I am in the process of building my ‘Opus’ diorama. It is Carentan (funny how much Carentan is mentioned on this list…Thanks Tom Hanks and Steve Spielberg! [8D]ha) diorama…the day before the 101 hits town. A bunch of German Paras are enjoying some cigarettes.
Ive scratch built the “Desire Ingouf” cafe and am closing in on having to come up with a solution for developing roof tiles/shingles. Any reccomendations? Im thinking of rolling some sculpey and cutting some rounded roof tiles, but that doesnt ‘feel’ right for Carentan.
Does anyone have a decent shot of a roof from that area of France?
Im also interested in solutions for making passable cobble stones.
Cheers Gents…
Sic Semper Tyrannis!
Sean
(Semper Fi…if the Arty claims king of battle status, Marines are the serfs…we work in the mud and keep the kingdom standing)
Hey, citadel, ur first post! Welcome to FSM! There are some very handy tips for cobbled paths, roads etc on “my first diorama” thread, i think it’s on the first page, by DEAKON. I vaguely remember the roof tiles from a visit to carentan itself a few years ago. Most of the houses had the “corrigated” roof tiles and a few had plain ones, but as for making them, i’m stumped. Good luck with the dio and dont forget to pop in on my thread, your opinions would be more than welcome. Look forward to seeing you on other threads
my wife and I are planning on going to Normandy over my leave, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of pics of the areas? I’m going to go nucking futs taking pictures actually! I’ll post some, but leave isn’t till next month?
the concave style of red roof tile was and still is popular in all parts of europe so you are on the right track…the method of using sculpy or some other such medium sounds ideal…as for cobblestones …try split peas / lentils…
Redleg1-7FA you will enjoy that trip tremendously! I was over there in 2000 (Germany, France, Belgium ) and took about 17 rolls of film in 2 weeks. I did go through Carentan and to Omaha beach. If you get the chance go to the American Cemetary there. It’s beautiful. I haven’t scanned but a few pictures, I need to do the rest.
I was staying in Air Force billiting at Sembach during my stay and we covered France in a weekend with just one night in a motel. We stayed at Caen the first night I wouldn’t say it was a “good” hotel but it wasn’t too expensive. I’ll have to dig my pics out to see if I got a pic of it. I don’t remember the name. the next morning we drove down to La Mont St Michele (sp?), up to Omaha beach, up the coast to Belgium by that night. Spent the night in a rest area because our timing was off and it was holiday[:p] Gave up after 2 hours trying to find a room. The next morning we rode on into Belgium, back into France to Reims and from their back to Germany.
If you haven’t been to Europe before…I see you’re Army but…
The key to seeing a lot of stuff is pick what you want to see, hit the AutoRoute or Autobahn and get there fast, see the area and get back on the big road and fly to your next destination. You can cover a lot of ground when you average 100-110mph[:D]
Also in France the AutoRoutes are toll roads and will be a chunk of change but worth saving the time driving on the surface roads. We did ride some back roads and it was beautiful but you won’t get as far as fast.
sounds like the same as italy, I got lost driving my old pltn sgt to vercienza (sp), I tried to find the brenner exit but the italians called it the brenno exit ( I never once put two and two together)I almost drove into milano before I realized I went way to far (200 something K’s out ) but luckily after I turned around the first person I asked spoke some english and he sent me on the right exit, then I finnally made it home to germany.
O-yeah and driving in italy is a nightmare!!! I loved the place but they can’t drive to save their lives?
I would definately appreciate some points of interest slash places to stay, I’ve been trying to work on my very rusty french so it’s a lil’ easier to get around.
Red
Like I said we went throught France in a flash. since you’re going to Normandy, go south to La Mont St. Micheal. It’s worth the drive if you’re nearby. Here’s one pic (yeah that’s me) that’s over 1/2 mile away from the place there
Reims is really nice too. Huge cathedral and monument to Joan of Arc is pretty awesome.
The question is are you going to Germany while you’re there? If so, try to get to the south, Bavaria and see Neuschwanstien (sp?) castle. That was the most impressive site I saw in Europe. Beautiful at the base of the Alps.
I know what you mean about Italy,I’ve been to Aviano too, Paris was the same, most of the rest of France and Germany the drivers were really good! Also, Trier Germany is a most impressive town too. They have ruins from the Roman Empire in that town.
As far as lodging. try to find a hotel chain that you recognize the name and don’t expect it to be like the states. I’ve heard some of the little hole in the wall Guesthouses in Germany are really nice but not fancy of course. Schnitzel, I miss schnitzel!!!
very cool pics, I can’t wait to see those in person along with what ever else I can find!! I’ve been looking forward to this leave for a while, since my kosovo deployment!
just a few of the places I’ve been to so far: Rothenburg is very cool it’s a midevil city type place, they have this really cool criminal history museum it’s got all kinds of torture devices.
Wuerzburg is pretty cool to, it’s not to far away about 20 - 25 miles I think?
the fortress is outstanding and the residence, wow!
I think I have a few pics on the computer of the fortress?
I’ll put some up of nuernburg as well.
Sofia Bulgaria was definately an eye opener, tons of things to see, everything is cheaper or the exchange rate was great one dollar for like 2.20 levy.
unfortuantely I didn’t get to take to many pictures there, I spent most of it drunk and running around with some buddies before we went back to kosovo.
fun fact:
schweinfurt was the place that black friday or whatever day of the week it was called happened, when the whole town was bombed out in WWII, actually it has a long history of being destroyed, go figure?
Citadel, I’m not really trying to “bastidize” your thread here, I’m looking to see if I have any pics of roofs scanned that I can post for you.
So Red[:D][;)]
Enjoy your leave and see as much of the whole area as you can while you’re there. It too good an oppourtunity to pass up. I want to go back.
Neuschwanstein
the housing area I live in is being renovated and they still have some of the really old roofing tiles from whenever on here, granted it’s in germany and time now?
just say yay or no
Post him some pics Red. I know most of the buildings I saw in France still looked the same as they did back then. I’ve got to find my pics and get some scanned.
