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This diorama depicts an opposed Marine assault on a Japanese held island in the Pacific and is to honor those who sacrificed so much for our freedom.
The ‘complete’ Sherman is the new Dragon M4A2 ‘Tarawa’ kit. It has been upgraded with Formations tools, tow cables, and track skids, Tank Work Shop wood appliqué armor, and a 0.050 cal MG from Tasca. The wading gear is scratch built and represents a field built design that used 55 gal. oil drums. The commander figure is from Tamiya.
The ‘partial’, submerged Sherman is an upper hull from Formations along with the ‘bits’ that go on it with a scratch built lower hull and a left over transmission cover from an Academy kit. The suspension is from left over Dragon housings with left over Academy skids and the tracks are from RHPS. The turret is from Tamiya’s M4 with an Eduard metal barrel, left over photoetch from the spares bin, interior parts from the CMK set and a Tasca 0.050 cal. MG.
Most of the infantry figures are from the Dragon Tarawa set with the fifth one being made from the extra parts in the kit. The exception is the guy throwing the hand grenade which was made from Verlinden parts. The injured tank crew in the water is also modified from a Verlinden set.
The base is made from polyfoam covered in beach sand from Huntington Beach, California (Surf City for those Beach Boys fans). The seawall and bunker were made from Verlinden items as are the palm trees. The water is made of a resin called ‘Envirotek’ and is tinted using Tamiya acrylics. The ‘foam’ was made from a white Brillo Pad (a pot and pan scrubbing sponge available in the US). The breaking wave was made using Woodland Scenics ‘Water Effects’ and the surface texture was made using clear silicone clauking from the hardware store.
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