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WWII - French countryside ambush
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This display is intended to house a German armoured column moving through the French countryside in WWII, with an ambush set up by Allied (British and US) forces.
The German column includes:
- Panzer IV Ausf. J medium tank
- Sturmgeschutze IV assault gun
- Sturmgeschutze III Ausf. G assault gun
- Panzergrenadiers and assorted troops riding on the armour
Allied forces waiting in ambush include:
- Sherman M4A2 medium tank
- Sherman M4A4 'Firefly' medium tank
- British 6 pounder anti-tank gun x2 and crew
Materials
- 10mm extruded foam board
- 30mm extruded foam board
- PU adhesive
Building the boards
Planning the layout
I started with a few sketches - using the dimensions of the display shelf (76cm x 26cm) as the size I had to keep the design with. As with most of my other displays, I would work with two tiles of 36cm width, rather than one full-width of 76cm - it just makes it easier.
First I tried to include a water feature; a small stream or brook, with a stone bridge or culvert to cross it. But this proved problematic to flesh-out; it would have meant building up the height of the boards more than I already intended to, to allow enough vertical space for the raised roadway to cross the (lower) stream. I rejected this idea:
Fig. 1: First plan - this incorporated a small stream.
The second idea did away with the water crossing and added a small hill or mound to the lower left (front) edge. This would allow me to position the British anti-tank gun squad on a raised area. This is simpler overall, but probably the better design in reality due to the amount of scenic materials, models and figures that would need to fit!
Fig. 2: Second plan - no stream, but a small hill added for artillery.
Both designs feature a T-junction, with a partially destroyed building on one corner - a perfect place for one of the Sherman tanks to wait, with another of the Allied vehicles waiting further up the adjoining road, as the German column advanced from upper left to lower right.
Basic shapes of left and right tiles:
Basic tile shapes together:
Edges of bocage hedgerows and hills chamfered and profiles to slightly less-artificial looking shapes. Also added indentations either side of the track to represent drainage ditches:
Filled all joins and coated all cut edges to further hide the artifical edges:
