WIP Critique Return To Cooper Creek..burke And Wills Vignette.

[Mark S]

I've been working on this 120mm vignette which represents the Australian explorers Burke,Wills and King who in 1861 completed the south to north mid summer crossing of the Australian continent but died on the return journey in controversial circumstances.The four man party which set off to make the dash to the northern shore of the continent returned many,many hundreds of miles later to find the support team who had waited four months for their return had left only hours before on that very same day. They were far too exhausted and fatigued to follow them. Burke and Wills died soon after further futile attempts to reach help, King survived by accepting food and assistance from local Aborigines. My vignette is supposed to represent the despair and hopelessness at the moment those explorers returned to find that the camp was empty.....
More of the story can be read at~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills_expedition

My sculpting skills are quite limited so I've been restricted to converting figures to suit the situation.
I've used mostly Verlinden 120mm figures and camels. This is where I'm at now, if you see anything you reckon needs some attention or anything I can do to enhance the vignette please let me know......

King's diary on the day states that Burke dropped to the ground when he realised the camp was empty, so I've tried to portray that. The other figures are standing~ William Wills and the other with the crutch is King. The camels are Rajah and Landa, two explorers that also completed the phenomenal task of crossing the continent but they are totally forgotten today. I felt they needed some extra hairy bits as I find most camels are unrealistically sculpted with a perfectly smooth coat. I did that with some Kneadatite which was later carved with a Dremel tool.
The likeness of Lloyd Bridges in my King figure was just as surprising to me as it may be to you.
The Indian camel saddle was made from balsa and bamboo skewers and some camel baggage was made from Magic Sculp.

That's about where I'm at now, let me know what you reckon...cheers,Mark S.

 

[Andrew Craft]

Nice piece Mark and a great subject that isn't as well known as it should be.

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Very rare theme and brilliant sculpted! I did not know this story up to today. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

 

[housecarl]

Very repressive.
Carl.

 

[FigureLover]

Hi Mark, very interesting dio that relates to the hard early Aussie explorers very well. Looks as though you have researched it well and are doing an outstanding job in replicating that dramatic moment of finding the camp empty. The details are also excellent. Following this one definately
Ben

 

[bagelman1952]

A great start. I look forward to seeing this one completed

 

[Helm]

Interesting subject and story very nice
Steve

 

[Ferris]

Interesting story and very nice diorama.
Looking forward to paint!

Adrian

 

[Richie]

Hi Mark,
Great modelling and great back ground story. Looks very impressive so far, will be watching.
cheers
Richie

 

[megroot]

Great story and perfectly created.
Like this very much and gonna follow it closely.

Marc

 

[Joe55]

I reckon its pretty cool ! This is a great story not to even mention your sculpting and presentation. Can't wait to see it painted up!

Joe

 

[NickM]

Hi Mark, I love this tragic story from our history and you've done a brilliant job at recreating it.
Looking really good, mate - following this one closely

 

[Jimbo]

Mark,
Great original idea, it's going to be a lot of work but should be well worth the effort, it's looking good so far
Cheers
Jim

 

[Don]

Mark you are doing a wonderful job on this scene. Must have been brave men to try a crossing like that. Love the way you have captured the camels legs while they are down, well done.
The hairy coat of the camel is strange as many are almost bald (if you get what I mean) and some have patches of extra hair. Dont know if its the place or time of year but seen wild camels in the Omani, Saudi Pakistan and quite a few other deserts, some as smooth as a babys bum and other times you return and they seem to have more hair, different time of year and mostly wild camels so who knows.
Great job anyway and I look forward to watching your progress.

Don

 

[Mark S]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the encouraging comments. I'm looking forward myself to the final work which I've had in my mind now for some time. If I get it out I'll sleep better......till the next one.
Don, the camel figures I'm using are stock Verlinden models, the only conversations I'm making are the patches of course thick coat. You're right when you say the hairiness or otherwise of camels is a matter of time and place.The exploration party I'm portraying foolishly chose to make their journey through desert country during the Australian Summer and returned to the empty camp on an Autumn evening at about 7:30 pm on April 21 1861. Although it was Summer the evening temperatures would have been very cold. The vast population of Australian camels ( the largest wild populations in the world now ), which all share ancestry to the imported early exploration animals which escaped or were set free, live in the most hostile inland deserts but because of freezing night time temperatures still retain a thick hairy coat for most of the year, not all year but a lot of it.
Anyway, the explorers figures are also converted compilations of various Verlinden and Foxwood figures........I'll keep posting updates as I go,I'll finish the Rajah and Landa figures first before the final touches are made on the others....cheers.

 

[tonydawe]

Very cool dio Mark. Great example of historical research and a feel for drama providing inspiration for a wonderful theme for scale modelling.

It's a pity you couldn't add the "Dig" tree to complete the story and illustrate just how close Burke and Wills came to surving and the ironic, frustrating and fickle hand of fate.

 

[Mark S]

Hi Tony, although the Dig tree moment happened only minutes after the scene I'm portraying, for me the most emotionally highly charged moment was that when they realised that after crossing the hostile interior of the country, achieving their goal of reaching the northern shore of the continent, and returning to their support camp they were totally alone...The desperation of that scene is recorded in their diaries. Sometime later after digging up a camel box under the 'Dig Tree' they found a cache containing a letter informing them that the backup team had left only hours earlier that same day after waiting four months. It also contained various food stuffs like flour, sugar, tea etc. a gun & ammo and boots left by the retreating support party, but much to their disappointment no clothes. They're own clothes were pretty ragged by then...and a bit whiffy I reckon...I don't think the digging up of the cache would portray the desperation of that day.........thanks for commenting Tony