Venturing into new territory - a diorama.

I started this originally to display my SP Leningrad RR Car (seen here ) but have realized that this well could be used to display different kits.

The base is roughly 6 inches by 6 inches. I've built a box that is slightly smaller (to account for the base's bevel) and about 2 inches deep.

The layout is shown below: the rail bed will be raised up, a retaining wall on the left side, and a roadway of some type (dirt or cobble) will be to the left of that:



And the raised "box." The front and sides will be cut down some to account for the road being lower:



And my initial retaining wall "blank:"



Thoughts or ideas will certainly be appreciated.

Mike

Hi Mike, your dio looks interesting, my only ideas are, build banking with a tank maybe rolled down it or some partisans sneaking up on it. What about adding height such as a telegraph pole?

I have a rail dio planned after my next project. Keep us updated.

Martyn

Martyn,

Because the base is so small, I really don't have room to add much of anything else; rails, a small retaining wall, and a partial roadway (at the moment, I only have the one 1/72nd Russian tank).

I will be replacing the "box" with one made of oak - to match the base. My wood shop is up and running now, so I took some spare oak and re-sawed it and ran the pieces through my planer....they're now just over 1/16th of an inch thick....or less than half the thickness of the pine I used. That should give me a little more room but not enough to affect what I can or can't put on it.

My initial attempt at using sheetrock mud failed; it was too brittle when dried. I'll have to see about getting some plaster-of-paris for that and then scribe the stone/brick work. Or....I'll give the cork-method a shot.

And, as this is my first real attempt at a base, I'm going to follow the KISS principle.

Mike

New "box" is now built to match the base.



I put a scrap piece of wood under the rail bed and put some sheetrock mud there (upper right corner) - it's been laid out so that the gravel will cover it up to the far back with some dimples in there to lay some stray gravel. Where the one piece of wood is setting (in front of the rail bed) is about where the retaining wall will go. Nothing has been permanently set yet - it can be taken out for painting.

And again, an idea of where the road/tank will be:



Mike

Looking good Mike, I like the layout now. What is the plan for the rest of the dio?

I've spent some time on creating the "ground work" and getting the box done.









Mike

I've been debating (internally) about how to do the roadway. Because I've created a brick/block/stone wall, it only makes sense that the roadway would be "finished" too (doesn't make too much sense that there would be a short wall and then a "dirt road" beside it....).

So, I am going to purchase this:


It's Verlinden's 1/72nd Road Base.

Here's a "Fireworks" version of what it potentially would look like:


The sidewalk would be cut down to one-brick-width and the road base trimmed to fit.

Thoughts? Ideas?

Mike

Brilliant work, i'm loving it!

Great to see stuff in smaller scales too, I'm intrigued as to how you're going to ift everything in. I'm sure it will look awesome though!

The small size looks very interesting!
I also had the idea, to build a rail-road-vehicle into a scene. But I choosed one of Trumpeter´s 1/35 vehicles in a scene, with as few military items as possible. But for this, there is a long way.

greetings...
Soeren

I thank you guys for your comments; they are much appreciated.
I mixed some Plaster-of-Paris today....about the consistency of a watered-down and warm milk shake. Once mixed, I took an older brush and brushed the plaster into the cracks between the "bricks." This is the mortar, more or less. I plan to take a stiff-bristled brush to it and as the plaster should be softer than the cork, it should take it down a bit:



Until I get the funds to buy the road way, I'm experimenting with different methods on painting the tracks (using another piece that I'll temporarily use for the Leningrad RR Car).

Mike

The Verlinden Cobblestone Roadway showed up the other day.

I cut a piece out to fit and gave it a quick primer. Here's how it looks now and the layout:



The rails and ties will be painted to look much like this:



Mike

Really nice work Mike, I like it!

That's a really neat little rail car and this little diorama is very cool. Thanks for sharing.

AJ

This is going to be a stunning little diorama !