1:35 Printed Accessories: Signs Holland

Dutch signs 1:35 - a printed accessory for a diorama

This is a printed diorama accessory in 1:35 scale, not a kit. The theme is signs and lettering from a Dutch setting, that is elements that appear in a scene at crossroads, on the gables of houses, by a station or at the edge of a village. The set is placed into a diorama already under way as an accessory that gives it its geographical fix.

Why it is the signs that settle the place

A viewer can read buildings in various ways. A brick house may stand in the Netherlands, in northern Germany or in Belgium, and the shape of the roof will not decide it on its own. Lettering in Dutch and a local type of sign remove that ambiguity in a second. For a modeler it is the simplest way to give a scene an address. The Dutch setting is a strong theme in wartime modeling at that: the campaign in the west in 1940 and the fighting for liberation in 1944 and 1945 took place in a densely settled landscape full of villages, canals, bridges and roads, where signs were everywhere.

Tips for placing it in the scene

• Keep the country and the period consistent. A Dutch sign beside a French or German one blurs a scene.
• Choose a position where a sign would really have stood: at a crossroads, at the entrance to a village, on the front of a house.
• Signs tended to be marked by traffic and by the weather, so a perfectly straight and clean placing comes across as less believable.
• One well-placed sign does more for a scene than five scattered at random.

Who the set is for

• Builders of dioramas from western Europe in 1:35 scale.
• Modelers who want to give a scene a particular geographical fix.
• Anyone interested in the fighting in the Netherlands in 1940 and in 1944 to 1945.