diorama Suggestions?

no offense elite, but you would do yourself a much greater service to check the last 3 or 4 pages of this forum as there are a ton of ideas and 3 or 4 other people who asked the same question!! good luck bud!

sorry but could not find much information from the other pages. thank you for tramendous help. i would not post if there was good information from the other pages.  

really, you couldnt find anything? hmmmm...my mistake then. i know a few people have been asking the same question in here lately. perhaps they didnt get anywhere either. i dont know as all i do is modern stuff so i dont follow the other stuff always. a good man to ask or p.m. is hans von hammer. he can tell ya almost anything ya want to know! good luck!

There is better than good info all over this forum. Try using the "search" function. I am not a diorama builder yet, however, you are asking pretty basic questions. I am sure all of your questions will be answered by using the "search" function.

Regards,

Jeff

thankyou all. I did find some information but not in detail. i have to know exactly what other people are using to make thier dioramas.

i have to know exactly what other people are using to make thier dioramas.

Not asking much, are ya... lol..

No two diorama builders build exactly the same way or with exactly the same materials... If you want to know exactly how one is made, you need to read up on what we've posted in here... The ON thing EVERY diorma builder HAS to do is RESEARCH... It sounds to me like you want to skip this step and go straight into construction... It ain't gonna happen...

All of us would be glad to help, but you gotta give more info than what you have..  "WW2" is pretty broad..

Here's a tip though... Come up with and idea (this is the FIRST step in diorama construction), a scenario, and decide what vehicles, structures, figures, scale, and setting you want to depict.  Then, we can help you better...

In the meantime, here's some info from one of the masters, Shepard Paine.

http://sheperdpaine.com/monogram/Ostwind_sheet.pdf

Just about every diorama builder I've ever read about, here and at other places, have started with these diorama tip sheets that Shep wrote for Monogram back in the 70s... Download and print one of them out and then ask specific questions from us here, and we'll be glad to help... But get an IDEA first.. EVERY diorama starts there.

Also, if you decide that you want to pursue diorama-building further, get a copy of Shep's book, How to Build Dioramas... If you only ever buy ONE modeling book, this one is "The Bible"..

Let us know what you decide...

i have that book and it is a great help but i just wanted to know what other methodes people use. when i research on google i get nothing so thats why i use finescale modeler as a form of research. thats what this the forumes was created. to share tips and show off your latest diorama/model ect.

I use Celluclay. Some people use plaster, or plaster-soaked bandages to make the dio base. Here's a link on my base for a  recent project;

/forums/823339/ShowPost.aspx

Here's another;

/forums/1037144/ShowPost.aspx

All the information you need is here in the DIoramas section. YOu are looking for a quick, easy answer, but you're not going to get it in one post here; you need to look through the pages here of the Diorama forumsand look at some diorama projects that are posted here, and in some of the discussions about Celluclay. Just recently there was a long post about Celluclay and the different things people use besides it. Spend some time looking through the posts; you'll find it.

 

Here's a good collection of suggestions;

/forums/1178811/ShowPost.aspx

thank you alot doog. your post helped alot.

hi you may have already decided what to use for your bases but if youre still looking then visit a florist and get hold of a product called oasis. it is what they use to arrange flowers in. it comes in different thicknesses and can be cut cleanly with a modelling knife or saw. i use it all the time. happy modelling. des

It may sound vague but the best technique is any technique that works.
For example, one guy may make walls for a building out of drywall. While others may use:
gator board
ply wood
styrofoam
luan
styrene
cardboard
balsa wood
Where you may use celuclay for ground work, others will use
Plumbers puddy
plaster
stucco
wall compound
acrylic gel medium
a/b puddy
bondo
Aves apoxie sculpt
Its really up to you what you want to use and how the finished project will look. If it passes your muster thats all that matters. As for ideas, think of what a diorama is. Look through books of period photographs and look at the scenes presented. Reproduce a section of these or the whole scene but make it look cohesive and remember you're working in miniature. A tank battle at the ranges of vehicles normal firing ranges won't work, but one vehicle passing a knocked out opponent or in a formation with another does. Personally I think that a "back story" for a diorama means the diorama failed. It should be self explanatory or set up in a way that the viewer can make his own assumption of the story or action. Make it work for you, the viewer should not have to work for the diorama.

thank you this helped me and im sure this will help many people.!

 

-Adam

I suggest that once you start building it, you post photos of your progress here.

At least that's what I'm doing and have received many helpful tips from the more experienced members here.

 

ok! im going to start to make a diorama in a month because i need to go shopping for my models and upgrades.

i should make a diorama about the last supper with Jesus in 1/35 scale! i think that would be Elite!

EliteModelling wrote:

i should make a diorama about the last supper with Jesus in 1/35 scale! i think that would be Elite!

 

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.... that'd be awesome....  How did you get from World War 2 to the Last Supper??

Well I was at church(like every Sunday) and I was thinking about ideas for a diorama and we were talking about the last supper and it just came to me that I must make a diorama of the last supper. WW2 is interesting but the last supper was never done before so it seems like a good idea. It would be nice to get it into a fsm magazine on the front cover! Ha ha ha. The holy phrase of finescale.

Go for it... A diorama is a diorama...

I have heard of a weird way to make glue! You get some white foam and put it I'm gasoline. The foam melts into a thick sticky substance that drys up over time! It's weird put neat but I would not do it.

lol yeah, gasoline will certainly melt foam, but white school glue isn't exactly that expensive, and when it comes to dioramas, its probably what I use more than anything else.

As for materials...I use whatever works, but primarily celluclay, balsa wood, and plaster, along with sheet styrene, foil, wire, etc.

A Marder III and Panzer shrek crew? Sounds like a urban or hedgerow tank ambush scene. Becaues of the range of weapons I would suggest placeing the anti-tank weapon at the back and have the shrek team closer up. In combat the would keep apart to avoid and fire drawn to either. A turn in the road is a great place for this type of ambush, or say a bridge.

A floor tyle turned up-side down makes a great base, it won't be distorted by water and is always square. Get a few extras in various sizes to use as mock-up sizes to your scene. I used tyle grout on one diorama, its easy to work with and takes a long time to cure. Water can be used to smoothen as well. Just have wooden mock-ups of tracks, foot prints ect as you don't want it on your model untill ready to secure to base. Once cured it is very hard and will destroy drill bits, plan ahead for any holes ect you will need to secure trees or such. The model railroad section of your hobby store has plenty of ground material and even per-built trees. Good luck!