first dio tips and suggestions.

If it is a small scene like that I would go with a tall round base(colum style base) those can he bad at quiet a few art-supply stores. Those are very often used for single figure scenes and will make your figure look more like a statue, which might even enhance the message even further.

If the Hill is not too high, paper-mache and cover it with a thin layer of epoxy putty, gesso or a similar texturing material.

Also you can use ordinary styrofoam as the base. You can curve it to the desired shape and top it off with wall putty or do you call it spackle?

I have been using the same combination for a while now and it works for me.

The you can mount the styro to a wooden base of your choice.

Here are some samples of dios I have done using the said combination of materials.

thanks a lot Model Museum and Dwight. thats what i love about this site, its only been a couple hours and youve answered half my questions. i think ive got my plan of attack pretty much layed out. ill carve the hill out styrofoam, then cover it in wall putty and the stuff for the terrain. after that ill probably mount it on a column-style base like MM suggested. but i still dont know what i can use for the light. thats the only thing i havent firgured out yet. and Dwight, would the green foam like you see in pots to stick fake flowers in work? thanks again. yall are a HUGE help. later.

Jon

Here is the type of base I had in mind:

http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljpage.cgi?GNZDB102

Personally, I prefer wood over plastic as I can get them in diferent sizes..

thanks for that link MM. thats almost exactly what i had in mind. im probably going to hit Hobby Lobby within the next week and ill see if they have anything, but if not, then the one you posted will be the way to go. thanks again. later.

Jon

Adding a fixed light source to your diorama is a bit tricky and will certainly affect the shape of your base. The only way that you can achieve it is perhaps get a semi transparent picture of a sunset or something and put a small bulb behind it. The you fix this picture on one side of the diorama base. The problem here is you are forced to make your diorama viewable only from the front and sides. Also it will restrict you to make your base to have a straight (or parabolic) shape at the rear end to allow for fixing of the backdrop.

Good luck.

for the background you could take a color picture to your local copy shop and have them copy it to a transparency. a semi wraparound would look cool. you could even use a yellow or orange LED in back of the plastic to simulate the sun. it should be pretty easy to setup

QUOTE: Originally posted by infimurf for the background you could take a color picture to your local copy shop and have them copy it to a transparency. a semi wraparound would look cool. you could even use a yellow or orange LED in back of the plastic to simulate the sun. it should be pretty easy to setup

Hes got the right idea. You could get some small LEDs from radioshack or even I think Micro mark.

Just my input on the ground... Are you planning on using Putty? I would highly recommend getting celluclay or plaster and add some cheap acrylic craft paint to mix in. Then some static grass etc. I would Also recomend getting a book on dios.And Make sure that if you get a book you follow the instuctions. I didn't used to and I would only get crappy dios. On my last one I just finished this weekend I used all of the techniques described and bam, It turned out really good. Hope to see the dio when its finished,

ok guys. i hit Hobby Lobby earlier to get some supplies. i got a styrofoam block to carve the hill out of, some brown acrylic paint to mix with the wall putty(which i already had), some woodland scenics grass, and a set of Tamiya figures. im probably going to use the tutorial Dwight posted a little while back as a guide to make a tree that i may or may not use in the dio. im hoping to get some work done on the hill tomorrow and if i get far enouhg, will post some pics. ive also been thinking about the backdrop/light source ideas. what if i use an opaque backdrop of a sunset, and paint shadows on the figure and ground? is that plausible? thanks for all your input and ideas so far. theyve been a great help.

Jon

An opaque background is acceptable. However, it has it limitations if you really want the lighting effects of a say sunset. Also an opaque background will be affected by shadows caused by the natural or off-positioned artificial light sources that may cause it to become less noticeable and less effective.

BTW when you apply wall putty on the styro surface, make sure to apply it in thin layers (3-5mm) and let the layer dry sufficiently before the adding the next layer. If the layers are too thick the putty surface will develop cracks. Of course at times cracks gives the ground work a natural look when you are really shooting for cracks.

Good luck.

Thanks for that tip on the layers of putty Dwight. If you hadn't of told me that, I never would've known and my ground would have been all cracky. I got most of parts for the figure layed out. Since the set came with four figures, I kitbashed body parts and supplies together to get the postiton I wanted. I know I've been asking a lot of questions on this, but I want to make sure I do it right. I had a few ideas about the grave that the soldier is kneeling in front of. Which do you guys think would be more visually powerful: a cross made out two branches nailed together, or a spare rifle from the figure set driven into the ground with one of the spare helmets on top? I'm leaning toward the rifle and helmet, just because a cross in the ground could have several meanings, but a rifle and helmet show that someone had died, and this is where they were buried, you see what I mean? And one more question. On an M16, is it painted gloss or flat black? I've got the dio pictured in my head, but sooner or later I'm going to do a few sketches and post them as kind of a sneak peek. Thanks again for all your help.

Jon

Hmm I think I am for the rifle+helmet thing. I just assume that it reflects the haste of the burial as there is a war going on.

Or maybe I am a bit partial on this matter. LOL.

How about a crude cross made of 2 salvaged planks,
you can still hang the helmet of the top if it and maybe lean the rifle next to it.

Personally, I would drop the background idea and keep it simple.

Hi edzachary ,
Looking at what you are trying to achive and considering the lighting effects you are after I would suggest mounting your diorama in a `box` type situation.
This is a diorama mounted within a box so that it can only be viewed from the direction that you have chosen and lighting effects are therefore controlled by you. The front can be finished within a picture frame and only a depth of 2-3 inches can be seem to be much more when you control the view. Have a look if possible at the dioramas of Shep Paine, he seems to excel at this type of subject. Also FSM have done several articles over the years on this topic.

What Gary just said about the box dio. That really is the only way to manage a light souurce in a dio. If the cross represents a grave, rather that a road side icon, consider the angle of the hill and the nearness of the tree. Digging even a shallow grave right next to a tree will be very difficult due to the root system. Also, buryinig someone on top of a hill in a combat situation will place the burial detail in a very exposed position for a relatively long time.

QUOTE: Originally posted by ajlafleche What Gary just said about the box dio. That really is the only way to manage a light souurce in a dio. If the cross represents a grave, rather that a road side icon, consider the angle of the hill and the nearness of the tree. Digging even a shallow grave right next to a tree will be very difficult due to the root system. Also, buryinig someone on top of a hill in a combat situation will place the burial detail in a very exposed position for a relatively long time.

Thanks for the analysisand tips.

But maybe sometimes in war when things are done in such haste and urgency, the simpliest and immediate solutions are acceptable. When I think about it under such situations, a corpse would be lucky to be buried properly. History tells us that many were left where they fell.