Total rookie, wants to build diorama

Hi guys,

I’m totally new at building dioramas. Me and my son are doing some painting of figures at the moment, just for practice. I’ve been fascinated by dioramas since I was a small kid and used to look in the Tamiya catalogs with envy of the people creating them.

I want to build dioramas now, I have the time needed and the money to spend. And, it’s great bonding with my son. But, I live in Japan and the only thing they sell here is Gundam models (not only, but it feels like that at least). I have ordered some figures from US, but lack the material for groundwork. I can’t find any here in Japan, so I’ll guess I have to order it. Paint is available from Tamiya, but that’s about it.

Now my question(s); Can anybody point me to a sight that sells everything needed? Plaster, bushes, trees, cobble stone road etc… And what is needed to start building? I’m a big WW2 and Vietnam war buff, so that is what I want to build.

/Lars

Here’s a few:

Great Models Webstore: http://www.greatmodels.com

Squadron Mailorder: http://www.squadron.com

Michigan Discount Models: http://www.discountmodels.com

Some closer to you, (HK):

Lucky Hobby: http://www.luckymodel.com

Honbby Easy: http://www.hobbyeasy.com

Good luck.

I understand wanting to just buy the stuff. But, there is wide range of things that you can find in the yard to use. Also, don’t over look the Railroad stuff (half of what I use is from here).

Grizz

Thanks for the links. Great tip about railroad, I’ll check if I can find something tomorrow when I go checkout a new store I found in Akihabara.

Calling J-Hulk. Homer, I suggest you find a very nice member of this forum; J-Hulk.

LInk to his profile:

http://www.finescale.com/FSM/CS/user/Profile.aspx?UserID=8769

He’s the residen’t Japanese expert, and a super nice guy to boot. I"m sure he’ll be able to help you out in some context, as he’s informed us, and made plenty of us very jealous with all the things that are available to modelers there in Japan.

And nothing wrong with tamiya paint, it’s what I use almost exclusively. Just practice mixing your own shades.

Stop it Zoran, you’re embarassing me!

I ain’t really all that nice!
But I try.

Lars, I got your mail, and have responded. Hope the info I sent ya helps! [:)]

Hi J-Hulk,

I couldn’t find the shops on Internet. Are you sure they are still there? Or do I need to write the names in Japanese characters?

/Lars

Howdy!

The ones in Akihabara were there as of last weekend, when I visited them! I don’t know if they have websites. Pick up the latest issue of Hobby Japan, Model Graphix, or Model Art. All the shops I mentioned have ads in those magazines, usually with convenient maps. It’s all in Japanese, but should be easy enough to figure out!

Good luck!