Hey guys or girls!

Dont know how many girls there are though! Okayget to the point i know! Eh i have planned a dio! i have just compleated a M10 achilles and have ordered some figuers toit! all i need now is a dio! But as you can see i am a newbie to dio's! So my questions is!

How do you do the groundwork and which materials do you use!

How do you create a good dio that shows a beatifull landscape and shows a story or action!

my idea is! two crew men standing around a tank, one holding a teacup and the other is about to ask if it "is time for tea! sir"! which i also have planned to call the dio! The dio have i planned to be depicted in normandy!

So my final and last question is! how do you create a normandy landscape!

hope you can follow me and help me!

It is quite a long process. Your best bet is to invest $20 retail and buy How To Build Dioramas 2nd Edition, by Shepard Paine. He covers everything about everything to do with dios.

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Well you've got one step done in the process (well more than one, but as far a diorama goes one) - the primary story - Tea Time.
The next thing to do is expand the story and get a really solid idea of what you want to depict - basic tea, serving and drinking, or time check, one guy holding up a tea pot, the other checking his wrist watch, or finishing, two guys with empty cups looking for more..... endless process - you decide...
From there is down to research, figure out who drank tea, officers, enlisted, did they drink together.... Then find out how and where and when what equipment did they use etc etc.
In your diorama the AFV is the backdrop not a major player in the scene so in reality, it's not as big a deal as it might be in other situations. It can really set off a scene and make it fantastic or it can just sit there.
Plan this project out, make card board dummies of all the figures and AFVS etc and lay them out on a base and work out the details early. It's easy to change now in cardboard vs. later when the base is built or figs are painted.
Once you have the composition then its down to the construction. Ground work can be many differen things, grassy field, muddy road, sidewalk, street..... If you look through the features and find ideas and techniques
here area couple
https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/569
https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/142

Ask as you go...

Hi Daniel:

Welcome to the world of dioramas. The first thing I always say to newcomers is don't be intimidated because dioramas look far harder than they really are. The best thing to do is get started and learn while doing.

As for Shep Payne's book, I don't recommend that newcomers purchase it (which I did). Not that it does not have some good information, but because you can learn just as much, if not more, from the internet, for free.

In addition to the articles Scott pointed out above (and Scott is a great source as well), please look through all the Diorama articles on this site and then, if you have questions, ask them here and I am certain you will get prompt answers. Check out this website: http://users.pandora.be/ronny.noben/website/index.htm
It is run by a member here (Roadkill) and has some excellent articles by another member (Keith Forsyth) that serve as excellent guides for beginners.

Hope this helps.

Keith

I highly recommend this book

Terrain Modelling
by Osprey publishing.

Best investment I have done so far

I got that book a few weeks ago. Fantastic.

Daniel welcome to the wonderful world of dioramas. The Terrain Modelling book that Jan mentioned is excellent. It shows you a lot of diffrent ways from start to finish on the ins and outs of dio building...

As for myself, for the basic groundwork..Of course , plan out how you want the ground to look. ex: do you want flat land, hills, rivers, whatever. Sketch it out to use as a diagram. I use basic styrofoam cut and shaped to get the basic layout i want..then simply cover this with a layer of celluclay. Celluclay can be tinted as applying or can be painted after its dry.
As far as creating a beautiful landscape, the best advice i can give is research your topic. If you want to recreate a beach at Normandy..search for and read as many articles as you can on the subject. But also draw from your own logic too...Do what feels right for you..be original. There are a variety of diffrent materials that will enable you to create almost any scene you can imagine.

Mary (++)

Hi Daniel!

You could check out these sites :

http://www.missing-lynx.com
http://www.ww2modelmaker.com

You probaly know them, but better safe than sorry.

Also magazines like Military Modelling and mags and books from Verlinden Publishing could be a good investment. You'll get inspired from those - no question about that.
Would like to see/hear how you get along.

Simon

Okay thanks to you all and mary for letting me know that there are girls on this site ! , I think have to buy the book that jan proposed! But thanks to you all for helping a newbie to the wonderfull and frighten world of diorama! . Keep up the good work everybody and happy modelling!