Displaying your miniatures in a police museum might seem an odd venue, but that is what happened to me recently when I was asked to take part in a police hobbies exhibition at the New Zealand Police Museum.
While I do actually have quite a large collection of police badges and miniature police vehicles (maybe the subject of another posting sometime, if anyone is interested), the event was intended to also show off other hobbies enjoyed by police staff. So I was asked to exhibit my model soldiers.
I decided my display would be based on the adage that “few is more”. Rather than ladening down a table with huge amounts of figures, I would put out only a few units to give give a taster of several different periods. This also helped with transport and setting up, as I only had a very limited time.
But I wish I had pulled that tablecloth straight!
The main part of my display featured my New Zealand Wars collection, made up of the wonderful 28mm Empress Miniatures figures.
This was quite an appropriate period for the police setting, as the history of the New Zealand Police is inextricably entwined with those wars. The particular part of the wars that my miniatures portray is a decade or two earlier than when the Armed Constabulary (forerunners of our modern police) came on the scene. But it was a talking point for the audience, nevertheless.
I also displayed one of my 18th century battalions of Minden figures, painted as a British regiment from the movie Barry Lyndon. This showed how impressive a large unit of figures could look.
In the background I set up one of my painting resources (in this case Mollo and McGregor’s Uniforms of the Seven Years War 1756-63). Many of the audience were very interested to see how detailed the research for our hobby could be … and laughed when I told them that I had painted my models to faithfully replicate the inaccuracies from the movie!
The final exhibit was my entire American Civil War collection. This is a period I’ve half-started, as you can see, but never really got anywhere with. But those colourful zouaves certainly were show-stoppers at the display. These, and the Confederates facing them, were all Redoubt figures. Again, a colourful book in the background added interest.
Overall, it was great to be able to show off my figures to an audience who were more interested in them than most. It was a evening function for the Friends of the Police Museum organisation, so everyone there had a natural inclination towards history anyway.
Oh, and one other thing. Browsing through the Police Museum itself, I came across a picture of my much younger self. What a creepy 1980s police-issue moustache, aye?!
Well done, sir. And perhaps you might have interested a few people into looking into our hobby.
— Jeff
Grow a moustache, Roly, you handsome devil! And the rest of us should lock up our daughters!
Great display, Roly. When I went on my last trip to the Police College for a forensic photography course back in 2002 I had a look around the museum and found they had an 1860s cannon on display. Is it still there?
Funny you should mention the 1980s Police issue moustache…I grew one myself in 1985 while on my recruit course….and I only shaved it off in January this year…the last vestige of my police career!
No, that cannon isn’t there, Wayne. I don’t know where it is now. It was an odd one, from memory, with cast on eagle wings!
Pretty cool stuff and you’re right, it was surprising to see some of your collection included in a Police Hobbies Display Exhibition. But then again, why not?
Darrell.
Good Show Roly, hopefully dispalys like this to the wider community help to ‘de-geek’ our hobby.
PS Love the “s’tash” … I wonder where those kids are now?
Hopefully they’re well-behaved citizens somewhere!
Nice blog mate, link added
Thanks for that, Al … appreciated!