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“A book that takes modelling a large area to a new level.

I can only take my hat off to it’s author – a diorama and now two books that are both amazing and an inspiration to all of us.“

TheModellingNews.com

“... the work that has been done is among that of the best diorama builders around in my opinion,

the book will not only spark the creative minds of any diorama builder but modellers as a whole“

Armorama.com

The Books

CAPTURING CLERVAUX
-A MODERLERS TALE

€ 15 (plus shipping)

Price with shipping is:

In this first volume you will find 80 Pages illustrated with over 500 pictures, ranging from reference photos to planning and construction pictures of the castle to some great views of the finished build. Spiced up with many useful tips, this book is a must for every scale model builder.

CAPTURING CLERVAUX
-THE FINAL HOUR

€ 25 (plus shipping)

Price with shipping is

Illustrated with 600 pictures I am leading you through the whole adventure of building the whole Diorama Clervaux, from the first village houses to the intriguing Villa Prüm. This book will show you, among other things, how to build houses, a paved street, make dedicious trees or even make a complete river.

Cover both books

"a Modelers Tale" and " The Final Hour"

COMBO SUPER SALE !

€ 35 (shipping incuded)
Worldwide price incl.shipping is


It took eight years to build this 3 x 2,2 meter diorama. Get both books with this great offer and follow the story from the beginning to it's end.

    op der Hoh free PDF

FREE tutorial

The final part of Diorama Clervaux

including

"How to make a fir of 1 ft. high with moss"

right click to "save as"

Towards the end of the build, after the book was already buckled up and just waiting for some more final pictures, I added a final module to the diorama to get it neatly square. It was to late to wait for it to be included in the book. Here is it now, free to download.

The DIORAMA ON DISPLAY

    Cover Spanish PDF

 

 

DIORAMa CLERVAUX - ON DISPLAY IN THE ORIGINAL CASTLE OF cLERVAUX

Want to see the diorama live? This is now possible.

Come to the city of Clervaux and visit the castle with its UNESCO-World Heritage exposition "Family of Man", the Miltary Museum and the Museum of Models of all the castles in Luxembourg. Inside that last one, in a separate room, you will find my diorama.

Museum of Models in French language and

Museum of Models in German language

Opening hours from April 30th to Nov. 3rd all day except Mondays from 10.00 to 18.00. Rest of the season only on weekends. Entrance fee is only 3,50€. A combined ticket allowing also to see the Military Mueseum costs only 5,00€. Free entrance up to the age of 21!

You can buy both of my books in the Military Museum.

A lot more informations for your visit in this beautiful region is available on this nice website, also in english language Destination Clervaux

Latest News

  • This is an update from January 2024. I am still watching the Email for any orders.  As those orders obviously  are after all this time less frequent, you can mail me beforehand with a short reminder of my duty.

  • Due to some technical issues the Blog is probably not going to return. As the last entry is a couple of years old, there is also simply no need for it

The Gallery

A few words about the Gallery

I invite you to visit the Gallery by clicking on the picture to the left and discover more then 30 great views of the diorama. This Gallery is of course meant as a teaser and an incitment to push those "Buy" buttons above and therefore the amount of pictures I can show here is limited. In the books you will learn how to do all those element. Both books combined feature over 1000 pictures, so there is a lot more to discover.

This selection shows mostly pictures who did not make it in the books and offer some spectacular perspectives.

history and Making off

“At dawn of December 17, hundreds of keyed-up German tankers in leather jackets sat expectantly in Panthers and Tigers just a few miles east of Clervaux. On their timetable, Clervaux – key to the ridge – would fall before noon. “
John TOLAND, – The Story of the Bulge, 1959

The historical context

After years of occupation by German Forces the Luxembourgish population thought that war had ended with the liberation by American Forces on September 1944. On December 16th 1944 however the north of the country was struck with full force when the Germans attempted a last desperate attack. Clervaux, a picturesque town lying in a horseshoe-shaped bend of the river “Klierf” was overrun by the Germans. During three days American soldiers from the 28th division fought valiantly in this small town and managed to slow down the German advance. By this courageous action they helped delay the attack on Bastogne and decisively contributed to the outcome of the battle.

About 100 men, cooks, clerks and men from other units who had been trapped in Clervaux when the offensive began were billeted in the ancient castle. They were armed only with carbines and M1’s plus a single .50-caliber machine gun.

Clervaux, right in the middle of the path of the German Army

Why did I choose Clervaux

The spectacular geographical situation of the town and the castle and the dramatic events of the battle were a combination a serious modeller could certainly not fail to be attracted to.

The writings mentioned different scenes and actions in the castle. Since the château housed the regiment’s message center, there was a Halftrack in the inner courtyard with a radio, an SCR-193, by means of which the men could maintain contact with the division command post in Wiltz. In the dungeon beneath, there were eighteen German Prisoners of War and some seventy-five civilians, mostly elderly men, women and children who fled from the artillery grenades starting to rain down on the town. Integrating all those well established individual stories in one single scene was an intriguing challenge and once I started sketching some ideas I couldn't let it go any more.

While I was well aware that in 1/35 scale the castle would be an impressive 1.5 meters (5’ feet) long it was clear to me that the most distinctive feature of the town should be part of the diorama. Despite my lack of experience I decided to pursue my idea and started with the planning.


Because the castle would be the centerpiece of the diorama and without a doubt the toughest part to build I decided to start with it. My reasoning at this point was also that without a properly constructed castle, the whole diorama would fail. In hindsight it was pretty astonishing that I was brave enough to tackle such a project despite my absolute lack of experience. It all started with this mockup of the Castle's front build on Christmas Eve 2004. You know the outcome by now.

The build of the castle went well, very well. It made the covers of magazines and won Best of Shows on modeling expositions and yielded an interest on modelling forums I never had dreamed off. It culminated in the publication of Capturing Clervaux- a modelers tale, my first book.

All started here on Dec24 2004

The Diorama

I did not stop there and continued right away with the build. I had planned the diorama based on the village parts outlined in this picture. Remarkably my initial measures proved to be very accurate at the end and only needed slight changes. The only substantial change, something I did not plan right anyway because it was to far down the years, concerned the planned battle scene at the opposite ridge of the castle. In order to respect the topography on site I had to build the diorama at a height of 2 meter (6 ft) from the ground, which is simply impossible, and would need to make it another 2 meter (6 ft) longer, a space I do not have.

The storyline

Having portrayed the soldiers in the castle in a relaxed mood, playing piano and resting, I couldn’t really now transform the village into a battle field. After much deliberation I choose to show more civilians and soldiers heading towards the castle looking for shelter right before the decisive attack and shelling would begin. Military wise the village center will be considered a no man’s land for a short period of time, the Americans hunkered in the castle and the Germans deploying on the opposite ridge.

One after the other I added the modules, made no pause at all, didn’t need any, until I was finally finished after 8 years. The diorama has an overall size of 3 x 2,2 meters (10ft. x 7ft). Motivated by the success of the diorama and the first book, I published a second book, Capturing Clervaux – the final hour, and thus concluded with beauty this very special period of my life.

Conditons and Impressum

Order Process

Payment is made through PAYPAL or IBAN Bank Transfer. The transaction name appearing on your Credit Card statement is PAYPAL "JOACHIM". Please choose your respective destination before clicking the "Buy Now"-Button. I will not send the book if the postage cost is not covered. If you don't use Paypal, don't call off the buy. Just drop me a mail and I will give you instructions for a Bank Transfer on a IBAN account. Remember, you can also use the Paypal button without having an account, you must only have a credit card. All orders are shipped within 48 hours after I received the payment and I am using exclusively the Luxembourg POST system.

Legal Stuff

According to the law I am required to offer you a right to retract from the buy. You have it.
But! Please consider that I am not a professional shop owner and the editing and selling of these books is an extraordinary event for me. In case of a return I will have work and costs to send you the money back and I will have a book I can't sell to anyone anymore. So if you really don't like the book, I am asking you kindly to offer it instead to a young modeler from your local club or sell it on an Internet auction platform. Thank you very much for your understanding.
If you would like to resend the book nevertheless, the return shipping costs are at your charge. I will reimburse you the book price immediately.
I will not divulge any private data I may collect from you to any third party. The responsible courts for any disputes are those located in Luxembourg.