The granary building at Essling is very famous and several manufacturers have produced this construction in varying scales. I considering getting one but they are truly massive and would fill my battlefield.
Interestingly some have different features, although archival proof of the original construction seems difficult to locate. Indeed the roof when viewed from Google Earth seems to have lost some of the sky lights!
One example is the door on the south side being shown on the right when it is clearly according to the real thing, on the left. The number of sky lights seems to vary too.
Ground scale is important but my view is that as long as the overall ‘footprint’ of a built up area is representative then iconic buildings that exceed their true scale dimensions can be included, as it gives the ‘feel’ of the place.
Having said that, the original edifice is truly monumental, and a ‘fly’ around it via Google Earth is most rewarding.
I have been unable to ascertain its actual construction date but it is built solidly and has an exact purpose, to store the fruits of the Marchfeld grain harvest.
Closer examination of the deteriorating facade shows brickwork although most commentators state that its construction is of solid stone of one to two metres thickness! Contemporary accounts speak of its virtual impregnability to shot and shell making it, despite its small garrison ( approximately 500 elite grenadier and Carabinier souls) , a small fortress. I personally would have thought the roof to be less armour plated as it is tiled.
The actual tactical value I would suggest is that it helped funnel and restrict assaults on the village proper.
I wanted the building to look as much like the original without turning the battlefield into downtown Manhattan. This meant getting the many doors and windows in, whilst retaining the approximate look in both length and breadth.
A bit of sketching on a piece of folded paper gave me a ball park idea and I settled on 19cm x 8cm. The problem lies with the height. The doors are a given and this unfortunately creates a more box like structure as I can not compress the height to keep the proportions. To do this would entail a structure at least 30cm long. My very good friend Thomas Mischak ( head of the German research department) pointed this out but unfortunately unless I omitt Aspern completely I have to compromise. I am hoping that trees and photographic perspective may help to ‘lengthen’ it.
These dimensions were transferred to balsa wood and the details measured, marked and cut out. Thin balsa for the window frames then followed along with paper strips for the levels visible on the original. I noted that the top one is pronounced as it is used ( like my Dunker church model at Antietam ) to divert rainwater away from the walls.
Once the frames were in place I gave the various sections a layer of decorators caulk to represent the plaster. I also scribed in the corner stonework making sure to align the symmetry with each section.
I built a framework for the first and second floors as I which to place the garrison inside eventually.
The doors are covered with iron and I represented this by using a covering of aluminium foil on a balsa door. Unravelled picture wire was then bent to shape and glued in place to provide the feature decoration and furniture seen in the picture. It appears that the hinges are on the interior from the pictures which would explain the difficulty in accessing by the Austrian sappers. The weakest point of a door is generally its hinged side.
The original seems to be quite intricate but I stuck to the present day model as my wire work skills are not that good.
The windows were also iron and once again my unravelled picture wire trick in creating a lattice effect was most useful in creating the look of these widows. The wires are laid on a glue base around the window edges to form the mesh.
Wills roofing sheets provided the roof and then I added the various vents using balsa along with the top door which had a hoist above it. I was going to model the hoist but was not sure where the rope would go ( normally I would have thought tied to the lower level) so left it.
Light changes the colouring when viewing the pictures of the building, but in order to get a contrast with the white highlights, I mixed up a light beige with some yellow which I think looks the part.
The roof colour is a constant source of discussion. I am of the opinion that it is brick red, like the Granary museum model inside the actual building ,but heavily weathered giving a grey appearance to the modern day viewer.
There seems to be doubt in some blog spots as to whether the iconic sundial was present in 1809. The date on the bottom of the mural, suggests that it was done/ refreshed in 1991.
Certainly, it is a nice feature although time keeping was normally done by the church bell, located slightly south of the Granary. I would love to have it but my feeling, having looked at the Essling diorama where it is absent, is that, it is indeed a later addition .
Any contemporary information to the contrary would be welcome.
There is also conjecture on the arched door present on the building as to whether it existed at the time. I decided to sit on the fence and just have a normal door. After all it was built as a functional structure, unlike the churches as an example.
The merciless camera has shown some imperfections and the weathering has highlighted some lumps which need sorting but overall I am quite pleased with the model.
Lots to do.
ChrisStatistics: Posted Posted by C M Dodson — 12 Mar 2024, 11:20
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