On an isolated island somewhere in the South Pacific, our favorite boys in green face off in one of their usual bouts of fun and war games. Though they all fall down eventually, they just keep getting right back up to do it over again the very next day. Such is the eternal life of a venerable toy soldier.
This 1:32 Scale diorama was created with air and hand-brushed acrylic paint and spray enamel on fiber board and Styrofoam (with just a few little digital enhancements here and there). For this particular project, I used 63 of the 'Toy Story Green Army Men' (from the 72-piece "Bucket O Soldiers" playset). The diorama itself, I created primarily from garbage. Yes, garbage!
You see, in South Korea, all household trash must be meticulously separated to comply with the government's national recycling program. However, as one might imagine, not everyone here (or unfortunately, even in many other parts of the world) is particularly orderly, conscientious. or fastidious when it comes to putting out their garbage.
In fact, South Korea, like other countries in the Asia Pacific region in particular, tends to be quite awash with litter (particularly in certain areas) because many people here are either just too poorly educated (or just too lazy) to put their trash in the proper receptacles. But then.... there's the South Korean government that doesn't even provide public trash cans! And no, I'm not joking.
But the good news is, that if you're a big, "dumb," foreign (American!) guy like yours truly, then all you need to do to find some real gems from time to time is to take a walk around just about any neighborhood in South Korea on any given day.
So, believe it or not, this particular project was assembled using a discarded fiber-board table top I found on the curb outside my apartment. Then I added a few strategic sprinkles of aquarium rocks and various pieces of Styrofoam that tend to get carelessly thrown out on just about every street corner over here.
I'm not really sure if Koreans don't realize that improperly discarded Styrofoam blows away in the wind with relative ease, or... they just don't really care. Though, sadly, I'm afraid that it's more often the latter rather than the former.
Anyway, my trash collecting ways makes my Korean wife sometimes affectionately refer to me as "고물상 (Gomul-sang or, junk man)!" Ha-ha! Or rather, bwu-ha-ha! Because, as the old saying goes, "One man's garbage is another man's treasure." ;)
Lastly, if you love toy soldiers (and specifically little green army men) as much as yours truly, you've absolutely got to check out Mega Hobby.com.
