Dear Claude,

Thanks a lot.
The (over)loaded limber is very usefull for my dio.
Will I find a 'forgotten in the hurry' kitchen in your dio?

Unfortunately, for Luxembourg and Clervaux, my dio "plays" when the German's came back 4 years later with Panzer IV.

Ok, here is some model building again :-)

I am really relieved to have nearly finished the towers.

Here, once more, the only image to my knowledge who shows the towers from the side entering the town. This means it's also the only image showing the figures "hanging" on the sides.

If you zoom in you notice this statures, male and female, and, why make it easy for me, two different ones on the other tower


I have no idea what they represent.
For me, this figures are only 14 mm high, equivalent to 1:120 figures!
Heads are 2 mm high max! I did already all the heads, they will be attached at the latest moment.
There is a lot of cleaning to do also some more sculpting around the figs. I also have no idea what this deco means to represent.

I will also add the bars in front of the windows, there will be glass inside also.
The top (here to show how i assembled it) will be cast and replicated to make to identical copies for each tower. I will then add the tiny end on each of them
The tower is around 18 cm high.
And here it is finally


The roof, once the glass is inside, will be attached and then covered with lead foil. At least that's the plan for now.

This all took very long and the river is also not yet done. As is announced, i will not hurry any more, it's hobby, so let's approach it like a hobby.

Hope you like it!

I will show some more pics as soon as it's assembled, but then attached to the bridge.

Claude

PS.:
Apart three model expos this fall (2 in Luxembourg and 1 in near France(Sedan) )i will also expose the diorama in Luxembourg's biggest shopping mall for two weeks. The shopping mall has around 100 000 visitors a week! If after that, someone in Luxembourg's still claims not to know about it, i don't know what to do else.

Claude,

I can not belive hoe good this is looking, you show so much attention to detail, I have to say this still has to be about the best dio I have ever seen.

Paul

Excellent job on the tower Claude, the bridge will be nice addition to your already admirable diorama! I was wondering when will you be displaying the diorama?

Regards,

[quoteI was wondering when will you be displaying the diorama?

[/quote]

Thank you very much Paul and Vladimir

Do you mean displaying on expo's? September , October and November will be very busy. Details about the expos on my website!
I will only show what i already did last year, because this module is far from finished and I do not want to put a WIP near the rest. Maybe i will take it to the expo's as a demo, but anyway, with the actual two modules the overall dio is not transportable any more! To big for the van ;.(

I will show an overview here soon with the bridge module also attached to the rest.
I need to prepare for the expos during the next weeks and i will put it all together again for repair work and so.

Claude

Each tiny step of the whole diorama could be a displayed single piece on its own and this tower is no exception. that's so surprising you're still finding a way to amaze us after so many times, so many incredibles things and so many updates.
I had really good times last week re-reading your book, and, as usual, am anxious to see the next installement.

Alexandre.

Oh, GREAT progress since my last visit!
Very nice small tower!

Ahh, the image with "d`Preise kommen" I had to laugh.
This "name" on the photo sounds a bit like the (for me not really understandable) "accent" of some people from Berlin and surrounding cities.

I would translate this into "die Preussen kommen..." or in english... "the prussiens (are?) coming / are on the way".
But the month "Mee" ist not understandably for me... possibly "may" (gernan: Mai).


Back to your build:
Another great step to your diorama!
I would love to see it (and to meet you) once later!
(You know, I´m one of them, who bought the book from you)

greetings and thanks for sharing...
Soeren

Merci Alexandre, this tower was not easy to do. The build itself is a good scratchbuild with a lot of challenges, but replicating the right proportions from the photos was really the most difficult part here.
And planing to make two identical s of course.
Hey, i did read my book also recently (in preparation of Vol.2) and i noticed a lot of things who really could have been done better. (Quality and size of some pictures), but that's probably the case for most books. It can always be better

Thanks Soeren, LOL

Yes, you read it completely right. It was May 1940 when the Prussians invaded Luxembourg
In fact, most Luxembourgers still today often say "Preisen" (instead of " déi Déitsch) to the German's, mostly when there is something not so nice to say! LOL

I also hope to come back to Germany for an expo soon. I will probably make an attempt next year or the year after to find someone to invite me.

Claude

Excelent modeling !!

De figure(male) on the left side looks like he is wearing a Uhlan helmet?

Claude,
Your work looks great as normal. Look foward to your updates. Good luck at your EXPO's.
Tom

Just keeps getting better and better. I can't believe that you put so much work into those liitle dudes on the tower but it's detail like that which sets this dio and your work apart.
If Eduard Detaille came back to life he would be proud!
J

Maarten, thank you very much. Well, i am going to model him with a woollen hat :-)
Thanks Tom!
Thank you Jerry, this dudes are costing me a lot of nerves actually.

I need now to redo the heads for the third time! (to lazy to do macro pics of them, sorry)
They ended always to big. I just finally found out why. The initial blob of putty was the required 2 mm, but once i put a wire in it, the blob stretched out to a big 2,5-3mm and i did not really noticed that.

I put so much work in it , because they will really be well visible and certainly scrutinized by my fellow modellers.

Thanks all for looking

Claude

Claude, very nice as usual, coming along well. Transport problem is an easy fix. P/U a tractor trailer for the whole peice, I'll show you how to drive it.

Thanks Bob! As long as the organisers pay, i will find a way to transport it, no worry.

So, after nearly a half year of work , with some interruptions to make a bit of water, i finally call these towers finished. There is some weathering to do, but i will survive that now also.

I just found a picture of my first test setup, so for the fun of it, here is it


And here is the final result
Here is one of the towers


and here is No.2


As i see them a lot under the magnifier i am not so satisfied as i could, but looking at the pictures the result isn't so bad after all.
It will be a nice eye catcher on the dio for sure.

Here is another interesting picture.
These are the remains of the tower work. Moulds, good ones and discarded ones, and all the worthless pours i did not use because i changed something and improved the mould. Here you can see where some of the work hours went.



I moved the whole dio into the garage a few hours ago to make it ready for the expositions coming this autumn.
I will do a picture showing the new towers in front of the rest. I am myself eager to see how it looks.

Have a nice week everyone

Claude

Claude,
The towers look great. Your hard work and dedication to accuracy paid off. Looking foward to the new pictures of the modular in place.
Tom

http://www.battleofthebulgememories.be/images/stories/articles/stavelotbridge1.jpg


hi claude, i found this while i was randomly searching for damaged vehicles, and thought of you and your project. enjoy

Thanks Tom and William

It took me 8 months to get to this state.
There is some work on this part left to do, but not a lot
Some more planting on the riverbanks and very obvious from this pictures, there is more weathering to do on the towers. Also, and more important, i need to blend them in better with the lower structure. So in the end i may also need to lighten up the bridge in order to achieve that, as the towers never will get gray.
You also notice that the birch tree needs definitive attachment, but as long as i risk to damage it, it stays apart.

The whole thing is now 2,1 x 2.80 meters big. Notice the difficulties in photographing it. This is in front of the opened garage door, side window on the right and big spots on the left. and the rear is still dark!
Anyway, i think you get the idea where this is heading :-)


from the other side


This one is clearly over lit, but the effect is not so bad and it shows the birch tree near the small stream


One overall view

including the river

and from the left side also showing the next prepared module (and the birch tree missing at the top right corner)


As the next weeks and months are dedicated to some more small finishing work, planning of the new houses, but also 4 expositions (one being a two week shopping mall expo) this will probably be the last update before i attack the houses for this module, a few months from now.

I would love to get some comments

Claude

Claude,
As usual outstanding work you have done here, but I am sure you do not want to just be praised, so I thought I may offer some points for consideration. I personally would paint the inside of the tunnel/bridge in a much darker colour and have mould and moss growing there especially on the portion near the water, it looks very clean at the moment. Actually thats the only criticism I could find and it took a while to come up with that.
For future consideration when you vegetise the rest of the bank, how about having alitlle dirt track coming down ? Worn away by the visits to the river by the pesky town children. And if you are planning another tree by the river how about the compulsory rope swing?
I now have two questions for you, have you set yourself a limit for the size of this and have you insured it?

Cheers
Robbo

Another great update. The overall shots are fantastic, you can really see cohesion and samness in this. Really well done.

Hey Claude
Thanks for the shots showing how the river connects to the overall layout. Gives some great perspective.
Apart from being accurately portrayed, it works as good transition from flat, more natural area then leads into the developed town etc.
I like your photo inclusion of the 'offal' which shows the work that goes into mould making and subsequent waste
Love the water effects, as I have mentioned before.
Brad

Thanks guys!

Robbo, thanks, glad you mentionned it. You know you this things work, first i applied a darker color to it then i anticipated the bridge to be. I also choose to do a weathering showing lime deposits (instead of green deposits) and applied whitish pigments, of course lighten it up with that operation. I added a graffiti of the Luxembourg resistence and i fixed it on the ground ...... and never looked back as it is mostly out of reach now.
Of course the painting of the bridge got a lot more greyish as i wanted, figured it would be ok, but I never spend one thought on the tunnel and this contrast again.
Hey, i made that a few months ago :-)

So, long explanation for this, you are right, but i can only now try to darken it with washes and/or as i said, the bridge will be retouched and lighten up to blend with the towers, so some contrast will be there again.
Next excuse :-), no viewer will ever be able to see under the bridge.

About your questions.
In some earlier post i mentionned that i reached already my limit. I will end the adventure after this module and the next. 6 years ago when it all started i miscalculated some topografic needs. To achieve my initial plan i would need 1,5 more meters and i have only a half, but more importantly i would need to build in a height of 2 meters from the ground to achieve some topografic resemblance to Clervaux! Impossible!
I probably need another year to finish this module and about two years for the next, so the adventure has some legs.
I am not insured! I proposed in once to one insurance company, after long internal discussions they couldn't offer anything as they where simply unable to define the potential risk of such a thing. I was also not sure what price i should put on it, higher the price higher the insurance.

I made already those tracks you mentionend, one is between the hedges and the wall on the right side looking downstream, one is unvisible in all the pictures because it's on the left side downstream and there are already steps modeled in the ground on the left side of the bridge on the last picture (in the foreground), unfortunately the contrast is not high enough to see it. The complete side is not yet modelled, there wil be grass also, the steps being well visible then. I also have the last module with another 80 cm of river and embakments, so plenty of playground there.

Thanks Scott and Bradley, yes, i am also always excited to push some new modules near the rest. Planning is one thing, but seeing it together is another. It also pushes a bit the motivation again when it looks not to bad again.

Claude

Wow (again!). I'd love to see this in the flesh, I could spend weeks just taking in all the detail. This remains a true benchmark in dio making!

Claude this is amazing work, there is so much detail to look at i feel as if i am a little kid again in a sweet shop.

Tom

Claude,
As always your wore is outstanding. The way you have planned each section to flow into the previous and the next one. Good luck at all the upcoming shows. Look foward to your next update.Keep up the great work.
Tom