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Operation Anthropoid
Mushonza
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Posted: Monday, September 07, 2020 - 08:24 PM UTC
Tim, the V Holešovičkách street sign would have been white letters on red background - a convention for street signs that is still in use in Prague (with a minor modification). Here is a link with a picture of a Prague street sign from the WW2 period: http://www.vhu.cz/nejen-zbrane-ci-vystroj-take-ulicni-cedule-prochazeji-dilnami-restauratoru-vhu/.

As for the "D" sign, I have not been able to find anything so far. I am not sure if it is a traffic sign for cars, or trams. I will keep searching and will let you know if I come across any information that would shed more light on this. In any case it seems to be an "informative" sign and my hunch is that the letter D and the edges were black on white background. I say that, however, without having any evidence so far.



Quoted Text

Wow a big thank you guys:

Erwin – your 2nd link even had a reasonable blow-up of the sign itself, perfect. And you anticipated the next headache very well about the font but are you sure it’s Fette Fraktur? See below, I can see it’s very close but compare the small “k” of “klein” & small “s” of “holleschowitz”… I get the impression there are several versions of FF, could you just check if yours is OK before we proceed...





Tom – even better, now I’ve no excuse for getting the accents wrong. I was relieved to see you posted the same link as one of Erwin’s, which I’ve been using since the beginning – “relieved” because I always half-dread an unknown new picture-archive revealing something I’ve guessed or estimated to be totally wrong…& I’m still expecting some battered old Agfa print to show up proving the house was blue.

Jan – your link was extra-useful for the colours of some other signs I have to replicate…which begs the question: What colours were in the V Holešovičkách sign? I’ve been assuming black with white letters but now I’m not sure about anything in monochrome……and my desk-printer doesn’t accept gold cartridges.

The same uncertainty principle colour-wise now applies to the “D” signs, here’s a slightly better shot…



There will be 3 of these in the dio, each has the arrow nailed beneath it although the 4th arrow (pictured on Sept 5th and visible here too) appears on its own, but they’re clearly associated. I don’t know what “D” stands for but these signs look quite new compared to others, which is why I’ve thought they were Occupation. From their positions they seem to be indicating a route (in both directions) rather than anything relating to traffic conditions, but I have an infinite capacity for being wrong

Mushonza
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Posted: Monday, September 07, 2020 - 08:39 PM UTC
Just to add to Erwin's information on the font, here is a link to the German wiki page on the Fraktur script: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraktur_(Schrift).

And here is a table with all the letters: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lesehilfe_Fraktur.svg#/media/Datei:Lesehilfe_Fraktur.svg.




Quoted Text

Wow a big thank you guys:

Erwin – your 2nd link even had a reasonable blow-up of the sign itself, perfect. And you anticipated the next headache very well about the font but are you sure it’s Fette Fraktur? See below, I can see it’s very close but compare the small “k” of “klein” & small “s” of “holleschowitz”… I get the impression there are several versions of FF, could you just check if yours is OK before we proceed...





Tom – even better, now I’ve no excuse for getting the accents wrong. I was relieved to see you posted the same link as one of Erwin’s, which I’ve been using since the beginning – “relieved” because I always half-dread an unknown new picture-archive revealing something I’ve guessed or estimated to be totally wrong…& I’m still expecting some battered old Agfa print to show up proving the house was blue.

Jan – your link was extra-useful for the colours of some other signs I have to replicate…which begs the question: What colours were in the V Holešovičkách sign? I’ve been assuming black with white letters but now I’m not sure about anything in monochrome……and my desk-printer doesn’t accept gold cartridges.

The same uncertainty principle colour-wise now applies to the “D” signs, here’s a slightly better shot…



There will be 3 of these in the dio, each has the arrow nailed beneath it although the 4th arrow (pictured on Sept 5th and visible here too) appears on its own, but they’re clearly associated. I don’t know what “D” stands for but these signs look quite new compared to others, which is why I’ve thought they were Occupation. From their positions they seem to be indicating a route (in both directions) rather than anything relating to traffic conditions, but I have an infinite capacity for being wrong

TomCZE
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Posted: Monday, September 07, 2020 - 08:47 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Here you are:

1st line - Klein-Holleschowitz
2nd line - K Holešovičkám (street name in Czech)
3rd line - Lieben VIII Libeň (part of Prague)

Few nice pics: https://obalky.kosmas.cz/ArticleFiles/215627/215627_uk.pdf/FILE/Anthropoid_215627_uk.pdf
HTH



We are great detectives, aren't we???



Yes, Sir but I have made a stupid typo in the street name.
My bad.
Mushonza
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Posted: Monday, September 07, 2020 - 10:21 PM UTC
Sorry, Erwin! Learning the ropes here! You have done some fine detective work here on the street sign!

Take care!




Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Just a small correction on line 2. The street name in Czech is "V Holešovičkách".




Wrong quote

Golikell
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Posted: Tuesday, September 08, 2020 - 12:33 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Here you are:

1st line - Klein-Holleschowitz
2nd line - K Holešovičkám (street name in Czech)
3rd line - Lieben VIII Libeň (part of Prague)

Few nice pics: https://obalky.kosmas.cz/ArticleFiles/215627/215627_uk.pdf/FILE/Anthropoid_215627_uk.pdf
HTH




We are great detectives, aren't we???



Yes, Sir but I have made a stupid typo in the street name.
My bad.



Typos do happen
It is alway nice to see that one find the same info as a local with more knowledge...
Talking of which, are you abel to find out what font was used on the old name signs?
Golikell
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Posted: Tuesday, September 08, 2020 - 12:40 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Wow a big thank you guys:

Erwin – your 2nd link even had a reasonable blow-up of the sign itself, perfect. And you anticipated the next headache very well about the font but are you sure it’s Fette Fraktur? See below, I can see it’s very close but compare the small “k” of “klein” & small “s” of “holleschowitz”… I get the impression there are several versions of FF, could you just check if yours is OK before we proceed...




That picture actually allowed me to get the first line correct. The second was more legible...

I thought I was, but not so sure anymore... Fonts are a real quagmire. There are many similar, yet not identical fonts... It seems a Faktur or Gothic font. Blacktype is also similar yet different one.
To make things worse, these signs were apparently hand painted, so maybe some quircks of the guy/girl might have turned it into something unique...
Dioramartin
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Posted: Tuesday, September 08, 2020 - 11:26 PM UTC
Awesome Jan, I’d never have guessed RED & even better you’ve given me a good idea which red – tram & perhaps more accurately Prague Red. And your 2nd link shows the alternative Fraktur version of slim “s” which appears on the sign. Cheers

Erwin - I’m sure you’re right about the individual sign-writer and my mistake, of course the “K” of “Klein” is upper-case not lower & maybe the signwriter used the slim “s” to save space. Whatever I’ve downloaded an FF font I can play with in a graphics program, thanks again for saving me a lot of time
Golikell
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Posted: Wednesday, September 09, 2020 - 01:22 AM UTC
My pleasure
I actually had to do some research on this for the sign I wanted to include with my railway station dio. The font used in official publications (in this case the Reichsbahn logo):
Mushonza
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Posted: Wednesday, September 09, 2020 - 03:26 AM UTC
The current street signs in Prague are made with red paint RAL 3000 (looks like it is called flame red) and white paint RAL 9003 (signal white). I am not sure if these were the colors used throughout WW2, but probably close enough, if you factor in weathering, etc.

I am still searching for information on the "D" signs. I reached out to the Public transportation museum in Prague and am waiting to hear from their director emeritus. Let's keep our fingers crossed that he will have some useful insights into this mystery!
Dioramartin
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Posted: Thursday, September 10, 2020 - 10:42 PM UTC
Thanks again Jan your potential Agent sounds very promising. As for the RAL number, as you say weathering is one factor but there are so many others like our respective devices & eyesight, so I can’t get too precious about it. All I can say is it won’t be a purply-red, an orangey-red, a pinkish red, a dark red or a light red…



Yep still using MS Paint after nearly 30 years, almost got the hang of it now. The small lower-right version is 1/35 size, however when I printed it & stuck it on a thin balsa panel with white glue & added a layer on top to make it glossy, the lettering developed a pinkish tinge. Next trial will be a fixative spray first & then stuck on a white plastic panel, that should solve the problem. Ridiculous how much time & effort went into modifying the Fette Fraktur font but it can’t be faked when it’s going to be in view right behind the Merc., even if in teeny weeny letters. Incidentally I reverse my previous correction, the first line IS all lower-case, no capitals. Here’s where I’m up to with the other signs…



As mentioned before there will be several “D’s” & arrows in view, the masters seen here hopefully awaiting clarification of their colour(s)..black or red? The two ochre-ish place-signs are WW2-era style but the originals are illegible so I’ve guessed likely nearby locations that would have been signposted on that bend. The red-bordered notice, and the “3” are also inventions that resemble what’s barely visible on lamp-posts. So that leaves just three which are as accurately replicated as I’m able to. The diamond-sign’s shadows are just an experiment which will succeed or fail in full sunshine.



Weathering printed-out signs on paper will most likely end in smudgy tears, so I’ve tried to do it at source. So much of that detail is lost by the time it’s reduced to 1/35 scale but let’s see what they all look like when test-planted in situ
jrutman
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Posted: Friday, September 11, 2020 - 02:58 AM UTC
Impressive research and photoshop work there buddy! Pays off with great results. You put more effort into just these signs than some guys do with a whole model! Seems I myself will never get over my mental block about learning how to use the "putor for stuff like this.
J
G-man69
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Posted: Friday, September 11, 2020 - 03:16 AM UTC
Hi Tim,

Excellent work on the signage, interested to see how they look when printed in scale.

Cheers, ,

G
Golikell
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Posted: Friday, September 11, 2020 - 05:28 AM UTC
HAppy to see that our research labour bore it's fruit As G. said: I'm curios to see how things will look like in scale
Dioramartin
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Posted: Friday, September 18, 2020 - 11:52 PM UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1pzXJuvdAY



I thought I’d knock over these pesky road signs in a couple of days (3 weeks later) so yes JR I’ve sure spent less time on a kit build…well maybe a 1/72 truck anyway. I’m sorry for the tedium but they were, and are, so prominent in every scene they have to look right. The sign on top is the one I mentioned last week & the lower one was yeah born under a bad sign, seen here in full sun – surely an improvement? Thanks too Erwin & G, well here they are…but first, I was zooming in on this “D” signpost…



…and finally realised what the “S” feature was. I replicated it from a spare MiniArt lamp-post & styrene strip/sheet – the pale panel half way up the pole was enough of a clue to what it was…



…but that vintage example at the Tram museum isn’t a close match, so in lieu of any help from the web I had to squint’n’guess. Those little white discs are obviously route numbers & after some fretting I hoped to find some nano-numbers amongst my spare-decals pile, still bugged at the thought of trying to paint ultra-fine circles round them. I rifled through this lot for some time…



Zilch, until I noticed what was staring me in the face (no, not the Michelin man)…



Voila…



OK not perfect but the best I can do. In context…





The “D” & arrow signs remain blank pending any information regarding their colour from Agent Emeritus but if none eventuates they’ll just have to be black. Next, the main traffic-island sign from two directions…





I was mistaken in cobbling this traffic-island & the adjoining one…



They seem to be just bare earth and/or overgrown with weeds, so there’s a nice job for a rainy day. The road-maintenance box is removable like everything else, but making the pile of sand also removable won’t fly – the photo below flatters, the edges don’t touch the ground at any point so it’ll have to be glued down & blended, unlikely to get damaged…



Hmm, well in some lights it looks OK but my wife thinks it looks like someone ralphed. More apologies for poor photography, forced indoors by highly-changeable Spring weather yet again so here’s a dim impression of the other signs…







...and just for fun...



Next steps loom ever larger - the backdrops. Nurse, the easel & single malt if you please
jrutman
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Posted: Saturday, September 19, 2020 - 07:46 AM UTC
Just brilliant stuff all'round. The attention to detail adds up for sure,
J
cheyenne
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Posted: Saturday, September 19, 2020 - 09:56 PM UTC
Beautiful Tim so very 1/1 scale lookin !!
Benetton
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Posted: Sunday, September 20, 2020 - 07:58 PM UTC
Dear sirs,

What a fantastic and outstanding project. My congratulations to everyone who has contributed to this.

I came across this topic purely by chance through Google and have been reading with great interest. So I decided to join this forum in order to pass on my best wishes.

The Heydrich saga has interested me for more than 30 years since I was a teenager and I consider myself fairly knowledgeable on all the aspects of Operation Anthropoid and the aftermath.

Your detail to historical accuracy regarding the assassination and the scene is outstanding. I haven't spotted a single mistake.

The members advising you are obviously highly knowledgeable too whether it be details of the car, the personalities involved, and the location.

I do have one comment to make as a contribution which has been raised several times from the very beginning without being conclusively answered.

The jackets on the back seat were not Heydrich's. In fact he wasn't carrying any luggage that day. There is much speculation as to whether his trip to FHQ Wolfsschanze which you have correctly referred to was to have been 27 May (the day of the attack) or else the following morning. Hstorians and researchers are still unsure as to what his exact plans for the trip were.

Of course, this is all completely insignificant with regards to your diaroma. But I can explain the significance of the 2 SS jackets which ended up hanging from the tram lines...

Part 2 coming imminently.
Golikell
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 12:52 AM UTC
Things are falling together nicely... Keep going
Dioramartin
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 01:23 AM UTC
Thanks very much “Benetton” & welcome aboard - our tram’s filling up but there’s a few seats left – don’t go too far down the back I think a bunch have passed out on pilsner

No question this project would be a pale shadow without the combined efforts of all the esteemed contributors since page 1, I only hope I can do them justice - it’s an old cliché but still true, all errors will be mine. In fact here’s a spanner – I was dismayed to read in a generalist history of Prague yesterday that Heydrich’s predecessor, Reichsprotektor Neurath (following the occupation of Prague in 1939) ordered “road traffic to be shifted from the left- to the right-hand side of the road (and) the black-and-gold German-language street signs to replace the red-and-white Czech placards”. Is there any corroboration for that? Jan, Tom? The sign on the railings always seemed to have a very dark background, but then a strong red can also look like black in monochrome.

Here’s that sign in 1936…



…and in 1942…



Same sign? It doesn’t look the same to me…someone correct me if I’m mistaken but isn’t the ’42 sign in German…?

I wasn’t aware of dissent about where Heydrich was going on the morning of May 27th. MacDonald’s book details how the watchmaker Novotny read Heydrich’s itinerary on his desk the week before and passed the information on to the local resistance group & thence to the agents. Heydrich wasn’t flying to the Wolf’s Lair, he was flying to Berlin to meet firstly with Himmler, and then with Hitler “…on the 29th who was himself flying into the capital to review a parade of officer cadets”. There were also strong rumours the meeting was to confirm Heydrich’s immediate transfer out of Prague to oversee implementation of the Final Solution in France & the Low Countries - his itinerary included a month’s tour of those countries immediately following his meeting Hitler. If true then he’d be packing some luggage. It’s not altogether clear where MacDonald got his information but other accounts I’ve read concur. Anyhow let’s see what you’ve found on the subject of the flying uniforms, as you’ll have read I’m somewhat sceptical it happened at all but stranger things have happened I know.

Meanwhile thanks JR/Glenn/Erwin, how about these? Just playing around to see what works…



Trying to replicate the original image although the railings are still missing & the Merc needs tweaking. Apart from needing a better tilt the driver’s door’s & rear windows are not quite aligned, and the chrome rings round the hubcaps need some precision masking.



Checking how figures look near the car - no attempt at correct uniforms, these investigator stand-ins were just loitering in the spares box.



Pure speculation, accounts vary as to exactly where Heydrich collapsed (against the car, against the railings, on the sidewalk) having given up chasing Gabcik, I hope to make a firmer proposition after reconstructing the event’s choreography in more detail
Golikell
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 01:46 AM UTC
Well, the first line on the sign at H. assassination attempt most certainly not present on the older picture!!!
The parapet on the far side of the sidewalk lookst like it had seen better days. It seemed to been made of bricks covered with a layer of either concrete or plaster like material. Yet rather damaged...
Dioramartin
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 02:20 AM UTC
Yes Erwin and the ’42 sign seems wider too, now I look at it yet again. The parapet seems to have required re-modelling several times e.g. compare the ’36 & ’42 photos. I can’t be certain but the ’42 image may even be showing shrapnel damage, Kubis was only a couple of metres back up the sidewalk from there & he was hit in the head by a piece. I won’t attempt concreting my parapets until I’ve made the (detachable) PE railings & worked out how to attach them
justsendit
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 11:58 AM UTC

Quoted Text

... our tram’s filling up but there’s a few seats left – don’t go too far down the back I think a bunch have passed out on pilsner.

Yup, still lurking about. Don't let the tram leave without me!🚉

Cheers!🍺
—mike
Dioramartin
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 02:44 PM UTC
that’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout...Mike you ARE on the tram! There’s another crate of beer upside yo head man
Golikell
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 08:45 PM UTC
'Bout the right driving, I was not aware of this either... An history about this: https://english.radio.cz/why-czechs-drive-right-8097475

I understand that you won't handle the parapet with the fence in place!!!
G-man69
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Posted: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - 01:13 AM UTC
Hi Tim,

Firstly, my apologies for not commenting sooner, .

Secondly, the build is looking truly awesome, and the signage is working a treat.

Thirdly, love the b&w images, how do you achieve them? the filters I have don't seem to work that well, .

Anyway, brilliant work to-date.

Cheers, ,

G