This figure was a bit out of my comfort zone of Vietnam and Modern Figures, but I wanted to build and paint something special for my wife for her birthday. A while back, Alex from Masterbox had sent me kit MB3209 Napoleon's Red Lancer in which the farm lady was one of the figures in the two figure kit. Since my wife likes farming and gardening and does have some Dutch ancestry, I though it would be a nice to build a figure vignette featuring the Dutch farm lady and some farm animals. The real challenge of this project was to build and paint the various parts without my wife noticing what I was doing. There were a couple of times when she walked by and I thought for sure she must have seen what I was working on, but when I presented this to her for her birthday, she said the didn't even notice me working on any of it. She thought I was working on the Tet Offensive diorama I have been working on. So the surprise was a good one.

Like I said, the figure is from Masterbox. I painted it in acrylics. Since I am used to painting weather beaten faces of men in combat, painting a more delicate and paler face while also trying to maintain secrecy was a slight challenge and the face may not have turned out as well as most of the faces I have painted, but I think it still turned out fairly well. The following pictures really do not do it justice. The animals are from Mantis Miniatures. There are two cats which are painted to look like two of our barn cats adding a personalized touch to the scene along with there being a goose and a hen with babies under her wing. We don't have any geese, but we do have chickens so my wife liked that aspect, too. The boxes of vegetables are from Verlinden.

Here are some pictures of the figure, animals, and vignette. There are no in-progress pictures as I was trying to maintain the secrecy of this project so it would be a surprise.





































This turned out to be a really good birthday present that my wife really enjoys and likes. Not sure how it would stand up against diamonds or something like that, but this year it was a winner.

Cheers,
James

Beautiful work James. The painting is excellent and I love all the added details on the ground.

James,
What an awesome idea and a superb presentation. Everything looks very well done, love the ground work and the playful cat/kitten!
Congratulations on a job very well done!

Cheers,
Rick

Really like all the animals.

What an awesome diversion and birthday gift — a jewel in its own right! I love the overall warm feeling I get from this composition. Your creations never cease to inspire.

Cheers!🍺
—mike

Nice although dutch farmladies look like this nowadays...

Great job and nice presentation. Super thoughtful gift for the holidays for sure.
I do like the look of the more modern version in that last pic though.
Only suggestion I have is would you try taking more pics at "ground level" in the future ? It really adds to the effect by just getting the lens down a bit.
J

Thanks guys.

Thanks for the photography suggestion, Jerry. I'll have to get the camera out and take some ground level shots.

I too prefer the more modern version, but I am sure my wife would not so I am glad that the Masterbox version was in the older attire. ☺

Cheers,
James

German Jungbäuerinnen wear even less...

http://www.nordbayern.de/region/jungbauerinnenkalender-2018-diese-ladies-liessen-die-hullen-fallen-1.6743881?offset=1&article=1.6746238&type=article#ancTitle

Caution when opening the link!

I think I'll take a break on my westerndio since my head is filled with inspiring ideas for farmgirl diorama's .
Okay, enough about this. I think it's a great dio ànd a great gift that beats diamonds. Although expensive, diamonds can be bought. This gift started with research about what she might like followed by the secret build which must have taken some time.
Makes me remember the "surprises" we made for eachother for "Santaclaus" many years ago (before "activists" ruined the fun"). Your wife is a lucky girl!
And...I would love to see more stuff like this on this forum. More "non-green" dio's. Perhaps adding a "non-green" section would be a suggestion?

Great paintjob James, and also the base is simple but nice looking.

Thanks also for the reference photos of modern farmers, saved them for the future. You never know