by Martin Waligorski

The winner of the IPMS Open 2007 Best-in-Show Award was this diorama by Ulf Blomgren, entitled Getting High in Low Countries. Its main subject is the ”M” type balloon used by the British Air Ministry to distribute aerial propaganda leaflets during World War II. In september 1944, such sending of fake ”Ausweis” (German identity papers) was sent from Kent, England with the hope of reaching Germany. As often, the balloon ended up somewhere else than intended…

The diorama is set around the ancient Dutch windmill. The multiple stories embedded in the main scene and the wealth of perfectly executed detail could take many minutes of careful scrutiny to fully appreciate. Every detail of the composition invited a closer look.

The group of German military sent to resolve the ”problem” is found rather busy studying the enemy propaganda…

The source of the confusion…

The owners of the property are less than happy by the entire thing.

The abundance and level of detail throughout the entire diorama was absolutely fantastic – even in secondary areas such as this.