Aftermath - Panther vs Pershing 2018

This Diorama was commissioned by WS&S Magazine for a front cover of their magazine.

It depicts the destroyed Panther by the Cathedral in Cologne.  It was a difficult project to develop trying to be historically accurate and aesthetically pleasing at the same time. 

I used photo reference and the online video of the engagement to get the feel for the scene. 

Key challenges were: Recreation of battle damage on the Panther and the cobbled roads/tram lines.

There was no way to quickly create the cobbled effect accurately and so I laser cut an MDF template and pressed air drying clay into the holes, baked it in the oven then popped out the individual cobbles. The tram lines were also laser cut. Next the cobbles were hand placed and glued with PVA. 

I hand made the tanks burned out tool storage frame from cardboard

3 Sets of tracks were cut and bent into shape to create the track deformation. The HK studio printed a rear exhaust system that was in keeping with the photos online. I manually cut hatches and stowage lids to match. two printed GI's were also sent over from HK to complete the scene. 

Kits used:

280015 Panther G

280049 Willys Jeep