Miniature world at military museum
Stephanie Burr
Staff writer
February 25, 2008
Stephanie Burr
Lookout
Canadian soldier figurines and their vehicles are part of a new exhibit at the CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum. The displays illustrate how soldiers survived in their vehicles during the Second World War.
The display runs until the end of May.
Dozens of tiny soldiers have taken residence in the CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum this month. The three-inch tall figures are part of a new exhibit that provides visitors a 3-D view into the relationship between Canadian soldiers and their vehicles during the Second World War.
The miniature scenes show Canadian soldiers and their various vehicles placed in scenarios reminiscent of wartime. Each display shows a meticulous attention to detail and authenticity as even the terrain is precisely replicated.
Russ Sharp and Gord Enquist put the exhibit together from Sharp’s personal collections of models, which he donated to the museum. While Sharp made all the models, Enquist helped organize and assemble the exhibit.
“My house was getting overrun with military models, and even though they’re my passion, they should be somewhere where everyone can learn from them,” says Sharp. “I’m happy to say they belong to the museum now.”
Even though Sharp and Enquist have never been in the military, they share a keen interest in Canadian military models. They’ve been building them for over 30 years, and are dedicated to making sure each replica is accurate in its portrayal of both locale and the history of each scene.
“We’re both army brats,” says Enquist. “Our fathers were in the military and we each have a deep respect for the men who served during the war and what they went through.”
To ensure that each model is realistic, Sharp and Enquist make many of the pieces, if not the whole models, from scratch.
“It’s bizarre, but model companies do not make Canadian military vehicles,” says Enquist. “There are tons of German and American kits but no Canadian ones.”
Making a model from scratch can mean either piecing a model together from odds and ends from other model kits, or creating a mould to cast the pieces for the model. Once a mould is created, resin is melted and poured into the cast and removed once hardened.
Sharp and Enquist often work from old photographs to help guarantee the authenticity of a scene.
“You’d be surprised how many hundreds of details you need to know to make sure you get the scene right,” says Enquist. “For instance, in Italy the roads are paved with giant cobblestones, while in Holland you’d see a lot of bricks. These little touches all contribute to the realism of the piece.”
Once created, a model then needs to be painted and decorated with whatever tools or equipment might have been used back then.
One of the exhibit’s scenes mirrors a German garage that was taken over by Canadians.
“If you look closely you can see the proper tools that would have been found in such a garage,” says Sharp.
