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Hi guys, I've just about completed my first ever diorama and would love to see what you all think.
I built it to display my Dark Vengeance Dark Angels. For now it just has two basic sets of Dark Angels, my actual Dark Vengeance models aren't painted yet, except for the terminators. There are two more slots for the Company Master and Librarian.

The base is roughly the size of A3 paper, fairly large, so I've no idea where I'll store this now. I bought plenty of foam and supplies to build more however, so I'm tempted to get started on a smaller scene which might fit on a shelf and just allow me to display a few units (most likely just the Terminators, as they're badass).

Looks pretty sweet. You definitely picked one of the best sets to display if you're going to display the whole DV set. I'd love to see it as more of a type of battlescape showing the two factions mid-fight or something. Just a thought...

Perhaps I'll build one for the Chaos half of the set too one day

Sharp! I love that statue! Very nice work!!

That is a great looking display board.

Are you going to use it for going to tournaments and stuff like that or just a diorama for your figures when they are done? Just asking since if it is for a display board to go to tournaments, I wouldn't glue down the statue, would make it detachable so you can transport it to the tournaments.

Thanks, no it's just for me. I've decided to leave the statue unglued anyway so I can store it away in a drawer.

Where is the statue from? Great work on the board!

Great work! And I too want to know where the statue came from.

The statue I found on ebay, if you search 40k statue it'll most likely come up. i believe the seller casts them theirselves from plaster (it's rather heavy) and they had multiple available. They also sold me the archway, again I believe cast themselves. They also cast bits of rubble and other nice little extras.

*may only be available on ebay.co.uk
actually, here's a direct link:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Terrain-Scenery-Winged-Statue-wargames-warhammer-40k-/281143361707?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item41757340ab

They supply them white/unpainted but it was pretty easy to paint, the deep detail on it was perfect for a nice wash along with some drybrushing for highlights


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I must add that I made a foam base for the statue to sit in so it could stand more easily too.

I had planned on using the Honoured Imperium statue by GW but this was so much cheaper and I really think it suits the Dark Angels well

Finally finished with the ravenwing squad painted too. (these are still only stand-in Tactical Marines I got from two of the starter paint sets, so my Dark Vengeance marines still need painting, including Balthasar, but this'll do for now

This is inspirational . I too want to build a display dio for my DV set . I'm thinking of using a plaster mix for the ground but am struck at how I go about making the slots for the bases to sit in ?

CW

You sir, are awesome.

 Celtic Warrior wrote:
This is inspirational . I too want to build a display dio for my DV set . I'm thinking of using a plaster mix for the ground but am struck at how I go about making the slots for the bases to sit in ?

CW

I bought some plaster to help make this base, and then never used it. This is just 3 layers of dense foamboard cut into shapes and then glued together, each layer is about twice the thickness of the unit bases, so what I had to do was cut out the holes (simply by using a base as a stencil) then slice the cutting in half and place half back in the hole (if that makes sense). I thought plaster would be difficult to plan ahead with things like that, and also make it a little too heavy. This whole diorama is incredibly light (without the statue sitting on it) so it's very mobile.

I think if you can carve your foam into gentle slopes, you can achieve some nice smooth hills just by covering them in PVA glue and then adding some texture, I used a mixture of things including GW's regular basing sand and a few bits of other modelling stuff from EMA-Models.co.uk (I bought my foam from them too) very good prices for ground textures and foam! but you need to spend at least £12 or something like that in order for them to deliver. (but you can get an awful lot for that amount!).

this is the foam I bought: http://www.ema-models.co.uk/index.php/materials/foam-polystyrene/styrofoam-lb-x-extruded/10mm-styrofoam-lb-x.html
You get 4 sheets which are roughly A2 paper size - I still have about half left over after making this diorama so might make a few extra buildings or maybe another diorama for the chaos army

I made the chapel at the back out of the same foam, I cut individual bricks from it then painted them and glued them with PVA, and it's very solid.

I'm by no means an expert, this being my first model, but if you have any questions I'd be happy to help

I was playing around with lighting and really loved this photo of Turmiel in the ruined chapel.

Cheers for the reply Liam , I never even considered the weight issue, I will now certainly be going down the foam route when i'm ready to get started.

CW

Nice statue.

I'd also liekt to ask why you've primed the bikers white when they're colour scheme is going to be mostly dark.

 sing your life wrote:
Nice statue.

I'd also liekt to ask why you've primed the bikers white when they're colour scheme is going to be mostly dark.

I primed them white because I primed everything white. I found a great white primer that wasn't GW branded, meaning it was actually affordable, and figured why buy black too just for 3 models.

liamnicholson wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
Nice statue.

I'd also liekt to ask why you've primed the bikers white when they're colour scheme is going to be mostly dark.

I primed them white because I primed everything white. I found a great white primer that wasn't GW branded, meaning it was actually affordable, and figured why buy black too just for 3 models.

what was the primer?

It was a white primer I bought from Hobby Craft, I don't quite remember the brand but it kinda smelled like Bubblegum! haha which is a little worrying.

If you go into a hobby craft by any chance, it'll be the brand that has the twisting cap that stops the nozzle from spraying.