This was my first Diorama

Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Tips for making of scenes and dioramas.
Once you have a few figures in your collection, straight from the box or kitbashed , a frequent next step is to create a background scene to better display them. These pages contains hints and tips towards creating scenes and dioramas for your 1/6th scale figures.

A diorama is simply a scene, recreated in three dimensions. It is a moment in time captured in your imagination.

Making dioramas can be a challenging aspect of the hobby to 1/6th collectors, and is most frequently explored by those

who wish to display their characters/figures in a more interesting setting. Dioramas can range from the simple to the highly complex, each one a testament to the imagination, creativity and skill of the creator. On these pages, I will show you Dioramas made by others in the hobby, and links (above) to dioramas made by myself. Along with those photos, you will find tips and tricks on how to make your own scenes, scenery, etc.

I Believe the current MASTER of the simple diorama is fellow collector Silent Death. His website showcases his talents,

and I have borrowed a photo for display here to tease you into seeing his work. Silent Death proves that you do not need

elaborate scenes, buildings, or displays to create a vivid diorama. In fact, Silent Death does more with a clump of grass

and a figure than many many people can do with an entire tabletop of scenery. His work speaks for itself. View it here.

German MG, Eastern Front
by Silent Death

Silent Death's Work
I personally believe that Silent Death is the master of the single figure diorama. His bases are excellent, his figures phenomenal, and his artistic sense of posing and action are intense. He is a master of this medium in every sense. If you want to see how to do more with less, you MUST see his work.

Just click on the link below and see all his beautiful creations.

Silent Death


	Starting simple: Two pieces of wood, nailed/glued in an 'L' shape, are easy to do. They allow your figure to sit on a table, shelf, or even hang on a wall. You can simply paint a background, and place your figure in front of it, or add a bit more realism with some ground texture (plaster), plants, wall remains, etc.. One of our club members (Doug) did this simple piece, using two pieces of wood, some plaster and paint. Very effective! These simple displays make your figures really stand out on the shelves.
Try to keep it open: I tend to create my diorama's as small portions of the real world. Rather than build an entire room, simply create a corner. Don't construct a whole ship, just one small portion. All you need to tell your story is about 10 feet of 'real-life' room. That equates to about 24 inches of diorama or less. Think of the famous Elian Gonzales picture: a tightly focused picture of a SWAT officer, a man, and a child, coming out a closet door. You don't see the house, you don't see the rest of the room, the bed, dressers, etc. Just the important things. Man. Weapon. Child. That is all you need to see. Doing too much more and you will be overwhelmed with the details. Start simple, and add on as you get experience. In this case, I simply wanted part of a wall to portray a farm house. I intended to put a ceiling and a roof on it, but found that it simply detracted from the viewing of the scene.

	Construction materials Open your eyes up to the world. Nearly anything can be used to build your diorama. For my Anzio scene, I needed volcanic rock. I looked at my gas grill, and realized that I had a ready source of real volcanic rock, the perfect size. To build walls, you can simply use scrap wood, about 1/8th inch thick. Panelling works well too, as does a material sold as 'door veneer'. You can add wallpaper, paint, or even plaster to the wall. I created wooden floors out of oak trim, and the trim created 1/6th scale 'planks' of a perfect size for the floor. The Vietnam Medical station was a wicker cabinet that I cut apart. I rescued it from a roadside trash pile. I thought the wicker would make nice bamboo in a jungle setting. The shelves are scrap wood from the garden section. The table is a piece of composite board, with trim. Another nice bamboo material is the small bamboo stakes that garden centers sell for plants. It scales perfectly to the 1/6th world. Look around at other scale models. I have a ton of old 1/35th scale material left over from my childhood (the first one), and many of those items can be used as miniatures in the 1/6th world. For example, an engine out of a 1/35th model makes a nice small motor for a pump, generator, etc. in the 1/6th world.
Creating details: My dad used to tell me "Don't sweat the details.", and I try to remember that as I create. I love the little touches here and there, but I don't sweat getting everything 'perfect'. You will drive yourself crazy trying to find the perfect typeset font for the cardboard box the ammo comes in. Instead, make the box, and let it be. People will not be looking at your creation in order to criticize it, they will be looking for things to be impressed by. I used scraps, rags, and labels from VCR tapes here to add 'details'. Sure, they aren't perfectly correct, but they seem to add general detail to the overall effect. The clipboard doesn't have text, simply some writing and scribbles. One of the 'bottles' in the background has a label that is simply a VHS label placed upside down. I didn't have a face mask for the Oxygen bottle, so i simply ran the hose into a pouch, and let people's imagination do the rest.
	Weathering and damage: Weathering clothes, the safe way: An alternative to bleaching. A simple trick to weathering clothes, without fear of damage (from bleach, sandpaper, etc.) is talcum powder. Simply rub talcum powder into the clothing, to lighten it little by little. It can be applied in spots, like elbows and knees, or all over to simulate many washings of the item. Lighten pants separately from uniform jackets, to add to the effect, as many soldiers washed their pants much more often than their jackets. Talc is safe, even for our youngest modelers, and has no long lasting side effects. Too much lightening? Simply dust it off, and start over. Or, wash it in water and some soap, and you are back to normal color. You can't do that with bleach. Need dirt? Use RUST. Find an old rusty nail, saw blade, metal part, and simply rub your clothing with it. The different colors and layers of rust you can find will guarantee you will have multi-colored dirt on your clothing and equipment. No two dirt stains are ever alike, and no two rust stains will be either. Again, like Talc, MOST of the rust stain will wash out, but not necessarily all. Need camo netting? It is an old trick, but it works. Use cheesecloth. Buy it at a hardware store, and cut it to fit your needs. If Cheesecloth is too loose, use a roll of gauze first aid wrap. The weave on that is tighter, but the widths are preset at one-three inches, usually. To quickly camo either one, I love spray paint. Green, black and rust/barn red are great background colors for jungle came. Simply spray sweeping 'splotches' of each on the white cheesecloth/gauze until the entire item is covered with mixes of all three colors. Spray lightly, unevenly for best effect. You can then add better detail with hand paints, but using the spray effect makes wonderful background on the sheets. I have found the same tactic works well for dirt and ground on my dioramas. Prepare the diorama base with sprays of black, rust, brown, etc. and then when you add rocks, mounds of soil, trees, plants, etc. there is a nice uneven color to the ground that shows through when done. You can hand paint the details, but leave the big background work to the 'impressionists' and spray paint. It has been said elsewhere, but you should stuff any pockets at least lightly with scrap paper, cloth, etc. Even those packing peanuts can be useful here. Most soldiers had items in their pockets and backpacks, so stuff something in there for better effect.

Putting it all together:
As you build, keep in mind that glue can be painted over, that dirt covers a lot of mistakes, and that anywhere you see a problem/mistake, you can 'damage'. Building a house, and make a mistake? Put a bullet hole there, or some smoke/fire damage.
In my Anzio scene, i placed rocks and clumps of grasses everywhere I could not reach with paint. If the glue showed, i simply 'dirtied' it up with rust/dirt/paint. Remember, the real world is rarely perfect. Don't sweat the 90 degree angles in each corner, since many older houses rarely have perfectly straight walls, ceilings, etc.

Gear:

Because weapons and gear often becomes field worn, you may want to simulate this in your items. This is VERY easy to replicate......simply take a pencil lead and begin shaving the lead.....then simply put a small amount on your finger and begin to rub your weapons or gear..... Powdered graphite (look in the key/lock section of your stores) also works, and prevents you from having to shave your pencils. Another way to get that gun metal look with pencil is to simply "write" on the weapon with a pencil then smear it. Make sure all the lines are straight and you cover the entire area of one section. This is also great for reaching in those little cracks and such. Do this sparingly, and add on if the effect isn’t enough. It is easier to ADD than to subtract.

Drybrushing with silver or chrome matte paint also works well to replicate the worn edges of helmets, steps, etc. but drybrushing is a technique that takes a while to master. Don’t try it on your showpiece without a lot of practice first.

To make easy 1/6th scale signs, get a sign/label catalog from someone in the working world. Brady, Lab Safety, Emed all send out mailers to safety engineers and facilities personnel. The signs and labels they use in these catalogs are very nice for 1/6th scale background effects. I can't guarantee they are perfectly scaled, but they look darn nice.

Select the sheets of signs that you want. I personally just cut blocks of signs out, and do not focus on a single sign. For what you will do, working in larger blocks is better. I keep a file of paper cut outs on hand, and can make signs as I need them, or if I get bored, use the cut outs and make signs ahead of time.
I have found that the plastic 'cover' on the boxes of 21Century soldiers or Hasbro Joes is a perfect stiffener for your signs-to-be. Carefully remove that clear acetate plastic sheet from the box (I know that ruins the value of the box. But if you were a purist, MIB, NRFB person, you wouldn't be kit bashing signs for a diorama, would you?). Then, take rubber cement (find it in craft/hobby stores, even department stores), and lightly smear a section of the acetate the size of your paper cutout. Press the cut out onto the acetate, cutout on top of rubber cement on top of the acetate, and let it dry.
Once you have prepared this, you can store your signs for whenever you need them. I simply cut them out with scissors as I need them, because keeping one large section of signage is easier than keeping and sorting a hundred tiny signs.
If your sign is on a post, you will want to paint the acetate backing a nice silver/metal color. Or, you can paint the backing black, to hide the wording that will show through. For hanging signs on walls, no prep work needs to be done.
1/35th scale modelers can point you to sections of plastic I-beams and H-beams that make excellent sign post material. Your new sign is now ready to be glued/mounted. If you want to preserve the sign longer, you can coat with a clear/matte protector coat, either from a spray can, or simply apply a coat of clear fingernail polish.
When making these signs, keep in mind that the "do not" circle was not in existence in the World War eras, nor were pictograms. However, good stop signs, warning tapes, electrical hazard warning signs, no trespassing signs, etc. haven't changed in 50 years. I also found this first aid poster in a sign catalog, reduced to about 1/6th scale.
This technique also works for reproducing cigarette cartons, advertising posters, recruiting posters, pin-up girls, etc. I have searched magazines and junk mail for small photos, boxes, etc. and found that even junk mail now has a purpose. You never know what you will find at about 1/6th scale.

Hit Counter