Chiefs Stuart in Burma. 'Short Halt'

[chief5437]

Hi fellas

All done here. Great kit with very little in the way of faults. The kit tracks were better than AFV's Indy link tracks!

This was my first real attempt at a dio, I've done a little base a long time ago but nothing like this.

Lessons learned? Plan the dio and layout first, I was limited in layout options due to the mix of vehicles and figure poses.
Also, more practice required on the figure painting front!

A little history.

The M3 Stuart, formally Light Tank M3, is an American light tank of World War II. It was supplied to British and Commonwealth forces under lend-lease prior to the entry of the U.S. into the war. Thereafter, it was used by U.S. and Allied forces until the end of the war.
The name General Stuart or Stuart given by the British comes from the American Civil War Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and was used for both the M3 and the derivative M5 Light Tank. In British service, it also had the unofficial nickname of Honey after a tank driver remarked "She's a honey". To the United States Army, the tanks were officially known only as "Light Tank M3" and "Light Tank M5".

I've marked this up as a 7 Armd Bde vehicle. 7 Armd Bde moved to Burma in early 1942 just as the Imperial Japanese Army were pushing the Allies back. The brigade took part in the fighting retreat to India, successfully completed in May just before the monsoons would have cut them off.


The 7th moved straight up to Pegu to fight the marauding Japanese. Pegu was untenable so the British began their historic retreat northwards using the 7th Hussars Stuart tanks to smash road blocks, cover the withdrawal and carry the wounded. Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander spoke highly of the regiment when he said:
"Without them we should never have got the Army out of Burma; no praise can be too high for them"

and now sone pics



















Sorry for the excessive amount of pics, can you tell I enjoyed this build, lol!!

Anyway, thanks for looking, and for the kind comments during the build. Cheers guys

[TommyKillander]

Top job, chief!

Great dio that capture the moment that all (mechanised) soldiers experiences sooner or later; "Get out of the vehicle, get a fix on some landmarks and read the map - trying to figure out where we are at the moment"


Tommy

[chief5437]

Top job, chief!

Great dio that capture the moment that all (mechanised) soldiers experiences sooner or later; "Get out of the vehicle, get a fix on some landmarks and read the map - trying to figure out where we are at the moment"


Tommy

Thanks Tommy, I guess you've been there too? Lol!

[SergioSolo]

Wow, that's a beautiful diorama. Well done!

[OliveDrab]

Excellent stuff Chief, really nice diorama. Makes me want to build a Stuart now

[Nev]

Nice job mate looks really good. I like the figures a lot