An unusual river diorama

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Vicnewey

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I thought my river diorama might be of interest to some of you, particularly the water effect. The diorama features a rare model of a floating watermill called a 'Boat Mill' once common in Europe but unknown in the UK.

An unusual effect is by the use of a carefully angled mirror behind the bridge which gives the impression of the river continuing beyond the boundaries of it's box which is 3ft square. Another small mirror is in the little cavern where the road goes through + yet another to the far left out of sight but it reflects the other mirror giving an extended view far into the distance.

My web page gives details of the easily available materials used, insulation styrene & builders plaster from the local DIY store.

View the model here : diorama The top right picture on the web page shows the model before the background was completed with trees made from Seafoam etc.

The horse & cart is an adapted BR flatbed set which I altered by adding wooden sides & an extra horse, the figures are in model railway scale 00.

Now retired :mrgreen: :clap_1: I am currently working on another diorama , this time featuring another unusual mill called a Norse mill or Click mill once common on the Isle of Lewis but now all but derelict.

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part of boatmill model.jpg

Boat mill model completed.jpg

boatmill1.jpg
 
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B

backonthecase

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All I can muster is: Beautiful!!!

Welcome to the forum and my days what an entrance!!!! I'd like to see more - a wider angle perhaps?

Stuart
 
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Richy C

Guest
Welcome to the forum Vic , thats amazing very very nice , we would love to see some more of your work .

Richy
 
P

phalinmegob

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fantastic work and the mirror idea is genius, welcome to the forum
 

papa 695

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Welcome to the forum Vic and looking forward to more of your work and great tips, and happy modeling now your retired
 
P

Polux

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Wonderful work!!

Welcome to the forum Vic.

Have fun

Polux
 

Gern

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That's a fabulous piece of work Vic! I'm looking forward to seeing more! ***** for sure.

Gern
 
V

Vicnewey

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Thanks for the nice comments guys, I intend to do a webpage showing the diorama from start to finish, I took a lot of photo's as I went along.

The model is available to see in Somerset at Bishops Lydeard Mill & Museum which opens for charities from May to Sept, the mill also has lots of models of watermills & windmills, farm machinery & carts etc. that the owner collected over many years & is a very interesting place to visit if your down that way.

There is a link off the diorama web page about boat mills, from there is a link to the Norse mill I am currently working on
 
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tr1ckey66

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Hi Vic

That is a stunning piece of work, museum quality. I'm another member who looks forward to more of your dioramas.

Cheers

Paul
 
T

tommy1drop

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Hi Vic

Wonderful workmanship, it really is stunning and the amount of detailing is fantastic.

Tom
 
V

Vicnewey

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Here's a couple of photo's from an earlier stage when I was preparing to make the boats, the peculiar shape of the front & top of the diorama was made to fit in an existing odd shaped cabinet under a low roof in the top floor granary at Bishops Lydeard Mill. The join that's visible near the top of the back & sides added a load of hastle because to get it in the cabinet they had to be removed & added in afterwards, the joins were then concealed

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basic layout.jpg

river.jpg
 
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mossiepilot

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A beautiful piece of work Vic.

Loved the use of the mirrors to extend the view.

Tony.
 
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