R is for the Replican Era - PW3

Occurring sometime between the Napoleonic and Victorian eras, was this little known era, laid-down in a strata of the chalk-marls of West Sussex and revealed by the work of two late-Victorian Gentlemen-explorers; Professors' Cole and Morgan, who mounted the archeological dig seen here.

The main trench 'Circa 1870' was cut horizontally into the South Downs (near Lewes I believe), and immediately revealed itself to be a rich seam of historical artifacts and the petrified remains of the lost denizens of 'Replicants' culture.

Old Ma' Gunslinger carefully removes chalk from the time-deposited cast of one of her long-lost kissin'cousins, with a paint-brush, while other assistants count treasure into a handy plunder-chest, all watched by a spy on the heights, was he from Helmet Models or King & Country; what was he hoping to learn . . . we'll never know!

The fashion of the Replicants was clearly heavily influenced by the shenanigans of the American West, away over 'The Pond', but articles reflecting C15th life and Nelson's Navy were also uncovered and while study of the era is still in its infancy; there would appear to have been a dandy element to the professional class, even as the hoi-polloi favoured leather, denim, animal skins and wide-brimmed hats?

Here a calcified fossil has been successfully removed intactum with a slab of the enveloping Replican layer, although when I say 'intactum', it's clear that the body lost a leg before final entombment, probably to that wildest of animals; the converterii plasticus, but the Shottium Shortus can leave similar damage!

Meanwhile; we see a brown-boxy being used to record the find; each find was meticulously annotated, measured and where possible photographed in-situ, for future generations to try and make more sense-of, a moment we are - I believe - still waiting for!

The expedition took along an artist, not knowing he was from the school of Visual Associative Expressionism, and the 'Vista of seascape with headland and forest III' hardly did justice to the portraying of the humanoid remains in front of him!

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Seen after it had been put-away in its transport box, this charming diorama was on the Replicants stand at the May Plastic Warrior show, made by Dan Morgan from Peter Cole's Replicants figures and scratch-built scenic items, most of the figures should be available (in their more normal forms) from Weston's Toy Soldiers.