Arnhem is always on the mind of any WWII buff. Since I was a little boy and saw the movie "A bridge too far" I got hooked. All that desperate courage and folie from both sides was amazing. Besides, guys jumping out of airplanes was always crazy....and that never ending bridge... Then, Airfix 1/76th scale British paratroopers did the rest, even if they were filled with mistakes, that me as a teenager couldn't see.
But it was only when Colin Rumford released in 1999 the Operation Market Garden supplement that things got serious and since then I collected, built and painted every single unit to RF! scale in 20mm (at least German and British, Americans have to wait) and most of the buildings, at least the most famous.
It´s the buildings I will show you now. They were photographed in a random way with no particular order, only the one I used to take them out of the shelves.
The buildings are scratch built and made out of foam card and other DIY cards, with some wood, stones, etc, for details. Bases are plywood.
The Hotel Dreijeroord (White House, as called by the British paras).
All buildings have detailed interior, or at least some space to place figures based to Rapid Fire! standards.
The roof and the building are united together by some blobs of Bluetack or similar never-drying material.
There are some of the bombed houses near the bridge, based on very old B/W photos.
Some exceptions: Dapol plastic houses just builted and painted to look like Dutch houses.
These houses too can have figures inside as the plywood walkaways are the base for the Dapol buildings and have small plastic parts at the corners that make the buildings fit nicely.
Another exception are the resin Zwarteweg houses were General Urquhart hide (Timecast 15 mm houses, good, at least for me, for 20 mm games as houses should be smaller than real so they don´t hamper movement).
Backdoor of the Zwarteweg houses.
The Ommershof near the railway. Painting is conjectural as I could only find a photo of the place in the Market garden Then and Now books.
Hotel Johanna in the Pietersbergseweg, Oosterbeek.
Hotel Schonoord in the crossroads, Oosterbeek.
The Municipal Museum with its funny and challenging shape. A Kinder egg helped for the cupola...
The Gasfabriek at Oosterbeek.
The St Walburgis Cathedral. The consequences of the crashed German FW-190 that destroyed it partially are still missing ...
The St Elisabeth Hospital.
No 20, Pieterbergseweg.
The MDS station ("Quatre Bras") at the crossroads, Oosterbeek.
Hartenstein Hotel in Oosterbeek.
The Hartenstein Hotel with its tennis court.
The Taffelberg Hotel, in the Pietersbergseweg.
The Official building west of the bridge.It served as brigade and battalion HQ and Col. Frost was surely one of his frequent visits in those days.
A very nice piece to build.
The bridge itself.
The arches are plastic from electric stuff and most of the bridge was built in stout wood as its too long to be built in softer material. It also needs to carry many resin, plastic and metal vehicles of Graebner´s command and allied counter attack.
The bridge is more then 1 meter long and I divided into 3 parts for ease of storage.
Used bibliography:
The Then and Now 2 large books on the Market-Garden Operation. Without it everything gets less reliable.
BattleGround Europe books. Very good info too.
More easy to find books. And good to start.
De Lillio´s inspiring book on modelling Arnhem.
And where everything started. With its tasty pics and clear text its a must for RF! fans and even for others who like to drool at nice wargames pictures.
Look also in the net for hundreds of articles and good sites for this fantastic campaign.
For instances:
and...
...or this one.
Sorry, the article is really "a bridge too... long".
Excellent classic style wargames buildings
ReplyDeleteThanks Will. I´ve noticed you do the same things I do: I mean EVERYTHING. That is also my approach to wargaming.
DeleteCongratulations on your work
Não sei o que dizer, outra vez...-:)
ReplyDeleteGostava de ter espaço para tanta casa.
Excelente trabalho.
Abraço
WOW.
ReplyDeleteFantastic job!
You're the man.
These buildings are even much more interesting for me than the weopens...:)
ReplyDeleteFantastic,
ReplyDeleteHere is my collection
http://kampfgruppewillow.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/it-never-snows-in-september-arnhem.html
Cheers
Matt
Just great. When I grow up I want to be like you :):)
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