You guys inspired me! I want to finish my garage.

[mchook]

I started this back in 2016 & got 4 walls up. It was good enough for a backdrop when taking pictures but I keep seeing all these great garage dioramas you guys are doing & I figure it's time to get mine going again. It wont be easy, I still don't have my model stuff ready from the move but I'm hoping this will get me fired up to do some work. There was a post for it a while ago but the pictures were lost so here I go again.

I started with the walls, they're made from sheet rock, I removed the paper from one side & scribed the lines for the blocks. I used some thin board I found in the garage for the floor & just painted it grey. I built the bathroom from left over pieces of sheet rock & scrap plastic. I glued the rear wall & left side wall in place for now. I'm leaving the other side & front loose so i can remove them for getting better pictures. I have a few tools in it now but nothing permanent, I have a couple tool kits to built that will look better. Good or bad, let me know what you think.

 

[cobraman]

Nice !  I would like to build one but it would sure take up a lot of space.

[PHPaul]

The block work looks amazing!   I've done a bit with cast plaster of paris, but I'm going to have to try the sheetrock trick.

What did you use to color it?  I've never been completely happy with my attempts to come up with a cured concrete color.

The bathroom looks VERY realistic for a garage john.  That is to say...disgusting...?

[mchook]

4 hours ago, PHPaul said:

The block work looks amazing!   I've done a bit with cast plaster of paris, but I'm going to have to try the sheetrock trick.

What did you use to color it?  I've never been completely happy with my attempts to come up with a cured concrete color.

The bathroom looks VERY realistic for a garage john.  That is to say...disgusting...?

Thanks Paul, I used some thinned down flat grey waterbase paint. Nothing fancy just some old craft paint I had lying around. I brushed it on heavy, (making sure to get it in the scribed lines good) waited a few minutes to kind of soak in & then wiped it with a dry paper towel. I did it a couple times until it looked good to me. It was a trial & error thing that happened to work out. I tried to make the bathroom look like most I remember seeing as a kid. You could use it if you HAD TO but really didn't want to.?

[PHPaul]

1 hour ago, mchook said:

 I tried to make the bathroom look like most I remember seeing as a kid. You could use it if you HAD TO but really didn't want to.?

Well, you nailed it!  "8^)

I'll try your method on the paint, appreciate the input.

[tbill]

Great looking shop, but boy, you gotta hire someone to clean that bathroom, haha!

[DrKerry]

Very kool, like the detail in how you did the brick look!!

[slusher]

Really nice looking shop...

[mchook]

I haven't had too much time to build, but I've been playing with my garage trying to make it look better.

[Bills72sj]

That is pretty nice. I love the block technique you used. The dirty bathroom was typical when I was a kid. As an aside, your shop floor is suspiciously clean.

[mchook]

Thanks Bill, I know I need to dirty up that floor but when I try it just never looks right. I'll get it eventually.

[Musclecars]

that is a really cool project there Mark. My feeling is a diorama is never done as you will always find something to add or make it larger. The bathroom does resemble a few I have encountered in the past and couldn't wash my hands enough....lol

[gbdolfans]

Looks great !!! Did I see a video game in the first pictures. How did you do that??

 

[mchook]

On 4/19/2025 at 6:38 PM, Musclecars said:

that is a really cool project there Mark. My feeling is a diorama is never done as you will always find something to add or make it larger. The bathroom does resemble a few I have encountered in the past and couldn't wash my hands enough....lol

Very true George, this thing will never be "done".

 

16 hours ago, gbdolfans said:

Looks great !!! Did I see a video game in the first pictures. How did you do that??

 

Thanks George, that is a Ms Pac-man game that I found years ago at Toys R Us before they went out of business. It works too, kind of hard to see but still fun. Here's one I found on ebay, you might be able to find one cheaper somewhere else.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/176867241731?_skw=tiny+arcade+ms+pacman&epid=12007728713&itmmeta=01JSCB6P9Y0J4JXTDH559N37TW&hash=item292e1bef03:g:ysEAAeSwt7JnuqRE&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1eIoVdHmyMJTwxME3y3yEElz4FxHCvK5v0SMeceuWCd%2FUoUZiDLUvugiIfhoJiYeG9%2BMLbNl64KZBwpBmQFs1bE1TEGeVldRvY4Cifbc6YDocyQ56wBwo4vuA6FatA71OYsiHfRX0DL0EbWPt0V6ApiSJp5Gne6Yxi5nO9wrQ%2FD0TYyrw%2Fo%2F8z5kqalNF53Un1X0iXsOzoxJZ7jYAYddSaGkrxMQ8C%2BmmK9dwQytRSotvzVZk1aUnzmcWYQkXbcjvA%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5LlmovLZQ