Author Topic: JDeck's dioramas and displays.  (Read 173371 times)

Offline JDeck

  • High Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 3260
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #705 on: March 23, 2022, 09:39:02 AM »
   Today is a rainy day, so I started basing the trees I've already made. I have 13 trees so far each with their own base.  They can be arranged in any way I want to create different configurations.
  I just took some foam, whether floral or insulation foam and made irregular shapes and rounded them off. Then i painted them using my special formula of Modge Podge, brown paint and cocunut substrate for texture. Then I sprinkled them with my Endor forest litter, then apllied ferns and bushes. 
I made a couple mounds out of floral foam bricks, that I can stack my tree bases onto.
  The pink/purple area is going to be my subject area, that ill leave flat so I can add figures and plants or whatever.

I ordered 6 3x24" shipping tubes to make into larger trees, hopefully that will be enough to fill out the table. The more trees I make, the more I realize I need.
I came up with a really cool idea the other night. I ordered a really badass figure from EE, it's processing now, hopefully I can be just about done with all my peices when it arrives.

The last picture is a test shot with my fogger. Lighting was overcast at 4pm, I used a sheet of foamcore for a backdrop with a red LED light shining on it. I just need to make a few more ground peices and trees to take a wider shot and it'll be perfect for a background.  Once it gets dark, I'll try it with a blue LED, see how a night scene would look. The possibilities really are endless with this setup. I could do Endor day or night, E.T, Rambo, Friday the 13th, werewolf, just a lot of different scenes.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2022, 02:21:43 PM by JDeck »

Offline Starchaser

  • Moff
  • *
  • Posts: 4177
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
  • He who dares wins!
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #706 on: March 23, 2022, 10:56:51 PM »
That looks great! I think the fogger picture works really well. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Offline Tamer

  • Administrator
  • Grand Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 37789
  • Feedback: +204/-0
  • Gender: Male
  • He who is one with the Walker
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #707 on: March 24, 2022, 03:06:41 AM »
Sure looks like Endor to me. That fogger pic looks spot on perfect.

Off to the front pages.

Offline JDeck

  • High Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 3260
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #708 on: March 24, 2022, 11:25:49 AM »
That looks great! I think the fogger picture works really well. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Thank you!  The fogger is one of my favorite tools. It's like photoshop or a filter. It gives the scene a sense of depth, it filters the light, it blends and hides imperfections and it makes everything look cooler.

Sure looks like Endor to me. That fogger pic looks spot on perfect.

Off to the front pages.

Thank you! I played around with some night shots. I need to figure out how to make a moon without photoshop.
I think i figured something out. I have this clear plastic dome that I accidentally frosted, and was made useless for the thing I was making, but I kept it, and it'll make a cool moon.  I can mount it to  black foamcore using strong magnets, so I can move the moon wherever I want and use the remote to turn it on, off and change colors.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2022, 07:25:50 PM by JDeck »

Offline Tamer

  • Administrator
  • Grand Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 37789
  • Feedback: +204/-0
  • Gender: Male
  • He who is one with the Walker
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #709 on: March 25, 2022, 02:47:18 AM »
Man, once again spot on perfect it looks to me. Hey, I went kinda Yodaey there.

Off to the front pages. Oh yeah, its Friday.

Offline Starchaser

  • Moff
  • *
  • Posts: 4177
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
  • He who dares wins!
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #710 on: March 25, 2022, 01:53:21 PM »
That's a pretty ingenious solution to your challenge. I think it will look great, and it has dimension, which will be much better than a flat disc. The night shot of Ham looks really great, too.

Offline JDeck

  • High Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 3260
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #711 on: March 25, 2022, 05:26:20 PM »
Man, once again spot on perfect it looks to me. Hey, I went kinda Yodaey there.

Off to the front pages. Oh yeah, its Friday.

Lol. I figured you might like that AT-AT foot I think that TBS centerpiece scales better with 3.75.

That's a pretty ingenious solution to your challenge. I think it will look great, and it has dimension, which will be much better than a flat disc. The night shot of Ham looks really great, too.

Thank you! We'll see how it works in practice, theoretically it should do fine. As long as the moon is far enough back. Im more or less just building Miniature movie sets, more so than a "diorama". 

Offline Starchaser

  • Moff
  • *
  • Posts: 4177
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
  • He who dares wins!
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #712 on: March 25, 2022, 10:23:55 PM »

Thank you! We'll see how it works in practice, theoretically it should do fine. As long as the moon is far enough back. Im more or less just building Miniature movie sets, more so than a "diorama".

Maybe we should call them "terrain sets" since they are intended for multiple uses?

Offline Tamer

  • Administrator
  • Grand Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 37789
  • Feedback: +204/-0
  • Gender: Male
  • He who is one with the Walker
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #713 on: March 26, 2022, 06:17:22 AM »
Yeah, that AT-AT foot was fantastic. There is so much you could do with this.

Off to share your latest to the front pages.

Offline JDeck

  • High Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 3260
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #714 on: March 26, 2022, 12:17:25 PM »

Thank you! We'll see how it works in practice, theoretically it should do fine. As long as the moon is far enough back. Im more or less just building Miniature movie sets, more so than a "diorama".

Maybe we should call them "terrain sets" since they are intended for multiple uses?

Lol that'll work. I guess all the peices put together with figures that tell a story makes it a diorama.

Yeah, that AT-AT foot was fantastic. There is so much you could do with this.

Off to share your latest to the front pages.
Thanks! My masking taped moon lol.  Went to Michael's but they didn't have super magnets, but I picked up more foam. Yeah there are a lot of possibilities. I'm thinking about that little bandai DS2 model, it might be too small tho. The shuttle model I have would look cool flying in the background. I found a BATAT incomplete for $60 shipped, but I missed out. I was going to set everything up outside and shoot fireworks at it for explosions, but I still have my AT-ST.  A lot of different things I can do.  I'm still waiting for the figure I ordered, it's still "processing". Hopefully it'll work out the way I want, it won't be way too big, there's a lot I can do with that.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2022, 06:26:19 PM by JDeck »

Offline Starchaser

  • Moff
  • *
  • Posts: 4177
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
  • He who dares wins!
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #715 on: March 26, 2022, 11:40:44 PM »

Thank you! We'll see how it works in practice, theoretically it should do fine. As long as the moon is far enough back. Im more or less just building Miniature movie sets, more so than a "diorama".

Maybe we should call them "terrain sets" since they are intended for multiple uses?

Lol that'll work. I guess all the peices put together with figures that tell a story makes it a diorama.


Maybe a diorama is a scene that's permanent, while terrain sets, like movie sets, can be used for different stories? Or maybe, just maybe, I'm wasting my time overthinking it :P

Offline JDeck

  • High Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 3260
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #716 on: March 27, 2022, 06:38:28 PM »
I got some super magnets from Amazon. They're not as strong as I was hoping but it was a pack of 10.  So I cut out a piece of foamcore the diameter of the moon, then hot glued the light to one side and 5 of the magnets to the other. Then stuck the other 5 magnets on the other side of the black backdrop. I put the light on the lowest setting but it's still pretty bright. But it's a success, I'll take it.  The third shot was turning the moon light off, and shining a light from under the moon. Interesting effect.

Beware of the Endor Moon.
Steer clear of the moors. 
« Last Edit: March 27, 2022, 08:01:31 PM by JDeck »

Offline Starchaser

  • Moff
  • *
  • Posts: 4177
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
  • He who dares wins!
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #717 on: March 27, 2022, 06:45:07 PM »
Yep...That works really well! Great solution. You could maybe use tissue over it (or inside it?) to give it appearance of texture, like our moon. Just a brainstorm.
« Last Edit: March 27, 2022, 06:47:14 PM by Starchaser »

Offline JDeck

  • High Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 3260
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #718 on: March 27, 2022, 08:48:30 PM »
Yep...That works really well! Great solution. You could maybe use tissue over it (or inside it?) to give it appearance of texture, like our moon. Just a brainstorm.

Thats a great idea! It'll diffuse the light and give it a texture as you said. Id probably put on the inside, just wad it up, see how it looks. Thanks!.

Offline Starchaser

  • Moff
  • *
  • Posts: 4177
  • Feedback: +0/-0
  • Gender: Male
  • He who dares wins!
Re: JDeck's dioramas and displays.
« Reply #719 on: March 27, 2022, 09:05:28 PM »
I'll be curious to see the outcome ;)