Martian Tripod

from "War of the Worlds" - Classics Illustrated (1960s)

by Mike Maynard

mmaynard3@cox.net,

Mike Maynard - War of the Worlds Diorama - 1

                                            

SCALE: 1/32 (Est.)

Created: 2012

MEDIUM: Various

RARITY: N/A

 

Mike Maynard - War of the Worlds Diorama - 2

Mike Maynard - War of the Worlds Diorama - 3

  

Mike Maynard - War of the Worlds Diorama - 4
Mike Maynard - War of the Worlds Diorama - 5  

Mike Maynard - War of the Worlds Diorama - 6

 

I’m sending along some pictures of my WOW build. I’m guessing you remember the old Classic Illustrated series and the War of the Worlds issue. As a kid I was fascinated with the H G Wells book and when I spotted the Classic issue on a magazine rack I knew I had to have a model of the Martian “war machine”. Well 43 years later I built one from scratch. The diorama depicts the “black smoke” attack on the British gun position described in the book. The tripod is constructed of brass tubing and a lot of stuff from the junk box. The Martians are modeling clay baked in the oven and painted a sort of reddish color. The soldiers are from Tamyia and the ground cover is from Woodland Scenic’s. The Gatling and Maxim machine guns are scratch built and the heavy siege gun is a modified resin kit. The pigpen is scratch built as are the barn and shed. The big tree is a piece of sagebrush from the banks of the Rio Grand river, trimmed with Woodland’s tree making foliage. Everything else came out of the scrap box. For me the build was a lot of fun and a modeling  goal of a life time. One of these days I’ll build the Disney version of the “Nautilus”, another childhood dream.