How About A Diorama Group build ?

[robvulcan]

After reading about some people felling left out with the Group Builds in the poll thread. I thought of one that would allow any modeller to have ago as a Diorama can be of anything from any period or genre.

It is also a very imaginative and fun type of modelling that can really add to your tank or plane or whatever and something I have recently gotten into.

The Dio would not have to feature a kit either you could just make a scene from scratch.. the lonely battle field or just someones back garden perhaps,. Anything goes really.

It would be good for Armour and Aircraft nuts and everyone else too.

Cheers Rob

[stevej60]

I would back this one Rob,for years I have fancied a go at a WW1 vignette with a couple of figures.

[robvulcan]

Thats great Steve I hope no one minds me asking this but what exactly is a "vignette" is it an alternative word to diorama,. Or is it s diorama that tells a story..

Pardon my ignorance I just don't know

Thanks Rob

[Paul J]

Great idea! I have something I've had in mind for years and this seems like a good KUTA to do it!!

[wellzy]

Yeah would be good

Les

[Erwin]

That's a nice theme. Never been done before.

But it would need to run longer than most GB's.

[robvulcan]

Yes it would need to run longer than 3 months I reckon. I suppose its one you could drag out over about 8 months.

[wellzy]

It`s good to see how other modellers do there ground work

Les

[robvulcan]

Yes and there are some amazing scenic products now that make the job easier.. You can really loose yourself in it too and the nice part is you can't complain about fit as you make it all from (pardon the pun) the ground up yourself....

[snapper_city]

Sounds like a good idea.

[vppelt68]

Three months could be enough if the major kit components would be allowed to be built before the actual diorama build begins. Great idea anyway! Regards, V-P

[Doug Rogers]

I think a Vignette is a much more focussed piece, like a single figure or two figures interacting, for example. A diorama is more panoramic, like a landscape with an action scene or event happening in it.

That's my understanding anyway, others may know more though. Doesn't really matter to be honest.

[robvulcan]

cool at least I now get what the term means now. Cheers. I thought it was more figure related.

[stevej60]

Thats great Steve I hope no one minds me asking this but what exactly is a "vignette" is it an alternative word to diorama,. Or is it s diorama that tells a story..

Pardon my ignorance I just don't know

Thanks Rob

As has been said Rob just one or two figures on a base,but the scope for telling a story in the mud and slime of the "western front" appeals to me, there are

some great figure companies out there and a group build would tempt me to buy some of these quite expensive items.

[robvulcan]

As has been said Rob just one or two figures on a base,but the scope for telling a story in the mud and slime of the "western front" appeals to me, there are

some great figure companies out there and a group build would tempt me to buy some of these quite expensive items.

I have an idea for a dio for you.

My great grandad was in the Great War in 1916 on the Somme.

Which scares me to think my blood has lived through a battle were over 200 thousand or was it 20 thousand men were killed in 20 mins can't imagine it.

Well my grandad was shot in the lung and the. Dragged to safety by a German soldier into a bush. He survived because of the German dude and my grandad my mum and me would not be here if it was not for that and we wouldn't be having this conversation. This memory always helps me remember how very lucky I am to be here and that whatever happens in my life it will always be a luxury to what my great grandad lived through.

My grandad told me this and used to cry looking at his dads picture saying just that and how fragile life is that a decision or event you make today can change the future for generations to come. Deep but very real.

My grandad said great grandad couldn't talk about it other than saying "it was hell you look at your mate then look away then you feel the wind from we're your mate was and then parts of him

Are around you" that's all he ever spoke to my grandad about it and that was only after my grandad and 2 uncles had seen action in ww2. Human nature is a dark one. We are capable of great pain and great art great evil and great love.

I try to focus on the art in life and for all these tales are inspirational they are down right terrifying.

It annoys me when my contemporaries tell me "people bang on about the war let it drop" I tell them its when we forget our past mistakes collectively that our futures collectively are doomed to the same unlearned lessons to be repeated if we forget out truth through being frightened to learn what our four farthers tried to teach us. That usually gets a "what" one person who said this to me the. Went on to say "I don't do history it's boring" I said ok tell me how many people you think died in ww2 ? And the person replied "I dunno a few thousand" I said nope 65 plus million and still rising to this day. "She laughed and said no that can't happen your having me on" I replied and said no its the truth. She said "wow really that's interesting" I said yea history is boring isn't it !

I don't know if they teach history in schools anymore but I am glad they taught us history.

I will remember and dios vignettes are a great way to do this.

Cheers Rob

Edited November 27, 2013 by robvulcan

[stevej60]

Great story Rob, thats what appeals with dioramas,you can tell a story,build a model and educate people at the same time.And agree with your sentiments

already I am hearing moans with reference to the great war anniversaries coming up but those five years impacted on most of us here today,my grandad and

at least two of his brothers served,my gt uncle disappeared into the mud of Passchendaele in 1917 and my wifes gt grandad served in France and died in

India in 1916 leaving 6 orphans between them.

[JonP]

Thats great Steve I hope no one minds me asking this but what exactly is a "vignette" is it an alternative word to diorama,. Or is it s diorama that tells a story..

Pardon my ignorance I just don't know

Thanks Rob

If you look at most figure competitions the definition of a vignette is usually up to 3 figures on a common base and a diorama 3 figures or more plus equipment, AFV, artillery, aircraft etc.. So pretty much as Steve said, a vignette is a more focused piece of work.

I'd be up for a diorama group build though, I really enjoy doing groundwork.

[Kallisti]

I'd sign up to this one as well - I enjoy setting my models into context so most of my bases are some sort of mini-diorama, but would be fun to do a proper one again.

Edited November 27, 2013 by Kallisti

[robvulcan]

Great story Rob, thats what appeals with dioramas,you can tell a story,build a model and educate people at the same time.And agree with your sentiments

already I am hearing moans with reference to the great war anniversaries coming up but those five years impacted on most of us here today,my grandad and

at least two of his brothers served,my gt uncle disappeared into the mud of Passchendaele in 1917 and my wifes gt grandad served in France and died in

India in 1916 leaving 6 orphans between them.

Good to know someone agrees. Sorry to hear of that dismal end there.

People are delusional these days. They think they are immortal and "the war" to alot of people is just a "fiction" "film" or "computer game" People are so delusional they still cant get their heads around the fact that we are at war now and have been for over a decade its like they don't want to believe it as if was is something that just happened in the old days.

We are still living in the mess of the Wars. The thing scares me is right now the global situation has so many commonalities with the beginnings of both WW1 and WW2 the biggest one concerns me is this delusional apathy that runs deep in many societies..

Lets hope it never happens again.

[Kallisti]

Sorry Rob we are not "at war" at present. The authorities try to tell us that as an excuse for them to behave badly but we are not "at war" with anyone.

"The Troubles" in Northern Ireland as they are called now were more of a "war" than we face currently - I experienced bomb blasts and the aftermath of them in London on several occasions, but at no time during that period were we "at war" with the IRA.

The only time in recent history when we were At War was the Falklands Islands conflict in 1982, but even that was a very limited engagement. For example, you didn't see Argentinians being rounded up and put in internment camps in the UK during that time.

There is less likely to be another global conflict of the nature of WW1 or WW2 simply because there aren't the old power blocks around that there used to be. WW1 was caused by the inability of the various European powers to deal with their tensions diplomatically and the fact that there wasn't an institution in existence that a country could take a grievance to as we have now with the UN and NATO, both of which were inspired by the lessons learned in WW1 and reinforced in WW2. "Global War" nowadays tends to be conducted via economics rather than military forces.

Anyway, this is a serious digression from the subject of Dioramas

[robvulcan]

Eye agreed. And yes its definitely more of an Economic war... Its still the ordinary Joe who seems to suffer the most were ever they are.

And I don't want to get onto the nitty gritty of life either. Its hard though given the subjects we mostly model are directly connected to that..

I guess this stuff has been on my mind the last few days as its coming up to the time I lost my Grandad last year and He is sorely missed. Top bloke full of wonderful stories and a true educator to me.

I would not be the same person without him that's for sure.

Cheers Rob

[D1fuN0]

Sorry Rob we are not "at war" at present. The authorities try to tell us that as an excuse for them to behave badly but we are not "at war" with anyone.

"The Troubles" in Northern Ireland as they are called now were more of a "war" than we face currently - I experienced bomb blasts and the aftermath of them in London on several occasions, but at no time during that period were we "at war" with the IRA.

The only time in recent history when we were At War was the Falklands Islands conflict in 1982, but even that was a very limited engagement. For example, you didn't see Argentinians being rounded up and put in internment camps in the UK during that time.

There is less likely to be another global conflict of the nature of WW1 or WW2 simply because there aren't the old power blocks around that there used to be. WW1 was caused by the inability of the various European powers to deal with their tensions diplomatically and the fact that there wasn't an institution in existence that a country could take a grievance to as we have now with the UN and NATO, both of which were inspired by the lessons learned in WW1 and reinforced in WW2. "Global War" nowadays tends to be conducted via economics rather than military forces.

Anyway, this is a serious digression from the subject of Dioramas

We may not be at war, mate. But there's a lot of families this Christmas that wont have there daddies,sons & brothers, because of whatever its called going on in Afganistan. My family for one, and two of my friends families.

They can call it whatever they want, But as long as our chaps are still being killed out there, then its still a war.

Apologies, to both Rob and Kallisti, no offence meant.

Back onto the topic, Count me in for this Rob, I think its a great idea.

Steve

[robvulcan]

We may not be at war, mate. But there's a lot of families this Christmas that wont have there daddies,sons & brothers, because of whatever its called going on in Afganistan. My family for one, and two of my friends families.

They can call it whatever they want, But as long as our chaps are still being killed out there, then its still a war.

Apologies, to both Rob and Kallisti, no offence meant.

Back onto the topic, Count me in for this Rob, I think its a great idea.

Steve

That is basically what I was trying to say people are still suffering troops are still being killed and I have family on the front line too.

So back to modelling. How do most of you seasoned dio people go about the baseboard. I am new to it. I decided framing was over the top for a dio. Framing as in how you would make a model railway baseboard.

I have so far used insulation foam on a wood base and just sheets of plywood.

Cheers Rob

[D1fuN0]

I usually use a plywood or superwood (mdf) for a base. Been a while since I've done a dio and ive got waaay to many ideas blowing around in my head.

(one of them, for example, entails buying a 1/35 scale loco and cutting it in half... nope, don't think so)

Steve

[Doug Rogers]

Thinking of doing a diorama for the D Day GB, assuming it gets through the vote of course.