I've always been fascinated by Operation Market Garden since reading Cornelius Ryan's book "A Bridge Too Far" so when Karl Flavell started the Market Garden Campaign on Armorama I kept an eye out for kits to use. I had planned to include a vehicle but I picked up some of the Wee Friends Paras at the Irish Model Soldier Society Annual Show. I also got the Verlinden Para carrying his wounded mate from my LHS- AllModels in Dublin for the bargain price of €9.99 so the idea formed for a little vignette of some Paras moving through a built up area.
First I cast up some sheets of plaster in a simple mould. then I played around with positioning the walls





I'll do a lot more work on the walls adding some Brick texture etc.

The idea is the two paras are covering off before emerging from the alley. The detail on the Wee Friends paras is good but the Verlinden Paras are substantially bigger than them. I changed one head for a Resicast tanker's head with helmet net, straps and foliage added. I changed the boots on both Verlinden figures for DML items. I also changed the carrying guy's hands for Hornet ones but I may change them again.

Nice start, good conversions. Looking forward to seeing this come to life.

Hi Pat,..
l'm seeing what your after cobber,just a couple thoughts.....
a.Try closing in the buildings making them tighter...
b.Push back the bloke with the Sten, if you take a sighting on him he's in the line of fire from the opposite corner..
c.carrying the wounded bloke,try bringing him closer in behind the chap with the Sten, who left hand being out will become more ralevant to the over all picture......

can see it all happening..Phil..

Nice work thus far. Ditto what Phil said. Again, nice work. "Q"

spectacular work so far.
who are the figures by??

tony

awesome, I'm looking forward to seeing the next

Pat that's not the first time I see a convincing layout coming from you -well, I hope this project will see completion because it looks pretty good already

Good looking start on a moving scene,Pat. I'm with Phil on his thoughts on this.
Cheers! Rick

looking good Pat, I love Market Garden subjects (heading to Arnhem in September for the 65th anniversary with my Grandad who fought there) this looks to be coming together well, i'll enjoy watching it progress!

Good start Pat, but I'm not sure about the angle of the house on the left. The corners of the two houses would be meeting to close (if projected back), and also the house on the left is at an odd angle to the pavement curb. The layout of houses in Holland is actually quite angular, I would move it over a bit to the right, and bring it level with the one on the right, creating a straight allyway
Also, the Wee Friends Para's depict Para's who have pretty much just landed and are advancing into Arnhem, as they are waering their 'full' kit, including the back pack, and one of them also carries his (climbing?) rope around his back pack. All that gear was pretty much dumped after day one, so don't add any rubble to the buildings...

Henk

Nice work Pat, this is going to be a nice little diorama.

Hi Pat,

Cool idea. It is a pity the Verlinden figures as so big as their Arnhem collection is pretty good.

Al

Has all the making for a very interesting scene Pat. Love the layout ... and the points that Phil and henk have already made, are worth taking into consideration ... no need for me to write them out again .

.... It is a pity the Verlinden figures as so big as their Arnhem collection is pretty good.....
I could live with this ... he´s the big guy, so gets the role of carrying the wounded friend??

I had planned to do some work on this today but I got carried away doing some gardening. I've kinda gone back to the drawing board on the layout of the buildings.

Phil: I want to keep the triangular formation as it is and I want the walls to reinforce that triangle. I'm designing this like a stage set so I can nearly live with the illogical spacing of the buildings but I would like to close off the rear of the dio- like a backdrop in a theater. One of the ideas I'm considering is to have the Para carrying his mate coming down a flight of steps. I don't really want to make the base any bigger for just 4 figures.

I'm going to play around with this a little more before making a final decision. I have a 25 kilo bag of plaster so I can afford to experiment a bit

Henk: I realise that the wee friends paras are carrying all their kit- the idea is that this is the first day with the paras moving towards the bridge. I don't think they would have shed their gear until they stopped moving and dug in. I cut away the rope from the rifleman as I have never seen any photos of Paras at Arnhem carrying rope even as they moved off the drop zone. I'm planning to keep the base clean with no rubble or shell damage to the walls.

On the subject of paras dumping gear I'd like to see some para figures without webbing like this





Anyone looking for a good book on the battle should read "The Devil's Birthday" by Geoffrey Powell.

Frank, you're right about the big guy getting the role of carrying his wounded mate, I was the biggest guy in my platoon and always ended up carrying the GPMG or whatever other heavy gear needed to be carried

This is something ! An old pic can be just great to use to make a diorama. Superb to see some British troopers ! G.

Hi Pat,

Package should get off today, better get that bag of plaster out lol, lol.

On the Paras without webbing Resicast do 5 that I can think of with stripped down equipment The 2" Mortar Crew, a chap running with a Bren,one running carrying a rifle and one firing a Sten .

They certainly have in building fighting potential

Al

Pat ,

Fantastic idea, I am really looking forward to seeing this develop.

Regards,

Jerry

Nice job , molding your own buildings etc. I have had a lot of luck with lightweight hydrocal, Durhams Rock Hard Water Putty and just plain ordernary drywall mud. Am looking forward to seeing it all finished. New at this comment thing . Am very good at dioramas and models but some of you guys just blow me away with your painting detail. Maybe some day I will post some of my work. Not afraid of constructive critisism.....did I spell that right????

looking good so far, cant wait to see it finished

excellent idea for a vignette good luck with your build can't wait to see it finished

cheers

Simon