I did see the difference in the trees. I am referring to the lack of snow and the muddy conditions in the opening days of the battle. There are plenty of photos of deciduous trees that are  in the Ardennes as well. it all depends upon the particular locale. Many folks think that the entire Bulge fight was in deep snow. This is not true. While there was snow in a few areas at the opening of the battle, in most areas is was that wonderful wet cold weather that Germany is so noted for by GIs (and I bet Tommies as well).

This image from Life magazine taken during the Bulge matches Bodge's terrain and vegation better...

thanks for those pics mate, yes there are loads of firs there but like you pointed out there were tree,s with leaves still on them as you can see in the hedgerow you put up along with a lot of trees that had already shed their leaves as i also modelled in the diorama. Infact i modelled three tree,s without leaves and one about to shed its leaves so i tried to depict both scenarios.

Its posts like this that sort of put me off posting to be honest. I love constructive criticizem  but when you basicly get thats wrong when its not it does put a downer on the posting. Heck this year i saw loads of leaves along the side of a road in mid summer but if you put that on a model you would get thats wrong there are no leaves on the ground in the summer months. Also a couple of weeks ago i was walking in town with the wife and noticed some people walking along in short sleave Tshirts and shorts whilst other people had on coats and hats with umbrellas as it had just started to rain. I said to my wife if i put that on a painting or a model it would be slated straight away but it is real. 

Here are two pics from Belgiun in the Ardennes in December, I think i matched the tree in the top pic quite well.

Weather is a fickle thing. What is true one year, is not the next. We had a VERY mild summer where I live this year, while much of the country sweletered or was flooded by major rainstorms. In the past we have had those long hot summers too, but not this one. 

 Being that the Bulge is one of those battles that I find so fascinating, I enjoy studying it and the related aspects for many years now. I really like your work on this piece here Bodge and seeing the posts regarding 'that's wrong' when it's not is what gets me into my "show the pics" mode. You have great skills with figures and dioramas (better than mine for sure), and I do hope that you keep up the great work and continue to post it here.

Thanks Stikpusher, this is one pic from the Kaletrail  in the Ardennesthat also inspired the terrain for the dio.

Thanks for your kind words, Andy.

bodge this is a great looking dio,its just that the branches are not at the right angle for the slight easterly breeze that was blowing that day also you forgot to wind one of the soldiers watches and tie another ones laces.....lol get where im going with this?

i hope you had fun making it,dont let (anal detail) posts take any of that fun away.

Kiweed you made me LMFAO Thanks.

Magnificent work, Bodge. To me, at least, it's clear you've done your homework when replicating the scene.

Regarding the busts and their faces, the face on your German SS Ardennes 1944 is striking, and appears most realistic even in a photograph. I'd bet it's even better in person. I understand what you're saying about the judging at some contests, and I've seen faces regularly done with way too much contrast. My figure skills are basically non-existant, but I like to think I can tell realism when I see it. Bottom line to you: well done.

Thanks Bodge,,,,,,,,,,   not as heavy as I would have guessed, which means you planned it out very well.    And, you bet,   I would enjoy viewing some face detail photos...    whenever you have the chance that is.

Again, thanks for sharing a great diorama

Bill

private message sent to you Bodge

Got you now stik. I find it hard when doin a Buldge dio. I think we always imagine it was all snow, but your right, a lot of the photo's show just wet and muddy. But of course, if you don't know what date the photo was taken, its hard to know if your scene should be snowy or not.

What would be nice would be referance material giving the weather reports for each day of a battle.

Thanks again guys for lookin in and your kind remarks, Helps make it more of an enjoyable hobby, which is supposed to be fun Crack on.

stikpusher

This photo is dated 20 December, 1944. 325 Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in the Ardennes. I think it matches close enough to your work Bodge. 

Look again.  This pic shows a pine forest - evergreen trees.  It does not show the the type of countryside depicted in the diorama.  These trees, of course, do not have leaves, do not change color with the seasons, and will not show fall color.

Mike, if you check stik's post at the top of the page, you can see he addressed this. He posted it not to show the trees but that there was no snow at the start of the campaign.

Easy mike let it go for gods sake , if you dont like it dont look at it. I personally never try to destroy a modellers build . I addressed your concerns in my posts , if you still have a problem with it i suggest you have a word with god.

Can i see a pic of your work to see if you are even worthy of critasizm?

Great looking dio Bodge, I got to hand it to you "dio guys", that takes some serious skill to get it right.

Bodge, you shouldn't have to feel so defensive. You're a talented modeler, and you always show us high quality work. EasyMike does not post work in this forum. I don't believe he's near good enough. What he is good at is criticizing others' work.

I wouldn't let it eat at you.

Reasoned cheers buddy allways a pleasure.

Steve, There is no place in this hobby for just plain trying to pick faults all the time in peoples work, Constructive critasism  has made me a far better modeller but trying to pick faults where there is not an issue to is wrong.

I dont let it get to me really but i am more deffensive on the fact that if i were a youngster just starting out in this hobby things like this could turn them away and thats not good for the hobby.

Let me explain something else that i was trying to achieve in this dio, Most bulge dio,s have snow on them and dont show the muddy wet landscape that was also current at the begginig of the bulge.Also most dio,s show only fir trees in the bulge where yes there are alot of them in the Ardennes but then you also have the trees i have shown (backed up by research to this scene) And last but not least i try to model reality but at the same time to try and show originality and a story to my dio work. If all bulge dio,s were white and had fir trees all the time then where is the individuality with that. there thats my theory to this little piece of Belgium.. 

I dont post just for well done,s but get enjoyment out of showing my work. If anyone brings up anything that will  improve my work then bring it on or if i have a genuine fault then again let me know, i am improving all the time and continuing to get better with each build. As long as i am enjoying it i will continue.

Bodge: I don't know squat about the weather and time of year being correct or not but when I look at this what I see is a beautiful diorama!

Great job evoking a mood, great work on the figures, and the groundwork indeed looks fantastic!

Frankly it makes me want to get back to work on one of many dios I've started and then abandoned.

My only problem with it is- why can't my stuff look this good!?!

Gamera cheers buddy and if i inspire you then that is a great compliment.

I know what you mean on abandoned builds buddy,i got loads of em

Bodge

I dont post just for well done,s but get enjoyment out of showing my work. If anyone brings up anything that will  improve my work then bring it on or if i have a genuine fault then again let me know,

Well, okay you asked for it.  I bet that German soldier was dehydrated, thus his "stream" needs to be more yellow.

Im on it reasoned

EasyMike

stikpusher:

This photo is dated 20 December, 1944. 325 Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in the Ardennes. I think it matches close enough to your work Bodge. 

Look again.  This pic shows a pine forest - evergreen trees.  It does not show the the type of countryside depicted in the diorama.  These trees, of course, do not have leaves, do not change color with the seasons, and will not show fall color.

 

 

Correct...  and I do know the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees... and I have spent a bit of time in that part of the world in Uncle Sam's service trudging around in the mud and snow under similar conditions around that time of year... I always was in wonderment at how they tolerated that for so long with such crappy cold/wet weather gear.... but then I do recall the high casualty figures from frostbite, exposure, trenchfoot, etc...

OK, one more time.. the following pics are arguably amongst the most famous from the opening assault phase in the Ardennes Offensive of 1944. They were taken on Dec 18 and involved elements of 1st SS Panzer Division and the US 7th Armored Division. Something akin to what Bodge is portraying. Wet muddy conditions with no snow on the ground yet and deciduous tress that have shed most but not quite all their leaves yet...

Once again, great dio Bodge... Drive on!

That's all I got to say about that...

SteveM

...Bodge, you shouldn't have to feel so defensive...

I agree.  I did not denigrate his work.  I said only that it looked like the wrong time of year to me.

...EasyMike does not post work in this forum. I don't believe he's near good enough. What he is good at is criticizing others' work...

Personally, I don't care what you believe and I mean no disrespect in that.  Whether or not you or anyone else would or would not like what I do is not important to me.  As long as I have pleased myself with what I do is the only thing which matters to me .  You should feel the same.  If you have pleased yourself with what you have done, does it actually matter to you what anyone thinks?

Anyone can review my posts.  You will find I am rarely critical of anyone's work.  I did not criticize Bodge.

The Ardennes has many planted coniferous forests, these plantings are in a very regular arrangement. These are planted among the natural mixed deciduos forest areas. It would be fine to depict the forests as either deciduous or coniferous. As a note, if coniferous, the trees would probably be in uniform rows. You will note the uniform nature of the coniferous forests in many of the pictures. In both "Band of Brothers" and "Battleground" the coniferous forest has that plantation appearance.

While in college I was partially a forestry major. We took a field trip to Harvard's Black Rock Forest around Hastings-on-Hudson, NY adjoining West Point (south side). In there is a white fir plantation. That morning we were there the fog had not lifted and with the mist, the rows were spooky, just seeming to go on for ever. This our professor told us was similar to the plantation practices employed in Europe.

I have no problem with how the forests are depicted, as that whole are is variable. Many farmers may want hardwoods to supply woods for barrels and fences as well as cordwood for the hearth. Unless you are depicted a particular location in the Ardennes, this depiction is more than fine. I enjoyed it greatly.

Mike T.

Nice job o the foliage & mucky road - looks very familiar to me in my part of the world. Y'know except for the German army parade.

FIRST I would like to say this build is HORRIBLE! why you ask? because it looks better than the builds I see in my mind's eye and that is just depressing me

my take, the ground is drier under our hapless GI because it runs off, where the road is keeping the moisture perhaps the road is slightly under cut keeping the water to the high side of the road, plus the debris pile and bushes also turn the water back onto the road....

a missing firearm for our hapless GI is under his blanket ensuring his "powder" stays dry, and finally the "dandy" in the sweater on the far left is a rank ABOVE the guy in the hat and their transport is just off to the left out of our view.

I have an Idea like this build and IF I ever get good enough I hope it comes out half as good

Bodge, do you enter contests? if so, please let us know how it does. { I am betting firsts}

Dostacos you basicly hit the nail on the head as to your thinking on this one. All the things you pointed out is what i was after on this, the water running of the bank,correct. The gun under the blanket to keep dry incase of rain,correct, and the panzer crew with vehicle just off set or up the lane a bit correct.

I do enter competitions and this has had one outing at Euro militaire where it picked up a commended . It is hard to get anything at that show in my eyes unless your name fits if you know what i mean.

I do have high hopes for it this comming year as i did very well with a dio this year called timeout and this in my eyes is better than that so who knows.

Thankyou for the kind remarks,Andy

Nice work! how you did the leaves looks very realalistic.

Reminds me of a story....while in the Seabees we were on our Field Exercise and there were 2 of us covering an avenue of approach, we had ourselves under good concealment, too good in fact.  One of the observers from Regiment was milling about smartly in our position and decided to relieve himself.  Once he started my battle buddy calmly said..."hey Chief, you mind not pissing on me?"  Cracked me up so hard I gave away my position as well.....ah good times....