 |
Constructing the Base |
I like to build smaller dioramas since my display space
is limited and I try to get the models to fit on the base without a whole
lot of empty space. The base for this one is a simple one, made with plywood
and dressed up around the edges with an iron-on mahogany veneer. It’s quick
and easy to make, and it’s fairly cheap. As the plywood is 3/4” and the
veneer is 7/8”, a lip is also created to hold the groundwork. You just have
to be sure to mask the veneer to keep it protected from the following
groundwork and painting.
Planning must go into the making of a diorama, even a mini-dio like this.
Since I was trying to tell a story without using words, what the viewer saw
had to be believable. I knew what I wanted to show: the Topolino stopped on
a desert road for a camel in the way. It was necessary to show that the
Italians couldn’t just go around the camel, so I made the road a dirt track
and the surrounding desert a rock field. There is no way the little Topolino
could go around the camel now.
Groundwork is one thing that I have never been too happy with in my
dioramas, so I tried a new method for this one. I went to a craft store and
bought a bag of Celluclay, the papier mâché Shep Paine suggests. I mixed
this up and spread the goop over the base. I checked where I wanted the
models and figures to go and built up a small rise in the ground where there
was an open space. The tracks for the road were made running diagonally
across the base by depressing the Celluclay with my fingers. Next, I placed
a thin plastic bag over top and lightly pressed the pieces into their
positions to make slight indentations where they were to go. The plastic
kept them from getting sucked into the still gooey papier mâché, and it also
seemed to even it out a little. I then added rocks of various sizes, using
some pebbles from the backyard and various grades of railroad talus. One
large pebble was stuck into the small hill I had made previously. After
this, fine sand was sprinkled over the entire base so that every bit of it
was textured. Once the Celluclay was dry, I sprayed some hairspray over top
to keep the sand in place.
|
|
Constructing the Base |
Since my scene depicted a very rocky area, I decided to
make it grayer in appearance than the usual desert yellow. I sprayed the
whole base with a slightly grayed Armor Sand and then added even more gray
to this colour and sprayed that over the rocky area. Just as I would do with
a model, I then gave the ground a generous Burnt Umber wash and drybrushed
with various shades of Armor Sand. This gave the gray rocky areas more
brownness to them, as I had intended. With the base completely painted, I
followed up with some pastel dust, to vary the colour of the ground a bit,
and then oiled the veneer to give it a nice, healthy shine. Copyright ©2002 - Text and
Photos by Nicolas Virtue (folgore). All Rights Reserved. |
| Project Photos
|
 |
Nic
