Cromwell enters London city

[DintheDin]

…”At 2.00 a.m. on 6 August, some regiments were entering the City through the opened gates of the rebel borough of Southwark. The main body of the Army surged forth on the heart of London, sprigs of conquering laurel in the hats of soldiers. Cromwell rode his horse at the head of his own regiment, which preceded the main body of the Cavalry under Fairfax”…  Cromwell, the Lord Protector  p. 205– Antonia Fraser.

Reading the passage of this book, intrigued me to assemble a small diorama:  

[DintheDin]

I used some of my paper houses and my favorite 15mm Testudo Cromwell figure.

[DintheDin]

Actually, the figures were placed to show the scale, I wanted to make a photo study to see how my Photoshopped buildings look together.
Searching through Internet for a whole year, I collected photos of grunge, ruined and battered walls, old doors and windows, pavements etc. and I built my own "photorealistic" paper houses.

[DintheDin]

The back side of the main building. The scratches and bruises on the wall are "handpainted" with Photoshop.
The iron bar windows at the basement, were from a picture taken during my summer holidays at the old city of Nafplion, Greece.

[DintheDin]

Photoshopping real windows, doors and tiles pics on place, adds a realistic effect. It took me many hours overnight...

[DintheDin]

The dimensions of the street lamps are less than 0,5x0,5x0,5 cm.
The stone wall and the ornate marble gate were found in separate pictures and assembled via Photoshop  

[DintheDin]

For the round clock dial of the tower, I borrowed that of Big Ben 

[DintheDin]

A better close up of the gate

[DintheDin]

You think you are walking through an old, empty city...

[DintheDin]

Landing to reality. The whole diorama from above, on my living room table.

[mweaver]

Excellent!  Very atmospheric.  But where is the ambush team?

-Michael

[Vagabond]

The textures have worked very well, especially the roof which is the bit I think normally let's the build down
Well done you have made an excellent job of this in my opinion.

[GamesPoet]

I like it!  And the figures, too!

[DintheDin]

Excellent!  Very atmospheric.  But where is the ambush team?

-Michael

 
The ambush team is so well concealed, even I can't see it!
But, through half closed shutters and doors, you can feel eyes piercing your back...
Just now, I can hear the sizzling of a matchlock fuse!

[DintheDin]

The textures have worked very well, especially the roof which is the bit I think normally let's the build down
Well done you have made an excellent job of this in my opinion.

Thank you! When I find an interesting picture, roof tiles for example, usually it is only a small square. I create a whole A4 sheet repeating the same pattern and then I use Photoshop to homogenize and randomize the features so that they don't strike your eye.