Refreshing an old diorama

[Diorama]

In 1991 the pupils in our village school made a 1:2500 diorama - if that is the word - or 3D map of the village and surroundings.



It's been in an outdoor shelter for some years, not in direct sun but it has faded. The trees have lost their green, the grass looks rather dried up.
What can I do to refresh it? There are some subtle colour gradations, and I don't want to completely redo it as that would destroy the history.



Also, I would like to hang it on the wall. Currently it's in a glazed wooden case on legs. There is no way to get into the bottom of the case, and I don't know how or whether the landscape is attached to the case or just resting on it, so I will have to be very cautious in elevating it. If as I suspect, it's plaster and falls out, that would be the end of it.
That also means that things might fall off - houses for instance. What's the favourite glue? PVA? Mod Podge?

I'm pretty handy, but have never done anything like this, so any tips much appreciated.

[pjgtech]

Hi, what a nice bit of local history....
I am certainly no diorama expert here, but I would carefully clean it all with a soft brush, to get rid of any dust, etc, see if any bits are loose, etc and then fill any little holes or cracks (yes could use mod podge as a filler or any fine filler TBH), and then re-touch up the paintwork as required, with light coats, probably acrylic. You can build up the colours with several light coats if required, allowing to dry in between coats.
Once all the paint has been applied give it a coat of clear matt varnish to seal everything in and remove any gloss or glare.
I would also maybe remove all the little rocks houses, etc and then carefully re-glue them in place, yes PVA or CA (superglue)could be used, as any old glue could be starting to degrade now as it been over 30 years since it was originally made.
Maybe the glazed top can be removed and you could then re-hang the base in a suitable frame for hanging on a wall?
Good luck with it.... Let us know how you get on.
NB: Where abouts in the UK are you, as there may be someone local who may be able to help?

[Diorama]

...Maybe the glazed top can be removed and you could then re-hang the base in a suitable frame for hanging on a wall?
Good luck with it.... Let us know how you get on.
NB: Whereabouts in the UK are you, as there may be someone local who may be able to help?

Thankyou.

I am near Stroud in Gloucs.

Yes, I can remove the glazing. The cabinet it's in was made by a local woodworker and is a very nice piece of hardwood, it's just that where it is, it's rather in the way and would be better wall-hung. At the same time I hope to revive it somewhat, thankyou for your thoughts there.

Probably I will cut the legs off and reuse the existing cabinet.
My concern, as I outlined previously is that the plaster of Paris (?) may simply be laying on the bottom boards, so that if I tilt it, it will all come adrift and break up. There is no way into the cabinet through the bottom, so no way to investigate.
I shall have to tilt it very slowly.

If I could lift it out, I could bond some more plaster beneath with some embedded fixings to secure it in a vertical or near vertical position.
A lot of 'ifs'.

Where might I be able to buy new trees and hedges? They seem to be falling to bits, and the modelling resources I have seen are for larger scale work.

We are going to the South Cerney extravaganza tomorrow, there is a craft tent there were there are some modellers, I may also be able to pick their brains.

[pjgtech]

If you can remove the glass top, can you not just lift out the base or otherwise try to move, jiggle, loosen the base? to see if it will come out....
TBH, not sure where you could just buy anything in that scale 1:2500, as we (scale model makers) mostly don't go down to that small scale, more usual scales for us are 1:9, 1:16, 1:24, 1:32/35, 1:72/76, etc and a bit smaller for railways, small ships, etc.
So you would probably have to make something from scratch, but there are certainly materials for scenery that you could maybe use at most model shops and online retailers, Hobbycraft, etc. It also depends how accurate you want to be? Plus, don't discount general household materials or "stuff" from the garden, to use as modelling materials, eg: small twigs, bits of foam, small rocks, gravel, sand, plain old dirt, very small plants, thin wire, twine, moss,, etc, etc.
Cheers