Hello

I am building a large scale diorama of the Battle for Ouistreham based on the movie from the Longest Day. I have a questions

1. I need confirmation on this.. if I am using 1/35 scale tanks and vehicles can I scratch buildings that would be about 16 tall 2 ft wide and 1 ft in depth.. would that look out of proportion with the figures etc ??? I have looked at Model Train Books and they really didnt have what I need.. any thoughts???
GW

Hello George,

do you have any photos of this scene ? Second thing...
16 foot tall ? in 1:35 its about 60 yards of height in original, what kind of building you d'like to build ?
Usually best looking proportion is golden ratio
its about 1:1,6

Cheers

Wojtek

Hello

Sorry about the dimensions... its 16 inches tall about 2 ft wide and 1 ft in depth. As for photos I dont have any but I use YOUTUBE as a valuable source for this diorama. If you type in Battle for Ouistreham Longest Day the MOVIE will come up.

I am tring to build what Bob Letterman calls SUPERDIORAMA..He is a professional modeler in the US and has helped me with some other issues, The scene will look like an actual city just in scale..GW

The correct proportion would be what actual buildings are...

That said, you need to be careful to actually make sure your subjects can actually be viewed, and not just covered by buildings.

Hello

Thanks..I thought I might have the correct scale for the buildings, Thanks for pointing out the soldiers..I need to figure out doors and windows?? THANKS
GW

George

make first try with shoe boxes and other very simplified mockups, then make some photos. Think about this like about picture... Very big dioramas are usual very hard to finish, I know something about it

BTW sorry for my English

Hey George ,, one little trick is along the same lines as what Wojtek said ,, but try using card board , measure what you want and fold and bent to the right size ,,this will give you a very good idea on just how big things will get and will also show ya how your tanks and figures will appear on the streets once the buildings are in place and ohh trust Wojtek and I when we say how hard a super dio can be to finish ,,can be a huge pain
I'm building 2 for a customer now and both aint small at all , trick,,build it in small sections .make each section a small dio in its self ,,works sweet as then .

Phill

George,

I am looking forward to your dio. Not only because you want to tackle a big dio , but because a few men of the Kieffer Commando where Luxembourg boys. They flew from Luxembourg to to avoid being forced to join the german army, gained the UK and joined the Kieffer brigade.

Regarding your dio, take into account what's been said already.
Depending on the buildings you really want to build i could eventually imagine a setup with cut up buildings around the border .
The Casino is huge!
So draw your dio first and start with the most difficult building.
If the main focus of your dio is not going to work or lacks quality there is no need to continue.

There is so much to say about big dios.... :-)

but I would first like to see your plan and perhaps other buildings you already build.

Greet Bob from me! Will he ever finish Superdio 2?

Claude

Thanks AlL for the information.

I did a mock up of building etc with cardbaord and it worked great. I also plan on building each little section at at time. I was lucky this past weekend at my local military modeling group NORLAND-there was a person who builds dioramas for a living. He really gave my mock up of the building I finished with foambaoard ( including doors, floors etc)a real going over. He said it was to scale but he added alot of suggestions about doing the interior. He also told me to do one section at a time. I have started to remodel. Just so you all know the reason I am doing this is for two reason I am a huge military historian concentrating on WW2.The other is very personal.. THANKS ALL GW

Claude

Thanks for the email. When I discovered what you have done it really inspired me. When I saw the movie the LONGEST DAY, I saw the Ouistreham scene and was trully inspired and was determeined to build it some day. I plan on buying your book over the next few weeks..but if it would be alright, if I run into any roadblocks I can reach out to you,

George

HI ALL


I completed the first house for the Ouistreham Diorama and Im afraid its begining to warp. The diorama is in my basement that is unfinished and bit moist but we bought a humidfyer. I used Foam Board with spackle for the exterior .Need Help I was told to use gator board for the buildings and spackle for the exterior or use Balsa Foam Board and Modeling paste for the exterior. Any suggestions..
Thanks
George

Hi Claude

I want to purchase your book but have questions.

You and I have chatted before about my Ouistreham Diorama. I finished the house-foam board but its begining to warp because its in my unfinished basement with hot and cold temp..Does your book show step by step how you constructed the buildings. Would you suggest I use Gatorbaord or foam core board will they warp>>

Does your book show how to build roads using individual cobble stones??

Does yoy book discuss weathering tech??

Does your box show how to create a river??? I am building a 7 ft river.

Thanks
George Williams USA

I drew my plan on freezer paper taped to the bottum of my base, made of plywood, exact size of layout. In fact I left the freezer paper down and built up my styrofoam board roads and terrain on it. It also allowed me to 'play' with some tanks and fiqures on a template layout before getting serious.

Hi

I don't think your warping problems is entirely due to your basement. Foamboard, as you know, is two sections of card with a foam inner core. When you apply something to one side, especially something that is wet and dries out, it creates a tension on that side, pulling as it were. If there isn't corresponding tension, pulling from the other side to balance out the tension it will warp. Alternative to that is reinforcing the none coated side to hold it flat. For example inner walls, reinforcements etc coming off at ninety degrees to hold its shape.

You may want to look at Miniarts range of buildings as that may speed up your progress. Although most are in the style of battle damaged. They also do parts, such as windows etc. that may help your progress.

Alan

THanks for the imfo.. I dont really care for miniart building but I will use them for widows etc

George

George

LOL that's a lot of questions!

Your warping problem could be solved ( like Alan said) by adding cardboard to the inner side (Bob Lettermann uses this technique) and /or use some straight pieces of wood you can hide between the window openings and who will keep it straight. I used foamcore board by the way

My book shows the construction of the castle.

I plan to show the building of the cobblestone street in detail in the next book (if no other book in the meantime shows this ). You should find a lot of pictures how i did the street if you search a bit in my Clervaux posts here from the last years. There are not many, but always a lot of pages.
I did just finish my own 7 foot river, so indeed i plan to show some "How to " in the next book, again.

As for weathering technique for the houses, there are many to start with, so while surfing my past posts , you will also see how i did most of my walls.

I invite you to first look through the old posts, as this is a lot of text and a lot of pictures i would need to repost, it is really easier to search back a bit. If there are additional questions after that, feel free to ask them.

Estimated publication date for the next book: probably in two years or so.

If i don't answer publicly in short time, drop me a mail please as i am a bit lazy forum wise recently.

Claude

Let me ad that the book covers the whole construction of the castle, the history it's based on, the photo references, the plan, how i build the stone wall, the roof work, window making and more. 500 pictures on 8o pages.
Links to a view reviews of the book are on my homepage.

Claude

Hi George,
I am excited to see some photos of this!
Claude's book is very worth buying. I have used it constantly while building my first dio myself.

Something you may want to consider is forced perspective. Do a mock-up as if looking out a window at the rest of the diorama. Or, looking through a window into the dio.

Usually a large dio is accessible and viewable all around, so no forced perspective possible

Claude

This will focus to the dio, so that you don't get lost in the complexity of the display.

Hi George, that's a huge project! I've read somewhere that coating the foam-board with a white glue/water mixture helps to prevent warping. You could give that a go. All the best with this mate

Hi I am building the large scale diorama..couple of questions..

Is Hansa Systems a good product to use because I am building large and small scale homes. Does it warp?? Can it be painted/plaster added etc

Thanks

Hey George, my compliments to you for tackling a large dio. Be prepared to spend allot, (years) to complete it. Mine has been going on and off for some 16 years. For buildings, my favorite method is to pour large sections of plaster with plastic screen in the middle of the pour. I add lots of tacky glue in the mixture to help bond it together. Add cheap water base paint to the mix so when you damage it on purpose or accidently it isn't white. Add some liquid dish soap to the mix, will help spread it in your mold. I use large commercial cookie pans for the mold and can get a scale thickness all around. When dry, I pop it out on an old towel to keep from damaging it. Using a carpenters square, I pencil out the parts I need and saw them out. then scribe in the stone or brick patterns and cut out window/door ways. With the glue and screen, I very rarely have a break in my parts. The big thing is finding how much glue to put into your mix. Too much and it is a bear to cut and scribe. To many modelers it seems very heavy, but that works in your favor for strength and durability. A good base coat of cheap water based paint will keep from bleed through when you paint. I will have pic's in the model rail road campaign shortly, thanks to Sal for getting them there, and you will see a 2 story building there and that the method works quite well. Everyone has their own favorite method for doing buildings, so I just thought I'd share mine with you. It may work out for you, maybe not. If you do break a section off, just use some thick tacky glue to put it back together again. Hope this helps with the buildings you plan. If you have any questions, just ask away and I'll try to get you squared away with this method. bob d.