Princess Mononoke diorama for our Niece, 1/35 scale

[thommo]

Our niece saw the dioramas I'd made for our daughters and wanted one.  I said "send me some pics of what you want".  Being a bit of a wild environmentalist, she sent me pics of Princess Mononoke riding a wolf - a Japanese Anime character, who I discovered is an environmental warrior.

 

Challenge accepted. 

 

The princess is pretty much done via scratch building and bits from two different 1/35 figure kits.

 

The wolf will be a solid plastic figure I've ordered on Ebay.

 

There are also little luminous ghost-like figures who hang around with her (tree creatures apparently).  These I'll have to scratch build somehow from clear styrene, and light up probably with LEDs/optic fibre.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Great start to what promises to be a great project. 👍

[Pete in Lincs]

Mmm Interesting.

[Moggy]

I loved the (anime) movie - one of Studio Ghibli's better productions.

 

Brilliant scratchbuilding 😜

 

Cheers, Moggy

[thommo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by thommo

[stevehnz]

On 8/18/2022 at 5:30 AM, Pete in Lincs said:

Mmm Interesting.

Not quite sure eh Pete?  Definitely different & way out of my comfort zone but really well done. 👍 

Steve.

[Pete in Lincs]

10 hours ago, stevehnz said:

really well done

It certainly is and will make an unusual addition to the display cabinet I imagine. 

Unless it's full of weird stuff like mine. Obviously.

[thommo]

2 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

It certainly is and will make an unusual addition to the display cabinet I imagine. 

Unless it's full of weird stuff like mine. Obviously.

 

I've got a bit of weird stuff in my cabinets (Frank Frazetta dios, F1 crash inferno dio, pod racer dio) but this one will end up somewhere in my niece's share house in Melbourne.

Have been scratch-building the 'tree creatures' from clear sprue.  Was going to light them up with optic fibre from a flickering green LED, then I discovered SMS make a glow in the dark paint in exactly the colour I need - but the local hobby shop does not have it.  May need to order online, and put the lights in it too?

[thommo]

The Tree Spirits are built by stretching, shaping & gluing bits of clear sprue.

 

A few more pics of the wolf & princess.

 

Base is all wired up with optic fibres coming from a green LED (steady, not flickering) to go inside the Tree Spirits, though it won't be very bright, probably only really visible in the dark.  May paint with a light coat of glow-in-dark paint.

 

 

 

 

[Moggy]

Man - this is one incredible bit of modelling.

Hats off to you!

 

Cheers, Moggy (very very impressed)

[thommo]

Adding bits to the base today.  Clippings & twigs from the garden glued together.  'Legs' added to the tree trunks by grinding down some twigs (yes, the trees in the movies appear to be alive with legs).  Ultimately it will be a very green mossy damp forest scene.

[thommo]

Base ready for paint and foliage.

 

I'm thinking an undercoat of Tamiya Deep Green, then gluing on foliage to represent mostly moss, maybe some leaves, and making some mushrooms, maybe a few flowers, a little grass.

 

[thommo]

Deep green undercoat, then black oil wash in selected areas, then medium green and burnt turf over the top.

 

[2lefthands]

Lovely work! It will look very nice!

[thommo]

In the home stretch.  A bit of touching up of the paint on the base & add the polystyrene protective cylinder I made to cover it.  The 'tree creatures' have a dim green light in them which shows up in the dark when you push the button.

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

That's a big WOW! from me. Love it. I also like how when the tree spirits rotate their heads they click. Cute. Hard to do in model form though

The moss and trees look really good. The figures too, obviously.

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Impressive work Thommo!  🏆

[Bandsaw Steve]

Very cool. Good work!

[stevehnz]

That has turned out wonderfully well, some real atmosphere about it. 👍

Steve.