I have been trying to decide what kind of shop to put in my Carentan dio. My first thought was a Pharmacy, the shop floor space is very small, but if I were to choose this I think the inventory would be difficult to make and much more time consuming than I would like. I was thinking maybe a front counter, with an inventroy that would be kept in the back there by resolving the issue or limiting the need for alot of inventory to "show" in the shop. Maybe then just a few things to put on shelves. I really don't want to spend a ton of money if any I would rather just scratch build some inventory very quickly. What other ideas may you all have.

Bakery or something? then the shelves would be empty anyway! Any kind of food shop would be stripped.

Vinnie

I was thinking Teachers idea, pick something that would be sparse.
You can also duplicate inventory pretty easily through scratch building. Lots of boxes, cans, jars. You can find and or produce lables to put on cans - things like soup labels etc. Use milliput or sculpy and or streatched sprue for the various things.

I had thought of a bakery or butcher but I was trying to think of something a little more creative, anyother ideas?

what about a barbers shop or talior/dressmaker shouldnt need much for that

Could also be a small cafe with 2-3 tables , a hardware store with some iron bars outside and plates of metal, a barber shop !!!! with a nice sign outside ...anything it could be but most inventory items are to be scratched ..if u dont wanna get a AM set ..

HOw about a fruit and vegetable stand? Apples and the like could be made with clay rolled into little balls, stacked up. I dont know how much would be left over though. Just an idea...

scott

Hi there !

I'm relatively new to this (fantastic) site, and dioramas are not (yet) my stuff (although I'm trying to get deeper in). But I like the idea of a "pharmacie" . Depending on the level of destruction, you'll only need broken brown and white glas (and of course few bottles still alive) on and behind what would be a service desk. Unfortunately I don't own a digi-cam, since we have two pharmacies here in Aachen with interior design (at least partially) like in the fourties or earlier.
Any "food-shop" would be empty, regarding german supply lines during normandy campaign.
Or remember the scene in "Private Ryan" where Tom Hanks tried to find some coffee in that destroyed bistro. Maybe you do a scene where some soldiers find a bottle of cognac under the rubble ? Just my 0,02€; sorry if I disturbed ...

CU

Frank

I am really stuck with the idea of the Pharmacie, I think it would really add a great deal to the dio as something not often seen, but my biggest obstical would be all the small bottles and things of that nature. How would you create the bottles? What other things might you find in a forties French pharmacie?

hi Nato,
this photo shows the interior of a French (M.Trambley's )pharmacie on 1940.

this is another photo for a French pharmacie outside view


big aspirine posters can be good too :-)

Great photo's thanks. Now the problem is how to mass produce the small bottles that would have been on the shelves. Boxes and such are no problem, I have created my own on the computer, the bottles are now my concern, any ideas?

Great photos, greywolf !
That's exactly what I was trying to explain.

@nato308

And now imagine this lot of glas after some medium bombers passed by ...
You could do the broken glas from crunching a beer bottle in a mortar. "Surviving" bottles might be found in the puppet-house-department of toy shops. And you should take a look into a shop/catalogue where they sell stuff for chemical or bio laboratories. There are some really tiny glasses for gas chromatography samples (made of brown glas too) that you get in packs of 100 for small money (the brown ones being a bit more expensive). In scale they might work as 5 liter winchesters. And don't forget to use the latin names for chemicals/medicine.
Hope I could help.

CU

Frank

Thank you Geronimo and grey wolf, I understand clearly the suggestions you have made, I do appreciate them very much.They are great ideas. The broken glass is great and I can cover that easily with old perscipiton bottles at home and crush them. This is great the creative jucies are flowing, I have never used clear sprue, not even sure I have any. I have used sprue before so I have a good idea some of the small bottles could be carved but I'm affraid that they will look scratched up. Hmmm, will have to think some more on them. May be a trip to the model railroad stuff. If anyone can make more suggestions on the whole bottles and how to create different shapes I am still open for ideas.

Heya, nato308 !

There's an article here at armorama "How to make wine bottles". That should work for you too.
My (stupid) idea - and it's just that - make a mould, try to melt clear polyethylene in a metal or glas pot at about 150degree centigrade (higher temperature will make it yellowish) and pour/press it into the mould. If you have a device for making french fries - sorry, freedom fries, you're there. The oil boils around 200 degrees, so you might want to be careful with that polyethylene and yourself (protective gloves and glasses recommended). And maybe Mrs. nato308 should be somewhere else The material won't come out glas-clear, but with some glossy coatings, it could work.
Well, just an idea...

CU

Frank

I just remembered that artical, thank you. I certainly have a direction to go in. Still if any more ideas let me know. I will still be looking for 40's french advertising that would be correct for the period. Thanks guys for all your help! I have been working on the buildings and have base coats down, so if I have some slow time this weekend I will try to snap some photo's and get them posted.

..., so if I have some slow time this weekend I will try to snap some photo's and get them posted. [/quote]


Man, you HAVE to take some photos. That's an order ! I won't be back 'til Tuesday, so you have a lot of time to do so. Roger ? :-)
I think I'll finish my Saab Viggen and I-153 both. Well, it's just the decals, a final coat of clear and some subtile weathering. That's enough to do, cause there's also a LAN-party... oh yes, and some Easter-eggs to disappear ...

CU & Happy Eastern

Frank