My First Diorama

[De.Mort]

I've never done this before .. read a bit .. looked at a few videos but other than that i winged it to be honest .

Ok so this started out as me wanting to do a challenging oasis diorama based on a WW2 german scene .. german model in one image .. it would have had a motorbike alongside ..

My dad's 90th birthday coming up .. see image .. and after chatting with him .. he let on .. his best time during national Service back in 1951 was driving around officers ... he was in Egypt then .

I suddenly thought .. i need to make this something for him .. he even showed me his landrover designation .. or unit number ? not sure there .. so i set about converting it and time was limited !!! .. the radio guy .. yes its german .. i cut the head off and stuck on a british one .. landrover .. i couldn't find a short wheel base one he used to drive so had to settle on an Italeri long wheel base .

Land Rover is not correct but i have since sourced an AK short wheel base model that's perfect .. perhaps christmas for that one !!

Fit and finish on this model was pretty bad .. after a couple of Tamiya models i thought there were all the same .. sigh .. perhaps i had a bad one but either way .. not much fitted with a hell of a lot of sanding down .. the wings still show that .. time was my enemy here !

waterfall as i've previously mentioned .. went very bad .. i ended up with a giant icicle .. mixed a bit of blue / white and green and painted .. then a bit of water foam over the top .. it saved it but the end result .. far too furious .. i wanted gentle and that's not what i got but at least i saved it .

I can say .. do the base water before doing the waterfall itself .. the water gel reacted when i added more base water and went white ,, no big deal as it was going to be white in that area anyways .

The land rover .. yup i know .. i'm still at the cheating stage .. paint it then a wash to bring out the highlights .. i intend to learn chipping / weathering but there is little reference i can find .. i'm still unsure of lacquer usage , when i need to apply etc ..

In this case .. time was my enemy .. i literally finished painting at 7.45 pm saturday night .. im delivering it 11 am sunday lol

Final picture shows it packed up and ready to go to its new home .. wish me luck he likes it .


Btw .. please .. Please tell me how i can improve .. any comments are more than welcome but with a solution as well if possible .

 

[Waspie]

Nice work there Iain.

 

[stillp]

Nicely done. Both the dio and your gesture for your dad.
Pete

 

[Jim R]

You should be pleased with that Iain. A great model and a lovely gift for your dad.

 

[minitnkr]

Good one.

 

[JR]

Great thing to do for your Dad Iain.
Well worth

Congratulations.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I would say that's very respectable indeed for a first time diorama. Don't get too hung up on achieving perfection , just keep going and treat each project as a learning experience . As long as you are enjoying yourself!

 

[De.Mort]

Thank you all for the kind comments , much appreciated i must say .. i did post this in the critique section but have yet to have a bad work ! trust me as a car mechanic i have very thick skin so negative comments are more than welcome !

@ Neil .. totally correct .. i enjoyed it .. depressed when the water went wrong at such a late stage in the build but it was just a challenge to overcome .. as i tell the apprentices at work .. go slow , go thorough and you will get better over time .

I've seen some of the models you guys make .. shear perfection i must say .. something to strive towards but not a goal in itself .. the challenge is for me the fun .. hence i picked a bit of a difficult first diorama setup .

Gave to my Dad today .. he was over the moon .. brought back many memories for him and i can safely say i had more stories today about his time in Egypt then i have ever heard in my life lol .

Im sure its common knowledge but they used a short wheel base land rover left over from the war ..


Image below and my next build to make things correct for his diorama.

He said .. the spare tyre was dumped , never used , side windows where again removed and not used .. front screen was normally in the lowered position .. he had a gunner in the rear , Bren or Sten when ferrying around the officers .

Colour scheme was a light yellow but it was very bright there so possibly a bit darker.

He's going to dig out some photos if he can find them .. anything of use and i'll post it in the ref section ?

 

[Del640]

Well I love it!

Well done!

Del

 

[Magneto]

Thank you all for the kind comments , much appreciated i must say .. i did post this in the critique section but have yet to have a bad work ! trust me as a car mechanic i have very thick skin so negative comments are more than welcome !

@ Neil .. totally correct .. i enjoyed it .. depressed when the water went wrong at such a late stage in the build but it was just a challenge to overcome .. as i tell the apprentices at work .. go slow , go thorough and you will get better over time .

I've seen some of the models you guys make .. shear perfection i must say .. something to strive towards but not a goal in itself .. the challenge is for me the fun .. hence i picked a bit of a difficult first diorama setup .

Gave to my Dad today .. he was over the moon .. brought back many memories for him and i can safely say i had more stories today about his time in Egypt then i have ever heard in my life lol .

Im sure its common knowledge but they used a short wheel base land rover left over from the war ..


Image below and my next build to make things correct for his diorama.

He said .. the spare tyre was dumped , never used , side windows where again removed and not used .. front screen was normally in the lowered position .. he had a gunner in the rear , Bren or Sten when ferrying around the officers .

Colour scheme was a light yellow but it was very bright there so possibly a bit darker.

He's going to dig out some photos if he can find them .. anything of use and i'll post it in the ref section ?



View attachment 489437

You have trodden where I have yet to tread! I am also looking at using resin/water for a diorama but you have dived straight into the deep end (pun intended) with your first diorama along with trees and plant life - probably two of the most difficult aspects to get right, especially the water - but you will improve each time. If I were you I would stay with the water and plants for the next few dioramas until you get to a level where you are happy (perfectionism notwithstanding!)
Great scene and I appreciate the time warp aspect!