Are there different considerations and standards, rules etc., for building a diorama as compared to building a module?
Aside from realistic details in one small space, what is the difference?
Example: If I build a 4 X 5 foot industry or station with surrounding details and features to fit into a bigger layout later on, how can you say it is a diorama or a module?
BBF,
A 4' by 5' chunk of layout is pretty big!
A module is usually part of a system that has designated track meeting points so tha the modules can be assembled into a large display layout. Think of NTRAK or Freemo modular clubs.
Usually, a dioramo is a small scene, many tine not even designed or built to tie into a layout. Some dioramas are designed to be built into an existing layout. They difference is that modules are designed with standard interfaces so they can attach to one another in a linier fashion.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Big Boy ForeverExample: If I build a 4 X 5 foot industry or station with surrounding details and features to fit into a bigger layout later on, how can you say it is a diorama or a module?
Most folks would call that a layout "section", not a diorama. “Diorama” is usually used to refer to a standalone scene not intended to be part of a layout (tracks usually not intended to be powered, etc.).
Despite recent careless usage by MR writers and others, “module” most correctly refers to chunks of layout designed with a standard interface at the end so that they may be combined in various ways with other modules designed to the same standard. Those standards may be personal or part of an organization like NTRAK or Free-mo. “Section” and “module” are not synonyms. At least, they shouldn't be if folks want to be clearly understood.
Pretty much by definition, then, there are no standards for sections -- the builder chooses how the tracks are arranged at the end of the section of layout. Having said that, though, if what you are building is intended to fit into a larger layout later, you will want to have thought through how you will connect the section later. That could include mechanical (clamps, bolts, etc.), electrical (terminal strips, plugs, or hard-wired, for example), and other considerations.
So that would be a major difference between a section (intended to connect to a layout later) and a diorama (meant to be standalone permanently).
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Big Boy Forever Are there different considerations and standards, rules etc., for building a diorama as compared to building a module? Aside from realistic details in one small space, what is the difference? Example: If I build a 4 X 5 foot industry or station with surrounding details and features to fit into a bigger layout later on, how can you say it is a diorama or a module?
No, there are not necessarily any standards or considerations, except for those that pertain to your intended use for whatever it is you are making. If a section/domino element, then it must fit somehow against another member of the same generic kind in a way that your rails can flow from one to the other. If it won't be moved, it could be built a certain way, but if it will be transported often, it might be necessary to make it more robust and to make it so that fasterners and aligning pins are used that make attachment easy and reliable time-after-time.
A diorama is usually a small scene that is meant to be a show-piece. It is highly detailed. It can be on a small portion of 1/2" plywood and left to sit in a display cabinet to keep it dust free. It could have a perch on the surface of a layout, or inserted somehow, but retrievable for photos...say outdoors in the sun.
Once again, if you are building for FREMO, you will be expected to conform to certain standards. Elements of your own layout will only have to serve your purposes. A diorama is usually smaller, always more portable, and can stand on its own or be used as part of a scene.
-Crandell
Permit me to give a couple of examples:
A module is designed to be connected to other modules through a standard interface. People have built home layouts with standard modules as part of the overall scheme, then removed those modules and transported them to a show or convention, where they were used as building blocks in a modular layout. At present, I have no standard modules, and no intention of incorporating such.
I do have sections - each a puzzle palace of hand-laid specialwork. They can be detached from the main layout and taken to a work bench for maintenance or modification - but they only go in one place and they have to fit one specific way in order to connect to tracks that don't conform to modular interface standards.
Once I'm sure the underlying trackwork is absolutely, positively bulletproof I will put my five-tiered pagoda atop its knoll over the one-turn loop that raises the TTT over the JNR and the Nishikawa Electric Railway. That knoll (pagoda, other buildings, trees and a section of curved backdrop) will be removable (to provide access if the unthinkable happens.) That removed section, placed on a suitable base including the visible bits of trackage in inoperable form, would make a nice diorama.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)