¹⁄700

Strait of Hormuz - 1988

Turned out very nice, thanks for sharing them with us.

Well done Carl, very clean models. The water effects really make the ships stand out nicely. Thanks for sharing. Frank

Very nice build, very nice display, and thanks for serving for us! Keep it up!

Thank you, Gentlemen, for the compliments. I'm glad that you like the dio. If you don't like something, feel free to let me know. I'm always in the "learning more" mode. I enjoy looking at everyone else's models and like to share mine with others. The more the merrier, I say! The KitMaker guys do a great job with the feature display layouts and front page graphics, etc. I like their feature and gallery pages.

Very very nice. I love to see Ships of all scales. It brought back some fond memories for me, I can't count how many times the destroyer that I was on did the very same thing portayed here. Make more and post 'em!!! EasyOff

very very nice work Carl, love the constructionand kits, but also the water base and photos... thank yo ufor sharing!

Hi Carl Sorry for the late reply! Although not a dynamic diorama (they are just sailing in close quarters, with no real action other than that) it's very well accomplished, and I must say, that it reminded me of some of the exercises we made (last century, when I was still in the Portuguese Navy). In model form this may look "boring", but in real life, going side by side with another ship (replenishment, man transfer, or any other situation) is a very stressful situation and could turn into an accident (depending also on sea conditions). Very well done, water very realistic and flawless ships! Bravo Zulu Carl Rui

Looks very nice, Carl. An excellent diorama although with a tragic story behind it. Thanks for sharing

Thank you for your comments, Rui! "No real action" is right. For future reference, would you have any suggestions as to what you would have liked to have seen in a diorama like mine? What about 1/700 figures or a helo landing or VertRep'g like a Sea Knight dropping a cargo load on the helo pad? We all know that ships didn't always travel so close together and that it is almost impossible to portray them in a more realistic setting with them farther apart, size of the diorama base being the limitation. We try, though, don't we? I did have a morbid idea of incorporating and painting an F-14 in Iranian colors as an ironic suggestion of the fact that the USS Vincennes thought that the Iranian airliner was an Iranian F-14. I could not consciencely go through with this idea. I did not want to commemorate the shooting down of a civilian air liner, but the operations in escorting re-flagged Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz while Iran and Iraq were duking it out. There were many incidents of Iranian small boat harrassments to oil tankers, of many nations, during this time.

Hi Carl I always like to see these little ships manned, and if WWII ships would have been crowded outside, the modern vessels usually don't, depending on the situation. Firing a cable, preparing to salute, helipad crew waiting or similar situations, that you also know are good and interesting scenes to depict. I understand perfectly the base limitation 500 yards or 1000 yards distance between ships would produce very big displays I would skip the iranian "F-14" scene - imho, just don't seem right... As I wouldn't make a dio of USS Cole DDG-67 being hit Rui