~Terrific!

I'm happy to see you get back to this build

It's really never to late......(well a least 'til your not suck'inair any more  )

I'm really interested by the produce display---that's an impressive group of fruits&veggies , whatever they are--Likey if standing at a Maylasian fruit stand most of us would have little idea what we we're looking at. What went into the products?

*INDY

~Terrific!

I'm happy to see you get back to this build

It's really never to late......(well a least 'til your not suck'inair any more  )

I'm really interested by the produce display---that's an impressive group of fruits&veggies , whatever they are--Likey if standing at a Maylasian fruit stand most of us would have little idea what we we're looking at. What went into the products?

 

Yup. Better late than never. This was for our National Day group build and everyones been asking when it's going to be completed.

Ah, the produce - that's got everyones attention here too. You'll know some of them...basically they're bananas, oranges, watermelons, plums, chinese winter pears, rock melons, mangosteens, our king of fruit the durian(it's a love or hate fruit for westeners) and chinese cucumber.

Bananas - Super glued spice(fennel seeds) to a slice of curved sprue and painted them.

The chinese cucumber are larger Fennel seeds.

Oranges - Were made from white pepper seeds. I had to find the smaller ones to keep them in scale.

Water Melons - Made with two part epoxy putty and stuck a piece of copper wire to the back for the stem. The characteristic stripes on the watermelons are not painted yet.

Plums - Mustered seeds coated with Future. This was left in it's original color.

Chinese winter pears - Large white pepper seeds.

Rock melons - Two part epoxy putty rolled into shape.

Mangosteens - Still in progress.

Durian - Made from dried papaya seeds. This was the only thing I could use to get the right scale and simulate the thorny skin of the fruit. I tried Casurina tree seeds but they were out of scale.

I built the stand from balsa to hold the durian. This is quite typical at fruit stalls when in season.

Besides the produce, scratch building the motor bike and modifying the Land Rover took the larger proportion of time. You'll see it in the coming posts.

Cheers,

Richard

Very , very good answer Richard, thank you. I had noticed the little rack.. though just a little detail...its quite good

Can't say I've ever tried a Durian, although I've seen it at some higher end markets that import from everywhere. You gave some great ideas for scratching-up some fruit in that post--awsome stuff. Now...I was going to get around to asking you about the scooter--I hadn't seen that in a kit any place---you explaned that, but if you have WIP pictures on that I'm sure it would be interesting to see.

Look forward to seeing more Mate. 

Wow, really impressed, love the Malboro Man poster :)

Andrew

There is nothing??? Where is the pictures?

Harshman II

There is nothing??? Where is the pictures?

Sorry Harshman,

Technical glitch there while tidying up my Photobucket. They're back up again. Thanks for noticing the glitch.

Cheers,

Richard

Konigwolf13

Wow, really impressed, love the Malboro Man poster :)

Andrew

Thanks Andrew,

That Marlboro man billboard was popular in the 70's. Hang around and you'll see another 70's Asian icon in the form of a popular motorbike totally scratch built.

Cheers,

Richard

*INDY

Very , very good answer Richard, thank you. I had noticed the little rack.. though just a little detail...its quite good

Can't say I've ever tried a Durian, although I've seen it at some higher end markets that import from everywhere. You gave some great ideas for scratching-up some fruit in that post--awsome stuff. Now...I was going to get around to asking you about the scooter--I hadn't seen that in a kit any place---you explaned that, but if you have WIP pictures on that I'm sure it would be interesting to see.

Look forward to seeing more Mate. 

Glad you're liking the local scene here.

If you can get past the smell of the durian and like custard then you might have the stomach for it. I hear they're pretty expensive over there and vacuum packed to seal in the "pong".

I'm happy to share ideas anytime.

Ah yes the little Honda Cub C70. There's none in 1/35 kit form so it's totally scratch built. I took a lot of shots of the existing old bikes that I spotted around the oldtowns in the country and googled a profile of it to be scaled down. This is what it looks like completed and what it started out as.

I sanded down the wheels from a discarded Italeri Harley to get it thin and tyres smaller. Everything else was carved from plastic sheets and blocks. I did them in sub-assemblies just like in kit form. 

The shock absorbers and foot rest were carved by chucking plastic rod into my motor tool and chiselled with a hobby knife as it turned. The foot rest was coated with putty.

This what it looks like next to the dry fitted assemblies.

The full progress WIP will be in the next post...got to do some work for now.

Cheers,

Richard

Okay next, I spent the night sanding the tyres. The outcome is slightly better but still thick if to scale.

In the process I had to break off the exhaust....can stick it back ...no worries.

Then I proceeded to measure the basket for the cupchai. Somebody mentioned bananas in the basket so that's what I'll try to do. Thought I'd add a Villager with sarong trying to get on the bike. Hope he doesn't expose anything :lol:  just kidding.

That's all for now, got to catch some zzz's

Richard.

Outstanding work Richard...the produce is incredible...GREAT work...looking forward to more!

Fantastic work! Can't wait to see more.

ps- lol, I'm one of those people who can't get passed the smell or look of that fruit, and I'm a chef. Yuck! lol..

Rob~You're a chef huh?   Cool--one of the best Dio guys I know is a chef in Ireland.   Some fruits smell fantasic , like the world class strawberries they grow here...maybe I'll stick to those 

Richard~ That looks like a lot of trouble to go to for such an unglamorous set of wheels--but I understand it suits the village you're modelling, no on else has one, and you can pull it off--and did!! 

===always ready to see more===

Thanks Sterno, Robb and Indy, appreciate the kind comments.

Talking about strawberries, we've got them growing in the Highlands here. Some entreprenau decided to grow them hydrophonically and market them overseas. Don't know if the quality is as good as those from your area.

Indy - The Honda C70 is basically an icon in most parts of South East Asia. It does look unglamorous but it's a good utility mode of transport. Sad there isn't a kit in this scale as it would look good in Vietnam urban scenes. I'm sure many veterans would recognise it on the streets of Saigon.

Here are more progress shots...

Apparently I got carried away with the tip of the front mudguard and made it too sharp. I was working with a scaled down image and it wasn't clear.

I managed to scratch the basket. What you see here is just the dry fitting. I attached it after final painting.

Also painted some parts silver (Tangan itchy...meaning hands itchy)

These pictures were taken just prior to painting.

Made some progress here. Put a first coat of paint. To do this , I took off the basket so as not to damage it ...fragile as hell man.

The next progress is the second coat of paint and coloring the indicator lights with chrome frame piping. After this I coated the gloss areas with future and added number plates.

On close up you can see how rough the detailing is. Best I can do so far for an item that's gonna fit in a dio. Hope the short comings won't be seen that clearly from a respectable distance. :D

Thanks for viewing. Now I can concentrate with the other parts of the Dio. I'm taking a friends advise and approach each item one at a time so as not to burn out thinking of all the other projects and half built kits. :rolleyes:

As always comments are welcome.

Cheers,

Richard

Wow, great job.  I am loving this dio.

That scooter is just simply incredible! Fantastic work here.

Steve

Great looking dio so far.  LIke everyone says, those fruits are fantastic, now I know how to make miniature Durians if I ever need them in the future.  Funny thing, I like the smell, dont like the taste.

The fruit sign stands looks great also - has that classic SE Asian feeling to it - the faded coca sign, the generic 'produce stand' name, excellent.

Wow, the infamous durian! On the American travel show 'Bizzare Foods' it's one of the few foods host Andrew Zimmern doesn't like!

Great work on the bike!

Thanks for posting your WIP, I'll be following this one for certain. I'm assuming you're going to have some civilion figures in it? I've kicked around the idea of a Korean War diorama for some time but there's almost nothing available in the way of any SE Asian civvie figures in general much less anything specific Korean in character.

All the fruit and the Honda are superb. Keep up the good work. All the little details add up.

Thanks Smeagol and Steve. Glad you like it.

waikong

Great looking dio so far.  LIke everyone says, those fruits are fantastic, now I know how to make miniature Durians if I ever need them in the future.  Funny thing, I like the smell, dont like the taste.

The fruit sign stands looks great also - has that classic SE Asian feeling to it - the faded coca sign, the generic 'produce stand' name, excellent.

Thanks Waikong, glad to share the reference for durian...so you have experienced it.

P.S. are you local?

Cheers,

Richard

Gamera

Wow, the infamous durian! On the American travel show 'Bizzare Foods' it's one of the few foods host Andrew Zimmern doesn't like!

Great work on the bike!

Thanks for posting your WIP, I'll be following this one for certain. I'm assuming you're going to have some civilion figures in it? I've kicked around the idea of a Korean War diorama for some time but there's almost nothing available in the way of any SE Asian civvie figures in general much less anything specific Korean in character.

Gamera, glad you liked the bike WIP.

I saw that particular episode on Bizzare Foods and was disappointed that Andrew Zimmerns couldn't stomach Durian...well he hates durian as much as I hate liver. lol.

Try Dragons Vietcong VC. With a little shaving off of the webbing and addition of putty, they'll pass of as asian civvies. I'm using them for the fruit stall. You'll see as the progress comes along later after I've posted the Land Rover conversion.

Cheers,

Richard.

vespa boy

All the fruit and the Honda are superb. Keep up the good work. All the little details add up.

Thanks Narayan, you know as well as I do all these details are like a jigsaw puzzle.

Well here's another part of the puzzle...Hot from the press,

Here is the landrover interior. Basically I roumaged around my spare parts box for radios and such. The frame was from the Italeri jerry can set with lengths of plastic strip joined together with card for the table top.

The kit didn't come with rear seats so they had to be fabricated. The real seats were just metal frames with cusions wrapped in black vinyl. I remember the seats being loose and would shift around in the frame. :lol:

This is the best part of the headache I had to go through. The kit was left hand drive (for the Italian market) and so to make it into a Malaysian or at least Commonwealth version I had to shift the whole driving column to the right including the dash board and pedals (major surgery) :P

I also scratch built the rear portion of the cab with the curved windows and rear glass panel. The curved windows were made from acrylic clear tubes from Tamiya cut in half.

I'm covering this up with the roof after this which also is pre-fabricated to a bubble top roof as the kit came with a canvas roof. These pictures show the work before paint was added.

These close ups show the headlamp installed and painting of the signal lights. At this point I hadn't moved the rear view mirror stand yet.

The grill got a bit of attention with Gunze silver and Buncho water colour wash.

The rear lights also got treated. At this stage the Landrover ID plate hadn't been detailed yet. The rover is painted with pre-shades.

I always add this to all my vehicles. The windscreens on all vehicles on a long journey will always have dirt and the tell-tale wiper marks. Just make sure which direction the wiper wipes when applying this. A simple mask with masking tape cut to shape was used.

Here's where I went nutty and attempted something that turned out pretty ok lah.
It started out with something the manufacturer had provided but I wasn't satisfied with... <_<

The transparencies looked ok but I thought wire mesh like the real thing would be better so I started with this...

...bent it and locked it with some future and sprayed it...

...another angle to the sprayed mesh...

...then I applied it to the rover...

...close up shows it's kind of thick but from a respectable distance "boleh tahan lah"(means...can do).
Notice that I had already painted the number plate lights. Will have to remove one as of latest info compliments of a freinds input. :D

The bumper needs modifying to the single one...hope the unit ID plates on either side will hide the cuts.

Enjoy :P ...Next will be the rear view mirror mod.

Cheers,

Richard

No, not from that area, but married a girl from singapore so I've been there and Malaysia a few times. Showed the pics to my wife and she lived them too, funny, she picked out the bananas were made from fennel seed.

Richard,

Great work on the Land Rover too, the light guards look great and and are worth the extra work.

Thanks for the advice on the Viet Cong set. I'll check it out!

~Richard~

~Another brilliant bunch of model building there! I really did enjoy the Rover post--again, I hope I never miss a beat with your posts. It seems when you sit down to work --some good things get done. -I particularly like the radio table and bench seats you crafted. The mesh lamp protectors look fine--actually they resemble closely some I fitted to my 1:1 scale Triumph TR6 back in the day--I was having trouble with trucks kicking up gravel and cracking my lights on that low car.til I fit those.

This vehicle will really look the part weathered and placed in the scene--I look forward to the rest Mate.

WaiKong - Thanks, your wife must be a good cook to recognise fennel seeds.

Gamera - Glad you liked the Rover WIP.

*INDY

~Richard~

~Another brilliant bunch of model building there! I really did enjoy the Rover post--again, I hope I never miss a beat with your posts. It seems when you sit down to work --some good things get done. -I particularly like the radio table and bench seats you crafted. The mesh lamp protectors look fine--actually they resemble closely some I fitted to my 1:1 scale Triumph TR6 back in the day--I was having trouble with trucks kicking up gravel and cracking my lights on that low car.til I fit those.

This vehicle will really look the part weathered and placed in the scene--I look forward to the rest Mate.

 

Adam - Nice of you to say that. I get inspiration from guys like you who also come up with some brilliant ideas on building techniques. Seriously this dio has only been completed up to the figures stage. So the pictures will be coming at a slower rate. I'm as anxious as you to complete it.

Here are more updates on the Rover...

Moving the rear view mirrors was quite easy. The following is what I did.

The doors were first modified by back dating the windows to the sliding type.

I used brass wire and bent it to shape with a flat edge plier.

Got some scrap 1mm plastic card and cut it to shape...then sanded the edges.

I attached all the components with superglue.

Close ups will show the globs of superglue build up. This will double up as welding once painted over.

Comments welcomed.

Cheers,

Richard

Never thought I'd be this lucky...I had just vacationed at one of our highlands where farming is everywhere...did you know that Cameron Highlands has the most saturated amount of Landrovers in the world in such a small area outside of a British military camp.

Boy!!...when I got to Ringlet town, the whole place was peppered with these vehicles in all sorts of degree of appearance. Most are the Series III...the one that I'm building

All of them are beat up and the level of weathering...phew!!.

Here are some Landrovers I took pictures off. Hope someone will build a civilian version as bashed up as these. Surprisingly they all work and were trudging around merrily.

Cheers,

Richard.

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!

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.

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

Thought I'd add more to the WIP with the build up of the shop house. It all started with basic art cards and then strips of card was glued overlapping each strip for the walls.

I painted the walls a peppermint green so well liked by the chinese comunity.

Chicken wire made from wedding veil screen was for the ventilation screen found at the top of the walls of most village houses.

The side wall got a window with corrugated zinc roofing made out of corrugated card.

I made the window louvres from clear plastic and rods. The frame was made from strips of thicker plastic sheets.

The front door is balsa strip. The doors were usually planks slotted in grooves and held by a single horizontal timber bar from the back.

The fruit stall stand was fabricated from card and balsa. The boxes were made from card as well.

The following are some of the components that are going into this dio.

What's a basket got to do with the dio? Well it better fit in as I had to painstakingly piece together strip by strip paper thin plastic sheet to simulate a vege basket used to throw trash at fruit stalls.

And ofcourse bananas that will accompany this dio. As you can see they're not quite finished yet. They were made from glueing spices together(Jintan Manis).

The finished basket painted rattan brown and next to the fruit stand and boxes.

That's all for now. C & C welcomed and thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Thanks Richard for the addtional reference pictures. I doubted that I have ever seen Durians other than the Thai large ones. With that Northwest flight, the fruit was in cardboard cartons without plastic. The plastic wrap would have caused rot, but the scent probably made people think that it had already. My wife is from Vietnam so I have been well acquainted with it. We had a tin of durian flavored wafer creme cookies. You had to make sure the cover was tightly secure or the entire house smelled of it. At the airport working passenger baggage we had the fire department come down to investigate possible "gas leaks" after the fruit was seized from passengers.

Export fruits are usually of a highest quality. To Japan we ship cherries which are "Grade A over selected". The cheap cherries people sell at the roadsides are the "doubles" and "splits" that are graded out. we have alot more splits this year with intermittent rains that swell and causes ruptures in the fruit skin which is only slightly elastic in nature.

Mike T.

Nice work on the basket. When you copy the method of construction for the protoype for your model you get the best results and it really paid off. I like the building, and the small details like the flashing at the edge of the awning.

Have you seen Chuck Doan's modelling? He manages to age signage like no one else I have seen. Well worth checking it out.

!~Beautiful update my friend---this thread is no doubt one of my favorite stops!

 I found this to be entirely convincing

That has to be the product of someone very familiar with such a place. Grade A stuff

telsono

Thanks Richard for the addtional reference pictures. I doubted that I have ever seen Durians other than the Thai large ones. With that Northwest flight, the fruit was in cardboard cartons without plastic. The plastic wrap would have caused rot, but the scent probably made people think that it had already. My wife is from Vietnam so I have been well acquainted with it. We had a tin of durian flavored wafer creme cookies. You had to make sure the cover was tightly secure or the entire house smelled of it. At the airport working passenger baggage we had the fire department come down to investigate possible "gas leaks" after the fruit was seized from passengers.

Export fruits are usually of a highest quality. To Japan we ship cherries which are "Grade A over selected". The cheap cherries people sell at the roadsides are the "doubles" and "splits" that are graded out. we have alot more splits this year with intermittent rains that swell and causes ruptures in the fruit skin which is only slightly elastic in nature.

Mike T.

Oooh Cherries, my sister used to bring a carton of them from Australia on her visits and we used to overdose on cherries. Our local fruit tend to be tougher, hardy and naturally sweet.

Cheers,

Richard

vespa boy

Nice work on the basket. When you copy the method of construction for the protoype for your model you get the best results and it really paid off. I like the building, and the small details like the flashing at the edge of the awning.

Have you seen Chuck Doan's modelling? He manages to age signage like no one else I have seen. Well worth checking it out.

Thanks Narayan, yep there's no other way than to copy. No I've not seen Chuck's modelling. Would like a link to his site if you have one?

Cheers,

Richard

*INDY

!~Beautiful update my friend---this thread is no doubt one of my favorite stops!

 I found this to be entirely convincing

That has to be the product of someone very familiar with such a place. Grade A stuff

Thanks Adam, glad you liked that particular picture.

I'm lucky to be surrounded by these references. Nothing has changed much in the old part of town or villages. There's this one house next to an elevated highway that I want to photograph and share with you before it's torn down. It has a character on its own. Will post as soon as I shoot it.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard: Here is a link to Chuck's photo albums....really inspirational stuff. The effort he puts into getting every detail is just amazing.

http://public.fotki.com/chuckdoan/model_projects/

WOW! Figures and buildings look great! Really looking forward to seeing her finished.

vespa boy

Richard: Here is a link to Chuck's photo albums....really inspirational stuff. The effort he puts into getting every detail is just amazing.

http://public.fotki.com/chuckdoan/model_projects/

Thanks for the link Narayan,

Really amazing work from this artist. Chucks work is way ahead of mine and I can get new inspiration from him. So far I'm pleased to have seen some similar applications between us and I'm only at 25% of where he's at. I'm surprised that the materials in the pine trees in his Red Oak Garage dio are the same as those in my Before The Bulge dio. Cool.

His Dr Peppers signage will be the reference basis for weathering my Marlboro bilboard from now on. Great link.

Cheers,

Richard.

Gamera

WOW! Figures and buildings look great! Really looking forward to seeing her finished.

Thanks Gamera, I'm as anxious as you are with completing this dio. I've been at it, off and on for three years now.

Cheers,

Richard.

~Any progress Richard?

How are you?

*INDY

~Any progress Richard?

How are you?

 

Hi Adam,

Thanks for asking, I'm fine, so far the progress for this dio had to take a back seat as I was rushing a 1/72 Heli Dio for a local GB. Didn't finish on time but it was enough for a decent display. Here's a glimpse of it minus the figures and some minute details on the heli:

I managed to ad figures to the Heli for the GB that just concluded last Saturday. Here's the pix with the figures:

I'm now continuing with the Marines to be added to the padi field. You can catch the whole WIP in the Helicopter forum. Look out for UH-34.

Once this is done I'll probably renue progress with R & R .

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Everyone, it's good to be back working on R & R after some side distractions on other projects.

Well, the last time I promised some picture of an old local house that caught my eye while building R & R. I'm surprised that it's still standing next to a highway.

More surprising is there are still occupants and a small business selling junk.

Notice the modern bus stop next to it.

Okay, here are some progress shots of the dio base. I removed all the loose items to work on it.

There are some improvements where I carved out a new path assuming that it's coming from the main road.

I added cement literally to the porch of the house. You can see the masking tape to protect the wall.  I tend to do things the hard way...the correct way is to do all base work before adding stuff like the house...I'm doing it backwards which I don't recommened.

Then I also cemented the road and embankment to seal it for the bushes and vegetaion that I'm going to add.

I've also decided that I'll put the banana tree in this corner. It still needs final painting and detailing.

The cement for the porch has dried so I've weathered it with olive drab to simulate green algae due to the wet and moist surface and sun.

That's all for now. I'm still working on the painting of the rest of the base and the sawgrass. Ive also decided to switch some of the figures with the new ARVN troops I got as they are more the right Asian size.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi again,

Just wanted to share my progress from the last two days. I'm concentrating on finishing the base by adding the sawgrass and painting the ground work first.

I spent quite a while cutting and placing the bristles carefully composing it after I had added the moss. They were secured with white glue. The finer individual strands of bristles were secured with UHU glue.

I made tyre tracks with spackle and while it was still wet I rolled a spare tyre over it. This method seems to be my constant doing as I always do things backwards. Most would have done the tracks while the whole base was still wet at the beginning. I'm wierd but then again this was a last minute thought.

I dry fitted all the components just to see how it looked.

I masked off the building and Billboard with cling wrap. Then I proceeded to paint the foliage with different shades of green starting with the darker tones and finally with yellow.

Then the dirt was painted with an airbrush. I highlighted the tracks with Tamiya earth brown.

The storm drain got some attention with rust and patches of white and grey to simulate concrete. The culvert also was treated the same with splotches of green to look weathered and encrusted with algae and moss.

The other end of the drain outlet was rusted with Humbrol Leather.

Another shot of the overall from another angle.

Thanks for looking. C & C welcomed.

Cheers,

Richard 

This is just stunning work. Your groundwork is magnificent... incredible eye for detail.

Mic

This is just stunning work. Your groundwork is magnificent... incredible eye for detail.

 

Thanks Mic for the nice words. I only just got used to adding brush bristles after experimenting with it on my Vietnam heli build. I'm glad it turned out okay. I still need to add some ferns around the mile stone and storm drain outlet.

I hope to start on the figures soon after I detail the banana tree. At the moment it's still stock standard and paper like.

Thanks for the looking and patience.

Cheers,

Richard

~Hi Richard~Sorry I've missed a few posts--there so much going on on this forum I lost track i guess  ok ,not really...actually there's next to nothing happening on this forum . You are an an amazing standout. This is Coming along by leaps & bounds my friend~!

that's the kind of thick,lush beautiful place you we're talking about huh? Puctuated by the delapidated old shack(loved the real world photo you showed too!---Wow--#$&*%@--that place is punched!)    Sorry too for no comment on the helicopter scene---it's very well done and I had thought I lesft a comment, but failed to--it started with " there's a heli forum?" cause that's way off my radar---but again--well done with the rotor-wash marsh

I can't get over how great the above scene looks --I always like the realism of a good base prior to placing the models--it will only get better, but for now I'll enjoy the well-modelled roadway and nicely layered plants.

Hey Adam, good to hear from you.

You didn't miss much on R & R, as most people who stumble on this post would likely say..."He's at it again with the base" Lol But like you said a dio needs a good base. And I agree.

I've always wanted to get the foliage of the tropical jungle right at least in 1/35 scale. I'm happy it's turning out well.

As you noticed, the fruitstall is missing some fruit. Because I didn't seal them properly some insect had them for a meal. The plums and veggie were reduced to dust and only one comb of bananas was lost. This time I'm soaking the dried herbs in insecticide before painting.

Yes! There is a Heli forum here. I thought it odd too being a seperate forum from aircraft. I spent the last month detailing the UH-34. The base was a last minute addition and was done in six days flat from plan up.

I'm working on painting the banana tree for R & R now and will post some pictures later.

Checklist:

1)  Base - 90% complete. Banana tree in progress.

2)  Land Rover - 95% complete, only to add duffle bags, antenna, ciggies and a map.

3)  Honda Cub - Only weathering remains to blend with the base.

4)  Dogs, sandles, clogs, scale - Completed.

5)  Ducks, abandoned bicycle, cat and bird - Still in progress.

6)  SLR's, Sterling Sub-machine guns - Straps to be added.

7)  Figures - Four posed, three to four more to go.

Thanks for hanging in there.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi! Going bananas for now.

Did a little with the short time I had yesterday. Here's what it looks like before painting:

I painted the stripes and highlighted the center stem.

It's still not done yet. Will continue later.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard, this is coming together beautifully. There is so much to look at. You have captured day-to-day existance very well with all your details, and the lushness and variaety of equatorial foliage. When you put the vehicles and soldiers on to the dio,  I think its going to show in a very real way how intrusive military activities are into normal life. Beautiful work.

Thanks Narayan, I hope it comes out the way you've described it. Really appreciate the lovely comment.

I've put in a short progress on the banana tree. This time the attention was to the trunk. The AM tree trunk was plain green. The real trunk normally has layers of dried leaves still attached so I ventured into my wife's little garden...

...picked out some dried stem coverings from a creeper plant...

...cut them and pasted them in layers onto the trunk...

...with UHU glue. I tweeked and teased it to fold until satisfied with the look. What do you think?

There's still more to be done. And thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard, I've been following this thread with great interest, but haven't commented yet. My apologies. I must say you are doing some excellent work here. You have some very clever ideas about how to create foliage and make it look very convincing, in a manner that I would probably never think of! Great work!

 Enough of lurking around at my end.  I don't do diomaras... not yet but one day I will.  I have been following your work since you started posting.  AMAZING work!   Thank you for taking your time to post your work.

BAM!

that did the trick    WoW

beautiful move

entirely convincing banananana tree

Thanks Jon and Andy for following this thread. I appreciate your comments even at this late stage. I can understand if the comments come in trickles especially when the WIP is as long as this one. The viewer count indicates that it has a steady stream of viewers and is encouraging.

Forums like these give the opportunity for closet builders to showcase and share their efforts otherwise it just collects dust on shelves at home. I hope by sharing, my efforts may help unravel some building technics hindering other builders. Also this particular dio has a local flavour that taps into a frozen time in my country's history.

Glad you both like it and I welcome your comments anytime.

I just got a request to add a King Fisher and grafitti on the concrete by my Malaysian friends. This will give an indication why this dio is taking so long to complete. I'll think about it.

Cheers,

Richard

*INDY

entirely convincing banananana tree

Indy, either you or me are going bananananas! Lol

Thank you, it hit me as well. I was pondering about how to create the bark effect for the banana tree trunk until I was watering my wife's plants and ...hey presto!...hmmm this could work.

Something to consider when using natural dried vegetation is to seal it with varnish to preserve it. It may look dead but as it decomposes it gets brittle and disintegrates. I use Future and Testors dullcote to seal it.

Sorry no progress today. Was looking at my stash at this Sunderland and Nakajima Floatplane. There's a Amphibious GB coming up, thought I'd start on one of them.

Cheers,

Richard

FLOATPLANE   you say? Now that sounds very interesting indeedy That I'd like to see.

I hear ya about sealing the naturally sourced plant materials. I for one always shy away from using real dirt and plants for Dio work---but I cant argue with the results I see some modelers get.(I do like using sand and rocks as you've seen though)  You thread here is a treasure-book of great scratcherizing tips and tid-bits------A real model itself of what a model blog oughta be

Richard, except for the lettering your dio looks like photos I have seen from present day Vietnam where my wife is from. Exceptional job!

Mike T.

*INDY

FLOATPLANE   you say? Now that sounds very interesting indeedy That I'd like to see.

I hear ya about sealing the naturally sourced plant materials. I for one always shy away from using real dirt and plants for Dio work---but I cant argue with the results I see some modelers get.(I do like using sand and rocks as you've seen though)  You thread here is a treasure-book of great scratcherizing tips and tid-bits------A real model itself of what a model blog oughta be

Thanks Indy, for the kind words, coming from you is a really much appreciated. The floatplane is one way of getting me inspired to mess with plastic again 'cos dios are tedious and takes you away from assembling kits. Sometimes I like to just build OOB without painting at all.

I have to be focused on this dio to complete it...it's been three years in the making.

Cheers,

Richard

telsono

Richard, except for the lettering your dio looks like photos I have seen from present day Vietnam where my wife is from. Exceptional job!

Mike T.

Welcome back Mike and thanks.

Yes, both our countries share the same climate and building styles. The Vietnam war was so real to us as it felt so close to home. I guess you're acustomed to the food and climate when you visit your wife's home town?

I have a small update which was done just now. I've painted the leaves of the banana tree.

Just needs a final coat of semi-gloss to offset the sheen a little.

Thanks for following the WIP.

Cheers,

Richard

Incredible work Richard!...the paint is fantastic...are ther trees scratcbuilt??? Keep it comming!!!

WOW, Incredible work. I love everything about it. Realistic or what.

I am a bit of a sucker for trying to get realistic foliage myself and its certainly far more rewarding to make your own i think you will agree.  Andy.

I see that all of the tree parts are made...hats off...flawless!!!

Andy and Sterno, many thanks for the kind words.

Building up real looking foliage has been an ongoing challenge for me too. I've used everything from roots to seaweeds even.

I've got to set this straight, all the foliage in R&R were foraged, only the banana tree and yam plants are from after market made from paper and wire. I got these on a trip to Singapore, can't remember the brand. They come in packets, slightly embossed, flattened and straight and in the paper color of flat green. You need to shape them and paint them to suite the dio. I added the dead leaves on the bark and snipped at the leaves to give it the raggedy look. The trick here is to utilise anything that looks to scale even if they're plastic aquariam plants. Here's an example of what can be done with a little ingenuity:

Thanks for looking and glad you both like it.

Cheers,

Richard

Another superb old build huh Richard?

Love the speeder bike but the SETTING is amazing~~!

So.....shop the aquerium store, eh? I hear ya

Hi Indy, besides shopping at the aquerium store, I found this link from my Tamiya magazine for jungle foliage. I think it's the same stuff I used for the banana tree. Don't know the cost, I've yet to go in browse.

Mecharama Jungle Foliage:

http://ediorama.com/xe/

Now everyone can do a jungle dio.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Guys,

I just browsed through the site I just linked you and found that it is the same product I used for the banana and yam plant. The gallery dios look a bit toylike but with a bit of ingenuity and weathering, I think it can turn out quite realistic. I particularly want to get their sugarcane and bamboo plant as well as the splash water resin.

Their long grass would have saved me some time and brush bristles on my last dios.

Cheers,

Richard

Outstanding work goin' on here, Richard. Love the 'nanner tree.

Steve

Richard,

Great work on the banana. Its hard to find a perfect leaf, they always have those splits and damage.

On the Star Wars seem. its nicely done! The scenes were filmed just north of here at the John Muir Woods. Redwood forests are actually quite damp and the trunk and any exposed surface has loads of lichens growing over them, unlike those forests of the north east that I grew up with.

Mike T. 

Great work Richard, lovely lovely scene. 

Thanks Guys, no progress to show as I've laid off for a while. I was helping a friend to source platelet donors for their 5 yr old niece whose been diagnosed with ALL, a form of leukemia. A number of my local forumers have volunteered including myself and the little girl is currently undergoing chemo. Let's hope for the best.

Anyway...

Steve - Thanks, it's my first foray into painting a banana tree. Lucky it turned out ok.

Mike T - The splitting of the leaves is due to the lack of some mineral in the soil as I was told. There are some in my neighbours garden with perfect leaves. Have you tried eating at an Indian restaurant that uses banana leaves as plates? It's a favourite in our Indian curry restaurants.

Also did you get a chance to see the production for Star Wars that was near your area?

Ibro - Thanks, glad you like it. I'll be switching to figures soon and it will be featured in the figure section of the forum.

Cheers,

Richard

I send the little girl all my best wishes and may she get well soon, Andy.

Bodge

I send the little girl all my best wishes and may she get well soon, Andy.

Thanks Andy, she's got two years of chemo if everything goes well.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard, I wish your friend's niece all the best and its good of you to help them. My daughter just turned 3 last week and I can't imagine having to go through that. Having friends around for support is good.
I love the speeder bike vignette. Being a Star Wars fan, how could I not? I also strongly recommend hitting up the local aquarium for foliage supplies. I used to work at Petsmart and would frequently browse the fish or reptile section for items I could use. There is a great assortment of plastic plants that with a little work can look like something you've done here. There is also fake grass they sell for reptariums which I've used before. One last item I recommend are the ornaments. I've used ornaments that were bridges, or Roman ruins (which work well in a north africa setting). Any way, I'll be watching as this continues. Great work.

Thanks Jon, it hits even harder when you have a child of your own.

Also thanks for the comments on both the dios. I'm stuck with the figures at the moment. I haven't got enough reference of the unit I am to portray making the pit stop.

The fruit stall owner has yet to be modeled from the VC figure I have. I have to wittle him down to wear a singlet. Lots of carving to do.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard,

Haven't been around here much but I pop by and your progress is impressive. I love the banana tree, I don't think I've ever seen one in the 'flesh' but wow it's convincing!

Really nice to see a dio that's not set in Europe for a change!

Thanks Gamera,

I'm currently concentrating on the figures which I've moved to the figure forum linked here: /forums/t/130433.aspx

Meanwhile here are some pictures of banana trees and shrubs I took recently.

This one is right in front of my house. It's a pigmy banana plant that won't bare fruits and is usually an ornamental plant for the garden.

These are larger and can grow into large clumps. The leaves are longer and don't droop as percieved in some western dios that I've seen.

Obviously some grow the larger variants in their garden perhaps for their fruit or leaves.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Fellas,

I was just telling Steve in the figure forum that I had thought of adding an electric pole to R&R. There was a debate about whether the poles at the time(1975) were metal or wood. A recent program on the Malayan Emergency in the '50s settled that they were at the time already made of steel.

Figures here:  /forums/t/130433.aspx?PageIndex=2

I got some photographs of existing telecommunication poles in the old part of my town to refer to:

I then proceeded with the WIP using part of a sign pole from Tamiya slotted into a larger clear plastic tube tapered at the joint and some plastic card.

I added the bracings and insulaters from the Mini Art Telegraph pole set as I couldn't find the Italeri one I had.

I made the circuit box from plastic sheet...

Also added foot braces to the length of the pole.

Then I gave it a coat of base paint...weathering to come later.

I set it on the dio to see the effect...looks ok. I will attache wire and insulators to the shop house later.

That's all for now and thanks for looking. C& C welcomed.

Cheers,

Richard

Howdy Richard!

A very nice looking dio and I read it so many times its a wonder this is my first comment in this thread. The pole is looking really nice, I wonder how you are going about the wires.

By the way, I fixed the Subject for you - you see when you place the "&" character in the subject somehow it ends up displayed as &amp; after every reply and after a few replys you get this &amp;amp;amp... So I recommend avoiding &s in the subject.

Good luck with your project, have a nice day

Pawel

Nice work on that telepgraph pole Richard. A little weathering and it will fit right in. I've often wondered if those aluminium turned tank barrels could be used for traffic light/telepgraph poles.

Check out Ken Hamilton's diner diorama http://public.fotki.com/khamilton/models/ and see what he did with his HO scale electricity

the sound you may have just heard is my draw hittin' the floor. Outstanding! Remarkable! Jealous!

Steve!

I've been following your progress, and while I was intially impressed by what you've done. I'm notching that up to 'blown away'.  Forget the realistic plants, the sign, the weathering on the shed - what strikes me the most is that everything comes together to give a sense of place. One look, and I am in Southeast.

Thanks Pawel for correcting the header. How did you do it?

As for the wires...I thought of using thin gauge copper wire. Since the pole is at the edge of the dio and to clear the glass case, the wires will be short and thread through the pre-drilled insulators. The wire leading to the shop house will probably be nylon invisible thread which is much stronger and will take the stretching.

Thanks for asking.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Narayan...thanks for the tip from Ken Hamiltons Diner...real awesome builds. His electric poles are wooden and I think he uses stretched sprue for the thinner wires. Good inspiration for me.

BTW use plastic, aluminum or brass tubing from the hobby shops that stock them would be much cheaper than the aluminum turned tank barrels although you could still use them if it suites you. I'm a bit of a cheapskate and will use any scrap I can find.

Cheers,

Richard

Thanks Steve...I too find it hard to retrieve my tongue from the floor whenever I see your figures in go for broke. If only I can get half the finish on my R&R figures.

Cheers,

Richard 

Thanks WaiKong. Coming from you is a great compliment. I hope my final compo with the figures won't disappoint.

I got to see your article in FSM...really cool.

Cheers,

Richard

Oh, that's easy Richard - you just hit the reply button, and then you get to write the subject field. It's so easy I wonder nobody misuses it yet.

Copper wire makes perfect sense, however you might want to consider thin guitar strings here - they are much more resistant to damage, should something touch them. With the cables running to the shop, please remember they have to sag at least a little, so don't stretch them too much.

Good luck with your projects, have a nice day

Pawel

Hi Pawel, that easy huh.

Thanks for the heads up on the sag...also there's a guitar shop nearby my office. I'll pop in to look at the strings and get the right size ones for the cables. Now I won't be so worried about the glass case bending the wires. Thanks again Pawel.

Cheers,

Richard

Glad I could help, and I have another idea for you - ask them guitar guys for broken strings, they usually throw them away, so there might be a freebie in it for you!

Have a nice weekend

Pawel

Hi Richard--

Sorry I missed a few posts.More wonderful progress on your Masterwork. we're coming to a very exciting part of this long project aren't we? Look forward to it.......

Cool idea Pawel, thanks. I'll ask a collegue if he has any broken strings from his collection of guitars.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Adam, glad to have you back...no worries for being missing.

I couldn't help noticing the fireworks happening in the adjacent forums. Pity and enough said.

Masterwork?...not so sure, let's see how it turns out first but it's getting exciting for me, that is. Apologise for the long WIP but that's me... a bluddy tortoise some would say.

I hope to part with as much experience in building up this dio and thank the guys for hanging in there.

You will see in the end that all my figures in the dio are of different races that make up our country, Malaysia. We're still working hard to maintain the unity for the future as we have done in the past.

Great hobby this.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Richard~

I really think the ethnic diversity well-modeled in your figure work will really make this scene the masterwork I believe it to be---not to mention taking the long,long time That's really the way to do things right. These things take a great deal of time--no good way around that. The figures you are putting together are just a rare bit of reality I seldom see even approached (When those figures are placed in your scene we are to really witness greatness).  As for the other thing--if you say enough said, that's good enough for me, in fact, even though one feels compeled to contest the dung being spoke, it's often best to not give them yet another chance to open thier mouths.

Bitter sweet news... lots of work in the office meaning good for the future... no building time meaning R & R is stalled for now. I won't even be able to complete it for the local GB. Anyways I'll be inspired to look forward to continuing down the road.

Thanks all for keeping pace with this build.

Cheers,

Richard

Don't worry, we'll wait. Good models just take time. And in the time you're not building, you'll sure think about it, maybe get some cool ideas, get more enthusiasm, so it's only for the better. I look forward to updetes on this one, have a nice day

Pawel

Thanks Pawel,

Just got the guitar strings from the shop during my lunch break. They were cheap at RM2 each that would roughly be US 65 cents. They're nice and springy. Thanks for the idea.

Have to wait till work quietens down to execute the telegraph wiring.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard:

I am looking forward to seeing how you solve the age-old problem of what to do when power lines reach the edge of a diorama. I do know you will put a lot of meticulous thought and planning into it, which is why I am so curious.

My thoughts about the aluminum tank barrels was for tapering lamp posts...there are a lot around Boston which is what got me thinking that way in the first place. I completely understand why you chose tubing in this case. I was off on a tangent!

You're putting me into a spot Narayan. I'm hoping to get wires that are stiff enough to stay suspended. The only way I can think of for the ends is to snip it off at where it stops in the dio.

I found the guitar strings just right however the 16gauge one works best. They have a natural slight curve which will help in the sag of the wires.

I coated the wires with Mr Metal Primer before painting.

Painted the wires black. Will trim it when I put it on the dio. So far looks ok.

I've seen the tapering lamp posts and your aluminium tank barrel idea works best. You could try telescoping the tubing, coat it with putty and sand to taper if you're only making one.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard-

Scratchmade pole & wiring looks every bit of brilliant my friend.

Well done per usual  

WOW!  This is a truly work of a master.  Now I want to climb those poles!  It has been fun following your work...

Hello Richard!

That's a really nice installation! I'm glad I could be of assistance! Keep it up & have a nice day

Pawel

Hey thanks Adam, Andy and Pawel.

Adam - Yup same ol same ol me. Chugging along merrily and finding new challenges that are fulfilling when I accomplish it. Not far to go now.

Andy - Hold your horses, although I appreciate it but I'm still eons from being called a master. There are many others I would lie prostate or bow because of their achievments. Glad you're liking the WIP and happy to have you along.

Pawel - Most humbly thank you for your contribution. Also found another use for the 10 gauge wire...they're good for antennas. I'm going to replace all existing antennas with it.

I've got some progress on the figure site if you'd like to see.

Cheers,

Richard

rtfoe,

The street scene is looking excellent! I will bookmark your thread to follow your techniques for modeling realistic jungle type vegetation. The banana plant shows how close one can be made in scale to the original, great eye for detail, accuracy and creativity to build you own.

The only critique is waiting to see the final scene, take your time the results are worth it!

Jason

The wiring really looks good Richard. Well done. Are there any extra little doo-dads that you are planning of hanging off the pole and/or wiring...maybe some paper fliers stuck at the base of the pole?

Thanks Jason, I really appreciate what you've said. I'm glad my techniques are helpful.

I didn't mention how I painted the tree and underbrush around the billboard...well the method I used was to spray an undercoat of very dark green almost black. This will act as the shadows under tropical sunlight, then sprayed layers of a lighter shade of fresh green and yellow from the top adding spurts of Tamiya Lime green. Better still you can pick out details using a brush with the Lime green.

I would have loved to enter this in the "Official No after market Group Build" but alas two of my figures have Hornet heads plus the Banana and Yam plant were AM products although a lot of work had to be done to get it to look real at least.

You're right patients will get this done eventually and hopefully I won't disappoint.

Cheers,

Richard

Thanks Narayan, that's a good idea. Instead of paper fliers, the locals use pieces of plywood planks tied with wire. The advert is usually for plumbing or garage services.

Let's see if I can scrounge up some scrap wood, wire and paint.

Cheers,

Richard