1:32 British Dispatch Rider With A Basket Of Pigeons

Two figures, one story

This figure makes a natural pair with the man who carries the birds up to the front line. If you place both in one scene, a legible scene with a beginning and an end comes about: one takes the load over, the other walks away with it. The diorama thereby gains what single figures never have, namely a relationship between people, and the viewer imagines the rest for himself.

Who stood behind that service

The breeding, training and allocation of the birds was looked after by a separate branch of the signal troops. It kept records of individual birds, followed the rate of return and allotted them to staffs according to the importance of the sector. Anyone who released or killed a bird without reason risked disciplinary punishment, and during the war even civil regulations knew about the protection of carrier pigeons. The birds were recorded by origin, age and documented returns, so a record rather like a ship's log existed for every one of them.

Composing the scene

The manufacturer also offers the wicker baskets as a separate item, so a whole move can be built up around the figure: baskets stacked by a wall, one open, one ready to be loaded. At a size of 1:32 the wicker is legible enough for such a detail to carry attention and not remain a mere shape. It pays to work with two shades of wicker, because new and scuffed baskets looked different.

The preparation is short. Remove the remains left by casting, level the mating face, degrease, spray the primer. After that it is only a matter of patience in painting the wicker and the cloth, because each surface wants a different thinning.