Mike Whatshisname

Barbo, Great way to display your builds. Very Nice and easy to transport. I'll bet these are easy to carry onto planes when you travel.

Larman, It is nice to see someone building there own walls and base for their dios. It is also nice to see that somone has taken the time to weatehr the walls a little. Most dio walls that we see are stark white and add no personality to the scene. May I suggest a few spots of oil on the floor and maybe a few rags thrown around. Maybe even a poster to break up the walls. Maybe even curled up at the corner... Great Job!

Barbo, I usually try to use as little space as possible to tell the whole story. So size will vary depending on what i am building. I also do not build more than 2ft by 2ft as this is usually the limit in most contests. I don't travel on planes (as i know you do) with my dios so that is not a consideration. Just out of curiosity, do you know the dimensions limits of a carry-on size box that you could take on a plane? Mike

Thanks to Gregg, my new name and avatar...

Works here although it almost put me to sleep...

I new a girl named normal...Abby Normal!

Gregg, I think this would be agreat place for the aftermarket and diorama people to sell their goods and it would actually be a way for them to advertise their product for free. I would hit them with your advertising!

Great stuff Andy and Zeb. Thanks. I am developing a rat rod with a 32 body, frame has been lengthened to fit this engine, believe it or not.

I am working with the 1935 JoHan Mercedes Benz Roadster 500K. I am looking for reference photos of the 5 liter supercharged in-line 8 engine that comes in the kit. My search on the web has found some good car pics but no engine photos. Any help would be appreciated. Mike

YO! Who you calling Old? Sh*&%$t, there goes my back again! :roll:

How about some "Blue Stuff"!

Yup! Last year was my first. Hope to run into you Miguel. It is my understanding you and I have a mutual friend...Fernando Roman. He should be there also.

Great job of recycling...

Just finished this little scene for my 32 phaeton "phantom". Having it ready for NNL East.

From the PBL challenge on "the other"board, here is an old Route 66 type gas sign from the Rocket Gas Station in Creston, Iowa...(sorry for the crappy pics)! The base is made from drywall, carved to look like brick in front of cinder blocks. The sign is tubing, plastic & metal, and styrene. Scratchbuilt clutter (plumbers helper, air conditioner, lamp, boxes etc.) gives the base some personality.

Don't discount the war games stuff for diorama parts/ideas. Much of what went into this "Monster Trike" is from Warhammer parts....

Gregg, Here is my submission for the "Trike Challenge"... The Monster Trike- Modified Milk Trike

Sounds like you have some great ideas there. As for trees, check your local craft store in there dried flower section. Imagine some of the flowers without the buds, it may give you some other ideas for different trees. That is what I used in my tanker station wooded area in my photobucket album. I too have tried looking for weeds with a nice root system for realistic trees but have yet to find the right "look" in my area. Good luck with the dio!

Thanks Manfred! The "Tanker Station" was found in a book called "Pump and Circumstance" by John Margolies as you refer to. The picture is cut off to the left but it says that this Creston is in Iowa. I sure wish I had more pics of it but hopefully I will have a good representation of it in my dio. Thanks again...

Yup! Gottem both around here somewhere..,plus a few others. Pump and Circumstance is great for old gas station references too!

Anything Route 66-like. Love those structures and textures used back-in-the-day!

Thanks all. Even I have forgotten some of the stuff I made for this dio. Looks like we have a winner for the first to know who Bonzo Moretti was. Your the first since I have been posting j_nigrelli. I had a contest a while back to see if anyone knew who he was. Congrats!

I am a little different when it comes to "planning" dioramas. I tend to plan as-I-go. I like building weathered/rusty old trucks that are weathered just enough to still be useful and heavy weathering to wear they have been rotting in the field over time. I will usually build several models of these and once I have a collection of them, I will look to build a dio using 1,2 or more of them using them to help tell the story that will be told in the dio. I usually have a building or a focal point that is not one of my models. The ideas for this focal point is usually gotten from a book, magazine, website, old picture or from my off-beat mind. Once the focal point is decided on, I get an idea for its size and will draw it out on a base. I place the cars/trucks around it and start building. I will figure out my "filler" as I go. My base is usually wood and I wil use moulding around the edges. Here is one I started recently: The focal point is a tanker shaped gas station. It is squared on the base with the cars I will be using around it. Here is where I am at today: The building was removed to build the slab of concrete that it will be resting on. This is the idea I got from a book: Check out my photobucket album for more in-progress pics.

Hey guys! How long has this diorama forum been here? I never scrolled down far enough to find it. Here's the latest finished dio. This began as a back-drop to photograph model cars and has turned into a full fledged diorama. Took about 4 years to put the final detail in. More pics including in progress shots. Thanks for the Diorama Forum gregg and Jairus! http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v482/bonzomoretti/

I never bring a model to the same show twice! Once it has been to all the local shows, it is retired. Kinda hard to do that in P.R. I'd guess. I'd say 1 year.