Thanks for the feedback. As far as the cobblestones are concerned, I was planning on going with brick shaped rather than square ones, since those seemed to be the norm for the area. Thanks for backing me up on that one James.

After a couple of weeks of effort, I'm ready with another update on my project. I knew that I needed a lot of bricks for the scene, so I decided to cut them out of a cork sheet. So I started with the sort that can be found in just about any well stocked hardware store.

Next using a straightedge and a couple of new No. 11 blades, I cut the sheet into 3mm strips.

Once that was done, I cut the strips into roughly 7mm long bricks. Note the marks on the cutting board bearing witness to the repetitive action.

So, after a couple of hours, I had approximately 6,300 bricks. They're all fairly close in size, but a bit of trimming and sanding will be necessary here and there as I go along, but that's not a big deal to me. Now that I have the bricks, it's time to start putting them in place, starting with the streets.
It took about a week's worth of hobby time, but eventually the streets got paved.

Some of the rows lost their alignment despite my best efforts to keep them neat, but I'm not overly worried since I know about 60 to 75 percent of the streets are going to end up covered in rubble.

The two dark rectangles in the streets are scratchbuilt drainage grates I made out of sheet styrene and painted an extra dark rusty gray.

Now that the bricks are in place, it's time to get plastered. Then I'll move forward and apply plaster to the bricks and sidewalks in preparation for painting, as well as beginning work on the structures.

Can't wait to see more!

Hi Ed,

First off, nice going so far. I like the fact that you're modifiying a lot of figures: really lends it a personal touch. But I'm afraid that you're going to be cutting more bricks...

I don't know what your exact plan will be for the building, but I want to offer you some pointers to avoid the pitfall of making buildings that don't look "dutch".


http://www.arendarends.nl/Oud-Heijenoord/Huizen2.htm
http://alokhorst.tripod.com/family_pictures/index.album/arnhem-kerkstraat?i=2&s=1

http://www.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=http://imganuncios.mitula.net/4_kamers_stuyvesantstraat_haarlem_1200_euros_92643539076587682.jpg&imgrefurl=http://huizen.mitula.nl/huizen/huur-woning-2-kamer-haarlem&usg=__AxWpHkshobdcF-5ttcbmN8uqiBA=&h=535&w=400&sz=180&hl=nl&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=mxpZZmY6Opmf3M:&tbnh=134&tbnw=107&ei=pending&prev=/images%3Fq%3Derker%2B1e%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dnl%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D811%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=55&oei=wWFgTeb4EYvJswbro7y5CA&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&tx=69&ty=7
http://www.google.nl/images?um=1&hl=nl&biw=1259&bih=811&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=muuranker&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

These are some elements of typical dutch masonrywork. The beige/white bands are known as "fat bands" and appeared a lot in late 19th/early 20th century architecture. Most windows tend to be large vertical rectangles and "muurankers" (lit. wall anchors) as well as "erkers" ( don't know a correct english translation for them: they're sorta extensions in the facade of a building) are also commonplace on pre-war Dutch architecture.

Hope it's of some use to you. Best wishes for your dio idea

p.s. note that most of the buildings have been subjected to some modernizations: f.e. most large windows were multi-part assemblies, while nowadays it is much easier to produce large glass panes.

Thanks for the heads up Benjamin, and don't worry, I still have somewhere close to 3,000 bricks as well as three uncut sheets of cork left at my disposal. I've been accumulating a decent collection of pictures of Dutch architechture and post-battle scenes, not to mention rewatching the parts of A Bridge Too Far focusing on the 1st Airborne, to get a good idea of what my structures should look like, and I've been mentally preparing for making primarily brick buildings. Also, I do appreciate the additional links, since all references are welcome.

Time for another update. First, I plastered the streets and sidewalks.

I then sanded things down to level them off a bit. The streets are ready for painting, but the sidewalks need a bit more detailing.
Next I cut sheets of cellfoam to the necessary sizes to serve as the bases for my structures. I put them in their relative positions to give a feel for how the final scene will be arranged and look from close to the desired vantage point.

For ease of future reference, I decided to label the buildings. Building C is just off the base, but since it will be well represented by piles of rubble, I thought it best to give it a label too, since it will be discussed as construction continues.

Before anyone feels compelled to say something, yes, I do know that building B doesn't fill the entire footprint laid out by the sidewalks. I plan on having a small yard in that space to add a little greenery to the scene. It's not important at this stage that the pieces of cellfoam be the same height since they're all due for some serious cutting and shaping.
Now it's on to laying out the details of each building, bricking them up, and giving the streets some color.

Hi Ed,

Great work on the trooops so far, way to go Sir.

Al

Fantastic progress. Im amazed at what you are doing with the figures and cant wait to see it finished! Thanks for sharing all your work and effort.

Very exciting work you are doing here. A figure heavy dio like this deserves alot of attention to detail and you are certainly serving it well! Your thousands of bricks is inspirational and definitely my kind of commitment to your art.

Thankyou for sharing your build with us.

Adam

Back with another update, but first let me say thanks to everyone for their too kind comments and encouragement. I do appreciate any and all feedback from my fine colleagues here.
I've made some decent headway getting the buildings laid out. First up is building B. I started with this one because it was smallest, so if I made any really significant mistakes I'd have enough material on hand to replace it while hopefully learning to not repeat those same mistakes. Thankfully, no such wholesale redo was necessary.

Next up is building A, which is larger than B but also a good deal more damaged.

The masonry frames around the windows are made from cork while the decorative masonry work is done in the same Cellfoam as the rest of the buildings. Here are a few pics showing the layout with A and B in place. First the primary vantage point.

Next overlooking B towards A

Finally, over A towards B

Next up is adding the bricks to the fronts of A and B, as well as the rest of the corner fascias on B, then scribing exposed brick details on the interiors. I also plan on getting started on the Main building, but I need to order some decorative parts for the exterior. Still, with so much else to do, that's not a very big issue.
Hope to be back with more soon.

Looks good, like the look.

Anthony

Nice work on the buildings. I'll have to pick up some 1/4" cork board for any future urban dioramas.

After a couple of weeks of effort, it's time for another update. First of all, I gave the street a blotchy oil paint wash consisting of a mix of Payne's Gray and Black.

I didn't want the color to be too uniform, although the black was a bit strong in places. I'm not overly worried since much, if not most, of the streets will be covered with rubble, and this wash is just the first of what should be many, many color applications. I'm going to save myself some effort and hold off on painting the bricks until I know where they're going to be visible through the rubble.
Next up was adding bricks to the buildings, but I discovered that many of the bricks were too wide to fit with the Cellfoam masonry work. This wasn't any big issue as I cobbled together a cutting jig to trim the bricks.

Real high-tech stuff, huh? I worked in stages, checking and trimming bricks for a while then gluing them in place. First up I did building B because it's the smallest.

Once finished, I moved on to building A and finished it off in similar style.

Next on the agenda is plastering the buildings and assembling some of the accessories for the scene. Once that's done, I think I'll give myself a break from all the architectural work and get back to work on the figures.

Hi Ed,

Well done until now!

This might be boring work but is certaily worth it and you will be hapyp about what you achieved.

Cheers

Claude

Back with another update. First of all, thanks to all of you who have left comments. I do appreciate any and all feedback.
As I mentioned earlier, I plan on having some greenery next to building B. I noticed from films and pictures that there are quite a few houses in the Arnhem-Oosterbeek area that have hedges, so I decided to add a small hedge to the edge of building B's yard. I originally planned to use a model railroad item I had left over from a previous dio, but I wanted to show a hedge that had been beaten up by the battle, and cutting up the other hedge would have been too much trouble, so I decided to make my own bushes from scratch. I started by making armatures of the bushes using copper wire.

Once I decided that I had enough bushes, I coated the wire armatures with plaster.

Once dry, the bushes were painted with Tamiya Red Brown.

All that's left is a little highlighting and detail painting and my hedge is ready to be planted.
Speaking of the buildings, I made more progress. First, here is building A plastered

and with exposed brickwork details engraved in its back.

Next, here is building B with similar work finished.


Finally, I managed to get a bunch of roofing tiles cut and stacked.

They're plaster coated corrugated cardboard. Once painted, they should be ready to go up on the roof of the Main building.
Next I should be finished with a couple of streetlights pretty soon. I know I said I'd go back the figures after I got work done on the accessories, but I lied. I did a little research and found my plans for the main building, especially the roof, aren't as daunting as I had feared, so my enthusiasm is high enough for me to tackle that building next. Once I've made good progress there, I'll get back to the figures.

Back with a fairly brief update. First of all, I applied an oil wash of Payne's Gray mixed with white to the buildings to add some color to the grout areas.

Sharp-eyed readers will notice that half of building A is absent from the photo. There's a good reason for this. As I was cutting out the details of the Main building prior to brickwork, I noticed a discrepancy in the height of the doors I was going to use. The opening for my scratchbuilt French door to the balcony was a good deal shorter than that for the Mini Art door I was going to use on the ground floor. I took a close look at the kit door and realized that it must have been designed for a 1/35 scale basketball player, because it was much too tall for an average sized figure. I checked the opening for the door in building A, which was to be fitted with a different Mini Art item, and found it to be far too tall as well. Fortunately I was able to carefully cut out the excess portion of the doorframe, plug the opening with a piece of Cellfoam, and brick over the new section.

A bit of patching and replastering, and building A should be good to go again.
As I mentioned earlier, I managed to get the general details for the Main building worked out.

It's a lot more complicated than the other two buildings because of its design and its being less damaged, but it should be worth it when finished. On to the brickwork as well as some woodwork for the balcony.

It's been a while since my last update, but that's not due to a lack of time put in on the project. As evidence of my work, here is a picture of the Main building fully bricked.

The balcony doesn't show up too well in that picture, so here's another angle.

In addition to the work on the main building, I also glued the wall mounts for the upper floors into the other two buildings. First building A

then building B.

These were done with popsicle sticks/tongue depressors. I plan on both buildings A and B being pretty badly burned out with collapsed upper floors, so not much of the woodwork is needed. The ground floors will be much larger, and I plan on waiting until the structures are in place before installing those floors.
Next up is plastering the Main building, giving it a gray oil wash, painting all those bricks, and possibly assembling and placing a couple of the structures.

Ed: nice work so far. I look forward to seeing more.

Happy Modelling, -zon

Time for another update. First of all, I finished plastering the Main building.

Once I was done with that, it was time to break out the terra cotta colored paint and start working on the bricks inside and out. First up is building A,


then building B,


and finally the Main building.


Next up is painting/touching up the grout areas, adding some slight variations to the color of some of the bricks, adding window frames, then at last assembling the structures.

You've definitely got me 'hooked'. I've enjoyed reading, and learning about what you have done so far.

Nice work! Looks like it’s going to be a great diorama!
May I ask the thickness of the cork that you used?

Regards,

At first i have to take my had of for your great scratch work I think this will be a beautifull diorama of Arnhem.
One question.... are you going to paint the plaster you used between the cork? 'Cause it's to 'white' . This should be (dark) grey.

Good luck with your project

Construction wise it looks really good.

I am just wondering... but check your references...

I think that much of the brickwork could be much darker (more towards chocolate brown, sometimes even with a khaki sheen) and less red-ish...

The red(-ish) bricks mostly are either earlier (early 19th c. and before) or later (post WW II). IIRC the difference has to do with the production process of the bricks (like temperatures) and additives added during production.

And another point (if you had not thought of it already):

The white 'stone' at the corners and above the windows often actually is plaster shaped to resemble stone, and usually sticks out forward a little (especially at the corner) from the plane of the bricks. This also explains why these decorations therefore often are very tight (straight lines, symmetrical etc.),

We kind of lack stone/rock in the country (only in the far south), so when natural stone is used, it has to be imported most of the time, which is/was hideously expensive. Already from the middle ages onwards using natural stone in a building became a major status symbol, and was usually limited to decorative elements in other structures.

Here are some images of what I am talking about:

Late 19th century upper class:

http://tuintonen.web-log.nl/arnhem/2010/04/boulevardkwarti.html

Actually completed during the war:

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Arnhem_Rijksmonument_516780_Gymnasium_Statenlaan_8.JPG

From just before the WW II

http://www.makelaardien.nl/johan_de_wittlaan_158_te_arnhem.html

Top left column in particular

http://www.stollenbergbeheer.nl/objecten.php

All these above are houses within 1 mile of the bridge.

Slightly further away (2 miles)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zwali/2767864814/lightbox/

Most houses that were fought over belong to the late 19th century and later, for the simple reason that only at this point there was serious economic expansion. Also, the onramp of the bridge itself and the houses surrounding it, especially the houses on the 'country' side could only be built after the demolition of the fortifications surrounding the city (which was mid/late 19th century).

Most houses in Arnhem itself built during this period have these earthy tone bricks, or red with a strong earthy tinge, rather than the red ones.

Although I have no images of Oosterbeek for the period (and am not that familiar with it) I have no reason to assume Oosterbeek would be completely different, judging by other communities surrounding Arnhem with which I am more familiar.

Hope this helps



Harm

Thanks for all the excellent feedback. As for your questions and observations:
Mark - Thanks
Vladimir - I used 1/4 inch (approx. 4-5mm) cork sheet, although many of the bricks needed to be split to match the thickness of the foam sheet.
Johan - I'm in the process of touching up the grout work between the bricks with Vallejo light gray, which will I hope will serve as a decent base for the weathering that should darken things further. The interior walls will all be either painted, burned, or wallpapered, so there shouldn't be too much white showing when all's said and done.
Harm - Thanks for the reference pics. The more the merrier. As for the color of the bricks, thanks for bringing all that to my attention. I still have plenty of painting and weathering in mind, so hopefully that should tone down the color a good deal and bring them closer to the real ones. As for the white areas around the windows and corners etc., I had assumed these were more sculpted masonry than carved stone and do have them standing a bit proud of the brickwork. I could show this better if I learned how to take better pictures. I plan on eventually painting them a cream/off white color before weathering.
As I've said, any and all questions and comments are welcome, whether you're giving me a slap on the back or a kick in the backside, so keep them coming please.