy did a good job of giving you a 12" figures point of veiw. We spent a lot of time lying on the ground several of us got poison ivy. LOL A good story makes it even more interesting and Randy came up with a good one. I don't know enough about the history to make up something like that. I am going to bring two fog machines with us and hopefully we will be able to get power out there to run them. Lighting is a big deal too it's better to shoot on an overcast day than a bright and sunny day. The day when we shot the pics it was pretty bright but there were a few trees giving us some shade. Hopefully this weeks shoot will be much better.

[Stinch]

Whats wrong with STiNC? It has a nice ring.

[Pangaea95]

Thanks Gerry Once again gotta give a big hand to Don and the musuem for making this happen. This time I hope to spend a little more time checking the 1:1 armour out and take some pic's of the musuems collection.

[johnro6659]

Here you go Gerry and Stinch:

Scale Tanks in North Carolina Hobbyists (STiNCH) LOL

Stinch you going to haul the Tiger with you again? I never did get to really check it out. I am just kidding I know it weighs a ton ! LOL

[Stinch]

John

I'm hoping to bring it out to one of our dio shoots by the end of the year. Either way, it'll be under it's own power. My back can't take much more of moving this thing, lol. A buddy of mine is bringing his Armortek Sherman this Saturday. It may not be ready for a dio yet, but he'll be inspired after Saturday!

[johnro6659]

SWEET! One of these days I hope to have enough saved to buy an Armortek piece. I can understand it must be hard to get that in the back of an SUV I am not supposed lift anything over 10Lbs I could imagine it's got to be a chore hauling it around.

I was looking at those little trailers at Home Depot so I could haul more stuff around. I guess it wouldn't be too hard to set one up with some ramps so you could drive them up on it. I have a 1/48 scale R/C German sub. It's 6' long and while not too heavy it's akward to get from one place to another. I tried hauling it around straped on a roof rack but the wind, road debree and bugs really messed it up. I could have taken it out more but because it was so much of a hassle to take it any where. It needs some rehabing now and since I have been doing the 1/6th scale thing I just have it displayed. I got my car back and I should be able to meet Randy Sat morn. so I'll be there.

[Pangaea95]

Well Saturday was a great success, a good time had by all, got a bunch of really neat pic's to continue the photo story, kep an eye out for Part 2

[johnro6659]

Good one Randy! I need to send you my pics so you can see if there are any you can use. I thought it was great Stinch and his friend Mike brought the Sherman that thing was awesome I can't wait to see it done and running as well the the Tiger and Panther!

[Andreas]

First I agree that looks cool - how about a burning tank in the next episode? Must be worth setting one of those ablaze for a good picture?





(just kidding!)

[Leatherneck]

Looking forward to part 2!

[johnro6659]

We don't really need to burn a tank just give it the impression of it burning with photoshop.

[FMerrill]

WOW!!!! What an absolutely awesome dio shoot, sign me up as one of the people looking forward to part 2.

Great work guys.



Fabian