by Duane King

Having landed their Atomic Powered Space Plane Valkyrie-1 near the Scout Ship Vixen-1, those plucky Valkyries from Venus decided to have fun with the local population of the rural town of Campton, NH.

Using the local cemetery as cover, they set about to their tasks of creating crop circles, transmogrifying cows into Unicorns, and seducing young human males from the local college in Plymouth into being love slaves (because Venus Needs Men!). But much to the dismay of those Valkyries, the New Hampshire Men in Black (NHMIB), arrived in time to save the drunken college boys from the interplanetary trip, and to negotiate with the Valkyries to behave, and to remind the ladies that they have to act in accordance with the Treaty of Intergalactic Pranks.

The Setting

This is a diorama in 1/87 scale (HO Scale) consisting of two ships, several vehicles, and an assortment of figures depicting the roles of the local livestock, college boys, Valkyries, and others. The idea for the diorama is to be reminiscent of a setting found in a 1950's Sci - Fi movie but with a 21st Century flair.

Going clockwise from the northwest corner:

The Vixen-1 Scout Ship with several Valkyries, a couple of NHMIB's, and a college boy that is resisting staying on Earth. Also in this quadrant is the grass seed truck and a couple of Crop Circle technicians.

The northeast quadrant has: the Cemetery, Valkries debating their cause with NHMIB's, college boys undergoing memory modification behind the Emergency Services Truck, NHMIB cars, the Grim Reaper chatting up Dorothy and Toto, Farmer Brady's cows in the pasture (and two unicorns standing on Transmogrifying Pads), and several Valkyries-including one doing an imitation of Lady Godiva!

The southeast quadrant has the Valkyrie-1 Ship.

The southwest quadrant has the Crop Circle Technicians getting ready to remedy the crop circle formation, which strangely looks like a smiley face from the air.

The base is 22 x 28 foam core board covered Life-Like Grass Paper (from the model rail road section of the hobby store) and road beds made from Cranston medium steel colored art paper (which sort of looks like old asphalt roads in NH). The cemetery (tombstones, shelter, and fence) is a kit built SOB, with the tombstones being weathered by me. The one tombstone exception is the Angel Statue (in the front row) which is a Preiser figure. The Grim Reaper is a Preiser figure also. (Why the Grim Reaper, why not, after all this is a homage/parody of 1950's a movie, and besides, I wanted to have some fun. Same for including Dorothy and Toto (and you got to admit, it is not Kansas!)).

The winged Valkyries are Preiser Figures I painted to have skimpy outfits and knee high boots. The non-winged Valkyries and college boys are from the Preiser Adam and Eve Kit, where one assembles a torso, head, arms and legs together to make the body and them paints as needed. I chose to paint the Valkyries in the skimpy theme, but to paint the college boys in their undies. The one exception to this is the couple in the Cemetery; they are Woodland Scenics figures that were only modified by having her outfit painted all black.

The NHMIB's are mostly Preiser Businessman figures painted to be wearing black suits, sunglasses, and a couple of them now holding memory flashy thingy's (made from brass rod). The NHMIB carrying the towel, near the crop circle truck, and the one carrying the briefcase (he is the one in the blue shirt) are Woodland Scenics figures painted to be wearing Black Suits. There is also a pair of die cast metal NHMIB's, one near Vixen-1, one in the Cemetery. They were re-painted and now carry Brass Rod Memory Flashy Thingies and are now wearing sunglasses.

Where needed, the figures were hand painted (sunglasses, suits, skimpy outfits etc). The Crop Circle Technicians are Preiser Haz Mat figures, SOB (why tinker with a good thing). The Grass Seed Hose is a piece of Kite String waxed with chap stick.

The cattle are Preiser figures SOB. The Unicorns (standing on the Transmogrifying Pads- I had to figure out a way to keep the horses standing so, presto, the base they came on is a transmogrifying pad) are Atlas Horse figure with a Brass Rod Horn.

The Crown Victoria with the Valkyries sitting on the hood started life as a New Mexico State Trooper Car from Busch, which I disassembled, painted black, and reassembled. The NH State Police Caprice is SOB Busch car. The Emergency Services Truck is a Boley Truck that was also disassembled, painted black, and reassembled. The grass seed truck is also a Boley Truck, with only modification being the kite string hose being glued to an outflow pipe.

The Vixen-1 ship is an Estes Lucky Seven rocketship model built SOB (except that this one will never fly). This was spray painted and detailed using detail tape.

Valkyrie-1 is a scratch built ship using the main body tube and nose cone (and peel and stick decals) from the Canadian Arrow Estes rocket kit. The wings, spine, and lower body section are bass/balsa wood parts. The tail cone is from Estes, and the wing/vertical stabilizer control surfaces are from the RC world of hobbying. The landing gear are scratch built using square styrene sections, sidewalk tile pieces for landing pads, and metal pieces used to make the shock absorber struts. The Valkyrie-1 is 24 inches long, 13 inches wide, and stands about 11 inches tall from bottom of lander pad to top of tail fin. This will also never have flight potential. This ship, and landing gear, was spray painted and like the Vixen-1, was overcoated with matte acrylic spray.

The pasture's stone wall is handmade using pea stones (from the flower arranging area of the craft store). The burnt grass/crop circle areas are black acrylic paint.

In all, there are:

• 4 Crop Circle technicians
• 1 Grim Reaper
• 1 Dorothy and Toto
• 6 Winged Valkyries
• 7 Non-Winged Valkyries
• 7 College boys
• 10 NHMIB's

Image: Cemetary, from the back

Image: Hose across the wall

Image: Techs removing the crop circles

Image: Arguing

Image: Grass seed truck

Image: Look into the pretty red light ....

Image: Moo with the unicorns

Image: Overall

Image: Crouching Valkyrie, Hidden Vixen

Image: Debate in progress

Image: Vixen crowd