My first diorama is in the making, but I do not know if it is too ambitious. I really don’t think so, but reading the forums, most people’s dioramas are small, usually comprising 1-2 kits at the most. Mine will have around 10 plus kits in it. The thing is, it’s kind of urban warfare. There will be a factory, houses, store and such. It is based in Tunisia. The Germans are attacking a rail depot held by US and British troops. There is an anti-tank ditch and barbed wire and obstacles. I have been working on it already for 1 or so years. I plan to finish it next year around the same time and if it’s good enter it in the local HobbyTown contest. Do you think it is rather ambitious? I have all summer to work on it, and summer lasts a long time if you work and work. Dont know if I phrased that right, but anyway, I REALLY want to do this, but I don’t know if I should start out with something smaller. Any input will be appreciated, but it might take some persauding to shy away from this project. WOW! This is a long entry!
Sounds pretty ambitious for a first diorama. It all depends on how fast you work, how much time you can devote to the task and how picky you are on details. With not a whole lot of time to build, working slowly and being a rivet counter myself, it can take me a year to build a diorama with just one vehicle. But that’s just me. As a veteran of many, many shows, I can pass on some advice. Think quality over quantity. A large diorama may be really cool with lots of things to look at, but a smaller, better built, more detailed diorama will win every time. The other thing to remember is story line. A diorama must tell a story. There should be a single, main topic or idea that is readily apparent to people viewing it. It’s OK to have other subplots too, in fact, that’s what makes them interesting, but don’t let your diorama get lost in a multitude of subplots, or the main idea will be missed. A strong story line on a otherwise medium quality build will win over a well built model with a poor or nonexistent story.
well, i plan to take my time and be patient and keep trying with the whole building buildings and terrain, i collected a whole bunch of posts on the forums that concern my topic, it will probably just be trial and error. there is a construction site near our house, maybe i could get scraps (not whole pieces! ones scattered about)
What scale are you using?
Good luck on your project.
mark956
1:9… lol, yea right, im using 1/35th
Sounds like a huge diorama scer16. Will be interesting to see when you are finished.
It does sound pretty ambitious for a first dio. I have finished my second dio, with several other abandoned earlier attempts floating around. There is a lot of trial and error perfecting the scenery in a dio, but that all depends on whether you buy a lot of scenery or scratch build the scenery. Price and availability limits me to scratch building usually.
I would love to do a huge dio like this, and when I’ve stopped moving around and got a few kits under my belt, I will!
Best of luck on your dio scer, sounds like it will look good.
Can’t wait to see some pics
Assuming your working from 1/35, i don’t think you’re being overly ambitious and always remember the bigger the diorama, the more techniques you can learn and put into practice. Good luck
good luck can’t wait to see some pics
Is it possible for you to post pics throughout the building process? In that way, we can see the progress, and others can give you hints and tips along the way. I am a novice when it comes to dios, but modellers like Leopold and Maffen are true dio artists and can answer your questions with experience.
Regards, Dan
10 plus kits in a 1/35 diorama?. That’s a very big project. I guess the base will be at least 1x1 meter. Can you show us some pics of what you’ve done so far?, and also tell us the dimension of your dio base?
Sounds a great idea. Ambitious, but certainly worth doing.
The only advice I would have, being your first diorama, would be to not put too many many time constraint/deadlines on it. Whilst you obviously have researched a lot of techniques you will need to complete this monster, it is hard to put a value on experience. For instance, learning to build damaged buildings is something a lot has been wriitten on, but I have only got a handle on through countless trials and errors. I would hate to see you get frustrated if things don’t turn out how you have invisaged them. If you were to do small dioramas in between, and keep this as an ongoing project over a longer period of time, your masterpiece will contain not only learned techniques, but aquired experience, and may mean the difference between you treasuring it forever and looking at as I looked at my first attempts; mere lessons.
I don’t mean to sound overly philosophical, I am as keen as anyone to see it, and posting pictures is a great way to pick up ideas and much needed encouragement.
Good luck!
And I thought my first (and so far, the only) diorama was pretty ambitious! I put Testor’s Area 51 UFO into a hangar diorama. I scratchbuilt catwalks along the walls, put in a staircase and added other stuff. I loosely based the diorama on an aircraft carrier repair deck diorama I saw in the March 1993 issue of FSM.
good luck on your project can’t wait to see it
I once ambitioned to make diorama at that scale for my first. I planned to have a convoy of Soviet tanks being ambushed by stugs and tigers. I had it laid out on a plan and had the base custom made. When the base arrived…I was shocked by the actual size of it!
I finally realized that I don’t have the space for that size of a base. I shelved the project and ended with a 12 inches by 8 inches dio. Then all my dios got smaller and smaller. My last one measured only 6 inches by six inches.
Don’t take this as a sign to discourage you. I think is a good project. But I agree with the guys for you not to put much constraints on the work specially time. Take your time to learn tricks and techniques and always give allowances for errors.
My suggestion is:
Divide the whole project into say four sectors and work from one sector to the others. If it is possible for the base to be divided as well I think it will be advantageous as far as transportation is concerned. This way you can reduce your goals into mini goals which in turn will subconciously reduce your burden. Once you have finished a sector, you will have some degree of fulfillment seeing something completed and even ready for viewing on its own. This will allow you also to manage your hobby budget because you will only need to buy things for the sector your are working on and not for the whole thing at the same time.
Good luck.
scer16, I have been building models and dioramas of one form or another for about 30 years… some good, some not so good. But the one thing I have found that runs true with all of them is: ‘As long as I had a good time doing it, and can smile at the end result, it was worth it.’ I have a dream of one day having the space to do many large dioramas, as daunting as they may be, just to be able to sit back and stare at it for hours when it’s done. So dream big buddy, you can always fix, upgrade, or change it later… just try to make it fun. If it stops being fun, what’s the point?
No not to ambitious for u, but it is for me, I will stick with small dios for the moment.
Don’t stop now. Been dreaming about doing something that big myself, just never got the guts to do it. Now, you’ve inspired me.
Very well said. Good luck to anyone who tries a big dio.
And post pics.