Dioramas

[FJ and G]

Has anyone built one of these? I see pictures of them from time to time, including one of the last spike on the UP trancon; complete with sound.

I've never heard this idea bandied about before but it is conceivable that one could build a series of dioramas and then string them together like you would modules.

The advantage of diorama method is that instead of waiting 2 years to have your layout built, you would have a diorama showpiece right away and you could spend a lot of time finishing each one like a museum piece.

Dave Vergun

[Anonymous]

I know someone who has done this. It is kind of cool you can make it seem as if you have more space than you do. Your train can run from town to town in 3". If done right it is real neat. The club that I am in thought about doing this for a local museum. They didn't want to give up space but wanted to model a large area of the state of Arkansas. We were going to hit the big landmarks that people would be able to pick out and skip the main line. Lucky for us they found us some more space and we will get to go all out.

From Iraq longing to be home with my trains
Ken Burney

[egmurphy]

What you're essentially talking about is constructing a series of modules (dominos?). Sure it's possible and yes, you can get operating (partially) quickly. You do need to take into consideration the usual module concerns of rigidity, connectability of the modules themselves, connecting the track, wiring, supports, etc. If you're doing it for yourself (without the idea of connecting with others) you don't need to limit yourself to published module standards and could make them any size/style you wanted.

Jmho, but when a lot of people talk about building a diorama it is usually more for display or to provide a stage setting for photos. As such it doesn't need to be as rigid and may be simply made of foam, with no provision for connections, wiring, etc.

Regards

Ed

[Anonymous]

I built this diorama to try out construction techniques, landscaping materials, trees, fences, ballasting, and groundcovers:

http://www.the-gauge.com/showthread.php?t=9962

Andrew

[CNJ831]

FJ&G, what you are describing are essentially scenicked modules or a series of modules replicating a specific event/location, or a particular theme. The club I belong to did this in HO, reproducing various scenes along the western end of the New Haven's old Maybrook Line, circa 1930. Each was based on an old photograph, with all the structures and detailing being scratchbuilt to match the photo as closely as possible. Strung together they formed a impressive, historically correct, 24x32 foot layout.

Likewise, I've also done many temporary dioramas for model photography purposes. Essentially all the shots I had published in MR, RMC, or entered in national NMRA photo contests in the mid to late 1990's were done on small dioramas.

CNJ831

[orsonroy]

I occasionally work on non-train dioramas when I feel a bit burned out with the hobby. Mostly, I'll pull out some of my old wargaming stuff, repaint it, and turn it into a static diorama. I'm slowly working on one now, based around 1/300 scale sailing ships for my wife. She loves tall ships, so I'm modeling about a dozen of them in a port scene, circa 1890.

[FJ and G]

Andrew's diorama is an example of a smaller diorama that would not be used as a module in a larger layout.

It could either be used as a stand-alone diorama as he has it now; or later, it could be incorporated into a scene.

[Anonymous]

Dave,

If you are looking more for a modular approach, take a look at this link to my local modular club:

www.hotrak.ca

Although they are not all in the gallery, we have 300+ feet of modules. At the last setup we "only" had about 65 modules... [;)]

CNJ 831 - any chance of some pictures - that sounds really impressive...! [:D]

Andrew

[Supermicha]

I have built a few small dioramas in the past. my last is the one below, it shows a part of the BM&LP Railroad near Page, Arizona.

[FJ and G]

Andrew:
Nice!

Michael K.
You can put something like that on your desk at work and daydream

[Anonymous]

Good topic! I've been trapped in designing a new N scale shelf layout for so long that it seems like nothing would ever get built. Limited space is the problem, space in which I both live & work. I hate spaghetti layouts, & love long, lonely stetches of track through the wilderness.

Just started thinking about building "location" dioramas or modules for my logging/mining layout, joining them with long, narrow connecting sections. The modules would be towns, sawmills, logging camps & mines. The connecting sections would be those endless stretches of fill through the bogs and forest and long climbs up to the logging camps. They would be lightweight, removable dioramas in their own right perhaps 6 " or 8" wide by 8 feet or so long with a backdrop. These I could remove & store while leaving the "location" dioramas or modules scattered tastefully around the living space & office and still have access to my doors, windows, books & work space.

This clinches it! Where I was looking at two short levels with maybe 20 feet of visable branchline, I now see at least a hundred feet of uncluttered track snaking around the space, maybe more if I build a spurs to modules in the kitchen or bedroom! Looking forward to the Foam-breaking ceremony! Now where are those N scale hot-wire tools & hardhats ?

Wayne

[BNSFNUT]

I've built a few dioramas over the years both railroad and military .
Two of the dioramas end up as parts of larger layouts. Building a small diorama is a way to do model railroading when the space or resources are not availble for a larger lay out.

[Anonymous]

I started out with a diorama because I was mostly interested in photography. I learned a lot in the process and now am working on a layout. I recommend it as a first step. You can see my results at
http://www.railimages.com/gallery/Bryant-Mansfield

Bryant

[BNSFNUT]

Nice work Brayant01.
You can really get some nice detail when you only have a small area to work on.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by masonjar

I built this diorama to try out construction techniques, landscaping materials, trees, fences, ballasting, and groundcovers:...

I made a real small diorama for the same purpose. I plan on making another one down the line to practice making a creek.

---jps

[Jetrock]

I built a small HO diorama (viewable at http://www.emrl.com/~jetrock/fubar/Img_0062.jpg ) and am currently working on a 2x2 foot diorama for a railroad museum--it is essentially just a turntable and a cut-down roundhouse with a short lead track, in a mountain setting. Out of necessity I am shaving dimensions wherever possible. Since it is a static museum display the diorama will not be powered, but I am trying to design it as though it could be.

I'll post photos once I have more to show than a mess of Styrofoam...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by masonjar

I built this diorama to try out construction techniques, landscaping materials, trees, fences, ballasting, and groundcovers:

http://www.the-gauge.com/showthread.php?t=9962

Andrew

Andrew, that is one beautiful diorama, simple but beautiful. I've built a couple of diorama myself, of other topics and yes, you can really get into them and detail to the N'th degree. Lot's of fun. BTW, if you would, tell me a bit about the Gauge forum, IE; good, bad, so so, maybe great.....Thanks D.

[Anonymous]

Space restriction and money made me think about building a simple diorama, also for trying out my skills and techniques, in a few months perhaps, for now, I don't even have the space to put the small diorama anywhere...

[Anonymous]

Well, you could put it on the deck, porch, patio, etc. It does not have to be inside. In fact it is better since no clean-up mess and you can spray paint without breathing the stuff. Just a thought.
Bryant

[Anonymous]

I have built a few diramas over the years. The first one I built was a retro-modern train station. It looked great and I built it for freshman highschool art class. However after I finished it, (got an A on it) I was taking it home, when it blew out of the back of the pickup truck and proceeded to smash into a few hundred pieces. The second one was a proposal for what a housing development of the future would look like, (built for my architectual CADD class) and it sat in storage for many years waiting to be incorporated into my future layout. However during one of the many cleaning sessions my mother is prone to have, she saw it, didn't recognize what it was so she chucked it. I was in Bozeman for College so I didn't find out until I got home for Thanksgiving. The last Diarama was built as an entry into the High School Art Show as a Sophmore. It is a six inch by six inch square with wilderness scnery on it, in it I placed a single figure. That of a back packer on a hike. I won a unique composistion award for it. I still have it, and as soon as I pull my layout out of storage, I will incorporate the diarama into the scenery.

James

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bryant01

Well, you could put it on the deck, porch, patio, etc. It does not have to be inside. In fact it is better since no clean-up mess and you can spray paint without breathing the stuff. Just a thought.
Bryant

It snows during winter dude [8D] there's no way I can leave it on the patio. There's no space in the garage either (as it's full of my step father's stuff) and the basement is full of junk, books and art stuff (my mom's) and the rest of the space is full of my step father's model boat stuff. I have a balsa model airplane that I'd like to get finished, but I don't have the space for that, less even a train diorama [:(][:(]

[CBQ_Guy]

Of course this is just my opinion, but I've never been a personal fan of a diorama, and I tend to quickly dismiss one when I see a photo in the mags. To me it seems like cheating. I've been a layout man since day one in this hobby. Anyone can take a miniscule piece of board and highly detail it to the nth degree. But try and achieve that level of sophistication and detail on a basement filling layout scale, and most of us will be old and gray, or cold and in the grave before it happens, if ever. The very few existing exeptions I marvel at. I can see where the expression, "A model railroad is never finished" came from -- most of those who tried to model a layout to the same high degree they would do on a diorama![:(]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Neerie
It snows during winter dude ..

Use that to your advantage. Since the Step-dad has the interior of the house staked out, time for a large-scale garden railway diarama. I suggest modeling Rogers Pass on the CPR, before they built the tunnel. Fighting snow was what that was all about. Buried trains & avalanches wiping out snowsheds & work crews were commonplace.

Wayne

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by emeraldisle

Andrew, that is one beautiful diorama, simple but beautiful. I've built a couple of diorama myself, of other topics and yes, you can really get into them and detail to the N'th degree. Lot's of fun. BTW, if you would, tell me a bit about the Gauge forum, IE; good, bad, so so, maybe great.....Thanks D.

Thanks for the compliments!

Check out The Gauge for yourself. I find it to be really great, but some may find it slow compared with Atlas and this board. We have a lot of new members from the early closure of the Atlas forum, but so far, so good. We have avoided a lot of the "differences of opinion" by keeping it all about the trains... which is what it is all about in the end... [;)]

Andrew

[Anonymous]

I might make an engine terminal scene, I'm working on a trackplan for it right now infact!

[on30francisco]

Several years ago I built an 18" x 36" diorama of a wooden trestle crossing a small gorge in On30. I also added trees and other vegatation, several small structures, and some scratch built flatcars. I built and wired the track so it could be incorporated into a regular layout (which it was). I think dioramas are a great way to experiment with different themes, scales, and other modeling techniques without risking a lot of money and time on something you might not enjoy. They can also be detailed to the Nth degree due to their small size. And remember, a diorama can always be made part of a larger layout.

[johncolley]

Great job, Andrew. For more info on modules and module set-up meets check out the newsletters at www.Free-mo.org

[leighant]

I glued track to the underside of a 24-can soft drink carton to make a photo diorama of sorts for a sulphur gondola picture.

http://www.railimages.com/albums/kennethanthony/aaf.jpg