Scenery and Dioramas

Cheap Shot by Phil Novak "This diorama depicts a giddy Marder III crew during a lull in the fighting in the winter of 1943, on the eastern front. The figures toward the front of the base are building a snowman. the one off to the side, who apparently does not like the officer too much, just launched a snowball at the his head."

Creating Textured Walls and Floors by Jeff Junker: "There's nothing like a textured wall to create additional atmosphere to any diorama. Sure, you can buy wall sections, but it's just as easy to custom-build them for your particular scene."

Day at the Beach by Mike Goodwin: "This diorama is built around the Tamiya 1/35 T55. The setting is Iraq."

Defense of Lodz by Walter Sullivan: "The diorama depicted here is a representation of a scene that might have occurred in Poland in those dark days of the first week of September 1939. Polish defensive strategy was based on a series of fortified towns with defenses in depth."

Dinosaurs by Mike Wohl "I wanted this figure to look like it's bursting off of the base."

Dogfight! By Claude Zeringue: "The age old question is "Now that the kits are built, where do I put them?"

Dressed To Kill - DML 1/6 Action Figure Hints by Phil Novak: "In this case a zeltbahn is included, being rolled up in the A- frame that attaches to the D-rings on the Y- straps. You can just slide this out of the straps holding it on without undoing them. Then place it over his head as pictured. Now put on the belt, and have it come across the zeltbahn to hold it on, pleating it in the back to allow the belt to fit over. Because of the added bulk one may need to loosen the belt to allow a good fit without straining the vinyl belt."

Early Morning Scramble: a diorama by Walt Moore: "Now you have a display of an aircraft with pilot and ground crew as they prepare for pre-flight on a rainy day. The ground crewman wipes down the windscreen as the pilot scans the cloud cover."

Enemy at the Gate: a Ross Burkenstock diorama by Jeff Junker: "A close look at the roof shows that the shingles (which were cut from thin cardboard) are individually laid, a time consuming endeavor."

Groundwork Ideas by Chuck Theidel: "Here is a quick and easy way to create groundwork and rubble for dioramas using Woodland Scenics lightweight Hydrocal."

Making Corn by Michael Smolek: "Bend the leaves outward and they should stay that way if you made them thin enough. If the thing falls apart, you didn't place the leaves right."

Making Waves with the Glencoe Rescue Boat by Gil Gonsolin: "After assembling and painting the Glencoe Rescue boat, I thought it was lend itself to using it in a diorama depicting it in action."

Operation Cobra by Brain Cavet "The idea for this diorama came from a picture I saw in one of the Concord Publications books on the Sherman. It showed a 6th armored division tank racing through a French town in August, 1944 after the breakout at Normandy."

Quick Tips: Static Grass - - Trees - - - Mountains - - Building a City - - and more

Scratchbuilding Sidewalk by Ian Sadler: "However parts of Europe have their own style of narrow pavements which are normally found in the small villages these are based on the Roman style but updated in the materials. Mark out an area on the baseboard of your diorama and measure it up, you need the length and width. Then find among your scrap pieces of sprue a piece that fits roughly to the dimensions. Try to find a piece that has at least on end rounded to from a corner."

Tamiya 1/35 Panzer III L Diorama by Richard Reggio: "With this Tamiya 1/35 Panzer III L, I tried to create a diorama of a scene with might have occurred in the Libyan desert during World War II."

The Bloody Boot by Daniel Navo: " "The Normandy Landing wasn't the only day American troops suffered great losses. In Italy, US troops fought for months against tremendous odds, but their courageous spirit brought them through."

The Grand Illusion by Jeff Junker "The toughest part of planning a diorama is to decide what to put in it. It helps to think of a dioramic scene as you would a photograph: both depict a snapshot in time. The starting point is to decide what story you want to tell. But the question always remains the same: What did you want to take a picture of?"

The Hedgerows by Lane Lore: "The base is made from a 1' thick Styrofoam sheet. It was covered with wall putty."

To the Victor Goes the Spoils by Gil Gonsoulin: "I found a picture in a magazine that showed an M4 towing a German 88 around the Bastonge area during the Battle of the Bulge between January 6 and 9, 1945."

"Welcome to Dodge City" by Sal Provenzano: "In the sector we defended the sign read, "Welcome to Dodge City - Your Safety is Ensured by the U.S.M.C.". In the diorama, the sign appears to the left - an ever present reminder that in the face of terrible fear and horror, humor is always present to break the tension and provide comic relief."