Tom Geiger Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 (edited) I have made displays that are 3' x 3', making them much easier to carry around. A 4x4 base may not fit in the average car anymore but a 3x3 does. Also if you are intending to take this diorama to shows, be aware that show tables are either 6 or 8 feet long, by 30 inches deep. If you are planning on a very large one, it's best to plan on making legs for it. People have also done smart things like making the diorama in several sections that lock together with the seams being hidden by being along a building or curb line. Plan ahead! Be sure of a few things... first as Howard mentioned, that it will fit in the vehicle you are intending on transporting it in, and second that you can actually get it out of the place you've built it. I know of one guy who built a diorama in his basement only to learn it was too big to go up the stairs! Logistics folks! And most important, bigger isn't better. Some of the coolest dioramas are pretty small. Plan ahead as to what your story is, and the size of the space you actually need to get that across. Huge dioramas often have no focus. There once was a guy who thought 'bigger was better' and he built a diorama of a car show in a park. The center of this was a full size scale tennis court that took up a lot of space and added nothing automotive to the story at all. And since he had the car show on grass on one side of this, and a large parking lot on the other side, he was really reaching to fill all that space. He didn't have enough well built models so he added warped promos and diecast cars. And he filled the area with unrealistic "Homie" style figures, as well as using a lot of oversize doll house accessories. Don't do that! It is also necessary to contact the show team ahead of time to advise them that you are bringing a large diorama so they can plan for it. Manny Solano, who posts on this board, has brought his huge, very well done, junkyard to NNL East several times. He always emails me weeks in advance. He has his own table base, so we have the details of where it will sit, and plans to get him in early and help him with the volume he brings! In comparision we once had a guy show up around 11am, once all the show tables were heavily populated with a large diorama, who just screamed blood murder at us and couldn't understand why we wouldn't clear off a whole table for him at that late hour. Be smart! Edited June 6, 2014 by Tom Geiger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Dittos to everything Tom said! I'll add two more caveats about showing dioramas: If you use or need electricity for your diorama, check first with contest/show organizers. Some venues must make special arrangements or provisions for electric power, or locations with power are limited. Some venues don't even have provisions for electrical power at display tables. I've known of venues that charged a fee for any plug-in, and the contest/show organizers will generally have rules or guides that apply to requests for electricity. Also, if your diorama is populated only with die casts, check first with the contest/show organizers for applicable rules. Some events allow only plastic models and prohibit any die casts. Some events allow modified die casts but not unmodified ("store-bought") die casts. Some events will allow 'display-only' status for dioramas populated with only die casts, but won't allow them to be entered into competition. It's best to know the rules beforehand, as Tom said, rather than show up and find your diorama can't compete or be displayed. Yelling and screaming because you didn't check the rules first generally won't change the rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLMFAA1 Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 I found the only picture of the dealership on display in Toledo at the Toy Collector's fair when we had space for displaying in the club room. The negative was half exposed so it is not all there Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scalper Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 wicked shot Greg.. thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 If you use or need electricity for your diorama, check first with contest/show organizers. Some venues must make special arrangements or provisions for electric power, or locations with power are limited. Some venues don't even have provisions for electrical power at display tables. I've known of venues that charged a fee for any plug-in, and the contest/show organizers will generally have rules or guides that apply to requests for electricity. Thanks Dan! And about electricity... NNL East doesn't allow any power to dioramas. And as you know, for every rule there was an incident, actually two that scared the heck out of me. The first one was a guy who had a diorama that made smoke. When asked he said it wasn't really smoke. But soon enough there was a haze up high in the gym, enough that the fire marshal would have had a fit on us, so I shut him down. And he argued with us! Said we were ruining his chances of winning Best in Show. Hint- When you are relying on a gimmick, you aren't gonna win anyway. The second incident was a large car dealership that was very nice and had lights throughout. The guy had his own base and when I saw him he had set this thing up in the middle of an aisle and ran a heavy electric cord right where people were walking. So where we had a regulation size aisle, now people needed to squeeze past him. The scary part was when I just happened to duck down and look under it. All the wires were just twisted together with all the copper exposed. A fire waiting to happen. And we shut him down. When I'm responsible for the safety of 1200 people, I really don't give a darn about your diorama! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie8575 Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Side-subject to power: I'm guessing a battery-powered dio is okay? The really nice barn-scene diorama with the opening doors and the Cord was at LIARS and NNL-East, and that had a battery-operated motor, as I recall. Lighting, etc. is now a snap with LEDs. One or two 9V batteries or a couple of D-cells will do the job very nicely for the duration of the event. Charlie Larkin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disabled modeler Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Beyond cool.... I wish I could built one that cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Charlie, Yes, self-contained battery power would be fine . . . as long as it's within reason. A car battery on the floor with jumper cables connected to the diorama ain't gonna cut it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkster Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Thats great, even thou I like anything MOPAR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLMFAA1 Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 I found my pictures of Ted Calvin's funeral home diorama Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAMBENNA Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 way cool build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toner283 Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 There are some more pictures of the dealership with members cars displayed on it at this link. http://www.group25.org/showgr25page3.htm It has been used at our annual contest to display club members cars, trucks etc the last couple of years. I did not see it mentioned earlier but the signage on the dealership is all easily changeable so that it can become whatever dealer or make that we want or need it to be. I think that is a pretty cool way for the club members to display our work all together. And yes as stated this thing is huge. It usually takes two vehicles to move all of the parts and pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Cohen Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 One thing the club should consider...is it time to build their own diorama? Should you build a new diorama that reflects the current membership of the club rather than the membership from 35 years ago? The current club members seem to have the talent and abilities, so why not build your version of a dealership or a drive-in or a garage or a speed shop or whatever you want? There are several easy ways to do this from buying a pre-made diorama kit to buying sheet plastic and cutting your own walls. That would allow you to show that you are capable of building your own diorama and not using a 35 year old building that someone else built. You will find yourselves having as much fun building a new diorama as building anew model kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Rick Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) One thing the club should consider...is it time to build their own diorama? Should you build a new diorama that reflects the current membership of the club rather than the membership from 35 years ago? The current club members seem to have the talent and abilities, so why not build your version of a dealership or a drive-in or a garage or a speed shop or whatever you want? There are several easy ways to do this from buying a pre-made diorama kit to buying sheet plastic and cutting your own walls. That would allow you to show that you are capable of building your own diorama and not using a 35 year old building that someone else built. You will find yourselves having as much fun building a new diorama as building anew model kit Great idea - why not a diorama of one of the custom car shows we had in the past Edited May 19, 2015 by Krazy Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Cohen Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Greg - side note...a few days after Ted passed away, his widow destroyed the funeral home. She hated it! I guess she saw it as a bad omen that people die. Ted always had a good laugh watching the people look at the funeral home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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