Monday, 26 April 2021

Take the High Road

 We've been working on the high road at the southern end of Plancenoit.  This long ribbon of houses was fought up by the 25th Line, previously known as the Lutzow Freikorps.  In defence, elements of the 1st Chasseurs of the Old Guard, hitherto held at Le Caillou desperately tried to defend this end of the village.

The troops are in production so not yet visible, but it has been fun to set the scene with the buildings, all constructed by my father, and to build the scenery.


Looking North

I decided that the road was too pristine so I've mucked it up in subsequent photos

Rubble and other detritus



Prussian Landwehr advancing towards the Young Guard
























Church in the background


These will be good defending positions for the Old Guard





It's a long road but I need to fit all three battalions of the 25th Lutzowers - the judgment is whether they 'run the gauntlet' down its length or whether there is a forward edge of the battle area.





The natural light in my shed sometimes sometimes does some nice things


Prussian Landwehr either side of the Lasne brook tributary.  Today, there is no trace of this tributary.

Overview.  The light through the roof window creates different effects across the diorama, as if a cloud is moving across the sky, as no doubt they did on 18th June 1815.



8 comments:

  1. Your father is one extremely talented modeller. And the natural light in some of these shots really shows the work the both of you (and others) have done so far in its very best (ahem) light. I could look at these pictures all day.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  2. Stunning work. The photographs are splendid. The first 80 Lutzow have reached the matt varnish stage.

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  3. Very many thanks to both of you for your kind comments. David, looking forward to seeing them, they will be a fine sight up this long road!

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  4. Fabulous work, as ever, Pic! I am interested in the disappearing river tributary - presumably some farmer or other has stuck it in a pipe? We get a bit of that on the farms around here. I am very impressed by your cobbled road - a simple detail, I suppose, but I am a simple fellow. Is that done with textured card?

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  5. Hello Foy, lovely to hear from you. Hard to know what happened to the tributary but what is interesting is that it flowed into a two fishponds with a watermill at one end - a rarely seen aspect of Waterloo. The roadway is a rubbery plastic which can bend a bit when heated in hot water.

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  6. Magnificent! The 'big picture' is superb, but it is also all those details that you add such as the patches on the rooves, damage and rubble in the streets. It must look so, so good when one can take it all in!
    Regards, James

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