i am thinking about making an diorama, but i haven't got any idea where i have to start. do i first have to buy all the armor and persons, or start with the surface??
can someone please help me with my problem.

thanks a lot.

Its a personal decision - but it happens from inspiration first. Many times I will get inspired by a photo or description of an event. Then I study and plan out what kits will be necessary or if they are available and then do research into what techniques will be required etc.

So - I would find a nice book with lots of pictures written about a time that interests you. Then go from there.

Hi Erik,
I am not an expert, I have only built one dio yet, but I am very convinced that there are many ways to go about building. They may come with different quality of results, but to me the most important is to have fun, not so much to make the best one in the world!
There is a very thorough article on the diorama start page "gotch covered" if you want to follow an example.
For the first one I built, I started by building a tank, and taht inspired me for the whole diorama.
For the second one, I have a nice building and that inspires me to build a diorama around it.
And the more serious folks say that there must be a story to tell, so they will probbaly say that the best is to get the idea of the story or what the dio should look like, and then plan accordingly in order to achieve it...

My 2.5 cents

Hoi Diederik,
Congratulations on your first post!The other guys will no doubt point you in the right direction.
If there's one piece of advice(i am by no means an expert) that i can give you and that is your PLANNING.
Click here to go to the features section.There is a wealth of info there from the other guys with some step by step guides from the planning to the finishing of a diorama.Best of luck mate,doei,Shay

I agree having an inspiration is a great place to start.

I’d suggest that then your best friend is paper and pencil. Sketch it out and try to think about the story you want to tell. Don’t worry if you’re no artist, all you’re trying to do is think about what you want to show. A crude square is a tank, truck, ship, car or airplane at this point. A couple of squiggly lines is a road, river, dock, wake, runway, you get the point. Try to think about what each side of your dio is doing. And, if you don’t like what you drew, wad it up, throw it away and try another idea, paper’s cheap, plastic is expensive.

Then you can start to worry about all the little details, weathering, landscaping, architecture and figures. Check out Shep Pane’s books for more ideas and techniques.

Diederik,

as we say over here "There are more ways that lead to Rome".......

Two things are essential :

- Inspiration
- Research and planning

If you don't know what will be in your dio, then the first thing to do is to get caught by an idea....don't let others talk you into what you should build....let it be your own idea... only when it's your own idea you can really dream it and, like Walt Disney said...... "when you can dream it, you can build it....." and it's true !!

Finally, when you had your dream on what it should be, start planning...think about what to build and how to build it and...in what sequence itshould be built. Dream the scene and the way on how to get there... be sure to make notes and sketches along the way. Only with proper planning you can avoid mistakes later on in your building stages.

after the dream and the planning, start building...by then you'll have it all figured out and you'll know what to do first.

Accessories and vehicles, figures etc. you can buy along the way...a few pieces at a time. You can't build it all at once anyway....This way you're avoiding the loss of big bags of cash at once. This way you can also save money for things to buy.... when money is no object, then buy it all at once :-) .... this gives you the time to buy even more (unneeded) material later on :-)

Good luck Died and be sure to keep us posted on the progress.

Like the others said I would flip through some books or Google for information for whatever period you are looking for. Then just let your imagination take over.

I always flip through my old magazines, look at others dios, and look at historical references. I see something interesting and think, hmmm, that would make a good scene. Then I basically go from there planning it out.

For your first dio I would start small and then as your imagination grow, let your scene grow as well. I would try to avoid to large a scene becasue you do not want a lot of deadspace. Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Cheers,
Salvo

thanx for giving me the advice i already started.

i first made all out of polystrene and then i right now bissy looking whati can put the best on top of it i already have(dont know how to say it in english) muurvuller instead of gips. maby i will put some pictures on this.
thanx