KHamilton

Thanks for all the nice comments. Here's the just-finished entrance to the Arcade building......

Started detailing the alley before the building-next-door went in, but I ran out of daylight.....

Rob, here's a shot that might give you an idea how the "cut" the structure. Think of it as building a complete structure and then slicing through it with a clean, vertical cut. If it's a "clean" cut, the building shouldn't look damaged. Hope this helps.............

Brad, here's a link to the Fotki album with more pictures of the shop & the office: http://public.fotki.com/khamilton/models/housers_garage/

Most old apartment buildings had stairway access to the roof. Here's the basic Gatorboard form for the one in this diorama.: The door is etched aluminum over model airplane plywood, surrounded by a wood frame wood frame. The siding & roof material is painted sandpaper. In place on the roof, with clotheslines running to a pole on the other side of the roof. In the real world, the sloped stairway roof would extend all the way to the building's flat roof. Since this is a "cut-away model", the back of the stairway is cut flush with where the back of the building is cut. In retrospect, I should have made the stairway enclosure longer, with more of the slope showing. As it is, the stairway just looks like a shed on the roof. I may change it later, but for now there's too much other stuff to get done.

If you scroll up to the Arcade facade photo, you'll notice the other window opening on the right. I decided to fill that space with the back side of a plaster lath wall that was installed during a previous renovation. Those of us who have done work on old houses have seen plaster lath walls - thin strips of wood nailed across the studs and covered with plaster. Viewed from the back, the plaster that oozed through the space between the strips had lots of visual interest. Building a plaster lath wall in scale is done the same way as the old craftsmen used to do it. First, I framed a wall with scale 2'x 4" lumber. I squared up this wall over graph paper: The lath was done with thin, pre-stained strip stock: From the back, the wall will look like this with the lath strips in place: Next, I applied spackle to the front of the wall with a styrene trowel, squeezing a little bit through the spaces between the lath strips: From the front, the finished wall looks like this. Since this side of the wall won't be seen, I'll leave it like this. If it were going to show, I'd sand this side and apply a finish coat of spackle: The INTERESTING side of the wall is the back: In some spots, too much spackle oozed through, but that's easily chipped off with a toothpick after everything dries: Here's the back side of the wall in place in front of the former window opening. I still need to dirty it up a little bit. Again, not a detail that will jump out, but it adds a little more interest to the scene: Thanks for looking........

One of the things I like about building dioramas is that somewhere in the process they develop a life of their own and details get added on the spur of the moment. The hole in the bricked-up second floor window was going to be simply a hole, but I thought maybe it could serve as a basis for an inconspicuous detail... ....so I made this quickie box with some general details for inside the "hole": An LED behind the plastic curtain over the door creates this effect: Here's the box placed inside the Arcade building behind the hole in the brick wall. The LED at the top center of the door is on, but you can't really tell in this picture Here's what all this is trying to achieve. When the viewer notices the light and peeks in the "hole", a small and somewhat difficult to see interior room will present itself. Not something you might notice the first time around, but something to keep you interested during the second or third look......

Another great thread, Romell. Here's one of my older ones....

TJ: Here's a link to the Bomber album on Fotki: http://public.fotki....ves/the_bomber/ Sam: That Diner photo is terrific. The figures add a lot to the scene and the photo itself is a really nice "Slice of life" snapshot. Ron: Ditto. The figures look like they really belong there. Like I said, "it all depends"!

Great topic...and one that's been argued for a long time. Tony hit it when he said a poorly done figure can ruin an otherwise wonderful diorama. Before using a figure, ask yourself if it adds anything to the story you're trying to convey. If it does, make sure the pose is right (even subtle features like the way the head is turned or where the figure is looking), and that the clothing fits the era, the scene and the story. Most of all, make sure the figure isn't shiny. I generally like to leave figures out of a diorama just because I feel the scene has more atmosphere (or maybe even a little mystery) without them. But, sometimes you NEED a figure to get the point of the diorama across. So what's the answer to Darryl's question? "....It depends........." Here are a couple of examples where I used figures: One in HO scale:

Great job on the period-correct details. Great photo, too I like the seamless blend into the 1:1 background. Congrats on a very effective diorama.

Terry: This is 1/25th-scale. The two apartment building brick walls were hand-scribed on sheets of Hydrocal I poured. The size of the bricks isn't correct (they're too short) but it's too late to change now.

Ooo....OOOO....I know, Cranky..! It's regular, old, hardware store, aluminum window screen! Here are a couple other progress pictures. The meters and conduit on the apartment house wall overlooking the alley are now in place, just to give that wall some visual interest. The wall will only be seen from one angle - from the street looking down the alley. The viewer will have to peek over 7' wooden gate at the end of the alley to see the meters

....first time seeing this thread..... The whole interior is really well done, but that heating system is GORGEOUS! Great job.

Tony, a 1/24th-scale fire escape is one of the first things I did a few years ago when I started playing with photo etching: I used some of the pieces for the apartment building fire escape. The white parts in the photo are styrene, the other pieces are sections of the etched fire escape (mainly the railing, deck and stairway treads)... I don't sell any 1/24th scale fire escapes on the Wildhare Models website. they're HO (1/87th) and O (1/48th) scales Just for fun, here's an HO-scale diorama I did with 1/87th fire escapes: http://public.fotki....pm-storefronts/

Neil, it's a modified Z-scale model RR figure: Check out the Mini-How-To: http://public.fotki....le-dashboard-h/

Very convincing looking buildings, Tony. GREAT job...!!!!

Vaughn: I've been using Gatorboard to form buildings. It's basically Foamcore with a veneer of thin wood instead of paper. It's strong, hold its shape and doesn't warp when painted (providing you seal it with a good primer). I've use sheet styrene for mostof the other details, but I also use wood, plaster or whatever in other cases, depending on the type of building or the scene. Lester: The figures are all commercially available (IE: Tamiya mechanics, pit crew figures, etc.) that have been cut apart and re-posed to fit the scene. It's tough to find a stock figure that will fit a specific application, so most often I cut-and-paste them to fit. New clothing is formed with PC-7 epoxy

I should clarify that. I do use rigid insulation a lot, but I always frame the outside edge with wood for a more finished look. That no doubt prevents any flexing.

PS: This is one of my favorite mini-scenes in the diorama - the apartment building's hallway before it got boxed in.

The Arcade diorama has been on and off the bench for a LONG time, but this time around I'd really like to get it done, hopefully for NNL East. The diorama will be based around some old arcade games I got interested in building a while back and has been getting more complicated ever since. The story: A turn-of-the-century brick building was converted into an Art Deco arcade, which is now being dismantled and torn down as the surrounding neighborhood deteriorates. An adjoining building has already been demolished and the apartment house next door is trying to hold on as long as it can. Fast Forward: At the stage shown below, the apartment building is just almost done and the Arcade has been mocked up, as has the base (rigid insulation) and the sidewalk & street. The truck onto which the arcade games are being loaded has also been detailed. Faster Forward: As of now, the street and sidewalk is done..... ...the ghost wall on the arcade is finished and the empty lot is being detailed...... ...and the facade of the Arcade is shaping up: If you're interested in all the in-progress pictures, here a link to the Fotki album: http://public.fotki.com/khamilton/models/playland_penny_arcade/ Thanks for looking. More pics will follow as the scene develops.......

...hope so. I'll start a thread here when I take a few more in-progress pics. See you in April!

Interior ceilings are hardly ever modeled, especially in such a large shop - what a GREAT touch! Whatever you photograph in this diorama is going to look SUPER realistic. Fantastic job, Manny!!!

Thanks...... Randy, I worked on the diorama on-and-off for a couple of years. I couldn't even begin to figure how many hours are in it. Liam: The track is hand-laid Code 100; the gauge is 15" in 1/2" scale (basically, HO-gauge track used in 1/2" scale). The track is meant for this "Critter".... ...which is built on an HO mechanism.

This was mentioned in another thread, so I thought I'd post some photos... Some truck parts are from the Beverly Hillbillies kit; most of it is scratchbuilt: Here's an in-progress view: ...and one of the drive train before paint & weathering: All the in -progress photos are in this Fotki album: http://public.fotki....lumber-stacker/ Thanks for looking...... Ken