Night Time Dio

that's a tough one. Perhaps if you did a shadow-box type set up? The background of that my be more convincing than a standard dio

That's very interesting... I have just built a night time scene of a tiger creeping through a ruined city. What I did to give it the shadowy effect, was just to paint the whole diorama a slightly darker shade (including the model). My next step yet is to build a shadow box around it and a small filtered light to go on top. I will then put an orange filter over the light to give the scene a hazy, burning, city-orange.

My diorama is very easy though, because it was all done in 1/144 scale!

For your project remember, shade darker and use the least amount of light possible to hide subtle details in darkness and give the scene the eery scense of night.

what about using almost black and white type colouring. Like at night when you cant see colour?

hmm... interesting project. it would be an incredible painting challenge bu ti think it can be pulled off. the most difficult part would probably be maintaining a constant looking light source.

QUOTE: Originally posted by stukabomb88 That's very interesting... I have just built a night time scene of a tiger creeping through a ruined city. What I did to give it the shadowy effect, was just to paint the whole diorama a slightly darker shade (including the model). My next step yet is to build a shadow box around it and a small filtered light to go on top. I will then put an orange filter over the light to give the scene a hazy, burning, city-orange. My diorama is very easy though, because it was all done in 1/144 scale! For your project remember, shade darker and use the least amount of light possible to hide subtle details in darkness and give the scene the eery scense of night.

Stukabomb, I'd love to see pics when you're done! That sounds like an excellent dio.

I have seen one somewhere on the web, where a german was smoking at night under a street light that really worked. It was pretty neat.

Remember seeing a dio that was done completely in shades of grey to represent an old WW2 photo. What a painting challenge. Could give it a shot though.

I would go with painting everything a darker shade of it's original colour and maybe adding a night backdrop or similar.

Of course adding lights like lit-up headlights, etc will also help..

What about a wingy thingy bomber coming in over a blacked out city? No wait, that was your other post! Shep Paign (not sure I spelled his name correct or not) had a book talking about dioramas and listed shadow boxes with mutted lighting to pull off the evening effects, now if I could only remember which book it was... hum..... anyone else remember this book?

Ok, after some research his name is spelled Sheperd Paine and the book is "How To Build Dioramas, aircraft, armor, ship and figure models, 2nd edition, 2000. Chapter 14 covers shadow boxes and has interior as well as a few exterior dioramas at night or in dark rooms such as below ships and the legend of Sleepy Hollow with the headless horseman! He uses very small bulbs like in train sets and different theatrical light gel filters to color the scenes in blues and greys! Check with your local library to find the book if you can't find one to buy. I picked up a copy a year ago on Amazon.com
Best wishes to you in your quest!