Frank Varsanyi, who has been creating the ''Tribal Warrior Collection'' for the past 25 years, is setting up shop at Lakes District Museum.
The exhibition opens tomorrow and will run until January next year.
It is his first exhibition outside his St Clair home and includes life-size sculptures, a total of 48 men kitted out in traditional regalia.
Five Samurai soldiers complete with armour. Aboriginal figures - in authentic dress. And other instantly recognisable tribes: Zulu, Maasai and Kongo.
Others are not so obvious, such as one from the eastern Pacific who are the most tattooed tribe in the world.
Mr Varsanyi, the former owner of Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, said the collection would transport people back in time.
''They are 100% genetically correct. Everything is researched from old books in the 1700s and 1800s. Everything is spot on when it comes to tattoos and paintwork; it is not my artistic impression.
He started making the models 25 years ago after a trip to Borneo where he volunteered at a orangutan sanctuary in the Southeast Asian island.
This was followed by trips to the Amazon, the Sahara Desert and Mongolia.
He starts off building a frame, then adds jib and clay to create human features. Glass eyes and dentures are added - and he uses horse hair.
He has given some of his earlier models a facelift - to bring them up to standard.
Over the years he has perfected his craft.
In the early days he bought glass animal eyes, sanded them down and painted them. Now they are bought off the internet.
Mr Varsanyi took the collection by truck to the museum
last week.
The sculptures were taken apart in Dunedin and reassembled when he reached Arrowtown.
Museum director David Clarke was blown away when he first saw the collection in Varsanyi's home.
''He has created something quite special without huge resources and is totally passionate about tribal cultures from around the world.
''I thought it would be the perfect summer exhibition combining art, history and culture all with a wow factor.''
Mr Varsanyi hopes to open a museum in central Queenstown to house the models once the exhibition finishes. He is on the hunt for premises - and plans a move to the resort next year.
