by Dominique Dufour

This diorama is inspired by the universe of Outland, Total Recall and Aliens, for their settings (anticipation, not too far future), their themes (exploration and mining exploitation) and their technologies. Indeed, in the not-so-distant future, the other planets of our solar system will be exploited for the conquest of other solar systems. At this time, all environments will be explored and exploited for their natural richnesses. Today, the scientists estimate already that the belt of asteroids located between Mars and Jupiter, will be a true gold mine of various ores and metals useful for the construction of bases and spaceships. Ceres is the largest of these (approx. 930 km diameter) identified by the father Giuseppe Piazzi, January 1, 1801.

The Wombat : A wombat is a small marsupial of Australia of the size of a dog with a belly pouch. It is also a vehicle of gathering and transport of ore used by the Mining Corporation of Ceres in the asteroids belt of our solar system.

This large vehicle was built with parts of the section tows from the Revell Robotech Recovery Unit kit. The niches of the aft wheels were modified to accomodate the main landing gear, and the section of the fastener of the trailer was modified to receive the engines and the back landing gear . The crane comes from a whole of blocks of construction ("TENTE" # 0371 Scorpio), but the grip was made using a blade cover from a BIC razor. The landing gears come from the Millénium Falcon model (MPC), except the soles which were hand made. Since this vehicle operates in an environment where there is many particules/blocs of ore in suspension, the conduits are provided with protective grids which are in fact, the heads of electric razor blades. The small directional conduits present everywhere on the vessel are simple " gun leads parachutes". The other elements of the models come from various plastic models (parts of engines of car, submarine and trucks, caterpillars and accessories of armoured tanks, etc.) The side-lights are "MV Lenses".

The D-Claws : The D-Claws is a small ore loader, also used by the Mining Corporation of Ceres.

This small vehicle was built starting from the toy found in a chocolate egg «Kinder surprise». The arms come from a figurine of the "Power Loader" (Aliens) from Leading Edge. The figure of the pilot (of dropship) also comes Leading Edge. The engines come from Battletech Mech from FASA (I do not know from which one). The body was made with parts of various models, like a transmission of Formula 1 (section where the engines are fixed), a hook of tank (1/35), part of the rim of a car (1/24) (bond between the cabin and the section of the engines) etc. Paints used are mostly from Ral Partha.

The Prospectors: Figurines of characters in not too high-tech spacesuits are not frequent. That's why, when I found these from « Grenadier », I sought to use them in a diorama - especially because they were not too "heavily" armed and/or, at least, the weapons were easy to replace or to make up. The laser gun of the prospector « 09 » was replaced by a captor/sensor, whereas the laser rifle of prospector « 08 » was replaced by a cutting machine (a "Power Chain Saw" from Game Worshop 40K). The figurine of the robot also comes from Game Workshop (Dreadnaugth WH Epic 40K) on which was added a dorsal engine.

The base of the diorama is a shelf of melamine and the asteroids are volcanic stones (found in pet shop). The three rocks are sections of only one stone, whereas the small ones are stones for charcoal. The whole is firmly fixed with hot adhesive and reinforced with metal stems. All that is far from making a featherweight diorama ...

Image: The scene, from the front ...

Image: .... and from the back

Image: The Wombat

Image: Wombat, with claw stowed

Image: D-claws, top/front view

Image: D-Claws, bottom/rear

Image: Prospector