The Liberation of a Normandy Village - and some cheese and wine too!

spanner570

SALAD DODGER
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For the past four years, the young French woman had been used to whistles and comments from the friendly German soldiers manning the check point into her village.

"Off to visit your Gran again, Frauline?" They would ask as they examined her papers. She would just nod......

Now things had changed. It was July 1944. The Allied Army had finally broken out of the Normandy Beachhead and were heading inland.

She noticed how young the soldiers were now, and how sullen and frightened they looked. And with good cause, the spearhead of the American forces was but a few kilometers away and rapidly advancing. Once through the check point, and out of sight of the soldiers, she cycled off into the woods. She was on a mission, she was a messenger for the local resistance and had an important message for the American Commander.......Granny would have to wait.

"Listen up guys, this brave young lady has brought us an important message from the head guy of the village. Most of the Krauts have shipped out east to stronger defences, leaving only a token force to form a rearguard. This little map shows just where they've set up strong points. More important than any of that is the fact that in the two old buildings by a stream there is a well hidden stash of cheese and wine! The villagers want to share it all with us after we've kick out the enemy!

So, gentlemen when we attack at first light tomorrow, just make sure we don't hit those two buildings - but blast the rest to hell and back!
Don't worry about hitting the Frogs, they will be out in the fields - heads down, kind'a pretending to work!

We move out at 04.00.........That's all."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


So that is the story behind this build.

I've been lucky enough to have wandered around Normandy and I just love the up, down, round and around quaint rural villages, and have long wanted to build a model one - part of one, anyway!

'Established' members might have seen this before. If so please pretend the thread's not there. Thanks.

Those that haven't, and would like to come along for the ride....Welcome!

Please excuse any wrong punctuation, misplaced apostrophes and spelling etc., I might inadvertently type along the way..:upside:.....Thanks
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I never plan my dioramas to any detail beforehand, I just start with an idea and let things develop as I plod along. Although bought buildings are superb and make up into very nice pieces, I prefer to make my own, simply because I want my buildings to match my ideas, not the other way around. This model will be in 1/72. To make any dioramas look right in 1/35, every nail, lock, window catch, virtually everything as in the real world would have to be modelled. Way, way beyond my skills!........so 1/72 it is.

Let's start....
Here's the 18"x 14" base. It's a piece of chipboard from an old kitchen unit with pieces of polystyrene from a washing machine packaging stuck to it.
First idea that came swirling in to my noggin' was to incorporate a stream, so I shaped the poly. to suit. I placed the tank to try and get some idea just what, and where I could build stuff.

001a.JPG
Then I sat back and cracked a can - and thought!

Cheers.
Ron
 

rtfoe

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I've cracked a few cans open before and my ideas turned out phsychedelic :tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy:

I'll grab my coat now...

Cheers,
Richard
 

spanner570

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Nice one chaps - As I've started brewing my own beer once more, it should have read....crack a bottle.....:thumb2:
 

spanner570

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Hi Ron
If we sit close to the front and behave do we get a bottle of your home-brew? Watching this with interest.
Jim

Jim - If you or scottie do behave, you won't even get a sniff of the barman's apron! - This model making lark is supposed to be fun....
 
D

Daniel Horvath

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Ron love the story mister! Well tought out! Very much looking forward to this coming alive! Good luck with the build! Regards Danny
 

TIM FORSTER

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Hi Ron,

I'm a relative newbie around here, but I like where you are going with this... 1/72 gives you so much more room to play with!

There's no better way to plan a dio than just to get stuck in and experiment with shapes, sizes and angles.

If I have one word of friendly advice, however, it would be to ditch the polystyrene and use insulation board - the stuff they use to fill in ceiling and wall cavities. Not only is it cheap (or free - mine usually comes from skips), it is very easy to sand and carve before you even reach for the polyfilla, Das or whatever you are going to use to build up the groundwork.

Best of all, because you start with the highest ground and then 'dig down', you don't have to spend time building up the higher parts of your diorama. So, for example, if want to make a stream bed or a sunken road, you just take out some sandpaper or a screwdriver and scrape / chip away.

Below is how I did it on my (1/35) dio 'Liberation, Italy 1944'.

Anyway, good luck! I will keep watching...

Tim

The insulation board has now been fixed in place - but the digging has yet to begin!.jpgAfter about an hours work the insulation board has been sanded and carved to create the undula...jpg
 

Si Benson

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Hi Ron,
Did someone say ‘misbehaviour and beer’?....them’s my middle names sir:smiling3:! I have no doubt this will turn out a cracker :smiling4:....carry on:thumb2:
Si
 

spanner570

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Thanks everyone for the helpful (Thanks Tim) and humorous posts - me like!

I'm gonna be the one twanging my ruler on the desk!

David, my dear chap, in the past, such a disgusting act would have seen you sent to 'The Tower' and your head removed in a most unpleasant way! Let me explain....

A 'Ruler' is someone who rules - a King or Queen for instance.
You are referring to that most wonderful, plastic or wood, 12" long measuring devise.....A Rule.

I suggest in the banana skin world of the written word and phraseology, that makes us 1 all!...:tongue-out: What say you good buddy?

Whilst I'm at it, here's another.....Why do folks insist on calling an aircraft a plane? A plane creates wood shavings.

I feel better for that - and a lot happier levelling the score. :thumb2:
 

spanner570

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Right, back to the build.

After chewing over the thing, I decided six buildings would suffice and two bridges. I opted to make the buildings at this early stage so I could shuffle them around until I was happy with the overall balance.

Here's the first.
I scale draw them on a piece of paper, cut out the door openings and windows, then transfer the paper onto whatever the materiel is. (This is a polystyrene pizza base) Scribe around the openings and cut out with a sharp knife. I then scribe in any detail such as stone work and stick the sections together.
P1140417.JPG

Using cheap 'poundshop' type acrylics, I slurry well watered down paint all over the building.
P1140420.JPG

Then add colour.....
P1140424.JPG

Ready for the timberwork.....
P1140425.JPG

One shell done - Five more to go!

Cheers.
Ron
 

Gern

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You are referring to that most wonderful, plastic or wood, 12" long measuring devise.....A Rule.

Try telling students that! To them, a rule is just another sort of law or instruction that must be disobeyed to gain extra street cred!

But I ain't gonna let you get extra points for alternative definitions! This is why I never taught English:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer.
16) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
17) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
18) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
19) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

By the way...there is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads aren't sweet nor breads.
Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you have left? Is it an odd, or an end?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

However, you are technically correct about rulers so I gotta give you that.

15 all! My serve!

PS I forgot to add this:

Ode to the spell checker:

Eye have a spelling chequer, it came with my pea sea.

It plainly marques four my revue, miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye strike a quay and type a word, and weight for it too say,

weather eye am write or rung, it shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid, it nose bee four two long,

and eye can putt the error rite, its rare lee ever wrung.

Eye have run this poem threw it, eye yam sure your pleased two no.

Its letter perfect awl the weigh, my chequer tolled me sew!
 

scottie3158

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Try telling students that! To them, a rule is just another sort of law or instruction that must be disobeyed to gain extra street cred!

But I ain't gonna let you get extra points for alternative definitions! This is why I never taught English:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer.
16) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
17) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
18) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
19) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

By the way...there is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads aren't sweet nor breads.
Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you have left? Is it an odd, or an end?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

However, you are technically correct about rulers so I gotta give you that.

15 all! My serve!

PS I forgot to add this:

Ode to the spell checker:

Eye have a spelling chequer, it came with my pea sea.

It plainly marques four my revue, miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye strike a quay and type a word, and weight for it too say,

weather eye am write or rung, it shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid, it nose bee four two long,

and eye can putt the error rite, its rare lee ever wrung.

Eye have run this poem threw it, eye yam sure your pleased two no.

Its letter perfect awl the weigh, my chequer tolled me sew!

An excellent post made me chuckle
 
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