Richard Garretson's Batcave

Long time readers will recall my friend Richard and his wonderful miniature collections. I highlighted both his Victorian and Pulp Egyptian collections on this blog. Now he is working on a 1930's gangsters collection with Batman! This is his impressive Batcave. It incorporates the Playmobile Batcave and a special promotional Heroclix Batcave interior. He converted a Alfred holding cowl & cape for this collection.

Heroclix's Alfred holding cape & cowl on the right, Richard's converted Alfred holding cape & cowl on the left.

Put on Your Flapper Dress and Dance!

Richard Garretson's Pulp Egypt Gallery is here! You can view all 109 images here. This gallery is broken down into two distinct sections; the first is life in a sleepy Arab village on the Nile, the

 

second is a thrilling pulp adventure set in hither to unknown Ancient Egyptian Temple complex.

Now I did not post a link to this gallery yesterday because a software glitch scrambled the order of the 109 images utterly obliterating the story thread of the pulp adventure. Some of you may have found the gallery yesterday. If you did you all saw the gallery in a jumbled state and completely missed out on the pulp adventure! So please use this link to view the gallery in the order the artist intended.

Richard Garretson Pulp Egypt Preview

 

I did a series of posts on miniature collector and friend Richard Garretson post1, post 2, and post 3. In post 3 I previewed the gallery he was currently working on 28mm Pulp Egypt. I'm happy to say that this monumental project has been completed. He is in the midst of creating the online photo gallery of this project as I type. The photo gallery will be announced on the Lead Adventures Forum, TMP, and this blog once it is ready for the viewing public. This is the largest layout he has ever attempted it consists of two tables. Here is the man himself getting the layout ready for the photographer.

And be fore Clint asks, yes there are camels.

For me seeing this completed will be the highlight of my summer.

Pulp Egypt a Gallery in the Making part 3- Richard Garretson

Welcome to the 3rd and final part of my profile of the amazing hobbyist Richard Garretson here we will get a sneak peak at his latest gallery in the making Pulp Egypt 28mm. So what is the concept behind this gallery and what influences, movies, books etc... did you draw from?

"The idea is that my archeological group has found an Egyptian site that has previously gone undiscovered. The concept that something as large as this could have gone undiscovered until the first half of 20th century despite the fact that it is within driving distance of modern civilization hinges on the vast emptiness of the desert. In the years following WWI it seems reasonable to me that a plane flying over the desert could accidentally happen upon an unknown ancient Egyptian complex that had gone unnoticed simply because there had been no modern reason for traveling into that part of the desert, but from an airplane that which was unknown to those bound to the earth could be seen by those with the freedom to fly. A year ago I watched a cable show that centered on an archeologist whose area of interest was anceint Egypt but whose tool was satellite imagery of the areas of the desert that had not been previously investigated. She was able to find topographical evidence of many previously undiscovered ancient grave sites despite the fact that they are only a short distance from the Nile.
The Mummy with Brendan Fraser is probably the film that had the greatest influence on this project I love the look of that film. I'm sure that movies like Indiana Jones (Lost Ark and Crusade), The English Patient, and Legend of the Lost also had some influence though less direct in nature."

So what will this gallery consist of?
"The gallery will be set on two 5ft x 7ft tables this will be the first time I've used two tables for a gallery. One table will have an Egyptian town (about 22 buildings) and my Nile. That table is really about the fact that I love buildings, boats and people going about their daily lives. The other table will have a large temple complex (2 ft x 4ft) and two Playmobil pyramids (each pyramid is 20" at the base and 15" tall). That table will also house the archeological encampment and will be the home of most of the action.

"I plan to have a number of interior layouts most of which will be based upon five PetCo fish tank decor pieces I picked up during a going-out-of-business sale at one of their stores. Each of those rooms are 7"W x 8"L x 9"T and have a very ancient Egyptian ruins look to them. I've modified then so that two can be put together to form one larger room. They will form the tomb room, treasure room and one other room where a mummy vs. archeologist adventurers  battle will ensue."

Original Playmobile pyramid sides.

Modified Playmobile pyramid.

"In putting the together the two Playmobil pyramids, I added a fourth side wall to both, the toy comes with only three walls so that the kids can play inside through the open fourth side. I left one of the pyramids with the look that Playmobil gave it, which despite it's non-traditional appearance will paint up great and add to the overall look to the table. The second I significantly modified to give it a more traditional pyramid look. That was a little risky for me because it's an expensive piece and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I'm very please with the finished product. I added to the second pyramid a removable section that gives the appearance of an opening into the pyramid complete with scaffolding.

Front

Back

The above images are of some of the buildings he has painted up for the Egyptian village which will appear on the first table of the gallery. The are from Kobblestone Miniatures.

Portrait of an Artist Richard Garretson part 2

Before

After

German Sternwheeler
"A couple weeks before Christmas I picked up a damaged Lemax sternwheeler at the swap meet.  Except for the stern wheel, bow gangway and trim items on the boat which are plastic, the boat itself is of a ceramic composition and was made to be part of a Christmas display.  Someone had probably dropped it because part of the stern wheel was broken (one of its paddles and a supporting brace) and the two smoke stacks were missing (broken away).  Despite the problems, it looked like it had potential for being turned into a tired colonial riverboat.  Another important factor was that it had minimal Christmas decoration and that could be hidden rather easily.  Lastly it was only $10."

Welcome to part 2 of my portrait of Richard Garretson. Who is Richard Garretson? Richard is a retired teacher from Sunny California, he lives right by Disneyland.
"Most of the people I worked with thought I would go nuts when I retired because I had been so passionate about my work. The thing that has made retirement so wonderful for me is this crazy hobby. You'd think that after more than 30 years I'd be getting bored, but the truth is I'm having more fun with it today than ever before. Probably an indication of a simple mind, but if that's the case, I thank god for being simple minded."

"I understand that your daughter takes the photographs for your galleries what does your wife think about them? "My wife has always been okay with my hobby it made me happy and kept me of the streets. But when I began putting the galleries together she began to see what had been so interesting for me all those years. It wasn't until she saw the pictures, saw that what I was doing wasn't random I had a plan, that she could enjoy it. She has really come to enjoy my crazy stuff which makes it even more fun for me."

Woman in a Shoe

 "I go to my local swap meet every weekend looking for rare items, which is to say junk, that I can use with my miniatures collections. Every once in awhile I find a toy that has no practical purpose for any of my hobby projects, but it is perfect scale for 28mm or 15mm and so nicely crafted that I can't resist buying it just for the joy of repairing & repainting it. That was the case with the "shoe". It cost me $2 and I got more than my money's worth from the pleasure of working on it. I did some small modifications using Milliput to create climbing shrubs to hide a missing window, seams & hinges then repainted it. The figures are by Wyrd and are part of my 28mm Victorian collection."

Snake Oil

"I was really taken by this Lemax Halloween decoration snake oil wagon. It is resign reasonably priced and despite the large wheels it goes well with 28mm as can be seen by the size of the door. The only real modification I made to it other than a new paint job was to add a few pieces of plastic to each step to reduce the height of each step level. I really liked the wagon's sign so I kept it as it was. The figure is from Horrorclix I rebased and repainted him. The two trees are resin but I have no idea who manufactured them. I picked them up at the swap meet for $2 each.

Richard's galleries can be found here. Next Sunday I'll preview Richard's last gallery Pulp Egypt!

Portrait of an Artist Richard Garretson

 

I first became acquainted with Richard's work when he posted images of his massive Victorian collection when he posted pictures of it on Lead Adventurer's Forum on November 27th 2013. Needless to say this masterpiece made n impression on me and I begin an email correspondence with this delightful man in hopes of learning how to make my London board 1/3rd as good. The whole 119 image gallery can be found here. I urge you to check it out its a true masterwork.

This article is the first installment of a three part article which will appear on the subsequent Sundays. The first installment will focus on his Victorian gallery, the second on the man himself and the third will discuss the current project he is working on. The following dialogue is presented in a question and answer form drawn from correspondence I’ve had with Richard and comments from his Victorian Gallery thread found here.

“For the last eight to ten years I have been amassing figures and scenic materials for a gallery of Victorian Gothic.  In October 2012 I decided it was time to begin painting and building.  I completed the work on this gallery one year later on the eve of Halloween 2013.  The board is 5 ft x 7ft there are 5 streets, approximately 31 buildings, plus 2 pedestrian tunnels, small outbuildings behind the terrace houses and pub, an underground entrance, a park, a cemetery, and 5 five interiors (a staircase, a ballroom, an opium den, a laboratory, and a church).  Also, there are about 25 or 26 vehicles.  Although I added removable scratch built pitched roofs and chimneys to many of my building, the only buildings I scratch built completely are my Whitechapel terrace houses and pub, and for those I must acknowledge the great work of Lead Adventure Forum’s Thunderchick as my inspiration.”

How does one even begin such a monumental work? 

"When I do a project, probably because they run over several years, sometimes a decade, I keep binders with ideas work that others have done, figures, etc. When I finally get around to actually working on something like the Victorian Gallery, I go to both the things I've collected, usually in a big box of stuff and the binder. 

How did you build the Four Bells your Victorian pub? 
"When I scratch build buildings I build them around a core of Duplos blocks to make the geometric shape which gives me strength and a consistent shape I then cover them with Evergreen, JTT or Plastruct plastic. I like working with plastic. I guess everyone who scratch builds finds a medium they are comfortable with whether it is plastic, card stock or wood. For me its plastic..

 
Duplos Blocks
 

You told me you have used some ceramic Christmas decorations in your Victorian set up what are your thoughts on using ceramic pieces?

"My view of porcelain items is that they can be used but they don't lend themselves to the kind of modification you can do with resin. Every once in a while I will find something ceramic that is so unique and cheap that I will get it, but only if it looks like it can be made to work by modifications involving adding milliput or other items as opposed to carving things away from the original piece. Porcelain just doesn't allow you to carve it. I bought and used in my Victorian Gallery is the puppet theater that I got at the swap meet for $3. Fortunately the only Christmas snow on it was on the ground so I was able to hide that with Milliput scored as grass. I then repainted it and even though the puppets are a little big, I really like the piece and think it added to the look of my little park."