Hello all,
This is my Idea for the ww1 Christmas Diorama. I will have the Commander's from the French, English and German sitting on some Boxes or something all drinking coffee together. What do you think? at first I was gonna have the trenches and everything but I thought a small heart felt dio would be better. Instead of buying some figures im gonna try my skill at sculpting them. I am very excited about this, any other Ideas of maybe what I could do would be great. My Normandy Diorama is finally almost finished and there will be pictures the min im done. Thanks everyone.
David

I would suggest two soldiers (German & British) standing alone in the middle of no man's land (debris, tree stumps, barbed wire, splinters etc) one handing the other a small Christmas tree. The kind you might make in a trench...about 12-16" tall(scaled to 1:35 of course) with homemade decorations.
I think this would be more profound and get the "Christmas truce" point across with minimal figures/etc.
Cheers,
Charles

Gday Dave
I think Charles is a bit of a visionary here! It is a really good idea worth exploring. Think of it from a viewer's perspective. If they can take in the meaning in a instant, then your work is nearly done...
Good luck with the sculpting. I would go for the most recognisable features for each soldier, and keep the base to a minimum. You can convey everything you need for the above scene in as little as 4" X 4", with maybe the splintered remains of a tree trunk and some coiled barbed wire...? A good plaque can fill in the gaps as far as timeframe etc.
Best of luck
Brad

That would make a nice setting. The Christmas Truce during WWI showed that not matter what, people want to get along. The men on each side just wanted to be at home and decided to put aside their differences. Too bad every dispute between countries can't be handled with a simple game of soccer and a few beers.

It will be interesting to see what you come up with.

Dave be carefull with you era 1914/1915 different uniforms no helmets
1915/1916 helmets then the after Somme of 1916/1917 and then the time
1917/1918 where there was not much love between troops
Historically you are better off with the 1914/1915 era when there was more proven fratinisation.
Just some ideas maybe have a santa hat on one character
Ian

Well seeing that it is a historical event with records I am fairly certain that means it was proven. Any way I would still recommend watching Jouix Noel. personally I think your idea fits more with the historical aspect but Charles's sounds more appealing. Or you could do the Scottish Piper (the Brits were a Scottish unit if I am not mistaken) playing for a small group of men from the various units.

Matt

Hi David,
Your dio sounds like a great idea, something different for sure. I just wanted to 'ditto' what Matt just mentioned. "Joyeux Noel" from 2005 is a superb film if you haven't seen it. It's a foreign language film, but has subtitles for the French & German parts, and is well worth a look for some inspiration.

Good luck with your project, look forward to seeing some future progress!!
SIMON

Yes, it really happened - in 1914 in the region of Ypres, Belgium. The event is generally called The Chrismas Truce. You can find more about it on this Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce

Also, don't forget to check the external links at the end of the page.