R & R Malaysian Scene 1975(WIP)

Yeah, Landrovers never die.

Saw a bunch of Nat Geo specials on Paleotolongists searching for fossils in the desert of Mongolia-they drove a bunch of 30+ year old Landrovers, and only lost one to sand clogging the engine completely.

Great build so far, look foreward to seeing more. One question, will you make that Landrover really beaten up? (Not many militarys keep vehicles in great condition for long.) Maybe bullet holes in the Landrover might make your dio feel more like a "rest stop"...lol

Grimmo

awesome work so far! good blend of buildings, vehicles, figures and fruit! Love the landrover, is this the old Revell kit?

 

Can't wait to see this finished!

Thanks Grimmo,

No, this is the Italeri kit that has the connected front and rear cab. Didn't know there was a Revell one.

Cheers,

Richard

SuppressionFire

rtfoe,

Excellent techniques, scratch building and execution of your diorama! Looking forward to more and the completion of your work. I take you build different themes and pieces of history? The Panzer commander was a hint.

Nice of you to say that SuppressionFire,

I try to keep the theme in all my Dios in tune with pieces of history but they're not as accurate as should be.

The Panzer commander hasn't quite found a place in a dio yet though he has been painted but is missing an index finger. I use him for the time being as scale calibration for my scratch builds.

Cheers,

Richard

Klik

Yeah, Landrovers never die.

Saw a bunch of Nat Geo specials on Paleotolongists searching for fossils in the desert of Mongolia-they drove a bunch of 30+ year old Landrovers, and only lost one to sand clogging the engine completely.

Great build so far, look foreward to seeing more. One question, will you make that Landrover really beaten up? (Not many militarys keep vehicles in great condition for long.) Maybe bullet holes in the Landrover might make your dio feel more like a "rest stop"...lol

Thanks Klik,

Landrovers don't rust...the body is aluminium and as long as you keep the engine in tip top, it'll last.

So far we civvies haven't seen a bullet riddled army landrover. If there was one, the army has kept it away from us very well. The British have left a legacy of spick and span in our army and I guess the contracted maintenance is doing their job.

Ambushes on convoys were few or not at all in the late '70s. Most operations against CT's were deep in the jungles.

Cheers,

Richard

~So Richard~

You're little Holiday turned into a lucky-dread-reference spree!?You had just innocently chosen the place Ijust when you happened to on the LandRover build?? WoW...I guess stranger things happen every day, but pretty smashing luck, aint it?              Amazing study in beat-up paint there

Thanks for the post, it's just the kind of man-on-the-street investigation that does a blog proud---I really like this kind of blogging--finest kind

Hey Adam, thanks.

Hadn't been there for donkey years and totally forgot about the landrovers till I got there...man it was reference heaven. I checked out a pamphlet at the hotel and found out there were around 600 of these buggers within a 10 mile radius. Huh! what luck.

The funny thing about the picture you picked out...I thought it was a derilect left by the roadside until a farmer got in and drove it off. This place is peppered with farms and Tea plantations famous for Boh, Cameronian and Lipton brands if you know your tea.

I've also got an old Chinese shop picture reference some where that I'll post.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Guys,

After a long break and some added inspiration I decided to start on R & R again starting with the modification of the two dogs.

The dogs were from Tamiya and Dragon and were basically Mat Salleh dogs(western looking dogs). I had to trim them down to local mongrels and repose them. I'll call them Fifi and Jojo...how local can you get with these names. :lol:

Jojo here had the neck cut and repositioned. The ears were also flopped down. I used a motor tool to slim down Jojo to mongrel proportions.

The same was done to Fifi, ears and all but twisted her head to accept the slippers that she's chewing on.

The rest are more angles of the modification.

Both the dogs tails were repositioned. Fifi's was made from copperwire and coated with Tamiya putty.

Might have to take some more fat of Jojo, just look at the folds on her shoulder. Kampung dogs normally not fed well.

Finally, posed with the mini durians.

I really had fun sculpting the doggies and making the durians.

Next will be to paint the dogs and slipper.

I did some base painting of the mutts fooling around with slippers.

Up close the painting seems rough. This will give the dogs a scruffy look which is intentional.

The dog on the left hasn't got the matt buffing yet so it's a little shiny now.

I'll detail the eyes other parts later. C & C welcomed.

Cheers,

Richard

Love how the dogs are turning out and chewing on the slipper is a great touch.

Looking good---what are you using for groundwork?

rtfoe

Hey Adam, thanks.

 

The funny thing about the picture you picked out...I thought it was a derilect left by the roadside until a farmer got in and drove it off.

~I got a huge laugh reading that Richard! (The wife was yelling "What?What? From the other room)

This place is peppered with farms and Tea plantations famous for Boh, Cameronian and Lipton brands if you know your tea.

~Like 'Ole Muddy Waters said: "I like my coffee in the morning.....but I sure do love my tea at night "

~~Smash-up work on the canines my friend---I really like what you've done with those, quite brilliant---I know I've seen that Tamiya German Shepard before--but you'd never know him in the final product--clever stuff. The flip flop is a hoot too

looking forward to more of this one!

 

WaiKong, thanks.

You know in these parts here, we leave our slippers and shoes at the door before entering(local custom) and the dogs have a field day with them.

Cheers,

Richard 

Manstein's revenge

Looking good---what are you using for groundwork?

Thanks Manny, the ground work is basically colored plyfilla, static grass, hemp, dried moss, dried fern leaves, a few after market palms and banana trees.

The base is not yet complete and I'm not happy with the groundwork. The static grass hasn't been painted yet. I have still to add the lalang (Saw grass) around the drain pool. The side path after the steps where this dude is squating still needs some attention. Perhaps I'll add a rusted beat up bicycle there.

I need to add concrete and a tap on the right side of the shop.

I'm changing all the figures as I've gotten some ARVN figs from Dragon. They're more smaller build in size.

Cheers,

Richard

Adam, glad you got a tickle from that reply.

Appreciate your kind word on the canines. I got the idea from the numerous slippers that got chewd on. As I mentioned to WaiKongs reply, it's customery here to leave your footwear at the door when you enter the house unless the owner says otherwise. It's kind of funny when you have to look for them when you leave if the house pet has taken it to it's hideout for some jaw excersise.

There'll be more interesting stuff ahead as this build is close to my heart being local and all.

Cheers,

Richard 

We carry on that custom here in the US with no shoes in the house. Many Asian families do, just have to ask our non-Asian guests to the same and no one has issues with it.

Lots of great stuff going on nhere with the Land Rover and the dogs (is one of them called Rover?). You are jamming this dio full of nicely observed everyday detail, which to me is possibly the most interesting. Keep it coming.

waikong

We carry on that custom here in the US with no shoes in the house. Many Asian families do, just have to ask our non-Asian guests to the same and no one has issues with it.

That's nice.

Cheers,

Richard

vespa boy

Lots of great stuff going on nhere with the Land Rover and the dogs (is one of them called Rover?). You are jamming this dio full of nicely observed everyday detail, which to me is possibly the most interesting. Keep it coming.

Here's another goody for you Narayan,

I scratch built a scale that a friend suggested.

Quite fast though with some plastc strip and metal foil put together. I was at the market in the morning and scouted for old scales. Even went into Corbis and Image bank for reference. The market was better. :D 

Couldn't resist having the metal plate seperated so I made it by burnishing metal foil in a circular template to get the shape.

Challenging but fun.

Cheers,

Richard

Nice work on the scale. Looks exactly like the ones I have seen at markets in Melbourne. The foil tray is just right. Your scale shows just how important it is to examine the protoype as closely as possible for reference. The only detail I could suggest is a rivet in the crossed brackets that hold the tray...only if its visible.

 Narayan ~  RIVIT COUNTER!!!   

                               Richard ~ I love the scale . You continue to impress!

*INDY

 Narayan ~  RIVIT COUNTER!!!   

                               Richard ~ I love the scale . You continue to impress!

Thanks Guys,

Adam, funny you calling Narayan a rivet counter. He's quite right you know. The majority of weighing scales have the bolt in the center of the cross braces. There are some that are metal stamped or welded too. The plate will be on the scale in the dio so I might not add the bolt. I'll make an extra plate though which is usual in fruit stalls here.

Cheers,

Richard

Adam: You are literally right:. That is very funny.

  
I thought it was halarious--but you never be sure how someone will take a few typed words---still---you did point out 1 missing rivit  Of course you we're dead right---Richard had left that puppy out

*INDY

  
I thought it was halarious--but you never be sure how someone will take a few typed words---still---you did point out 1 missing rivit  Of course you we're dead right---Richard had left that puppy out

You guys are real jockers.

Cheers,

Richard

Alot of impressive creations going into this one Richard--I guess this is the current build? The others are all older ones? Great info on a great blog--please never stop!

Yeah Richard..it is an amazing great blog

What is new on the Malaysian Front??

OttoVonStapleNuber

Alot of impressive creations going into this one Richard--I guess this is the current build? The others are all older ones? Great info on a great blog--please never stop!

Thanks OttoVonStapleNuber, yes this is one of my current builds and it's been ongoing for the last two years. I've been dabbling with it occasionally adding new stuff whenever I remember an image and an item that was significant of the '70's. So I don't know when it'll stop or be completed. The sub-assemblies took most of the time for instance the house, stall, motor bike, land rover, fruits, dogs, slippers, clogs, billboard.

Thanks Adam...

I am now tackling the figures and ground work. I may have to switch the figures with new ones I found to be the right size. Anyway here is more progress

I was intrigued by a collegues sculpture and decided to try my hand with thin layers of Bondite and talcum to form the sarong and baju(blouse) for my Pakcik and his Honda cub. The figure used was from the Dragon standing Vietcong.

First I had to sand away the trouser pants and use the motor tool to carve out the shape of his calfs. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

...then using flattened bondite rolled with a bottle as a rolling pin and talcum so that it didn't stick, I formed the sarong and wrapped it around the torso...

I let it harden over night then I added the layer for the baju and pockets.

Thanks for looking.

Ok, with the comments I got from my collegues, apparently the blouse is different in each state or province and since this dio is situated in the northen region, I had to make some changes. I've modified the baju with the collar unbuttoned. Since I had extra bondite left I made a collar and shirt fold for the squating suspected Chin Peng(famous communist terrorist leader in the 50's).

It's a little rough...bondite gets a little powdery as it hardens when in contact with water so I'll leave it over night to harden completely then I'll sand it or mix a new batch of bondite and thinly coat the surface.

Thanks for looking

Cheers,

Richard

looking very good!

It looks very good. The composition is great and unique.

I would have gone with the casurina tree seeds for the durian. As part of my job I have actually inspected them on import and they were larger than a human head. I would hold the stem and slip the point of my knife into the other end of the fruit to have a proper grasp on the fruit avoiding its spikes. The Casurina seed would also depict the very large spikes on the fruit. This fruit is known for killing people when a fruit drops from the tree unto an unspecting person. The smell is quite strong, in fact the butyl mercaptan causing the odor was synthesised and used as the odor marker in natural gas. I have tasted it, but as of yet can just tolerate what is called the "Queen of Fruits" or the nickname I prefer, the "Heaven and Hell fruit ' - tastes like heaven smells like hell. 

I can remember when a Northwest passenger flight came in to SFO. Part of my job back then was to read the cargo manifest upon arrival, the door was cracked open and what could I smell, but durian. The flight attendant was blaming the stench on the refugees onboard, but it wasn't bodily odors, it was durian. She couldn't believe that the cargo could smell that bad. After that, Northwest carried it only on the cargo aircraft.

Mike T.

Hi Mike, thanks for your comments and a very good observation on durians. I would have chosen to use the casuarina seeds, unfortunately the smaller young seeds were at the top of the 30' to 40' trees. They do have the characteristic look of the durians before they pop open when dry but had to settle for the papaya seeds instead.

The ones you see imported are the larger variants from Thailand. If we do export, it would also be the huge versions that were specially cultivated from the 1980's onwards. The ones depicted in my dio would have come from the local nearby villages and would be the sort after semi-wild versions that have better aroma and flavour. They're usally quite small about half the size of the export versions and sometimes hold only five to six seeds.

Here are some pictures of the notorious durian...

This shows a stall in Hong Kong with the imported Thai durians.

This is what the Thai or cultivated durian looks like with its perfect neat arrangement of the pulp and seeds. Very compartmentalised.

These next photos show our local fruit. Notice the various sizes and shapes...

I appreciate what you've said and like how you described the durian. Now I know whenever I turn on the gas stove I got the urge to get some durian.

telsono

I can remember when a Northwest passenger flight came in to SFO. Part of my job back then was to read the cargo manifest upon arrival, the door was cracked open and what could I smell, but durian. The flight attendant was blaming the stench on the refugees onboard, but it wasn't bodily odors, it was durian. She couldn't believe that the cargo could smell that bad. After that, Northwest carried it only on the cargo aircraft.

Mike T.

Yup, even when it's vacuum packed, the "pong" still gets out.

Cheers,

Richard