Strangely enough I have been thinking about what I could write about for the next “Back to Basics” topic for a while and was thinking a Diorama posting would be useful. Then I see we have suggested a separate topic for just this subject so I thought it may be time to put something together.
Taken from the Cambridge “On Line Dictionary” a diorama is as follows:
a model which shows a situation, such as an historical event or animals in their natural surroundings, in a way that looks real because the height, length and width of what is being shown are accurately represented in comparison with each other.
I tend to think of it as a snapshot in time, a scene or setting captured in modeling mediums of an actual picture in three dimensions. This all sounds all well and good but we are talking about basics here so the trick with diorama’s to me is how you can create one to suit your needs, skill levels, pocket etc.
We have all studied in awe the diorama’s in model magazines that just have us staring in amazement. Tamiya Magazine regularly have them reviewed and the U-Boat one pictured in the latest Model Boats magazine is just stunning. These things though take many hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to make and are beyond most of us as regards the time involved.
Lets think a bit more down to earth though and ask ourselves what we want from a diorama. To me it more often than not simply is the desire to present a favourite model in a more realistic setting than on a wooden base or plinth, nothing more involved than that. This is where we can start to put the real thought into not just how a diorama can be created but just how simple and basic it can actually be. Lets start with something we have all made, a 1/72nd fighter kit. If we decide we want it displayed with the undercarriage down what sort of diorama could we incorporate it into to bring it to life. It may be no more than putting it on a base to represent a piece of runway or depending on the period a piece of grass. We can then go on to deciding how we can create a concrete surface or a grass effect and place the model on the base. It will look 10 times better than sat on a shelf or a polished wood base for doing no more than that.
What will really make it jump out though is the addition of some other item or other that puts the model into a setting. If you are talking of a WWII Spit what about having the pilot, instead of sitting in the cockpit, sat in an armchair next to his plane waiting for the alarm to go. Very simple, very easy and yet the model takes on a complete scenario that has the viewer thinking about the snapshot in time as much as the aircraft itself. You can also show off the lovely cockpit detail and have the door open. These little additions are what gives the scene that extra dimension and puts the model into a setting rather than on display. Airfix knew this years and years ago when they incorporated a tractor and rack of bombs with their Short Stirling kit, included a team of RAF personnel with the Bloodhound kit (including dog!) and produced such models as the airfield control tower and refueling bowser.
What about motorcycle models. I have a number that I put onto a diorama base that were very simple to make put give the model a whole new life. One of them, a racing Honda, is with a figure, stood next to the bike ready to jump on it. This to me needed to be on a starting grid so to put this into a snapshot in time I wanted a starting grid base. I used a sheet of wet and dry paper, glued it to a base, masked and painted some white lines on it and dirtied the area with some rubber streaks from a black wash. Couldn’t be simpler but the model looks so much better. Another very simple one was a motorcycle cornering with a rider on it. Once again I used a sheet of wet and dry for the road surface and incorporated an arc of plywood with some curbstones cut from plasticard and covered it with railway grass. The curbstones were pained red and white and the model placed on the “corner”.
Probably the most commonly thought of types of model when we think of dioramas would be military vehicles. We regularly see these incorporated into diorama’s of breathtaking complexity where you find you are looking at many many different scenes incorporated into one model. Once again though it may take no more than a simple setting to bring your model to life rather than a huge project. I once built a Tamiya field gun that came complete with about four figures, ammunition and a few other detail bits. It was crying out for a diorama setting so I made a base, painted it with contact adhesive and sprinkled real dried soil onto it. I made some sand bags from modeling clay, rolled into round sections and cut into ‘bags’ and built a sand bag emplacement with them. The figures and the gun required no more than placing in the setting to instantly give a scene from the second world war rather than a model of a field gun.
The real objective of this post is to get you to think of just how easy it is to create a diorama once you have put the required thought into its planning. More often than not it is thinking of just how easy it can be that is the trick and how you can incorporate easy to obtain household materials to put it together. I now nearly always use a cheap picture frame as the base. All you need to do is remove the rest from the back and take the glass out and replace it with a piece of hard board and mask the frame. Make your diorama on the hardboard then remove the masking tape. You have a neatly secured diorama with a perfectly fitted varnished wooden edge to it. Once again simple, easy and cheap but most of all very effective!!
