Hi All,

Planning to do a little vignette on a small group of Fallschirmjager taking a break amidst the rubble of Monte Cassino town. Could anyone confirm:

1. Whether they had streets of cobblestones,
2. If yes, are they it the ones with rounded stones or the other brick looking kind (sorry don't know much about road terms)

Been searching through the Net too for some pics but there doesn't seem to be too many focusing on the town itself. Did find one which is in Italian but the pics were protected. If anyone knows of sites with closeup pics of the town itself it would be highly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

All the pictures of Cassino town I've seen just show mounds of rubble, & shell holes, the streets themselves are indistinguishable from the general mess. Look at photos of a WW1 battlefield & you get the general idea.

Hi CK. Custom Dioramics have a Monte Casino part 1 and 2 sets, that maybe would be suitable for you. The one Ive seen is inside a building, but would definately suit a scene like resting Fallscharmjagers.
As Steve has mentioned, the town took a severe battering over time, and rubble will be needed, lots of it. So perfect cobblestones would be a small issue.

Ciao beachbum,
I just PM'd you with info. Let me know if I can help.

Ciao Beachbum,
Here are two examples of street types, other than cobblestone. The first is the standard brick arrangement. Now the street you see in the background is made of cut blocks of lava rock impregnated with asphalt (modern technique.)


The second photo is of threaded concrete sections that used to make up the road, but as you can see, the road, to the left, is now asphalt (cheaper).

Many thanks Steve, Frank and Rob for the assist. Yup, the photos I seen too had a lot of rubble. The town sadly like the beautiful monastery was reduced to rubble.

The reason I asked about the street is that my vignette is rather small but as usual I often have this uncontrollable urge to pack too much details into my dios. I'll definitely pack the ground with debris but I thought I'd let the road show up a wee bit in between the piles.

I've seen the custom dioramics ones Frank. They're excellent but being a cheapo and seeing its my first go at buildings I thought I'd go the scratchbuilding route.

Rob super thanks for the pics shown here and the very generous offer to send me the pics. I'll PM you with my email soon. Building structures would sure come in handy.

Thanks again guys.