8404 Diorama Studios

Nearly 40 years ago I saw a diorama in what was then a fairly popular model building magazine, Military Modeler depicting Japanese infantry emerging from a cave on Iwo Jima to fight Marines. I was inspired by it – I knew I wanted to do something along those lines; certain battles of World War II fascinated me, The Battle of the Bulge, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, the Normandy Landings, and Operation Market-Garden among them. At the time I was on active duty with the Army and the modeling companies hadn’t given modelers much to work with if we wanted to do anything in the Pacific in 1/35. Someday is what I promised myself then. I saved that copy of the magazine and went on about my life.

That issue of the magazine and the others like it were lost over the years in the multitude of moves life in the military entails. Military Modeler stopped publishing sometime in the 90’s, but I still had that spark of inspiration in the back of my mind. The magazine might not have been around and I may not have had my copy of that issue, but I could still remember what it looked like. And I still wanted to something similar to it, but the question of how to make the cave and what to use to populate the diorama remained. Weight was definitely a consideration, it needed to look convincing but not weigh a ton at the same time. Someday I continued to promise myself, someday soon…

Things have a way of falling into place if they are meant to be, as this apparently was many years ago. I had joined the Navy Reserve as a Hospital Corpsman was assigned to the medical section of the 25th Marine Regiment. The same 25th Marines that anchored the right flank of the beaches on Iwo Jima, that spark got a bit brighter. Thanks to the internet, something called eBay came about and wonder of wonders I found a copy of that long lost issue of Military Modeler along with several others I had really liked. Thankfully, I have a wife with the patience of a saint; she doesn’t complain about my hobby, just like she didn’t complain about my career in the military.

There was still the issue of creating a sturdy believable cave that didn’t weigh a ton or look like it was made by a kid in grade school. Woodland Scenics have a line of rock molds for model railroad scenery, but they required either plaster or hydrocal to cast the rocks. The weight bugaboo rears its’ head. Again. Someday this will move off the back burner. Maybe someday soon…

Well as I said, things have a way of falling into place; sometimes they fall into place when you least suspect or expect it. One morning on Facebook I happened on a post in a group where a group of modelers were using using Styrofoam insulation board sheets to replicate a piece of terrain in 1/35 scale. No news in that. Modelers do it all the time with dioramas – until I realized the scope of their project their terrain included a large hill and would be several feet high in 1/35 scale. That light bulb went on over my head at that moment, pink board is rigid enough and it weighs next to nothing. It’s pretty easy to form and work with. Best of all it’s also relatively inexpensive and available in 4 x 8 sheets at most home improvement stores in a variety of thicknesses. Weight problem – yeah, calling it solved.

With the weight problem gone at long last, there were decisions to be made about what I wanted to include in my scene and completing my research. Over the years the hobby industry had figured out that something had happened in the Pacific and released some kits of Marines, IJA troops and armor, US LVT’s, landing craft, and IJN Special Naval Landing Force troops (the Japanese version of our Marines). I decided on Marines and IJA infantry (obviously) with an M4 Sherman (my Marines were going to be 4th MARDIV Marines, so the tank would be from the 4th Tank Battalion). On Iwo Jima the 4th and 5th Tank Bns. operated the M4A3 Sherman, while the 3d Tank Bn. operated the M4A2 variant. See, this is one of those times where that research comes into play. In my opinion the best Sherman kits on the market today in 1/35 come from Asuka (formerly Tasca) and they recently issued a 75mm armed M4A3. Perfect for this project, the markings in the kit are for the ETO; not to worry, after market companies have come to the rescue and have issued two sheets of decals for Iwo Jima Shermans covering all three tank battalions.

My greatest concern with this project is twofold — having it look right and having it be historically correct. Getting the last part right means thorough research. I figured when my student days ended my days with my nose in a book looking things up ended; silly me, this hobby of mine has me right back there but it’s because I want to now. One benefit of the lag between inspiration and getting started is that I’ve been doing my research all along finding bits and pieces here and there over the years. The unit was never a question, I served with the 25th Marines including a combat tour with 1/25 Marines in Iraq. A simple search led me to the After Action annex of Regimental Combat Team 25 (RCT 25), which turned out to be a treasure trove of information including how individual units were delivered to the beach on D-Day, day by day operations, and the attachments that made up the RCT.

That brings us to where we are today, about to embark on this great journey one that’s been in a holding pattern nearly 40 years waiting for enough things to fall into place to make it happen. Guess that someday soon finally came. . .