Hollywood Jim

Thank you everyone !! Especially Joe ! I'll check this stuff out. . .

Hey Guys ! I need some help. I'm considering adding some lighting to my 1/25th scale diorama. I need overhead lights that would be found in a small garage. When I try LED's they project a round spot on the floor. No good. When I try 1.5 volt and 3 volt tiny filament type bulbs, they don't produce enough light. I want to run the lights on batteries. Any suggestions? Thanks. . . .

Thank you for the compliment. 256..... Oh BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, now your scaring me.... LOL . . .

Thanks. No the hot rod in the picture is just there because I needed a red hot rod to see how it would look in the diorama. . .

OK, so far this diorama has been fairly easy. Now comes the hard part. At least for me. I’m down to the point where I have to decide how to paint the walls and floor and all of the items in the diorama. Working in black and white, (or only two colors) is quite difficult. When you look at the three dimensional diorama, unlike a one dimension photograph, it can look different depending on the lighting and the angle at which you view it. Remember everything needs to be like a black and white photograph except the car, which will be in red. I started with doing some simple shading. BEFORE AFTER Then I started adding some details on the back wall. At this point I consulted Ken Hamilton, the diorama Guru. I was worried about the details disappearing into the wall color. He told me that it would be best if the details did get lost to some extend because they are not the focus of the diorama. He was correct. He also said that I should not be afraid to use different shades of the dark color on my added details. Because the walls were so washed out, this meant that the details would also need to be pretty much washed out. I was not sure I wanted a washed out look for the whole background and the details. I then consulted Narayan Khandekar. Narayan knows all about art and paintings. If I call him an art expert he would probably disagree, but don’t believe it, he is one ! He pointed out that black and white photographs have dynamic range; from almost black shadows to almost white highlights. And he suggested I study up on “dynamic range”. Sure enough after some study I discovered that he was exactly correct. Looking at the photo again I realized that it had very dark areas to very light areas. So I dove in with both feet and I began to add some very dark shadows to my diorama. This was a scary moment for me !!! At this point I realized that I still did not have enough dark color. Not enough dynamic range. So I went even darker. So here is what I have today. These pictures are taken with different camera exposures and with a red car. Important note; I have discovered I can make the diorama look very different depending on background light, my camera settings and my camera flash. The end result is that now I have dynamic range as Narayan suggested. And I think it looks pretty good. Now when I add the detail items I can darken them up and add shades of my dark color like Ken suggested. Ken and Narayan really pointed me in the right direction. Thank you guys !! . . . .

You guys have me thinking about some ideas for the backside of the diorama. Maybe I'll put up a small sign saying "Please view this diorama from the other side". Or something like that. LOL

Ding Ding Ding !!! The man wins a cigar. That's exactly what it is. My dad used to do this all the time. He even used larger jars. He would nail the lids to a piece of wood and hang the jars full of all sorts of stuff. . . . .

This item was not easy to make. It came out OK, but not as good as I had hoped. I may tuck this away in a hard to see spot. Can you guess what this is? I painted the outside. It will be rarely seen, unless the viewer is curious enough to look. . . . .

Thanks Cranks.......... You gave me an urge Virg.......... Background ?! I never thought of that. This was going to be a diorama with everything glued in place. But if I don't glue down the car and a few other items on the floor, I guess I could use it for a background for other cars. Hummmmmm. Food for thought. . . .

Starting to place some junk around to see how it might look........ I tried some shading on the workbench. . . . .

Thanks ! I use plastic, I have lots of different Evergreen shapes and sizes. I use wood, I found a bunch of model railroad lumber at a junk store. I use paper. Lately I have found paper and cardboard very useful. Like breakfast cereal boxes. It is easy to work with, can be bent around curves and glues and paints up great. . . .

Thanks !! Hey a fishing pole is a great idea !! I made one a few years ago. Now I'll have to dig through some boxes and find it ! ( It might take me longer to find it than to build another one.. LOL ) . . .

Does it look like this? . . . .

I made some more junk. An old style drill. I made a saw. Here are some things I've been collecting, all painted off-white. . . . .

More done today: Boxes Rags Etc. Kleenex and white glue. And material and white glue. Boxes of junk. Boxes of tools. The reason this guy can't find time to work on his hot rod is because he has to fix toasters and stuff like that ! . . . .

I'm afraid to post a response to your post Drew. I worry I might catch your 2013 curse. Oops too late.................... . . .

Thanks ! During the next week or so I'll be building small items to put into the diorama. Boxes, tools, junk, etc. . . . .

Cranky builds box stock models ???? I guess the world did end last night. Or else I woke up this morning in an alternate universe................ . . .

Thanks for the compliments guys !! OK, this one was difficult. I wanted to make a push lawn mower. Some very strange shapes involved......... Come on dude !! Drop the beer and get to work on that lawn.............. . . . . .

Oh that's not a problem. It's only a NASCAR kit. No loss............ . . .

Right on !

Right guys !! Yeah, we had one of those silver Christmas trees. It was made out of tiny strips of aluminum foil type stuff. Too cool !! Sounds crazy, but I want another one. I'll bet one with a color wheel would sell for big bucks. . .

Thanks for the help with the tarp guys !! I always develop a story before I begin a diorama. The story here is, it is 1957. The guy who owns the garage is a regular working guy. He loves cars but he is a family man and he can only work on his hot rod on occasion. So he does not have a garage all full of hot rod, car guy stuff. This diorama will depict what a typical father, husband and car lover would have in his garage. A little bit of car guy stuff and a bunch of typical family garage stuff. I want to replicate the garage I had at home when I was a kid in 1957. Basically my Dad’s garage. He worked on cars all the time but he did not have a hot rod. He always wanted one. So I need to make some items that will fit into my story. Does anybody know what this was used for in the 50’s and 60's ? Christmas decorations. A bug sprayer. . . . . .

What !?!?!? . . .

Time for some electrical work ! . . .