To begin with, this was meant to be just another military diorama in 1/35 scale.

Only this time i wanted to dig into local history and depict a scene from the Battle of the Bulge. The last main battle of WW2 happened partly in the northern part of Luxembourg, my home country.

Skimming through some historic accounts from this period, i was immediately drawn to the events and fights around the town of Clervaux.

During the planning phase i was quickly carried away and decided that the castle, the most distinctive feature of the town, should also be part of the diorama. Not only is it an impressive building, but a major chapter of the battle also took place here. It was the location of the "Alamo in the Ardennes", a reference often used by historians to describe the heroic defense of the american soldiers against the german offensive.

More on that and the complete story of the construction of the castle can be read in the book you can buy right here on the frontpage.

After months of research, thinking and scribbling i finally decided to build a 3,5 x 2,2 meter (11.5 x 7.2 feet) big diorama, probably one of the biggest ever build in 1/35 scale worldwide!

I will try to include a lot of elements in this diorama, from the life in the castle during the morning hours of Dec.17 1944 to the action on the opposite ridge of the town were the german attack came from.

As seen on the picture on the right, I started with the castle (No.1), continued with the major part of the rock beneath the château and first houses (No.2) and am actually building module No.3, the house featuring the witch tower on the right side of the castle and also the front gate house. No's. 4 and 5 will feature further parts of the village. No's. 6 and 7 will both host the river Clerf and adjacent hills while No's. 8 and 9 will feature a lot of forest, the cemetery and all the german troops.

Well, that's the plan!