These pics were originally posted in the 48th scale forum, but I have organized them for this one. The formal title is, "The Unwanted guest." In its first incarnation it was presented as a simple street scene with the crewman resting
against his M10, across from the Gasthof. Humourously, I have the M10 parked in a no parking zone and heading the wrong way down a one way street.

















"Blondie" is an O sclae figure by Preiser:






The wall was removed, and more grass added to the verge. A wrought iron railing was added to the garden wall. Then, it was edged with quarterround.













If anyone is interested, I will describe the various products used in this diorama.

Most interesting is to know if this is scratchbuild or not.

The weathering of all the parts look really good. Definitely not so good are the trees and the layout. While the " parallel to the border" layout must not always be bad, here it is. A slightly angled layout would be better.
I also do not know if the long wall was a good choice. It blocks the view and enhances this parallel look even more.

Cobblestones street looks good also, how are they done?

Claude

The building is a plaster casting from ProduitsMP (Quebec). I created the brick colour using burnt umber and orange and rust pigments, then smeared with MIG dust pigment powder to create the mortar between the bricks. The trees are model railroad products. Tall, thin fir trees are meant to represent the Huertgen forest, and this diorama is supposedto be in the Aachen/Huertgen area. I use model railroad trees on my dioramas as a blending of the the conventions of diorama presentation. These types of trees, whilst not looking as realistic as people want on dioramas are perfectly acceptable on model railroad layouts. And so, using model railroad trees on my dioramas is part of my "style". The cobblestones are latex sheets from Kancali, who came out with this product soon after Tamiya got back into making 1/48 scale vehicle.

I agree with Claude on the design of the piece, with everything parallel to the base edges. I'm glad you took out that wall, as the vehicle looked really cramped on that street. I don't know what's going on with those dangling wires - is it WIP or are they meant to be knocked down? If the latter, I think they just confuse the scene and don't add anything.

I don't know if you're willing to re-base the whole project (it feels like it needs more room overall), but another option might be to cut the front and back at a slight angle?

One of the first things I thought is to add a bier-garten in the park, maybe cutting a side-door in the gasthous if you can. Have a smaller vehicle parked in front, and GI's mixing it up with a few frauleins.

Charles

I like the scene a lot, just wish there was something in the courtyard besides two very skinny trees.

Hello Charles,

Emphasizing the cramped nature of the scene was the original intent of this diorama. I wanted to show how out of place a big military vehicle looked on a narrow European roadway. The wall helped to emphasize that. Also, the parallel-to-base orientation of the scene was done purposely. I feel that to change the orientation away from the parallel-to-base setting would seem forced and unnatural looking.

My thoughts for changing/improving this diorama include adding the new Cast48 father and son figures looking at an Allied vehicle on the steet from behind the garden gate, removing the trese and replacing them with one or two larger ones or some garden furniture,and have my volkswagen driving down the steet with the blonde figure distracted by it.
I added the downed wires after seeing pics of European street scenes with downed wires but little other battle damage in evidence.

Hi Glenn -

I keep feeling that your biggest challenge here is one of balance. With the dominating structure firmly controlling one corner, I'm thinking you might reintroduce the M10 to the opposite corner as a counterweight. You definitely need some presence of trees in the garden. Maybe an aged wood board fence at the back of the garden to help define the scene, or a shallow row of hedges. The stone wall being gone will help reduce the tunnel sensation that I think perhaps Claude was referencing - although I understand your original intent.

Maybe a bit of higher foliage on the end of the verge opposite the Gasthof, a shrub or two. I see you have "gasthof" on the end wall, but my experience is that most Euro shops (of any era) have a metal sign perpendicular to the facade - what's the name of this particular gasthof? I've also seen something like a big sign painted on the garden wall with the name, and perhaps the major brand of beer they sell. Partial curtains in the front windows - in the first shot it's too apparent that we're looking right through the building. Besides the father and son in the garden, maybe an old man smoking a pipe or cigar on the bench, perhaps reading the paper. I notice you managed to shoehorn some grass along the outer edge of the gasthof - that helps.

I think the down wires would work better in a larger and more complex urban scene, but here they mostly provide distracting literal loose ends. Maybe a wire crossing from the pole to the insulator on the Gasthof? The MR world has these with stretch, so there's less danger of taking out the scenery. I'd also replace that lamppost with something "less heavy" - the crossarms near the top look particularly fat and detract from the finer detail near them - the iron fence, the nicely-finished brick, and the bench. You may need to work the sidewalk some to get it level.

Charles

Having a sign hanging perpendicular to the entrance has given me some ideas and I know where I can get the products I need. I will have to relocate the signboard with the 1919 (the year the Gasthof was established). I think I will keep the heavy crossarms of the public lamppost as it helps contribute to the cramped nature of the scene. Thee M10 will be parked on the downed wires. The scene looks much better like this than with the wires hanging loose as they appear now. I don't want to do anything along the back edge of the garden-it is supposed to suggest a deeper dimension to the garden (which is why the water pump is there-incidentally, the water pump came from an online store that specializes in quarterscale dollhouse furniture. I had ordered it before making this diorama. I then did an internet search and found a picture of this style of waterpump in Germany in the early 20th century which means this pump is accurate for this setting). Also, the building itself is only half-sized (the front half)and the garden needs to match this. The last bit of detail I was thinking of is to add a different wrought iron fence where the wall used to be-creating a sensation both "cramped" and open at the same time.