Interesting build, cos i see that photo as parts of my school history text under the caption of scorched earth. Where the retreating forces destroyed everything that could be use by the invading Japanese army. Finally a build with a topic on Singapore. Locally most builds are focused on the Singapore Airforce aircrafts, the new Army Leopard Tanks, the old centurion and never a dio...
You can lead the way, i hope many Singapore modeller will take the move and start their grandpa story.
None of the grandad were serving in the uniforms during WW2 but they did participate in the Communist insurgents. Serving the British and later malayan forces which later became independent Singapore police

Hi Erizemen,

Thanks for your comment. Dioramas to do with the Pacific theatre WW2 are my favourite subject. It is true that not many people tend to focus on this subject, that is partly why I find it very unique and interesting. I also hope to drum up interest and get people away from German or Russian subjects, which have been done to death just about!

(I'm not a hypocrite, the Pointe-du-Hoc diorama is a one-off )

Chas

Diorama Base
Here is a plan:

The round circles are men, you can see the position for the MP and the man with gramophone (codenamed 'G'). The two parallel lines are railway tracks, and the long thing under the car is the broken pipeline.

What do YOU think? Am I planning to do something wrong, am I committing any diorama sins?

M.P
Here is some work on the MP's head. I am pretty happy with my peaked cap sculpt. I pushed my camera to the limits and this is about as good as it gets. I have NOT done any Photoshopping, I just adjusted the levels to get the brightness down.

Chas

Chas- another superb piece of art work.
DJ

No sin, your diorama is pure at heart

Hi DJ and thanks mate, but I've hardly started! I hope that I can fulfil the destiny you have bestowed upon this diorama!


That's good to know! Thanks JB.

Chas

Good progress Chas, this project is in good hands!
About the water element...as you probably already know, look at all of your options and practise before anything definite.
After the problems I experienced with my pond dio (getting resurrected!) I'd hate to see something similar happen to you with your dio.
Keep it up mate,
Shay

Chas nice work on the MP's cap. I'm sure if you bring the same level of commitment and energy to your car conversion that you usually bring to your work we're in for a treat.

Hi Shay,

I'm very apprehensive about the water and I'm definitely going to practise before applying it to this diorama.

Pat, thanks for your comment on the cap, and I hope I can continue to entertain.

Diorama base
Here is an in-progress shot of the stonework for the dock.

And the brass rod I will be using to create the pipeline.

Chas

Looking great - good progress.

Since the action is taking place on the dockside, I would suggest that you move the dockside a bit so you get more land and less water.

Otherwise good work!

Cheers/Jan

Hi Jan!

I think the photos make it appear as if there is more 'water space' than there actually is. Here is a shot from directly above to illustrate the true balance:

And some more progress on the dock:

So many bricks, I just don't know how some modellers scratchbuild buildings without doing their heads in!

Chas

Well.... Here are some minor updates for those interested.

Diorama base
Here you can see I'm working on the top layer of stone with some heavy damage in progress on the left. Anyway, I'm in a bit of a dilemma deciding where to position the two wooden dock posts. Here are a few options, you can tell me which looks best:


Or just one?

Chas

...
..
.
Take care of not doing the exact same plan as your bunker dio, more slope and damage to the wall on the left..?

Yea that is dangerous, I just realised all my dioramas involve a wall of some sort, have I 'hit the wall'? More wall damage is to come.

Chas

Ok a bit of a dilemma,

When it comes to doing the water, and that's a long way off, I am not sure if I should raise the water level to come above the picture frame, or not. Should the water level sit flush with the base, or be slightly raised. If I choose to raise it, how do I keep the water in place when it is setting?

Chas

Hi Chas,
Aesthetically, I think the water level would look the part if you gave it some form of height..err..depth.
If you look at the "Wet Feet" feature from Dominique (Vandeboer) you will see a good example of this.
It's only a few cm's but gives the illusion that it could be deeper.
It might be a good idea to PM him as he has done a number of dioramas with water elements and I'm sure he would be more than willing to help you out with some techniques.
Robert (Faust) also had some trials and tribulations making a suitable dam in his last vignette , so there's someone else to have a yarn with.
About the water, if you decide to go for depth I would try not to have it looking too clear.
Ports and wharves are always placed further away from the coastline to accommodate larger vessels and you want to give the impression that the car is going to disappear in a hurry!!
Shay

One thing is sure, don't put the water level BELOW the frame's borders, that would really look like kitty litter in the end. i would be you I would raise it at no more than 5 mm above the frame, but to avoid any leak is a real problem as I think quite a few people experienced there.
I would use some removable GREASED balsa frame which would end up being level with the actual water when poured -that would maybe allow the usual retractation but another small layer on the top when the first has set should clear up the problem.


see, if the resin ends up leaking above the balsa frame, no problem, just wait for it to be almost set and cut it out with a X-Acton kind of knife.

Thanks mate for your help. I guess my first water layer would have to be very dark or a murky browny blue colour to simulate depth.

JB thanks so much for the diagram that helps a lot. Tell me more about this grease. Isn't all grease removable or do I need to look for a certain type/brand?

Chas

Oop, you may notice the new title. Although it is now the longest topic title in the entire diorama forum, I think it sounds a lot better. I will explain to you where the title came from and why I chose it later, perhaps in a feature article if all goes well.

Chas

Hey Chas,
After reading your post again, I had a quick think about your diorama.
As you have seen with JBA's latest project, he has deliberately left certain areas of the ship to be left visible going off into the water.

With your idea, there will only be some loose debris floating around... this bought me back to an idea that Guy used on one of his dioramas from a good year or so ago.

Instead of going through the whole hassle of pouring resin, he inventively made his own water effects from a plaster base.
If i remember rightly (in short) he poured the plaster, painted it and then added coats of gloss.
As you can see here , Guy wanted slight ripples in the water, where as your water would be relatively calm.
This could be another manner of achieving the look you want, it all depends on how clear you want things to be seen in the water.

Cheers,
Shay

wow chas great progress this will be a real winner!


Martyn

If the water is left level with the frame (which seems logical to me) couldn’t something be shown floating or a structure breaking the surface to create the illusion of depth? I look forward to the build feature when finished Chas.

Can't be. Or you are doing such a plain water that a coat of plaster with a coat of varnish on it Verlinden way would suffice

If however you want to do something *good looking* which means using something resin based to show a bit of depth, you are going to get some places where the material will retract and will show the frame around, and some other places where the resin will spill over the frame.
Then you have to raise the water above the very flast frame if you don't want the whole to look klike an overloaded kitty box. This is why I propose 5mm -but 3 could suffice.
About grease, I use regular engine grease but if you do, better be sure it won't soak beneath the varnish coat of the frame.
I've been having lots of problems with my PC lately and have been using thermal grease quite a lot, it's very thick and i think it would be absolutely perfect to put as an extra isolation coat between balsa (or whatever) and frame.. i will try this myself.

[edit]
I just noticed Shay's input -well, I must say i am *really* not a fan of the painted plaster method, I do like Guy's diorama for other reasons than his water However it might work out a bit better than this particular example if you were about to use some transparent acrylic gel to do some tiny ripples (1/350 ship modeller's way) -or a THIN coat (hey Shay!) of Valejo's still water. the thing is, on my own galilée diorama, the transparency is very subtle and mostly works on the 4 first milimeters, but if you look at the diorama from its SIDE you can really look at the light pouring out of it from behind. Even if you just overload the resin with paint, you will always have a level of transparency.. Once you notice that, you can't do plaster anymore methinks..
[/edit

Hi Chas only just caught up with this one and am very exited about seeing it progress with some water,good luck mate and good job so far.

Steve

I'd go for the 'JBA touch'. You are doing a great job, and the diorama will be just fantastic.
G.