Hello,

This scene is based on the opening lines of Chapter 14"Nuts!" from the book "Bastogne: The First Eight Days" by S.L.A. Marshall:

At 1130 on December 22 four Germans, a major, a captain and two enlisted men, came up the road to Bastogne from Remoifosse carrying a large white flag. They were met on the road by Technical Sergeant Oswalk Y. Butler and Staff Sergeant Carl E. Dickinson of Company F, 327th Glider Infantry and Private First Class Ernest D. Premetz of the 327th Medical Detachment.

Premetz could speak German. The captain could speak English. He said to Butler, "We are parliamentaires."

EDIT: It's also loosely based off the scene from the 1949 Warner Brothers' movie "Battleground" where Holley (Van Johnson), Pop Stazak (George Murphy) and Jarvess (John Hodiak) encounter the Germans coming to request the Screaming Eagles' surrender.

The 101st figures are from the Dragon "101st in Bastogne" kit, slightly modified; the German figures are a mix of Tamiya & Italeri parts and pieces from various kits and my spares box. The flag and the e-tool by the foxhole are scratchbuilt and the groundwork is plaster and Woodland Scenics snow over foam. The trees are also scratchbuilt using a technique I found online (plumosa fern and dowel rods). Some of the smaller saplings are twigs from a bush outside my house.

Hope you enjoy! Thanks in advance for looking! Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome!

Nice job depicting a scene, I almost feel like I've read part of it after looking at this dio. How did you apply the Woodland Scenics snow, and how was it to work with?

This is awesome and I really like the American figures. The German figures are well done also even though their poses are a little stiff. Not your fault, as they are probably those early Tamiya figures that look like mannequins rather than real people...............Al

It was relatively easy, but because I wanted to depict deep snow, it took a couple layers and some time. After the plaster was dry, I painted the base (under the snow) white with acrylic craft paint. Once that was dry, I then brushed on a liberal coat of white glue, slightly thinned with a few drops of water. Then I sprinkled on the Woodland Scenics snow. I pushed the snow down with my finger to help it adhere to the glue. Once that was dry, I dumped off the excess then repeated the process until I was satisfied with the thickness of the snow.

For the snow banks hanging over the edges of the base, I used a very diluted white glue and mixed in the W.S. snow to make a slush. I then "painted" the slush on the desired spots with an old paint brush.

Hope this helps! Thanks for looking!

Yeah...unfortunately, they are. I was hoping to pass the "stiffness" off as arrogance (on the part of the German Major--hence the hands in the pockets), and nervousness (on the part of the enlisted man--especially the one in the back, not carrying the flag, as he's staring down the barrel of an M1).

VERY true!!

It’s about time someone depicted this scene!! Nice job at building a great diorama, the figures are well painted!

Regards,

Sweet!
It is really effective in the "ground level" shots with the background.
Excellent work.

Wow: what a great scene. And nicely done.

Are you going to follow it up with a scene of the Germans reading the reply?

Happy Modelling, -zon

Great job with the photography as well!

Nice build!

Claude

Nice dio and good story. As a former para this one gives me a warm and fuzzy. As has been said,love the ground level shot with the background pic. This dio reminds me of one of my fav movies"Battleground". One of the most realistic films about the war and way ahead of it's time.
Great job man!
J

Thanks to all of you who have looked and commented; I really appreciate them! I never thought about doing a follow up to this one of the Germans reading the message, but it'd be a good one! Thanks again!

Hi Nathanael,
That's a really smart little dio you've got there, very impressive. What makes it even more impressive is the first few shots with the background. It's suprising to realize how much smaller the model really is when you see it stand alone.
A good example & reason for other modellers to show off their dioramas with the right picture in the backgound, trawling through endless photo's from the net can be painstaking, but the final result with a good photo is definetly worth the effort. It adds a real depth to the scene.
The snow, trees, uniforms are all excellent too. Well done again!!

SIMON.

Hi Nathanael. Goes to show when poor quality figures are in capable hands they still can be effective. I think you´ve done really well considering with what you started with. Great job with the trees and ground work. Good composition as well. Overall a smart scene, that looks realistic and the eye is drawn to the realsm of the scene and not the lack of quality in the figures.

Gentlemen, thank you for the compliments and comments! I'm humbled. The background pictures are actually from a park near my house from winter 2010, I had a nice walk through the snow one day with the sole purpose to find pictures that would work for background shots for this dio. I was pleased with the outcome of how they look behind the dio. Thank you again!

The backdrop really puts the scene together. GReat masterpiece