Ditto what Romain said.

Its all starting to a bit exciting now you've shown us the figures.

Cheers, John

Ed,
nice work, will be waiting for your next update

Here's the latest on the build. As far as painting is concerned, I have the figures about sixty to eighty percent finished, so there will be plenty of coverage of them in the update after this one, which shouldn't be too far off.
Where construction is concerned, I did make some good progress on the Main building. I built and installed the trusses for the lower roof section. I didn't notice the one skewed piece on the front edge until after taking the first picture, and didn't fix it until after I had taken the subsequent photos.

Once in place, I burned the trusses a little so they blended with the other damaged roof elements.


After that I planked over the whole roof section.


I finished the section off by burning the planking in the appropriate areas to help it fit in with the rest of the damage.


I don't have any pictures of it, but I also burned the damaged side section of the smaller upper story. I'll be sure to show that section off when I finish that area's roof in the next few days. Next on the agenda is finishing the figures, adding roofing tiles and rooftop railing, the aforementioned roof for the third story, and getting the remaining areas of the Main building painted. Things are really starting to come together nicely and everything should be completed in the next couple of weeks, barring any calamity striking.

Wow, it's falling into place nicely!!!! Looks great!!

Do keep us posted on progress, will ya!!

Hi Ed,

Great progress, it's coming along really well. A grand selection of Action Backs you have there, keep up the good work.

Al

wow! looks AMAZING, the dio's realy starting to come along.love the figures.
Toby.

Very useful links Benjamin! Thanks for that!!

Ed, you have a keen eye for human anatomy, so I'm looking forward to seeing your finished paras! I'm sure they'll look cracking!!

I was not too sure about your dio when you started posting pics, but I've changed to positively enthusiastic while watching your progress!!

Congratulations!!

Can't wait to see more!!

Cheers

Romain

Time for another update. First up is the Main building. I added roofing tiles to the lower section and framed the upper section's roof.

Then I planked over the upper section and added rails around the lower roof section..

Once done I applied roofing tiles to the upper section as well as a full set of gutters.

After all that was done I painted the additions.

I still need to add one of the interior walls and more debris inside and out, as well as weather everything, but the Main building is pretty close to being finished.
Speaking of being finished, I'm pretty well done with the figures. First up are the three dead Germans, before painting

and after.

Next is a picture of the collected paratroopers.

Here in a little more detail are the chargers.


A closer look at the shooters.


Finally the rest of the men.


There might be a few touch-ups needed here and there, but otherwise the figures are pretty well set. So, entering the home stretch with a week to go before the local IPMS show in Port Townsend, all I need to do is finish the last bit of construction, painting, and weathering on the Main building, add the figures, and neaten up the outer frame. At last the finish line is in sight.

those gigures lokk amazing, it must of taken ages to paint all those camo smocks on the paratroops.
the building looks like it came right out of 'a bridge too far'
stan

Ed,

overall good effort but now you are hurrying to see the finish :-)

The roof tiles are way over-scale! Please redo this with smaller tiles. I know it is a lot more work, but it is worth it.

Cheers
Claude

Time once again for an update. First of all, thanks for all the comments. Claude, as far as the roof tiles are concerned, by the time I saw your comment I had moved too far into painting and weathering to be very willing to rip all of them off and start over. Add in the fact that I only had a fairly busy week that wouldn't allow me a ton of bench time before the show, and I was compelled to leave them as is and hope they aren't too distracting.
As far as the diorama is concerned, after about six months of effort, I'm prepared to declare it finished.
First up are some overall views.



Here are a couple of views of the troopers on the Main building.


Next is a shot from behind the chargers.

Here's a picture looking down the street between buildings B and Main.

Lastly, here are a few pictures from straight ahead.




My thanks to everyone who gave this blog a look, especially those of you who commented and provided guidance and encouragement, and helped make my first one of these as enjoyable as it was. For those interested, I'll be doing another one of these sometime in the near future as I take on my next diorama project. Titled "No Better Place To Die," I plan on recreating the 82nd Airborne Division's battle to hold La Fiere bridge on June 7, 1944. Until then, thanks again and happy modelling.