How would you indicate or suggest night-time in a diorama?? Build it in a shadow box? Paint everything black?

I would suggest using a shadow box with a tinted piece of clear styrene, so that you look through the styrene into the dio.

That´s a great idea!
I also make/ take photos using long exposure-times on a digital-camera.
But this will be a good addition to my knowledge.
Painting all in a darker tone... hmm... that´s possibly not correct and can make some problems using the "standard-types-of-photography ".
(automatic shutter and all...)

That can produce long-exposure images of the dioramas, because of the street-lightning. (sodium-high-pressure or something else)
(Also I use a special type of lighting at night. )

But, painting only some parts in a darker tone... possibly this could help and can give a nice effect!
Good idea!

Hmm, a blue-colored lamp/ light would help!
In my opinion this is the "help" for "faking night-time" in 3D-animated films and others, which I saw on TV and in cinemas.

greetings...
Soeren

How about painting the whole diorama in darker tone, and instead of builing a box with dark "windows" ,just make a roof over the whole diorama to stop the direct lightning? As for the problems with photographing the dio? As long as you get adjusted you camera for your own pictures, that would be enough for me, I would probably never get to see your diorama live anyway....

Good luck!

painting in a darker tone would work, but you would probably get the best outcome using a shadowbox. with a shadowbox, you can create lighting effects for moon light or headlights, etc

I saw a figure/vignette beutifully painted to show the night time. It was one of Alpines US figures against a wall with a lamp and the lighting effects were all painted on. I'm not describing it very well but I will have a look for you to see if I can find the pictures and then send a link.

Somewhere in these forums is a vehicle diorama painted using shades of grey which looks very realistic for a night time diorama.

hi there
hows about painting the hole thing monochrome
look here

http://www.darkswordminiatures.com/gallery/V_7403_MaleRanger.htm

or search 4 this name *Jennifer Haley* or *monochrome model painting*

Shadowbox for sure!

And if you need more "dark", you should also have some more "light" in carefully chosen items/locations (street lamp, vehicle headlamps, candles, monster eyes, o.s.) to accentuate the dark.

Don't know if this is understandable...

Here's the vignette I was thinking of:
http://www.timelinesforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10903
The guy's technique is amazing!

Take a look at this ,dynamicdioramas.org,changing of the guard.
It's the best night time dio I've seen.Not to mention how good it is in daylight.
LED lights can create some amazing effects.

Tom