Dio Planning

QUOTE: Originally posted by westcon After seeing all the great dio's here I've been thinking of trying and making a few of my own. I'm just curious as to how much planning usually goes into your dioramas? Do you make a sketch of it first, or just build it as you go without a real clear plan?

I'm actually in the process of planning one now. My advise is that you read Shep Paine's "How to build dioramas".

I try to limit myself now to smaller vignets or simple bases for my WWII AFVs due to size restrictions, but sometimes there is a flash of inspiration. The real difference is am I showing off the vehicle or trying to tell a story.

A lot depends on what you want to say and how you are going to say it. The real art in making a diorama is that if you simply build a few models and stick them on a base with some scenery - are you really telling the story that you want to? I find that invariably I need to mix and match figures to get the right body language.

I am going to do a dio based on AFVs Pak 40 and DMLs Fallschirmjager. I know that I want it set in Normandy during the fighting on the Cotentin Peninsula. I also know that I will probably spend the next month or so scouring my references for pictures and information so that I can clearly visualise what I want to do before I do it. (it may evolve as I build it, but I find there is no substitute for research as I like most modellers are our own worst critics)

In my case most planning is mental until it comes to getting the base together. Most of my dios are 1/35 scale so after I decide how many figures, scenery, tanks, planes etc. will be involoved I then make a few sketches to see how much room I will be needing to get proper effects. It is all a personal choice of course, but my space is limited so I try to keep it down to something reasonably small. I think I will have to move soon as I have a ton of plans and no place to put them. Have fun.

All my planning is also mental as the dio will change as I see it taking shape in 3D.

Said that I NEVER make a Diorama out of a finished kit, Dio and Kit are build together and adjusted as needed.

Westcon,I have an online build of a diorama going on now over on www.theaerodrome.com click on Forum,then models,then How to Build Aircraft Dioramas.In the early pages of this thread I discuss this very subject.Good luck with your dioramas and welcome to the club.Please keep us informed of your progress.Cheers! John.

Usually I get flashes of ideas for my dios, of all places...in bed while trying to go to sleep at night! LOL If I get a scene in my head, I make sure I quickly write it down, because usually by morning I've forgotten it. I tend to make bigger dios, I don't mean to, but as things progress, it just turns out bigger, and I don't have the space for all of these things! Sometimes I'll draw a quick scetch to give me an idea of layout, but most of the time it's kind of plan as I go.

I always draw out a sketch for my dios. Always. It gives me something to start on. Usually I also draw it on the base to help me out on placement of vehicles and figs. But as many others it changes as I go along.

I also draw out sketches, many of them as my ideas become clearer. First just the easy stuff, where the kits would be (in a general area) and then as I become closer to the actual build, I draw the vague outlines of the models/ figures. I find it helps because it gives you a general idea of the base needed and shows where the empty space will be.
Welcome to the Forums btw.

my planning:
i have an idea....a mental picture...make a list of thinks ill need, kit, foliage, etc
i make a birds eye view sketch of the dio, when i get the wood i draw it on, work on the kit, work on the ground, foliage, paint and so on.
im compulsive about making my dios and models look great....so, as an artist (paint paintings too......guess what they are of??....( i made a big A-10, another A-10 with a P40, a Stutka diving, aircraft carrier Enterprise......and many more to come.. hehehe)) i make A LOT OF SKETCHES! do research, EVERYTHING! but the best picture is the one in your MIND! enjoi- DJ

All the ideas here work real great so I will not repeat them. I just wanted to add one point. When I first started doing dio's I was 10 years old. I had no idea of unit markings or if this version of a panzer was in the war at that time...And back then the dio's were finished pertty fast. Now, I research, research, and research, and the dio's seem to take much longer to finish. Maybe thats just me...Lately my ideas for a dio start from a book I might have read.(Enemy At The Gates), (Band of Brothers), or (The Battle For Moscow) to name a few. The books have all the info you need, units types and versions, and they give me a names of locations inwhich i can start my searches with. Just an idea, and welcome.

battle for moscow? i thought the germans never entered moscow.....came close but didnt enter... ANYWAY
ITS ME AGAIN! i u need a good base i just found a buletin board with frame that was like 10 x 16 or somethin like that.... it has a frame , easy to work with cuz its cork and its 6$

You are a quick one Double D, your right they did get close. For some reason Colonel Albert Seaton felt it was a good name for the book. Just started it so far so good.

I generally have to have an idea or story in my head that I am trying to portray. Then, it all goes down on paper. Sketches from different angles if possible. It allows you to be flexible and alter your design before you actually start construction.
So, the most basic and simple technique of planing is the drawing. And in concurrence with gander_demon, I too must suggest Mr. Paines' book, as it is a very good and informative read that will give you all the tools you need.

It`s a mental image I work from or a situation from a period photo that strikes my fancy.
As I work towards that image things sort of have their way of coming together,I picture
the groundwork,the amount of vehicles,figures etc,and things change.I do a lot of dry
placing just to get the feel of the setting and while all of this is going on I keep in mind
the ideas and presentation that my mentors taught me throughout my years of modeling,Mr Verlindon and Mr Paine.

1- You must create a propose
2- Source for the idea will can be a foto, movie, documentaries, etc
3- Do mental image
4- Draw it in sketch
5- Next, decide the size of base ground and draw again, but in scale
6- Select the materials to use (kits, figures, acessories and building materials

and go...