The Battle of Aspern Essling 21/22 May 1809 Part two
Aspern church.
One of the principal buildings of the battle is the Baroque church of Aspern, built in 1671.
There are various models available of this building and indeed my very good friend Thomas Mischak offered to buy me a printed version which was, as always, a very generous thing to do. He is a lovely fellow.
However, I have to consider the foot print of my built up areas and a true 20mm would be huge and a 15mm would look strange with the troops deployed.
References to the church seem to be distorted with time but have found lots of pictures of the ‘original' structure.
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Interestingly, these two pictures seem to be the same but with different characters in the scene.
Pictures of the battle are also of interest as the blazing buildings show parts of the other elements of the structure. Our various artists have visualised a veritable fortress in some of these scenes despite the French not bothering to build defensive structures as they thought they were going to advance towards the Marchfeld area north of Aspern.
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I used Google Earth to look at the modern church but it is much bigger than the original having had additional building work.
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Various modellers have created some super models with varying accuracy and detail.
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The Eastern side is well represented in the paintings as is the North. The South, main entrance side is my interpretation as is the West using other modellers ideas as a source. I think it looks the part which is the main objective. Mr Bibbly Bob is a superb craftsman in my opinion.
Based on this research I drew a sketch map of the frontage with some dimensions to try and represent the proportions of the structure. This was a little larger than planned but anything smaller was going to look strange against the troops defending it. Doors for instance are a given if our troops want to enter the building.
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Then, using cardboard I commenced construction of the tower and the basic shell.
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I would advocate using balsa as it avoids the filling in business. We live and learn!
Stone window frames were constructed from card and balsa
The windows were then filled in with paper, and balsa was used to create the exterior window frames.
A covering of decorators caulk was then used to create the plaster finish of the original.
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The bell tower shuttering is railway fencing and the bell is moulded greenstuff hung by picture wire.
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Commercially obtained windows were then fitted, whereupon, using balsa strips to represent the stone corners the edifice was put together.
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The positioning of the tower within the roof presented a challenge as I wanted a detachable roof in order to use my burner trays. However, it was too difficult as the tower was damaged by its extraction so I reluctantly glued it into place.
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The ornate baroque fittings were moulded from greenstuff and the doors, made of balsa were fitted with card/ wire hinges and wire handles before fitting.
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The tower steeple was fun, as although I made a template and the base section worked a treat , the top element would not square to fit.
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Eventually I won!
Researching the crosses was interesting and I found this wonderful site which was most useful. His series on the 1809 campaign is fantastic.
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The paintings show a double cross and here is an example from this site.
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I used two of Der Feldmarschall's pins, wound picture wire around them, pulled it tight and glued the two cross sections into place. Small balls of greenstuff were then attached before mounting on the model.
Most versions of the church roof I have seen have its colour as slate grey.However, it should be noted that red tiles when weathered and mossed over look grey.
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I did a little research into Austrian Baroque church roofs and those that were not copper or lead seemed to have red tiles. There were two brick factories in the area and it seems to me that roofing slates in red would seem more likely. The original pictures show a dark roof and a reddish roof, and this along with this fine specimen are enough evidence for me.
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The chapel was similarly constructed and will be walled in as per the original.
This wonderful Austrian map from 1820 shows the position of the church, the chapel and its walling. How fantastic is that?
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Lots to do.
Chris