Dioramas

ok, here goes, it's my first article and I want to talk about making a diorama. Not a big one, just a small characterful diorama. That's why the skill-level is beginner, anyone who can paint mini's at a beginner level and has the basics of basing can try this.

So let's begin shall we? I seperated the article in episodes and chapters, that way I can easily create the article WHILE I am working on the diorama itself. I kind of feel like a chef on tv ( Ainsley, move over :P ). I plan on adding to this article each week. This is by no means a definitive work on dioramas, just a suggestion on how to handle things.





Even for small dioramas, you will need a lot of material. Well, less material will do, but more is better in this case . ...

The Ford of Bruinen ... A "How-To"
I'm sorry that I didn't take any "in progress" photos. So, I've tried to take as many illustrative post complete photos and will try to be "text heavy" to explain what I've done.






A top-down shot
The first thing was to choose a basic layout and materials. I decided to use foam core board as the base; foam insulation board to build up the shore and the cliffs, pour plaster for the water, and use foam putty to sculpt the horse water



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Building the shore and cliffs
There are plenty of places on the web to find how to do this. So, I'll be brief. Using foam insulation board, cut pieces that follow the shape of the base. Stack & glue w/ hobby glue.






Building the shore and cliffs
After the glue is completely dry, start cutting away at the foam w/ your hot-wire foam cutter. The best advice I've heard on this has a Zen feel to it ... "cut away all the non-rock until all that you are left with is a rock."






Building the shore and cliffs
Next, I used Woodland Scenics Flex Paste to fill all the gaps and ...