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WORLD WAR II DIORAMAS
"Lunch Break" Ju-87 Stuka
"Waltzing Matilda" Matilda II
Above: "Lunch Break" - On the Russian Front, two ground crewmen break for lunch in front of
a late model Junkers Ju-87 Stuka. This model took the shortest time of all shown here - I was done in about 60-70 hours. This
is a 1/48 scale Monogram kit with a few 55 gallon drums and bombs from my "junk pile". Everything else is scratchbuilt, I
built this one circa 1990. Once the scourge of European skies early in the war, the Stuka
was no match for RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. The Luftwaffe was forced
to use the dive bomber sparingly in the West from that point on. On the Russian front, however, the vastness of the theater
and the variance in quality of Russian air units gave the Stukas another hey day in 1941-42. In 1943, Russian aircraft were
finally up to the task at hand and Stukas again started to fall from the skies in large numbers.
Above: "Waltzing Matilda" - My first desert scene. A Tamiya Matilda II advances against a strongpoint
along the coast road in Libya in 1941, supported by infantry, also from Tamiya. Note the abundance of captured German water/gas
Jerrycans on the tank - a must in the North African theater. British water and gas cans were so inferior that their German
counterparts were greatly sought after. The Matilda was a nasty surprise for the Germans at the time - the tank's heavy armor
was nearly invulnerable to the German tanks of the period. Only the dreaded 88mm anti-aircraft gun, used in the anti-tank
role, could stop a Matilda head on or from the side. However, nothing inspires technological advances like war - in less than
a year, the Germans had fielded an improved Panzer IV with a high velocity 75mm gun and the Matilda's 15 minutes
of fame were over. The dead Germans were my first attempt at dead figures, and posing them was more difficult then you would
imagine. At first, every pose I tried just didn't look DEAD. At one point, they looked like sunbathers...but I finally got
it after going through 4-5 pairs of arms and legs. Never give up.
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