Diorama idea

Yes the renters would weld in roll cages and take the 350 Hs racing then return them sans rollcages on Monday,

ICM makes some 1/24th scale figure sets. They aren't hard to convert. 

OK, I can't (and won't) take credit for the house.  That was the picture of the kit from the online listing.

Good tips on the weathering.  Would have never thought of doing the porch that way.  And the windows are another cool tip.

Probably will give the figures a shot. Figure I can give them a wash of thinned dark paint, wipe it off leaving some in the creases.  For grease/oil stains, probably use a grease pencil or warm up a black crayon.  Then do a spray sealer of some sort.

As far as what an engine swap looks like, I've done enough wrenching to know what it would look like.  Never taken a water cooled engine out with a lift, only dropped air cooled VW engines from underneath.  The car up on jack stands or stacks of block/bricks.

Since I'll be building the donor vehicle I probably won't install the hood.  Either set it on saw horses, stacks of tires, trashcans, crates or barrels.  Even lean it against something (a tree, house, wall, etc).

For the MG TD flathead Ford V8 swap, I figure an engine model in the same scale could sit on a stand with the hood and sides removed from the MG.

The Sunbeam Tiger weekend racer would most likely by an outdoor scene, trees and grass background with a pit road surface in the foreground.

The Shelby GT350R would be a more professional racing team garage.  Spare engine(s), welding tanks, extra sets of wheels/tires, maybe make damage to the sides with heating the plastic so put some minor dents and bends.  And again the grease pencil/black crayon could be used to make convincing tire rubs (at speed) on the sides.

It's always helpful to work from photographs. They don't have to be the thing down to the last detail, for instance a crew taking an engine out of a car would be enough. But you'll get all kinds of information that you'd never be able to include otherwise. Like what they took off the mill first, or where they put the hood, or what you set it on while you get the other car ready.

 Tanker-Builder and The Baron pretty much said it all.

I have used sandpaper for pavement, but I spraypaint a light coat of Panzer Grey over it then seal it with Dullcoat. Then if neccissary I use a Flat Black wash.

DO give the figure's a try at least..... they lend so much to a static display. They give the viewer a "Hint " of  action.

Rotate the house slightly, too, so that its walls are not parallel to the edges of your base.  That adds a little visual interest.  And thanks, Shep Paine, for that tip, back in the day.

Hi Jay;

 Nice little old house .You can use oils ,  enamels or acrylics to get the weathering you need . I would , if you can  ,get some clear sheet and do the window glazing . A sooty black drybrushed between the foundation stones , or even dark grey would look swell .

  You also can use a wash on them Wiping away the overage .Now on the roof use ash , flat black and some light runs of deep hull red . Start at the roof ridge and wipe downward toward the eave edges .This will age the roof ..

  You should have weathered the porch deck Before you assembled it . But you can still weather it . Take Light grey in a wash Pour it on the porch and then tilt it and let it run off the edge . Before it dries wipe away a bit of it in the traffic areas .

 Note;

 You want to put something inside to keep from looking through the house . Model RailRoad guys put Black or Dark Brown baffles inside to keep the see-through appearance away . Another thing .When you glaze the windows , Paint curtains on the inside of the glass or represent roll up old fashioned shades half drawn in the window . Or do both !

 I would also paint the porch pillars and rails the same color as the outside window trim .T.B.

Hello Jay!

I think you should try to do those figs - after some practice I'm sure you can get satisfactory results and they really bring life to a dio. Without them it can look like "nice, but where did everybody go?".

As for the pavement, you can gat a very good pavement out of fine sandpaper, like here:

As for concrete, I got nice results by laying acrylic putty (wall repair style) and some black wash on top of that:

By the way that shows you that the figures are important!

http://vietnam.net.pl/M55mod3pl.htm

Good luck with your dio, have a nice day

Paweł