In June 1944, American forces attacked out of the Omaha Beach bridgehead toward the city of Saint-Lô. Secured in early July 1944, the capture of Saint-Lô allowed American forces to clear the Cotentin Peninsula and set the stage for Operation Cobra, the American breakout from Normandy.
A jeep-mounted rocket launcher of the 2nd Infantry Division, 38th Infantry Regiment Cannon Company, fires a salvo toward Hill 192 to clear the approach to Saint-Lô. A jeep of the 2nd Infantry Division, 2nd Cavalry Troop, Reconnaissance Company, equipped with a 0.30 calibre machine gun provides protection to the rocket launcher.
Construction of the rocket launcher equipped jeep started in the late 1970s using the Tamiya U.S. Jeep 1/4 Ton 4X4 Truck Willys MB, Military Miniature Series No. 15 (1972). Construction stopped for university, career, marriage and family. Retirement allowed construction to be resumed some 38 years later. I added 52 pieces of photo-etch and 137 scratchbuilt parts, primarily for the rocket launcher. It took about 30 hours to complete the build and 19 hours to paint, decal and weather. In total about 49 hours.
The second jeep is the Tamiya Jeep Willys MB 1/4-ton 4X4 Truck, Military Miniature Series No. 219 (1997) which is a marked difference in level of detail from the original kit. The driver is from the kit, while the machine gunner in the back is modified from the 1972 Tamiya Jeep kit. This jeep took about 49 hours to complete including 29 hours for construction, 20 hours for painting, decals and weathering.
The terrain is built on insulation foam glued to a plywood base. Fastmache mixed with Liquitex Basics Acrylic Burnt Umber provided the ground work. Woodland Scenics Shelf Rocks, Surface Rocks and Tree Armatures were embedded in the Fastmache while it was still wet. Once the ground work was dry it received a further wash of Liquitex Basics Acrylic Burnt Umber, followed by a wash Liquitex Basics Acrylic Raw Umber and drybrushing with Tamiya XF-52 Flat Earth, Tamiya XF-78 Wooden Deck Tan and Tamiya XF-81 Dark Green 2 (RAF). The Woodland Scenics Shelf Rock received highlights and shadows using Tamiya XF-57 Buff, Abteilung 502 ABT006 Burnt Umber, Abteilung 502 ABT007 Raw Umber and Abteilung 502 ABT110 Black. The base for the grass is Woodland Scenics Blended Turf Green Blend T1349. Over this base, a blend of Woodland Scenics Fine Turf Yellow Grass T43, Fine Turf Burnt Grass T44, Coarse Turf Dark Green T65 and Vallejo Mixed Green Wild Tufts were added. Finally, a blend of Woodland Scenics 2mm Light Green and 4mm Medium Green Static Grass was applied using a Static King applicator.
The trees are Woodland Scenics 7” armatures were twisted and pruned to shape. After priming with Tremclad Rust Paint Flat Grey Primer the trunks and branches received a washes of 502 Abteilung ABT005 Smoke and 502 Abteilung ABT080 Brown Wash. This was followed by successive drybrushes of 502 Abteilung ABT 092 Ocher, 502 Abteilung ABT245 Sand Brown, 502 Abteilung ABT035 Buff and 502 Abteilung ABT094 Green Grass. Once painting foliage was added using a mix of Woodland Scenics Bushes (Light Green FC145, Medium Green FC146, Dark Green FC147). Once planted, tree roots were added with Milliput epoxy putty which were then painted to match the trunk. Dead branches were added at the base of trees using Woodland Scenics Deadfall Branches.
The entire project took about 147 hours to complete. Figures, weapons and finishing the diorama base added another 49 hours to the effort. I plan to attempt adding rocket contrails and smoke to the rocket launcher but have let other projects distract me from finishing this final element of the scene.
