I would like to post a few picture from a coming book I'm preparing with a friend of mine, László Adóba. He is the author of the book (I'm doing just the prepress and editorial work), but he asked me to put some pics up to this site to hear your opinion. (Unfortunately he doesn't speak English.)

The book is for those ones who would like to make dioramas but do not want to spend a fortune for off-the-shelf things and do not feel themselves ready for scratchbuilding. We would like to show that it is possible to build - I think - attractive dios from materials you can find around the house for free or can buy cheaply in your nearest DIY or creative hobby shop.

Al the pics are posted here with the knowledge and expressed permission of the author, László Adóba.

Terrific work László, if you send me the details of the book nearer publishing time I'll add it to the news stream here on Armorama.

Hi László. If the images shown here are anything to go by, this sounds like a very exciting book and smething to look forward to. Thanks for sharing and please keep us updated.

Hi László,

this looks very promising. I guess such a book will be useful to a lot of us. Keep going on!



Jelger

Thank you Pat, I have sent you a PM with the details.

I for one will definately be keeping my eye out for this book, pictures look amazing. I know diorama's are a hard thing for me to start, not really been and arty type person. So this book may point me in the right direction.

Paul, Frank, Jelger: Thank you for your comments!

We thought (and hoped) that this would be useful but it's nice to see that people think the same way. From our experiences on the Hungarian Makettinfo forum (where László put on his work regularly) it came clear that the most frequent problem of the diorama beginners is that they doesn't know the possible materials and the way how to work with them. Most people - including me - either tried before but the result was more than disappointing or think this a very complicated task, which requires special skills and materials.

Everithing on these pictures (except the wrought iron gate) is handmade, created mainly from different styrofoam garbage, balsa sticks from Stardust and McDonalds, tubes of garlic and onion paste or even toilet paper :-). In many cases he used air-curing creative clay what you can buy in shops which sell things to collage or patchwork. The most sophisticated tool was a cheap, battery operated grinder to create some dents on the curbs.

Thanks for the brief look at a promising publication. It'll be quite useful to many modelers. Please keep us updated on the progress.

László,

The photos/techniques look very nice. Will the book be published in English or rather will an English translation available?
Cheers,
Charles

Hi László Harsányi and László Adóba,

Firstly let me say that the photos look terrific, and the subject of the SBS certainly has caught my attention.

However IMO the greatest strength in such a book lies in the author's ability to transpose what is shown in the pictures in a logical and meaningful way to the audience. IMO unless the author can explain in words what he or she is attempting to relate, and show the progression in the photos, the SBS (be it printed in an article or book or even as an online article or simple blog) will not achieve it's end-goal: creating a model work in a step-by-step manner explaining each step in such a way others will be able to reproduce similar and learn.

So that said, I repeat that the photos and the subject matter look terrific - and I hope that the supporting text makes the book a success.

Rudi

Charles,

we are planning an English edition, the only question is the distribution. It's not a secret, that we try to evaluate the potential interest towards the book. As it will be published in Hungary on 18 April, with the printed version it will be easier to negotiate with the potential dealers. If we find a suitable solution the English version can be out in two months.

László,

Thanks for the prompt reply. I guess Rudi put my thoughts into word. The photos are fantastic but often times I need some sort of verbal explanation to be able to fully understand what I am looking at.
I will look forward to the English version as I am sure the Hungarian version will be very successful.

Cheers,
Charles

Rudi, Charles:

Thank you for your hints! I attach a sample spread of the book which is quite tipical as far as the proportions of the text and pictures. As you see the pictures are numbered and the text goes on referring to them. We tried to show not only the "what" but the "how" also, calling the attention of the most common mistakes, problems. The light blue highlighted blocks in the text are general advices or additional infos.

We had in fact a quite easy editorial process with László (we have the same first name): I was the perfect "test-bed" for the book. I have never had the courage to start a dio, although I have the enthusiasm to try it. If something was not clear for me we were sure it won't be clear to our intended audience either.

Hi László
I think this book looks quite promising mate. What little we have seen of the layout gives the impression of something practical, and to have the materials readily obtainable and on the cheap is great. I have to say that is one of the best concrete footpaths/sidewalks I have seen in scale!
Cheers
Brad

looks very promising, looking forward to the final product

Yes an English version would be great and nice work on what I have seen.

Excellent!

This is exactly what I need to get started with dios. Looking forward to this publication as well!

Rob

This book is definately somthing Dio Builders will find very useful. Thanks for sharing this. milvehfan

Hello Laci, who is going to sell this book in Budapest? I am really interested in buying a copy while I am here.
Arpi

Hi Árpi,

I've sent a PM to you, check your account.

László Harsányi wonderful stone wall especially with the greenish rising damp, I can't remember if there was a price for this new book, and obviously when and how would someone be able to order the English edition, how many dioramas, pages, does and will it cover varied builds, painting, while the photo's are probably the best I have seen, is that purely for us, or will most pages be that high in detail ? Sorry about so many questions, however most of the replies seem so excited I thought I'd be the bore that asked the blunt stuff, so, sorry for that. Look forward to your replies.

Hi Alec,

I'm trying to answer everything. The book is 64 pages + cover, full color. The size is 164x242 mm, roughly an Osprey book, slightly bigger. The English edition is a sure thing now, in fact we are preparing it, projected issue date is sometime at the end of summer, but do not take it as a promise yet. The price of the Hungarian edition is cc. 10 Euro, we try to keep it for the English one too.
The book is not about individual dioramas but about techniques, so although most of the pics are taken from the same work, there are sets which shows only specific solutions and not the parts of the main composition. From this concept comes the answer for the "is that purely for us" question: yes, 100 percently. This is not a showcase, but more of a manual. You can see the general layout of the book on the picture I linked into one of my comment above or the ones posted in the news section.

László

Hey, László! I'm wondering what's the brand of the book or what company will sell it so I can look you up at Moson?

Bajtur

sure, we can meet, we well have a desk somewhere near the entrance. The first photo of this post is the cover of the book, so look for our roll-up banner! The book is published by my company HarVar-d Design Studio (we are a design/DTP studio when not doing modelling).

OK, now I know what I want for whatever holiday comes up next !!

A very impressive effort that obviously has the new dioramist in mind. I don't do military (sorry, folks) but I do scratch build dios to showcase my models in their "natural" habitat. As such I need all the hints and techniques I can get. It's so much easier than trying everything 17 times before I stumble on a solution. And a lot cheaper, too!

What I need to know is how to get this as soon as the English version is available. PLEASE remember to let us know through this site with the who, what, when, where and, most of all, the how.

And, before I forget, thanks to both of you Laz's for going to the trouble of doing this.