Lord Katsumoto and the Ninja

[Cadman]

Loosely based on scenes in The Last Samurai, (well, very loosely I guess), this one started off like this;

 

 

 

And ended up looking like this;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The figures are from Andrea Miniatures, First Legion, Aeroart, East of India and Pegaso. The bridge and toro gate are aquarium accessories, and the trees, static grass and the resin water are among various stuff kicking around in my diorama spares boxes.

 

Cheers

H

 

Edited October 23, 2017 by Cadman
typo

[Badder]

30 minutes ago, Cadman said:

The bridge and toro gate are aquarium accessories,

Excellent! I'd never have thought of sourcing such things from fishy shops! Lovely groundwork as usual, ace trees... I love the cherry blossom.

 

The resin water is easily identifiable, but how did you make the waterfall? Have you considered tilting the diorama so that the waterfall then sits horizontally, applying strips of plasticene to model 'rivulets' then pouring resin into those 'moulds'? For the frothy, bubbly bits I've discovered that you can pour medium CA into the freshly poured resin, then tease and poke at the CA with a toothpick to pull and tug it about. The CA kind of goes 'snotty' and frothy and it can be worked within the resin, pulled into 'strings', or even raised just above the surface.

 

If you have a look at my diorama RFI 'Carry on Regardless' you'll see 'wakes' and splashes behind a Universal Carrier as it ploughs along a marshy track. The CA/resin reaction was discovered during that build and I will be using it in my current diorama build very shortly.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

[Cadman]

2 minutes ago, Badder said:

Excellent! I'd never have thought of sourcing such things from fishy shops! Lovely groundwork as usual, ace trees... I love the cherry blossom.

 

The resin water is easily identifiable, but how did you make the waterfall? Have you considered tilting the diorama so that the waterfall then sits horizontally, applying strips of plasticene to model 'rivulets' then pouring resin into those 'moulds'? For the frothy, bubbly bits I've discovered that you can pour medium CA into the freshly poured resin, then tease and poke at the CA with a toothpick to pull and tug it about. The CA kind of goes 'snotty' and frothy and it can be worked within the resin, pulled into 'strings', or even raised just above the surface.

 

If you have a look at my diorama RFI 'Carry on Regardless' you'll see 'wakes' and splashes behind a Universal Carrier as it ploughs along a marshy track. The CA/resin reaction was discovered during that build and I will be using it in my current diorama build very shortly.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

The waterfalls were made by laying down strips of clear RTV, (silicon, caulking, whatever you call it), and then tilting the diorama horizontally and pouring in "Magic Water" from unreal details. The white "foam" was just clear water resin tinted with a drop or two of various off-white acrylics and poured over the already-set water resin.

Interesting idea about using CA, and I'll try it next time I'm doing a water course -- thanks.

[Sairou]

Lovely diorama. I feel that adding some blood effects to the dead man, or the weapon that killed him, could add a dark, visceral note to the scene.

[Cadman]

1 minute ago, Sairou said:

Lovely diorama. I feel that adding some blood effects to the dead man, or the weapon that killed him, could add a dark, visceral note to the scene.

I'm sure you're right, but I tend to avoid adding too much blood to dioramas as I think it never really looks in scale.

Lets just pretend he's the victim of a Ninja karate chop.

[Sairou]

11 minutes ago, Cadman said:

I'm sure you're right, but I tend to avoid adding too much blood to dioramas as I think it never really looks in scale.

Lets just pretend he's the victim of a Ninja karate chop.

Tamiya Clear Red can be effective. It's your diorama, so do what you like, but I think the blood would contrast nicely with the bright and pretty surroundings. 

[Cadman]

24 minutes ago, Sairou said:

Tamiya Clear Red can be effective. It's your diorama, so do what you like, but I think the blood would contrast nicely with the bright and pretty surroundings. 

Thanks for the feedback and suggestion.

[Pete in Lincs]

Trying to think of a different word to WOW!.

Nope. Stuck with that one.

Just lovely. Some of that looks like film stills!

(The last Samurai is on my favourites list too).

[Cadman]

13 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Some of that looks like film stills!

That's the effect I usually try to achieve.

Another approach is to go nuts with graphic effects for a movie poster look.

[Vinnie]

Another stunner! Where do you find the background scenery?

[Cadman]

1 minute ago, Vinnie said:

Another stunner! Where do you find the background scenery?

I've got three hobby railway backdrops, plus a few more abstract examples from Hanger 17. Which ones I use depends on what I want to depict.

I've also got plain white and plain blue cloth that I use a lot as well, but just discovered the both need cleaned and ironed.

So I'll be using a blue towel as a backdrop for some figure close-ups later today -- just waiting for the camera battery to charge.

Shouldn't take long.

[fewr9fkr9595]

Very very nice mate! 

 

Only thing I’d say is that I doubt a bird (crow/raven?) would be sat up there with all that movement and noise going on, but thats only minor point in what is a work of art! 

[spaddad]

tasty

[Cadman]

4 minutes ago, Tony Oliver said:

Very very nice mate! 

 

Only thing I’d say is that I doubt a bird (crow/raven?) would be sat up there with all that movement and noise going on, but thats only minor point in what is a work of art! 

You may well be right Tony.

Either he's a deaf crow, or Ninja's are silent assassins....I guess that's why they're Ninja's....

[Pete in Lincs]

This is Japanese, 

The crow will be symbolic.

[Cadman]

On 10/25/2017 at 1:30 AM, Pete in Lincs said:

This is Japanese, 

The crow will be symbolic.

It's a stuffed crow....