DansM3halftrackdiorama

Spring Cleaning

US GI taking a well-deserved and long-delayed bath, May 1945

This is an older diorama I built in the late 1990s. Hope I've gotten better since then.

This halftrack is the old Tamiya M3A2, converted back to an M3A1. I deleted the ladder-like rack on the side and cut back the MG pulpit armor on the side. I left the stowage racks on the rear because a lot of M3A1s I've seen had some kind of rack on the back.

The guy bathing is of course the old Verlinden figure. His M-1 is within reach just in case.

I got lucky with the dry transfer markings from VLS - I was able to get them to rub down over the hinges and then I cut them where the hood seams are, so it looks painted-on and, well, less fake-looking.

Here you can see the muddy, wet front end of the M3A1 as well as the stack of C-rat boxes and the GI's lunch.

The mud on the base is a mix of pastels and future floor wax.

This is the joke. The GI is relaxingin the tub; th ediscarded newspaper has a headline that reads "Hitler Dead" . This is the best news in years, thus the two bottles of wine. He's just eaten lunch, when the goose sticks its head in one of the C-rat boxes and may be stealing his supper.

Here's the stowage, again mostly VLS and some Tamiya stuff. I included most of the squad's weapons, plenty of rucksacks, bedrolls etc, plus two panzerfausts. Some US units captured enough of these to issue to their troops.