This diorama won GOLD in LOTR category at italian Golden Demon 2006! ļ
I finished it at 4 a.m. in the hotel at Milano and 5 hours later I entered it at italian GD!!

I love Tolkien ¡¥s novels and this is my second LOTR diorama (you can see the first here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/37048 )

The idea: in Tolkien¡¦s novels Bilbo is the main character and also the author of a book entitled ¡§There and back again¡Ka hobbit tale¡¨, the diary of his adventures: so I literally put him IN the book he wrote, symbolized by the ¡§diorama-book¡¨ that contains the scene¡K

My main inspiration has been ¡§warhammer quest¡¨ diorama by Mike Mc Vey, one of my favourite miniature artist ever.
For the scene I used mainly plasticard, green stuff, milliput, balsa wood, photoetched plants. The book was a real little book :I glued together and engraved the pages and repainted the cover, then I decorated and weathered the main page.
The Shire ¡¥s map (handpainted on a paper foil, then weathered and glued on the book) is inspired by that on the first GW LOTR rulebook and some others Middle Earth maps I found on the web.
The most difficoult thing has been to realize a diorama in a so little space: less than 1,5 cm of depth!!
Thanks to my friends who helped me with suggestions and to all the painters of Legio Pictorum for the great support at italian GD!!

Last but not least: this diorama is a gift for my girlfriend Viviana!

Ciao
Luca