"THE CATTLE DRIVE"
I've been buying 1/4" scale
figures designed and manufactured by local father and son team, who
market their figures under "Pearce Miniatures"
(now has been sold to 'MOUNTAIN BLUE MINITURES" in Sydney). They specialized in Australian style figures, and one of their latest
releases is a stockman on a horse. This beautifully done figure and
animal gave me the idea of building a diorama of a cattle drive, located
out in the Australian outback. I bought two of the figures and horses,
and already had about 25 head of cattle bought from a local toy store.
To add interest to the diorama I included a scratch built chuck wagon, with
the driver/cook and his helper setting up camp for the night and getting
a hearty meal prepared for the drovers (cowboys). The scene is set in
the open desert, with the camp set up under an old dead tree.
To add atmosphere to the diorama, a painted back scene of the Australian
sandy desert was included. Low, sandy hills using similar colours to the
foreground were painted, and when dry, these hills were painted with PVA
glue, and fine dirt, the same that was used in the foreground, was
applied. When the glue was dry, the excess dirt was removed. This
achieved a textured effect on these close sand dunes on the back scene.
The chuck wagon, apart from the wheels, is totally scratch built of "Mount Albert" timber, styrene strip, paper and some fine woven material.
Below are some more photos of the diorama
Above shows the entire diorama