Not a Moment to Lose… Battle of the Bulge, Ardennes, December 1944

[TIM FORSTER]

OK, so my last meaningful post on this project was in August 2024... that was before this site migrated (is that the right term?) to another provider and all my photos shrunk to the size of postage stamps. And all my Youtube links disappeared. And all the images posted by others also shrunk or vanished. There was some talk of everything coming back, but I guess that's not going to happen.

I do appreciate the moderators who have had to deal with all the flack and I thank them for their efforts: no one is here to make money and everyone is doing this in their spare time for the love of the hobby.

Do I sound like I have been sulking? Maybe... But it's not a good look for a guy in the second half of his 50s, I admit, so I think it's time I got over the whole thing and carried on.

SO THAT IS WHAT I AM GOING TO DO. There may be a few re-posts of images just to help those who haven't been with me since the start, so I apologise in advance to those who may have seen these before...

But first I have to learn how to use the new format.

So here is a test. The image below is where I am at in real time. Let's hope it works!

[TIM FORSTER]

OK, so I managed to get the image to appear 'full size'. But why is the thumbnail still there?

[TIM FORSTER]

Sadly my suspicions have been confirmed... this blog has gone from being a lively conversation to being almost completely dead.

It seems that the 'migration' has killed it and so I will continue to post elsewhere. Goodnight!

[Airborne01]

There has been a hiatus Tim but I think much of that has to do with this site being unfamiliar still. I hope you don't that by 'posting elsewhere' you'll be leaving completely.
Steve

[Jim R]

Sadly my suspicions have been confirmed... this blog has gone from being a lively conversation to being almost completely dead.

It seems that the 'migration' has killed it and so I will continue to post elsewhere. Goodnight!

It would be a great shame if your excellent work was no longer posted here but that is entirely your decision. You say that "this blog has gone from being a lively conversation to being almost completely dead." I'm not quite sure what you mean. Is it that you are getting fewer responses to your thread now? Without being judgemental it is a fact that you very rarely post on the threads of other members so it is not really fair to be upset when they do not post on your thread. If I have misunderstood your concerns then I apologise.

[minitnkr]

The Holidays often reduce activity. I know mine has slowed down considerably from years past, but should pick up w/Memorial GB.

[spanner570]

Jim is spot on with his observations, so why is it that some folks, particularly the O.P.'s, get so uptight when things don't go quite right for them.

Chill out and carry on.......

[rtfoe]

That's sad Tim, it's a shame when a diorama guy decides to leave.

Responses are pretty low these days but I put that to the habit of checking Today's Posts which only has 2 pages allotted that if it gets busy, your post gets bumped off. You need to go to the main page, scroll to the specific genre you're in and search for your thread or just go to your own thread page. It doesn't help if your thread topic isn't new, so you won't find it there either.

You've got to be patient as your request on images is not new and there is a thread on how to solve it but it needs to be found first I'm afraid. I'm solving mine by starting a new thread and copying and replacing the images.

BTW Ron what's O.P.? Grey matter not working very well these days.😂

Cheers,
Wabble

[Valeron]

I suspect Ron is referring to "Original Poster" which OP often refers to in forums.

[rtfoe]

Ah yes thanks.

[scottie3158]

Tim,
The site is generally less busy now with fewer posts and reply's.

[TIM FORSTER]

OK, so where was I..? Sorry for the long absence.

We are a year or so on and this is still not finished - but there has been some progress!

By way of recap...

I started over 2 years ago with this:



Then a few months later I reached this:



Then I got to this:



And then this:



And now I am here:


More to follow...

[minitnkr]

Shaping up beautifully. Love the gardening, sets off the structures just right. Vehicles show action, can't wait for the rest of the figs.

[pjgtech]

Wow, thats looking really good....8-)

[stillp]

It doesn't do to rush these things! Seriously, that's a brilliant dio already and I'm sure it'll get even better.
Pete

[scottie3158]

Very nice workmanship.

[Airborne01]

Blimey mate, that's developing well (and good to see you again!)
Steve

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Lovely work Tim. Do you have any photos of the in between work that you did from the plane cardboard structure in the first two pictures to the incredible looking house that you have created. Just brilliant.

[TIM FORSTER]

Thanks for all the kind words folks...

There is a detailed description of all my work above, but with all the old images reduced to thumbnails it's a bit hard to follow. So rather than just repeat myself - and with apologies to those who have seen it all before - I will do a few edited 'highlights'.



The base was made using a off-cut of insulation board - the sort you can find for free on most building sites.

The farmhouse is a style which was quite typical for the Ardennes region at the time. Mine is a composite of various real buildings which I found on Google Maps by using Streetview and looking for interesting old buildings. Once I found one I liked the look of, I would choose the right angle and take a screenshot.

For example, this one in the town of Warch:



The front has been rendered, but the gable end shows the bare stone which is how it probably looked at the time of the Ardennes Offensive. I also decided to drop the gable end because this is another distinctive part of the look of these Belgian farmhouses.

Once the Approximate size and shape of my building was worked out I replaced my rough-cut version with a thick card template (as seen at the top). This was then used to cut out the high density XPS foam board that I used for the walls.



Once they were cut to shape I scribed the stones and bricks using a knife, then widened the gaps using a toothpick.




This enables you to make any shape and style of building and - most importantly - one that looks unique. Eventually, I ended up with the finished structure like this:



The walls would actually be thicker in real life, but although I had thicker XPS board, it is much harder to cut accurately - especially around doors and windows. This can be disguised when putting in the window and dor frames anyway. The visible seam line at the corner will be covered by a drain pipe...

The roof tiles were made from thin card cut to shape using a guillotine and laid one-by-one using UHU. This is slow work, but worthwhile in the end.


And so, in the end, I ended up with this before any filling or painting:



More to follow...