Hi, guys.
I was planing since a while a small diorama base based on following criteria:
1. 1/35 scale;
2. Simple;
3. Suitable for military AND civilian models
4. Photos to be taken from at least three sides
5. Suitable for ANY region / country in Europe... hence, ANYWHERE...

To keep it simple, I have chosen only few elements: cobblestone road, a wall, a tree and a calcareous formation:
1. The Wall

2. The Tree:

3. The Base

4. Couple of close-ups

More to came, but the photo gallery seems to be offline... Stay tuned!

I think that having a "generic" base suitable for any subject, any time, anywhere in Europe, maybe a city but why not a small village is a great idea. But let me point out a pair of issues, now that you are still in time:

1.- The cobblestone road looks too bumpy, with the bumps oversized and too spaced. What about this method by my fellow countryman Angel? https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/199189

2.- Also, you need a sidewalk along the wall - A road pavement directly meeting a wall is hard to be found, at least in Europe. It can be really narrow, as narrow as 60 cm in scale, but it is almost always present. If you want something "generic" then I think this is a must.

Greetings

Warm Greetings

Thank you for the excellent input. The link you suggested is a must follow... I am grateful for it. The only question is that i didn't want to represent a fine chiseled granite surface, but a paved road with river stone

Indeed, my pavement looks a bit out of scale, especially with Simca 5, which is a pocket car . I would prefer it smaller, but it was the only "cobblestone" I found by the local food store.
About the sidewalk: you are absolutely correct for the cities. But the outskirts, sometimes you have the industrial facilities, cemeteries, stadium walls bordering the street (I grew up in the proximity of such industrial complex). Nonetheless, if I want to stick with the "generic", you're again correct: the absence of sidewalk is rather unusual. In the original planning I had a red brick sidewalk which I already built but looked somewhat too neat... Yet you gave me a better idea: I will make a sidewalk of concrete slabs with grasses poking out here and there and I will cancel the natural path opposite... also I will "fray" the edges of the road, to mix better into the environment...
To be more specific, I envisioned rather a town's city's / commune's outskirts than the city itself... so the presence of the rock formation can be explained.
Thanks again for the valuable input and for the useful link.
Warm Regards.

You are welcome, and I am happy that you found it useful.
I guess you won´t believe this, but I have just had the idea of using lentils as cobblestone, then googled "cobblestone lentils" just in case and... voilá, here at Armorama. I am too late to get any royalties. In this link there is a discussion thread about it, and a link with a very fine example by Keith Forsyth.
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/96210

BUT, again, concrete slabs for pavement would not be too "generic". They are generic in the USA, which is "the land of concrete pavements", but not at all in Europe. They are relatively modern here, I'd say they were an eccentricity until well after WW2. Tile pavements are much easier to find.

I forgot to mention that you can also make square or irregular cobblestones by cutting cork pieces - just like Robert Blokker or Frank Glackin. Another possiblility for round ones would be simply to make small balls of putty and get them flat by pressing them with your fingers.

Good luck with your dio

Thanks again Lentorpe for useful info.
My cobblestone is made of lentils or split peas, whatever marbles they are.
Meanwhile, this is the actual stage...
Maybe I'll do the sidewalk also cobblestone, but different one... still considering the options

Looks great under paint! About lentils, have in mind that there are lots of varieties... French for instance are small and fine, Spanish are big and rough
As I said, I think tile pavement for the sidewalk and cobblestone for the road would be the most generic combination - but of course cobblestone everywhere would be valid too; I simply can´t remember having seen such combination until cobblestone got "trendy" again in recent years. Urbanists and city designers went bananas about it, in my city at least...

hi again, guys. I had some more modelling time over the weekend and upgraded the diorama base, following the suggestions offered by lentorpe...



Thank you guys for your suggestions / comments. I have still a few things to do, patching and weathering, adding grass and turf... I keep you posted. Warm regards.

Hi, guys.

I found a little more time and my diorama base is almost finished; I still need couple of touch-ups and maybe some more clumps on the tree.







Your comments are more than welcome.

Thanks for following up.

Warm Regards