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Posted (edited)

When I lived in Iowa, I resided on a farm. There had been a chicken coop there many years before, and the 40' X 30' foundation was still in evidence. I got the idea to build a garage there, and my wife suggested that I do a mock-up to see whether it would fill my needs. What was supposed to be just some walls and a base, got out of hand, and became a full fledged diorama. The base is 1/4" plywood attached to 2" X 2" boards for a sub base. The walls are Tupelo that I ran through the bandsaw so that I could get the thinness that I wanted. I used Tupelo because it's strong and has an almost unrecognizable grain. I mixed Silica sand with house paint for the stucco affect.

The models are painted trophies from the AMT Trophy Series kits. My wife did the magazines and the kitty litter bags. I'm sorry about the quality of the first few pictures, but they were taken about 12 years ago with a basic camera. The last few were shot more recently.

first set

GarageDiorama1.jpg

GarageDiorama2.jpg

GarageDiorama3.jpg

GarageDiorama4.jpg

GarageDiorama5.jpg

second set

diorama-4.jpg

diorama-3.jpg

diorama-2.jpg

Edited by Kodiak Island Modeler
Posted

Very Cool! The more I see these, the more I want to build one.

You said the pics are old, do you still have the diorama?

I do still have it, but it's packed away in a storage unit with most of my unbuilt kits. Someday I need to get in there and get it out.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Hey Kodiak,

Just brousing through dioramas today (thinking about building one) and came across your excellent piece of work, looks really natural, you just did a great job, I love it. Pictures are really pretty good, gave me some ideas, thanks for posting for us.

Mike

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

great build it inspires me even more on my build how did you get the old tire looking effect i cant figure that out.

It was part planned and part accident. I sanded all of the tires, but then the diorama sat for a long time. When I came back it had a light coating of dust. I liked what I saw, and just took a small paint brush to areas of the diorama where the dust would have been disturbed. When I was satisfied, I sprayed a light coat of dullcoat. The dust you see is actual.

  • 4 years later...
  • 4 months later...
Posted

One thing to note here. If I was to do this diorama again, I'd leave at least one side removable. That way I could get lower, more realistic camera angles. All I can get with this one is bird's eye view plus a few through the doors. If you're planning a diorama, give thought to camera angles.

  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

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