Mad Clown Miniatures Diorama

[moonmin82]

In preparation for my table at Salute 2014 I am building my first diorama! The survival horror inspired corridor scene will promote some of my new resin releases, The Faceless.

Today I received a delivery of foamboard and set about building the basic structure. It's fairly sturdy and although not yet glued it fits together pretty well. Here's a first glimpse:

 

[ten ball]

Great start mate, glad to see your getting on with the foamex.

 

[moonmin82]

Thanks 10! It's been great fun so far. The real fun will begin when I start building up the details. The corridor will be heavily inspired by the original Resident Evil video game. I can't wait!

 

[moonmin82]

Here are the basic components so far...

There is the basic front, back, sides and floor, like a five sided box. There is also a further "side" panel which serves as a support to the middle of the base. I also cut a further back panel with guide holes for the three "side" panels.

I printed off a number of patterns: wallpapers, doors, rugs and paintings (from the Resident Evil and Silent Hill video games). The wallpaper will ultimately be used in my diorama but everything else is for reference only:

 

[Dragonsreach]

A visual tip for the door, inset it into the backdrop, but make the door frame stand out.
A styrene sheet with a cutout for the door to sit in and styrene strips for the frame make the effect work.

 

[moonmin82]

A visual tip for the door, inset it into the backdrop, but make the door frame stand out.
A styrene sheet with a cutout for the door to sit in and styrene strips for the frame make the effect work.

Cheers Mike! That's the plan... I'll be sculpting a reaching arm which will be pinned behind the door. I have a few plans which I am rather excited about!

 

[moonmin82]

Base is now fully assembled, using wood glue. Been working on a door and floorboards, built from plasticard:

 

[moonmin82]

Getting there! 2.5 days left til I leave for Salute!

 

[AndyG]

That's a very good base there I particularly like what you've done with the ageing on the edge sections of the wallpaper

 

[moonmin82]

That's a very good base there I particularly like what you've done with the ageing on the edge sections of the wallpaper

Thanks Andy! I'm pleased you like it so far and hope that you like the finished piece on the day!

 

[Demihuman]

Yeah dude! That looks really good!

 

[moonmin82]

Thanks!

Here is the (almost) finished scene. There is a lot of tidying up to do but I was happy enough to display it at Salute! I'll take a better photograph once the job is done...

 

[moonmin82]

Another year and preparation for another Salute means another diorama! Well, i say diorama, but I'm not yet decided whether I'll be creating another full scene or just a few fun scenic items.

The theme for this year will be water effects, which I have been wanting to attempt for some time! One scenic item which I have already decided on is a creepy Hook-A-Duck. So to start off this new project, here are some tiny ducks... with hooks!

These ducks were created over three sittings. I made a basic armature from florist wire, in order to secure the body to the cork and to create a scaffold for the tail. In the first sitting I sculpted the body & tail and also made the wire loops for the hooks. Once cured, I added a blob for the head into which I inserted the base of the wire loop. In the third and final sitting I sculpted the head, beak and wings.

Once cured I'll remove the ducks from their corks and sculpt the (slightly rounded) underside. They will then be painted before fixing them to the water base.

 

[moonmin82]

Another scenic item I am considering is a coconut shy, featuring shrunken heads filled with brain soup! Most of my plans feature water, blood and slime effects. As such, tonight was spent practicing David Soper's slime recipe:

http://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/project-nurgle-part-7-adding-slime.html

I've got all the stuff I need, with the exception of glass beads, which are in the post:

...and here is my practice piece:

Uhu glue is tricky stuff... stringy and prone to air bubbles... I'll get my head around it!

 

[Demihuman]

Looks pretty good to me. AndyG and Ten-Ball were talking about going out to the garden and just running your mini through real spider webs for a cob web effect. might be useful.

 

[oistene]

Looking forward to seeing more of this!

 

[moonmin82]

Looking forward to seeing more of this!

Your wish is my command!

Here is my slime and blood mix after two coats of paint mix. The third coat will use a little Tamiya clear Smoke to dull things down a tad.

I poured some Realistic Water into a vial (not liberated from the workplace, hmm hmm) and added a drop of paint using a wooden tooth pick (so as not to contaminate the paint!). I'm hoping that this will stop the compound from setting.

[Edit] Here is coat number three, using a layer of Realistic Water + Tamiya clear + Tamiya Smoke: