What defines a diorama?

The condition that it tells a story makes sense. Hopefully not getting too deep into this if I say that it crosses into "art" when it's a dio. An aircraft by itself shows technical skill, but the story portrayed in the diorama pulls in the viewer, evokes emotion.....ok, deep enough!

I recall once reading that a dio should contain at least 2 figures. But personally i don't agree with that. As long as the scene is telling a story, i think its a dio. Rambo pretty much nails it on the head.

I was at a model show a couple of years back which had an open competition. The dio winner was a vehicle garage with no figures, just a vehicle under repair while my E-100 Jagd dio was put in the armour class. I couldn't figure it out, but as i don't enter comp's i don't worry how the IPMS determine the difference.

From what I understand IPMS judges define a diorama as a scene that tells a story. So if you have your plane on a grass base with a figure for scale that wouldn't be a diorama but a plane on a grass base with several mechanics working on the engine that would be

here's how it was explained to me:

a Vehicle base must not have too many accessories on it and it must be relavant to the subject matter.Also nothing must obscure view to the said vehicle ie large tree or wall.the vehicle can be depicted with one driver/pilot OR one ground crew/passenger.Chocks and tie downs are fine.......and the carrier deck is the base so that one should be fine to my knowledge.Basic groundwork like dirt and grass should also be fine