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

[spanner570]

Cheers men!

G.C. R.C. - Not to mention the sweet smell of chainsaw oil. (Used for fitting doors) Well I was on a price per door!

Steve - Can't fit any more on the base...:sad:

Ron

 

[Steve Jones]

Make the base bigger:smiling5:

 

[papa 695]

Make the base bigger:smiling5:

:tongue-out2::tongue-out2::tongue-out2:

 

[Guest]

I'm pretty sure no one's bored sir. I like it.

 

[Allen Dewire]

Absolutely fantastic and not the least bit boring!!! C'mon Ron, make the whole town. You want to and besides, you get to eat the pizzas too! It's a win, win………..

 

[spanner570]

Thanks boys. Onwards and upwards!

Let's tackle the base. I didn't take interminable pictures of every single stage of the process, so if things get a little disjointed blame the producer!

I decided that six buildings would be enough for the village square. So after more shuffling than the Government Ministers, I finally decided on the buildings positions.
I marked around each one and then set about making some pavements.

These I made from thick plastic card with the flag and kerbstones scribed on to the surface.
View attachment 305998

Cut as required.
View attachment 305999

...... a loose, just to try fit.
View attachment 306000

Cheers.
Ron

 

[Jim R]

Hi Ron
Looks good. What do you scribe plastic card with?
Jim

 

[spanner570]

Thanks Jim.

Not being flippant, but anything sharp would do the trick (scalpel, Stanley knife) I mark the lines out in pencil first, then scour them freehand with whatever I have to hand - Wobbly is good!

That's what I dislike about most bought stuff - too neat and precise. No one in the real world lays paviours etc. spot on, straight and true and dead flat.

Cheers.
Ron

 

[Jim R]

Cheers Ron
Freehand sounds good. That would be realistic. Bought some cheap acrylics this morning in town on your suggestion. Makes perfect sense :thumb2:
Jim

 

[Guest]

Chainsaws :surprised::surprised::surprised: !!!! Ron how could you. :worried: I preferred the axe.

Buildings of course looking perfect, I agree with the too neat on purchased paving.

JR

 

[spanner570]

Thanks J & J. I'm chuffed you like it thus far.

Here's a down shot of the pavements glued on to the base. You will see on the left of the model I've changed from paving slabs to tiles. A bit of variation kind'a breaks things up and adds a bit more interest. See the pavement bottom right? It's flying over the river. Honest mistake guv'!
View attachment 306030

The next picture will show it better, but it was about this stage I feared the whole thing was going to look flat and boring. So just prior to this photo, I made some drastic alterations.
More to follow .....

Cheers.
Ron

 

[Guest]

Man I enjoy this so much ! Thanks for sharing all of this diorama action !

 

[Jim R]

Hi Ron
If nothing else you are always entertaining - actually looks very nice indeed.
Jim

 

[Guest]

Don't think it would ever be boring Ron .
J

 

[spanner570]

Thanks for your posts boys.
As mentioned, the base was starting to look flat and boring, so I decided to put the two rendered buildings on a higher level, looking down on the village square. I used a thick piece of polystyrene for this. Where I can, I prefer to build any ground up, rather than dig into stuff. No mess or dust - :thumb2:

Incorporating a higher level gave me a nice sloping road running down into the square - bonus!

View attachment 306090
I've placed a building on to get a better idea as to what's what.
That flying pavement is starting to annoy me!


Here's a closer look at the setup. I made the two set of steps out of scrap stuff.

Note the up and down, all over the place tiles and paviours....Luuuurvely. I added small wall up stands with stone cappings to the raised areas, then gave them all a grey wash to highlight the 'joints'

View attachment 306091

Cheers.
Ron

 

[papa 695]

Coming along at a steady pace Ron, nice work too.

 

[Gern]

Fascinating and great stuff as usual Ron, but that 'flying pavement' is bugging me too! When you gonna do summat with it?

 

[minitnkr]

How about a stone or cement retaining wall beneath flying pavement to prevent further erosion by the stream? PaulE

 

[spanner570]

Men, stand at ease! Already sorted, but thanks for the concern and suggestion. Quite reassuring to realise that my buddies on here are looking after this old f**t! :upside::thumb2:

Your Servant.
Sir Robin Day

 

[Gern]

[QUOTE="spanner570, post: 387085, member: 161"Quite reassuring to realise that my buddies on here are looking after this old f**t! :upside::thumb2:

Your Servant.
Sir Robin Day[/QUOTE]

Well, somebody needs to - and us old f***s need to stick together!