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Ww1 dio help


kpnuts

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Hi all as it was my birthday today my son bought me these.

kaspb9.jpg

He's head of history and casually dropped into the conversation that he was hoping they would be used in a commissioned dio for his school. The dimensions would be 4'×3' approx so will need more models, thing is he knows as much about modelling as I do about armour so I need a lot of help I have a 1/72 tiger moth could I use that in the same period, I'm pretty sure (without checking the stash not sure I have a glouster gladiator biplane in the stash also) not been an armour man the only tanks I have are a cheifton that's 1/35 and I'm pretty sure ww2 although I could use my forced perspective I used in the warspite gets a few scars dio) what other tanks and assorted vehicles would be used in a dio of this size, I have no idea at all, I will need to research the trenches and stuff, also can you tell from the markings on the tank where it was used, I think my son is thinking German trenches is the tank the tight markings for that and is the plane right also (blimey I can see this getting complicated)

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Can of worms time! the tiger moth and Gladiator are much too late for WW1 but for effect who really would care? you can have a lot of fun

with that collection and make a great educational dio,there's loads of photos out there on WW1 sites for trench construction etc.one point if

you wanted total accuracy,Airfix British and German infantry sets depict early war uniform,s by 1916 when the British used tanks the familiar

tin helmet and coal scuttle helmet were worn by the respecive armies and it was well into 1917 that the Germans fielded tanks there are kit's

available,the eindecker arrived in late 1915 but by 1916 was eclipsed by new types of allied aircraft,Sopwith;s Triplane arrived in 1917.Hope 

it gets built I'd love to see it!

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  • 5 months later...

Head of History you say? Well then, what about a diorama that depicts the development of warfare from 1914 to 1918. This could effectively be based on the one trench system spanning the diagonal of the baseboard, but running through the years from, say, lleft to right. Starting with the early war Tommies and Fritzes (which you have), add mounted light cavalry and Uhlans, then start to add field artillery and machine guns with the trench getting deeper and more complex (aircraft mounted on wires sticking up from the dioarma?), change of headgear, and finally the appearance of tanks and the arrival of Doughboys (Airfix do them too). You MUST have a Sopwith Camel in there somewhere - operational 1917 to Sept 1918.

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1 hour ago, alancmlaird said:

Head of History you say? Well then, what about a diorama that depicts the development of warfare from 1914 to 1918. This could effectively be based on the one trench system spanning the diagonal of the baseboard, but running through the years from, say, lleft to right. Starting with the early war Tommies and Fritzes (which you have), add mounted light cavalry and Uhlans, then start to add field artillery and machine guns with the trench getting deeper and more complex (aircraft mounted on wires sticking up from the dioarma?), change of headgear, and finally the appearance of tanks and the arrival of Doughboys (Airfix do them too). You MUST have a Sopwith Camel in there somewhere - operational 1917 to Sept 1918.

That's a brilliant idea!

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So glad you like it.
Regarding aircraft - your Eindekker near the start, SopwithTriplane about the middle, then just a couple of 'months' over, how about the Red Baron's Fokker Triplane, and finally Sopwith Camel, perhaps in Trench Straffing mode as per the final actions. Should keep the kids happy!
The line of your trench could mimic the advance and retreats of the opposing armies over the years.
.....and......go on......put some kilted Scottish soldiers in (kilts were often khaki if you don't like the thought of painting tartan in 1/72nd scale!) . The Scottish regiments were at the forefront of many of the major battles. Not often acknowledged that those regiments suffered greater casualty percentages than other British or Dominion nations. You Yanks were much more careful with your troops - I don't mean that in a bad way, your generals saw the mistakes our lot made and rarely repeated them.

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KP did a lot of great work on this project guy's can be found here

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235011479-ww1-horror-of-the-trenches/#comment-2531190

one point though,when the American's reached the western front in 1917 their units were trained for the conditions they would face by British

and French troops,the allied commanders especially Haig expected them to fill the depleted rank's of allied unit's and come under British and

French command.Pershing would have none of it and quite rightly insisted they fight as an American army group and for the most part they

were positioned in their own sector of the western front when they fought there major actions in 1918 to the horror of French and British 

observers they were ordered into the kind of frontal assault's across open ground that had decimated the allied armies in the previous

years their casualties were horrific and like the British on the Somme more troops were thrown in to the carnage and even in the days

leading up to the Armistice some of their commanders were determined to waste brave men's lives trying to capture ground,even the

Germans facing them could not believe what they were seeing.Sadly they ignored the lessons of the allied armies and for the most

part also the new tactics that had broken the German army in front of the British in August 1918.

Edited by stevej60
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