I have been trying to wrap my head around the sizing for diorama’s. So if your useing 1/72 armor and vehicles what size should your buildings be? 1/72 as well? also if your incorporating air craft into it what size should those be? Should everything be the same size scale wise? Been reading alot about it and i am tempted to purchase the book “How to Build Dioramas, Second Edition” http://www.kalmbachstore.com/12136.html but was woundering if it was worth it? anyone else out their purchase it and find it helpfull?
Also i have never done a diorama and i am planning on jumping neck deep into it and going big first time out. I know this probably is not a good idea i should start small but i am planning big in the future. I have not decided an era of what i want to build, but basically its going to be a military base, not alot of details yet for you all i am still at the stage of drawing it all out on paper right now.
Generally all things should be in same scale unless you are doing a “Perspective view Diorama” showing things close-up and in the distance, etc than you want a mix of scales.
Said that you often can mix scales that are close in representation size. Example: for a 1/144 Diorama you can get planes but not buildings N-Gauge houses will work as they are 1/150 scale and the size difference won’t be easily noticable.
Same way that the size difference in 1/24 & 1/25 scale cars is small and most people consider them as one scale.
For 1/72 scale you could you could HO scale houses, yes there will be a scale-size difference but good planning can offset that.
Cool thank you. What about that book? have you known anyone to have purchased it? Or what is a good source for reading on how to build dioramas? Or was it just kind of a trial and error thing for you.
I have the book by the name mentioned in the above post, I’d recommend it. I have not built one yet but plan to in the future. He talks about a lot and its very usefull, almost too much info for the beginner to handle, but if you dont hurry things along it all makes sense.
Get the book and read it. It is excellent. Also if you can find it, get Ken Hamilton’s book on car dioramas. It will answer most of your questions. My advice, unless you are born with stick-to-it-ness, is to start small and learn a bit about compsoition and narrative before you tackle something really big.
Wow lots of great in put. Thank you very much And i am deffinatlly going to get the book now. I will post some pictures of my plans when i get done and get some more in put.
Get the sketch-pad out and start sketching. Top view for layout, and from from all 4 sides. A dio is a 3D object and unless you provide a solid background will be viewed from all sides cater for it.
Don’t need to be good sketches can be very rough, etc.
Another thing to keep in mind a Diorama evolves as you build it things are added, removed, etc.
This can be due to availability of stuff, etc so keep sketching when things change.
I got a drawer FULL of sketches for Diorama that popped into my mind. Few will get ralised and I got more “planned” Diorama than I can build in 2~3 life-times.
If you are just starting out [with diorama’s] I would strongly suggest keeping it siimple until you become more seasoned. It is very easy to get frustrated when diving into a huge project, even for the most experienced.
Keep your scales consistent (72nd with 72nd, 35th with 35th, etc.).
Shep Paine’s diorama book would be a good addition to any library (beginner or not). There are some tried and true methods which are timeless.
Above all, have FUN.
Don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself. Simple to start, knowledge comes with experience.
I have built Dio’s for years, but as of yet i don’t have Shep’s book. I always keep my dio’s on the simple side. I have one, maybe two, main subjects, i.e. an aircrfat or piece of armour. I use everything else to tell the story and suypport the main object. The armour i build is 1/35th, so i don’t do large battle scenes, but you can still show a vehicle in action. For aircraft i build 1/72nd, and the vehicles in such a dio would be to support it. But i personally wouldn’t mix armour with aircraft unless the aircraft was a transporter.
I am not keen on the massive Diorama’s with lots going on. The purpose of my Dio’s is to show the vehicle or aircraft in a natural enviromet.
Cool thanks guys for the input. I have purchased this book and it is in the mail as we speak. I cant wait to get it and start reading it. I have also purchased one of the downloadable articles about dio’s. so hopefully that will be helpfull too when i get around to reading it.
Some good advice here…makes me think of the difference in a diorama and a base…to me, a base is simply to show a vehicle in its natural environment but a dio goes a step further and tells a story…
I tend to stick to smaller sized bases for simple reasons of space and taste…a lot of folks get carried away with “bigger is better” with dios but simply end up with a large mess…Ask yourself, what am I trying to accompliosh with this dio?, and never use a base larger than you have to. A lot can be implied occuring off of the base…and don’t always use square edges…use oval or round if your dio calls for it…
I agree start with a simple base/custom base and work up to a vignette and than a Diorama.
Tamiya released a few sets of Diorama(base + buildings + figures/vehicles) that might be a good starting point, granted basics only are supplied.
They also released a few planes + some ground stuff which might be a good starting point, plus a few sets of planes and vehicles.
Might not be to your liking but there are also a selection of 1/32 Japanese Scenery Diorama available they start at around 500~600yen and need little else to be finished.
Alot of great advise thank you very much. I have been doing some scetches of some stuff i would like to do. Some are doable and others i think are not but we will see. One of my ideas was to do a military base located in Iraq but I can not find any good pictures of one and i am kind of winging it putting it down on paper and trying to imagine what it may look like. Ive seen the movies of the old Vietnam forward bases and have thought about doing something like that too so i dont know. Another one of my thoughts is a WW 2 Dio. Still working on it all. I am also very excited to get my how to build Dio’s book.
And i am deffinatlly going to get the book now. I will post some pictures of my plans when i get done and get some more in put.