Tag:HO scale
Tom was glad to be taking a break from his amazing adventures. He woke the following day with sunlight streaming in Bill’s spare room window. It was a luxury to sleep in a bed with sheets again after his weeks on the road. He dozed off back to sleep and was woken again when Bill’s dog Ruffnut poked a wet nose onto his face. He could smell breakfast cooking, and his stomach rumbled at the thought of Beryl’s egg and bacon sandwiches.
Trying for Queensland
Tom was not happy. He had placed one extra order. One that he had forgotten to mention to Bill after he had set off from Victoria. The problem was, however, that and it hadn’t arrived. It was absolutely essential to his border crossing into Qld. This meant the crossing would be delayed until it came. Damn Australia Post! Tom had ordered in plenty of time. He estimated it had been sitting at the Sydney sorting centre for the last nine days without moving. Beryl had put in an inquiry about it three days ago -but there had been no response to that either.
While it was lovely staying with Beryl and Bill, he was getting nervous about being in the one spot for so long. Additionally, each day increased the risk to Bill and Beryl. To take his mind off it, Bill suggested they train and go for a bike ride. Saturday morning Bill and Tom were up early. Bill had the family over later that day for a BBQ, and Beryl insisted the lawn be mowed first. Tom tried to help, but he was still sulking about his Australia Post delivery not arriving yet.
While Bill and his family were outside for the BBQ, Tom stayed in his room to not be seen and rang ahead to Roma to make sure that everything was for his arrival there. Thankfully Bert assured him everything was fine – and the delay was not a problem.
A weekend waiting
Bill and Beryl were late up on Sunday, and both were a bit under the weather. “Too much sun yesterday”, Bill insisted. Tom had his doubts as he had noticed Bill put up shade umbrella’s in the afternoon. The three of them had a long discussion over lunch that day. Tom was sure there was no hope of the parcel arriving tomorrow, as the tracking hadn’t moved in ten days. In fact, he was now sure Australia Post had lost his package but felt it was best to push on and head for the border. Bill and Beryl suggested he wait one more day and cross on Tuesday night. The parcel may come Monday or Tuesday – but Tuesday would probably be quieter at the border than Monday. Tom thought about it and agreed.
Lightning Ridge
The next was Monday, and Bill and Beryl both had to work. Bill went off to the apple orchard, and Beryl was caddying for Tiny Woods, who was in town for an exhibition match.
That afternoon, they all went to the Lightning Ridge water park. It was quiet, and they had the place almost to themselves as a Monday.
Paranoia sets in
During the day, the internet was down while the NBN crew worked on the pit. Bill was concerned it could be an undercover border patrol crew and kept an eye on them, but a few hours later, the crew packed up and left, and the internet came on. False alarm.
The Night Crossing
That night – Bill woke Tom at 2 am and said it was time to go. So they drove up the backroads towards the border, and Bill pulled over the side of the road when they turn came up on the right. They sat there in the dark for a few minutes, allowing their eyes to adjust to the total darkness and ensure no other cars were passing to see them.
Positive they were alone, Tom reached into the back seat and pulled out two sets of night vision goggles. The Wolfcub Explorer 3M Thermal Monocular would work in total darkness and allow Bill to drive with no headlights up the narrow dirt road towards the border. They both put them on, pulled out, and turned up Angledool Road and took another dirt road to the end.
Alone
From here on, Tom was on his own. The darkness was absolute. With the fuse removed from the interior lights, not even that glowed weakly as Tom got out of the car into the scrub and removed the mountain bike from the bike rack. As Tom road off, using the night vision goggles to see, Bill turned the car around and drove back the way they had come.
It was just after 3 am and Tom had about three hours of darkness to get across the border.
Tom rode through the night without stopping. He drank from the water bladder in his backpack as he rode when thirsty. The night vision goggles revealed nothing apart from the odd startled kangaroo in the dense bush as he rode past them. Staying off the road in the scrub, he was almost to Dirranbandi by dawn. He had bypassed Hebel as he thought police might be patrolling there, being as it was the first from the border once in Qld.
Next Morning
Skirting around the outskirts of Dirranbandi, he joined up with a remote dirt road that would take him to St George. By now, the sun was coming up, so he rode down to the dried-up river bed, where he sat under a red gum and ate the sandwiches from his backpack that Beryl had made him the night before. Finished with his breakfast, he hopped back on his bike and started cycling towards St George. In the bike’s rearview mirror, he saw a cloud of dust approaching, and from the dust emerged a police patrol car.
Small world photography with miniature figures is hardly a new idea. If you search on google or Pinterest, you will find loads of images. Miniature photography is a genre where you shoot these tiny people (using HO or OO scale) against real-life props instead of a constructed diorama, as they would be on model railways.
I ordered some sets from Frontline Hobbies in Sydney, then some more from Metro Hobbies in Melbourne. Both gave good service with fast shipping, and prices were comparable on both.
When they arrived, I thought, ‘gosh, they are small as they are only around 1.5cm tall. But then the wheels started turning, and I was wandering the house looking for things to put them with. I raided the fridge for kiwi fruit – seriously, we don’t eat it, but it’s always in photographs. It’s one of the main things I keep for props.
Most of the shots were taken with my macro – but I also used the 12-100. You don’t have to have a macro. I also focus stacked some of them when I wanted multiple characters in focus.
Getting Started
My starting point was choosing my characters – I was looking to buy those I knew I could reuse in different scenarios while I built up a stock of the figures. The construction crew and the farmers would suit scenes with fruit and vegetables. The Mountain climbers I could get climbing different objects. And I could see the bathers in various ‘pools’. I desperately wanted the crime scene crew – but it seems obsolete.
You can buy the little figures on eBay for a few dollars – but knowing I would be taking closeups of them, I wanted decent quality – so I went with Noch brand in HO scale. HO and OO are almost the same sizes. The OO scale is the UK size, and the HO scale is used in the rest of the world. The two best quality brands are Noch and Preiser.
These images were shot on a white background beside a window with filtered light. I shot them using my Olympus OMD M1 MII and either the 60mm macro or the 12-100 zooming right in.
A set of the figures for your small world will set you back between $18 – $25 depending on how many there are or what accessories come with them. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the blue jelly tasted like – I took my shots, and the jelly went in the bin. I did eat the KitKat, though.
These little figures are definitely fun to work with and something I can do during lockdown… we still have just over five weeks to go. Another set of little figures is on the way 🙂