Battle of Normandy - Canadian Sector

[RichB]

The bug to build a house bit me a awhile ago. After digging thru photos for inspiration, I came up with the idea for a Normandy farm/village house in the Canadian sector between Juno Beach on 6 June and crossing the Seine 30 August. More to follow as that plan firms up.

The 3rd Infantry Division (Cdn) and 2nd Armoured Brigade (Cdn) landed on Juno as part of British I Corps. In early July, the 2nd Infantry Division (Cdn) landed and II Canadian Corps was formed. At the end of July, the 4th Armoured Division (Cdn) and 1st Canadian Army HQ arrived in France. The 1st Canadian Army operated under the command of 21st Army Group with II Canadian Corps (including the 1st Polish Armoured Division) and British I Corps under its command.

Armed with features and details from photos and blogs of DYI'ers renovating French stone houses, I drew up my plans on my CAD package. The walls were printed full size and used as templates to cut foam core board for the skeleton. The stone veneer is 2mm cork sheet individually cut and sanded to various shapes and glued to the foam board with wood glue. (I almost sanded my left thumb and index finger down to the bone shaping the stones.) After that set up, I applied spackle compound with a platistic pallette knife (found in the craft section of a dollar store) to fill the mortar joints. Using a piece of damp sponge, I wiped the excess spackle off (like you do with ceramic tile) and that leaves a slightly recessed mortar joint.

True to a real period stone house, once the cork was applied the door and window were no longer square. The shutters, windows and door were made, with some fettling, from styrene stock using photos as a guide. After scratching my head for awhile trying to figure out how to make curtains, I found and printed a suitable picture from a blogger decorating their bedroom in a 1930's-1940's style. The picture had them hanging in the window so they had highlights and shadows from the pleats. Once scaled and printed, I shaped the curtains to accent the pleating and glued them to the back of the window frame.

The gutter was made from styrene tube sliced in half. The down spout is solid rod with creative cutting, bending and shaping to follow the wall. Only the top connection to the gutter and bottom spout were drilled out. The roof tiles were cut in various lengths and widths with the edges sanded and shaped from 0.5mm stock secured to the building with CA. The walkway and curb is also cork sheet and spackle mortar.

I applied a coat of artist acrylic clear coat so the cork and spackle don't soak up to much paint. There are a few odds and sods to sort out, but it is getting close to painting all those stones.

Cheers,
RichB

 

[Cheyenne]

Beautiful build Rich !!!
Cork and spackle/plaster absorb paint at different levels and tones making for some very interesting natural patterns .
Not saying you should not have used a clear coat , just saying .
Try it on some test cork and spackle bits .

 

[jknaus]

Gorgeous. I have been itching to try this. How do you determine measurements? I have a number of books but none give measurements of rules of thumb for size?
James

 

[RichB]

Beautiful build Rich !!!
Cork and spackle/plaster absorb paint at different levels and tones making for some very interesting natural patterns .
Not saying you should not have used a clear coat , just saying .
Try it on some test cork and spackle bits .

I've used both methods before. By the time I get the washes. drybrushing, shading, etc done they look pretty much the same. I guess I'll find out soon enough. I haven't settled on the stone colour but am leaning to brown shades.

Cheers,
RichB

 

[moon puppy]

 

[RichB]

Gorgeous. I have been itching to try this. How do you determine measurements? I have a number of books but none give measurements of rules of thumb for size?
James

Would you believe by guess and by God? There were no standards when the old houses and buildings were built, especially on farms and in villages. The sizes varied by the date built, climate, cost and regional fashion. The cottage my grandfather lived in growing up in Wiltshire was built in the late 17th century and had an exterior door about 30" wide and 68" tall. While researching details, several renovation bloggers found that they had no 2 doors or windows the same size in the house. Many of the "rustic" farmhouses seen now have been renovated post-war with modern doors and windows fitted.

In broad terms, a single exterior door could be 30"-40" wide and 70"-80" tall. For a double barn door each panel could be up to 48" wide and 96" tall, depending on what they wanted to fit thru it. Windows were often smaller and fewer, glass was expensive and some countries had window taxes.

In cities, civic buildings and manor houses had larger more ornate doors and windows seen to impress the locals, friends and business rivals with your wealth.

When I was searching "stone farmhouse normandy" I hit bloggers sites that recorded the trials and tribulations of renovating the houses that often had good detail photos and descriptions. They often found that no 2 doors or windows were the same size. Walls aren't always square and usually got thinner as floors were added. One found 6"-8" of stucco on the back wall and part of the side walls over the stone. They started to remove it to expose the stone when they hit conduit. They talked to locals and found out that in the 1920's or 1930's when power and water was run to the house the only way to get inside was to run the power conduit, water and sewer lines on the outside. The stucco covered the lines to make it look better. Another resource was realtor sites that had farm houses listed as "renovator specials". Sometimes they have a modern item in the picture, like a folding lawn chair to set up a ratio. If the door is 1.5 lawnchairs wide and 3 high, assuming a 24" wide chair, the door wiil be 36" x 72".

Miniart's on-line catalog has photos and basic dimensions of their buildings, accessories and diorama kits that can get you in the ballpark for sizes.

For bricks there are lots of sites that explain the sizes and patterns used in different countries at different times. For stonework there are also sites that explain the different patterns used for cut stone. For the random stone pattern I used I just eyeballed it for proportion from photos and tried not to repeat the pattern.

Hope this helps and doesn't scare you off.

Cheers,
RichB

 

[jeaton01]

Not scared, but thanks all the information.