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Hey folks! You may or may not have seen my other Blog here on Dakka, but I've decided to make a second for.. reasons. Nothing fancy, but I'm making some dioramas for family and friends as gifts moving forward and I plan to do a couple yet this year. I think I may have introduced them to my P&M blog so I need to hide the WIP and discussion from their scrutiny in another blog SO here we are!

If you are unfamiliar with the other blog, you'll soon notice that I'm a bit long-winded, it seems to be something I can't readily help, feel free to just scroll for pictures if you want

So I've got two dioramas in mind for this year, the first will come due in the middle of august so I've only got a bit under 3 months to complete it. The second I think is more like november, I'll figure out exactly when later. Humorously enough, I've just received the order for the lion's share of the components for the later diorama, got the birthdays mixed up maybe I dunno. It doesn't matter, they're not going to go bad!

Let's describe the dioramas then, shall we?

The first is for a big Doctor Who fan, and I've come up with something that's been getting increasingly elaborate...

I was thinking of something simple but the idea kind of exploded while i was thinking on my way home from work. I've pretty much got to sketch this one out it will be hard to describe, but that won't stop me from trying

Ideally, I'll make a foot-ish tall tardis that's 6-8" wide or so (sizes pending change once I do some more scheming), with a 6" tall section that has removable sides on all four faces. The center will be a mini tardis, I want to use the one from reaper bones but I may have to use papercraft or scratchbuild one as this is due well before bones 2 will even *think* about shipping. Anyhoo, now put an X through the 4 corners of the mini tardis stretching to the corners of the floor/ceiling of the larger tardis/display box. This will give me 4 little display areas 6-8" wide by 6" high and so on, with the tardis showing in the background with a little foreground space to include a doctor and various companions/villains.

SO it's basically gonna be four mini dioramas in a stylized display box that shouldn't look too bad on it's own. At first I was just gonna do the 4 mini dioramas, but the display box is just too cool not to try. So now I've got to order four doctors (might have to double up on one of them) and probably a couple of companion models... If I see a really nicely scaled villain from the same site(s) I'll nab it, otherwise I'll scratch/convert what I need. Each side will be a different scene. Probably something industrial, something historical, something future, and maybe something just weird I dunno yet.


really rough sketch, image quality kind of suffered, shouldn't have let dakka autocorrect it

I've got till the middle of August, so it's kind of ambitious to try to do this in the short time, but we'll see! I'm not above pushing the date back and giving her an empty box with an IOU if it makes the final result better! I'll see about posting up a *really* rough sketch later if I can get at my camera without upsetting Madame Toddlerington (aka my daughter )


The second diorama, for which I have all of the parts now, is samurai themed. I almost went and got some period-specific historical samurai... but then I remembered Corvus Belli made ninja models, and was helpfully reminded that they also did a Miamoto Mushashi samurai as a merc, and I switched themes to future/samurai

I don't want to take up a huge amount of desk space here, so I'm going to start with a rough "restriction" of a 6x6" cube, though I might not hold terribly rigidly to that. Basically, the samurai has been marked for death and several ninjas have been dispatched to do the deed. I'm not going to modify the models any more than I have to, preferably none. I specifically picked these models specifically because I thought they'd look good squaring off in terms of poses and the direction they're looking, etc. I do want to try to step of my game painting wise, I'm considering trying some NMM and maybe some OSL from a street lamp or something, but only if I can make it look good while doing such things. The general layout will involve one ninja fighting the samurai on a bridge/walkway/something elevated and narrow, with another ninja perched up higher training a sniper rifle on the samurai as backup. I want to do some dust/dirt/etc weathering where appropriate, and would like to do some injuries as well. If I can come up with a good way to do it, I want to give the samurai a couple of rips in the cloth of his outfit but only with paint, I don't want to gouge the model. The fighting ninja will also probably have an injury, but less than the samurai. I may use some deadzone tiles to use for the terrain over which they are fighting.


The right and center minis will be fighting on a bridge/ramp/thing, the sniper ninja will be perched off to the left and higher up, aiming down at the samurai.

Thanks for stopping by!


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http://heresyminiatures.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_64

http://heresyminiatures.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_60&products_id=318

Looks like I've found all of my doctors, a companion, and maybe a baddie or two! Could still use another companion or two and more villain options, but heresy is gonna get some business for sure.

Mmhhhh, delicious. You have been on a roll with the terrain building, Dioramas look like a perfect match to keep practicing your skills and make something even cooler to boot.

I'm not a huge doctor who fan so that one I'm a little "meh".

But the Ninja and Samurai one, oh yes, lovely, that one sounds lovely and I'll be eager to see the WIP.

I 'kind of' like Dr who, so it won't be hard to work on it.

Recall excited for the 'duel', but I'll have to step up my game to do what I want.

Thanks for popping by

Hope to get some work done on one or both with the long weekend.

TARDIS huh? Subbing.

Haha sweet. Nearly ready to order most/all of the minis and I hope to finalize my plans over this long weekend. I may wait for our new hobby lobby to open to look around for materials for the larger Tardis, may go look at a different store tomorrow.

Basic dry fitting makes me think 8'' may be a better width than 6, but we'll see after some more testing.

Came for the Doctor.

Stayed for the Infinity models.

Sounds like a shirt

Alrighty folks, didn't get any actual work done today, but I did go on a supply run to get some things for both projects.



The two woodland scenics items are mostly going towards the samurai showdown diorama, bu they'll come in handy if I do a cave or similar for one of the Who panels. The hole punch will be nice for rivets, though they're a bit large, which may or may not come in handy for a more industrial Who panel. Good thing to have in any case. The two boxes may possibly serve as the basis for the Tardis. They're a bit on the smaller side of my guesses at size, which has pros and cons. If I keep with the smaller size, it will make everything more manageable in terms of overall scope, but the space available for the panels will be pretty tight.

I've reconsidered a couple of ideas I've had for the samurai showdown layout, I may do some sketches or do some rough mocking up later on. If I do I'll put up some pictures in a few hours. I'm seriously considering painting the individual components of these figures separately (the arms, mostly, for these guys), but we'll see. I may just glue them together and sort them out like usual. Still trying to decide if I want to paint them on nails like I usually do, or figure out something different to help with any source lighting (if I go through with the attempt).

The Dr. Who project needs work sooner though, and to that end I'm gonna go put in the order for the doctors and a couple of extras from Heresy miniatures (as long as the shipping and delivery ETAs aren't terrible!).

More soon.


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**Update** Ordering minis from the UK can get pretty rough, half as much shipping as product and it's gonna take a bit... but I've got four doctors, a companion, and a villain on the way!

Now I'm gonna go see about another mini, looks like someone in the US produces a Dalek, it's not an amazing sculpt but at the same time it may well be better than something I'd scratchbuild myself. Probably still gonna cost me as much as an infinity mini and not be nearly as nice, but oh well!

I should have said in the first post... this is going to be more of a slow play / long con of a blog. The Hobby Time blog updates even if there isn't a lot to say, here I intend to show you some progress each time I post. Unless I've got a question or I'm replying to one of you, of course. Once I get fully stuck in to the projects, we should see updates reasonably often anyway, just wanted to let people know the difference I guess.

Ok, I've had these for a little bit but I haven't gotten around to doing anything with them but these pictures.


These came in way earlier than I thought they would, thanks Heresy





This is the Master, the rest are pretty self-explanatory I think. Sweet bonus pistols too, but I've got to go with the sonic/laser screwdriver thing.


I'm happier with the doctor than I am with Pond. Her face is a bit oddly shaped, big mouth. Might try to sort it out with some filler or at the painting stage. Might turn out nicer than I thought too.

Everything has pretty minimal mold lines and just a bit of flash. I'll trim them up and get the couple glued that need it pretty soon. Pretty happy with the quality of the casts and the quality of the lookalikeedness of them. $5-6 a piece isn't bad, especially if you're in the UK and don't have to pay nearly the shipping I did

I'll be mounting these up on nails for painting as is my way, just as soon as I get around to cleaning and assembly.

I would like to ask a favor of you folk before I go. I've got 4 panels to fill, and six minis. Got any suggestions for scenes to fill out the panels?

One of the 10th doctors should be going up against the master, probably won't need additional minis for that one. The 11th doctor and Pond can go together, they may or may not need a bad guy... thoughts?

The 9th doctor will need a villain, who would you guys suggest? I can get daleks in this scale from a US company, probably another 10 bucks to buy and ship.

What should I do with the other 10th doctor, he doesn't have a companion OR a villain at the moment.

Another bit of brainstorming... What do you guys think about the central mini Tardis tying in all four of the panels. Good idea, or overly complicated and won't add enough to bother?

I'm keeping an eye out for a better base for the display box Tardis as well. Next update should have some paint down, big box work, or sketch/builds for the Infinity diorama.

Thanks for watching

I've been looking forward to those pics of the Dr Who models, I've been considering buying them for a while now. Thanks for the nice shots.

As for scene ideas (warning, possible nerd mode ahead):

Doc 9: Facing down the Dalek in Van Statten's museum. You'd just need a Dalek, some chains, some tool-type stuff and industrial looking equipment. It would be quite a dark scene, so pose some nice contrast.

Dr 10 and the Master: Assuming you don't mind the scene being 'outside' the Tardis, I think the obvious ones would be either the bridge of the Valiant (flying aircraft carrier) with the Master doing his whole 'here's my grand plan, deal with it' thing. It should allow nice setting between the two characters and not need that much work. Alternatively, perhaps their final confrontation in the Missile Yards. Doc and Master face off, with huge missiles behind them by the hundred (a photoshopped background?). The basing for this would be easy, just rock and sand.

Doc 10 solo: It sounds strange, but a good one for this could actually be just a white wall, with the Doctor staring at it (probably a side-on display). After he loses Rose in Doomsday, he spends a long time just staring at this blank, white wall, which could be pretty 'artistic' if you were to frame it right, and make a nice contrast to the dark Dalek scene.

11th and Pond: Perhaps a Tardis interior, with the door opening outwards (into the back of the box) with a generic space backdrop (a nebula or something). One of the main promo pics for series 5 was just that, Amy and the Doc looking out into 'all of time and space'.

Hope that gives you some ideas, I can provide pics tomorrow if you aren't familiar with the scenes. I think they'd give a nice mix of dramatic and peaceful, light and dark, active and passive. I'm not a fan of the idea of linking them all together via the central piece, I think that would be too complicated and also limit the scenes you could do.

The way you depict the scenes, the mini Tardis would detract. The tardis was kind of a tie-in for the four scenes... but really they're pretty obviously tied in by proximity and being inside of the outer Tardis display box.

If you don't mind posting pictures, go for it. I vaguely remember everything, but perhaps not in exactly the way you are describing. The wall bit may be cool if I can do it artistically so it doesn't look like a cop out.

In my musings I've flirted with printed backgrounds. Probably gonna be the easiest way to do everything and make it look nice, I'll have to balance it with foreground objects. The 10/master showdown on the helicarrier thing... weren't there some stairs?

If you're doing a Doctor Who diorama, you pretty much need to have Daleks. Having Cybermen is borderline mandatory, but you don't get a choice on the Daleks. It's just required.

By Law, I believe.

OK, here's pics:
Dr 9 and Dalek:


Dr 10 and The Master:

Valiant:


Should give you an idea of the layout. Obviously the scene is not the one I mentioned, though.

The 'Shipyards':

This, with loads of rockets in the background.

Dr 10 'White Room'


Dr 11 and Pond:

Best I could find, but you'd only want the door, the wall behind it and maybe half the raised section and console.

Cool, thanks for the pictures, they should help. I'll probably just go back and rewatch the episodes in question. A couple of pictures to keep me a man of my word:








Might have to go back and address that lingering fine mold line on Amy's leg.

They look even nicer with paint on them, really happy with these so far and I think the faces are quite convincing.

Now... on to the real reason for my post. I require more assistance!

I'm starting to wonder if the whole 'put an X in the box and have 4 scenes' thing is really the way to go. It was the only way to go with an integrated mini tardis anchoring each scene, but we've kind of moved past that, I think.

I could, for example, make the outside look like the Tardis as intended, but have both doors open into a large scene. Or perhaps two scenes. I could have something going on on top of the tardis display, one of the doctors fighting a dalek around the central flashy light bit perhaps... and then have a window open on the back displaying the second version of Doctor 10, possibly with a little turnstyle deal so you can see all of the mini.

What do you fine readers think? Was the original Idea the best? Have I struck upon something superior? Do you want me to make a picture to better explain what I'm talking about?

I'm kind of partial to having the front doors open now... Hell, you could even have an inside-ish joke... the inside could be the bridge of the tardis with pond and doctor 11, possibly with a plaque or title somewhere that says something to the tune of "it's actually a bit smaller on the inside" or similar

But if I do the main doors opening into a scene, how do I use up all 4 doctors, Pond, the Master, and the obligatory dalek or two I'll order eventually? I guess I could stack 4 scenes on top of each-other with the floor/ceiling of each of them in common... HRMMM.....


Help me out folks

To be honest, I think that given you have the 4 doctors, the 4-scene split is the way to go, and I think the original way of framing it would be the best and most dynamic way of doing that. I'm almost thinking that stacking them would be too reminiscent of a set of shelves.

That said, I may have misunderstood the new idea, so a drawing might clear that up.

On a side note, those minis do look much better primed (I mean, they were good before, but now they're great.) Are they 28mm heroic scale, or closer to 35mm, out of interest?

Oh yeah, I haven't done any scale shots yet have I? I'll try to correct that in the next couple of days for sure.

Yeah, I'm not sure stacking all 4 scenes would be the best. Probably something like having one or two on the inside of the opening doors, another in a window on the side/back, and maybe even a couple of them doing something dramatic on the roof of the display tardis. But maybe I'm just getting antsy and the original plan is best.

Whoops, sorry, still no scale shots, I'll get around to them. I'd say they're 28-30mm, they're a bit thicker than the Mantic and Infinity minis I've been working with, but they aren't as disproportionate as guardsmen. Somewhat truescale, but chunkier than those I mentioned. Bah, I'll take some pictures soon.



Ok, now we're in business. I got some random Infinity stuff out of my system and I'm beginning to paint the Dr. Who minis. So far it's just a base coat for the two simplest/most boring color schemes. 9 is all black, so the challenge with him will be to make the jacket, shirt, and pants all look like different tones of black. The jacket may get a gloss top coat, with extreme almost white edge highlights. The pants will get something softer. The shirt only has a couple of folds so I'll just pick a highlight a shade different from the others. Boots can be like the jacket. The master wears a black suit and tie, though his stuff can match, boots shinier though. At least he has a white shirt to break it up.

I've come to a bit of a thing though. If he's in a business suit he should have brown hair, it was later on when he came back that he had bleached blond locks... but I think it made him scarier, y'know? Thoughts? Would blond hair and the suit be too telling a mixup to Dr Who aficionados?

Gonna knock these two out quick as there's not a whole lot that I even can do for them, I'll take my time hilighting and such, I just mean there really isn't a whole lot to do. The others should be a bit more interesting color wise.


I may also go ahead and order a couple of Daleks, seems like a requirement for this sort of thing!

 GrimDork wrote:



I may also go ahead and order a couple of Daleks, seems like a requirement for this sort of thing!

You seem to have misunderstood. Its more than a requirement its clearly the law.

Its OK, they're ordered, possibly even shipped by now. They should be here before I have the first crop painted.

Still dreading making the display box portion... I'm rubbish at smooth straight lines and stuff like that. There's a reason I ordered a bunch of battlezones terrain and haven't made a foam core ruined city by now.

Its the infinity stuff I am looking forward the most. I want all three of those models. Cant you just make the diorama for me Grim? Or send me the models as a create your own Diorama.

Those minis do look detailed, and it's easier to see the quality with a bit of paint on them.

RE: The Master, it depends on what scene you're going for, if there is one. Personally, I'd go with the brown hair, but it depends on how much of a whovian the recipient of the diorama is as to whether you'd get away with the 'wrong' colour.

Hell, if it's something I would notice (I may be picky, but I'm only like, kind of interested in the show), then it's probably too much. Oh well, he'll be scary either way.


@Carlos, I would if I were Oprah, as it is these dioramas are costing me too much as it is =/ I'm kind of getting sad about having to give them away once as it is

I'll start the Infinity Dio as soon as the Who one is done, I've only got till the middle of august and it's gonna take me some time to figure out the box.

Figured the chances of that working were slim to none.

I keep eying the three of them and having evil thoughts of making a japanese sectorial force, but i bought them for the diorama and that's where they're going by golly!

I've done some mocking up for the display box interior, i think i'm going to go ahead with this design and start throwing glue around because if i don't... i'll never get done. Pardon the infinity figures, most of the who minis are up on nails to be painted.



So, you can see each panel has a very small working area, even when you consider that they probably won't be based.




This is an extremely alpha mockup for the 10th doctor and the master facing off, i'm thinking of some kind of raised platform, probably with printouts of a sky/ocean view as seen from the valiant's windows, or something.


Top down, though the lid will be glued in place before it's over.


I'm going to try to do some 3d background and texture as well, but where appropriate, i'll be using my printer to get some extra detail cheater style.

What do you guys think about a cave scene for dr 11 and Amy? I could put them on the sides and put that sinister glowing white time crack thing down the middle. I could even put a scorch mark for where Rory was, but i'm not sure the figures are showing enough emotion to justify that, thoughts?

I'm probably going to put dr 9 fighting both daleks in an industrial setting. I was thinking of making a pressmold so i could have a bunch of daleks in the background, deactivated like it was a dalek production facility he was trying to destroy.. but if i do that i'll probably use the printer due to limited space in the scene as it is.

Still trying to come up with a good idea for the 10th doctor. I did notice that hobby lobby had a reasonably cheap lunar landing set and that the figures, while a bit ham-handed, were approximately the right size for 28mm... i was thinking of getting it just to have a nearly-properly sized vehicle to use as a base, maybe scratchbuild a lot of stuff on top of it to make a future military jeep type thing for casting (and for a totally unrelated project to this)... but now i'm wondering if i shouldn't get the fugging space man, give him the gun that came with the master, and do that scene where the astronaut shoots him!? I could print out a beach scene if i remember where it happens correctly, put the sand on the floor with them standing next to the surf, gun aimed but not yet shot... whooo unless you guys talk me out of it i think i may have my fourth scene

Looks like a decent set up. I like the idea for the cave scene and the crack, there's maybe even an opportunity for some OSL in there if you were feeling up to it. As for the multi-Dalek idea, what about the interior of a Dalek ship (which featured in his last episode as 9) as that could give you an awesome backdrop and add a very sci-fi scene (at the moment, there's not really one of those in the plan.

Only issue with the Astronaut scene is... well, that was the 11th Doctor! (sorry! ) That said, if you wanted to use an astronaut then there's perhaps something from Waters of Mars that would work. There was a lot of running around in spacesuits in that episode.

Failing that, what about some scene involving the Tardis? Either the interior or exterior, it could work and be fairly 'generic' while still iconic.

Huh, you're probably right then, i thought maybe the astronaut first showed up when he was dr10 but my memory is probably foggy, what about the superlibrary episode then, with the creepy shadowthings inside the space/hazard suit? I might be able to make the sitting astronaut in the set into a backing away in terror astronaut, and then have the standing one menacing him and the doctor?

 GrimDork wrote:
Huh, you're probably right then, i thought maybe the astronaut first showed up when he was dr10 but my memory is probably foggy, what about the superlibrary episode then, with the creepy shadowthings inside the space/hazard suit? I might be able to make the sitting astronaut in the set into a backing away in terror astronaut, and then have the standing one menacing him and the doctor?

Now that is a very cool idea! Could work very nicely indeed.

Drat, i should have picked it up, oh well should be there this week, stinky hobby lobby and being closed sundays.


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Got the base internal structure glued together.

Then i stressed about a surface for the exterior, at which point i remembered my evergreen plasticard sheets:


I've trimmed them to fit better since this shot.

I'm tentatively going to use carefully cut foamboard for the panels on the outside, we'll see if the first one I prototype works out. I"ll have to do something for the corners too, since they're kind of an outside part framing everything else, but i'll figure that out when i get to them. The top should be easy, one piece of foamboard on the top, then a smaller one on top of that, just need to figure out a reliable method for making the foam inside a bit more uniform... The bottom should be easy too, essentially just another square of foamboard.

I'm far from having the tardis sorted, but i'm getting more confident that it'll get done now. Oh, if i hadn't mentioned it, i'm planning on building each of the four panels, then cutting the finished structures at the halfway point to make the top of each panel removable. The bottom halves will be glued in some way, and for the top halves i'm still thinking magnets.

I'm also considering using some kind of clear plastic inside the top window frames, potentially allowing you to see in to the displays, a little bit.

Hoping to get some more concrete work done on the blue box tonight, and to do some painting before long. I did do most of the edge highlighting for the black on the first two figures, but there's a lot left to go.


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I've somehow managed to measure twice cut once for... well, once! These aren't perfect, but they're fairly close to centered and somewhat like the pictures of the tardis you can find via google. I think the panels/windows are a bit deeper than standard, but this was easier that plasticard and i'm not sure i could have made that look any better or even as good. I've used this first side as a template and have the squares drawn out on the other three panels, and i've got a second panel cut. I'm planning on using some form of clear plastic, maybe salvaged from blister packs, for the windows up top to make it more obvious that there are contents to be viewed.

I'm starting to get excited about the project, once the tardis is built, i'll be back into the realm of things with which I'm familiar.. small scale scenery and 28mm minis. I'm gonna see about picking up those astronauts tomorrow or sometime this week. I just looked the vashta narada back up and... eesh. That one's gonna be tough... I was thinking they were a pitch black face plate, but no.... I'm apparently going to have to free hand a freaking glowing skull. But... totally gonna try it! I've been wanting to paint a skull pattern on the face plate of one of my Infinity models for awhile now, so this will be a more extreme example I can use by way of practice.

That's looking great. Unfortunately, I'm not up to speed on New Doctor stuff. I got halfway/two thirds through Tennant's run before I got distracted, and that was a few years ago now, too. I'll need to go back and catch up when I get time.

Time?

Geddit?

Ok, that was an unintentional pun to start with. I just thought I'd draw attention to it in a lame way.

Over the last couple of years I've watched from the start of the newer series to some point partway through matt Smith's tenure. But I only watched it once and often in the background. But gGoogle image search is filling in *most* of the blanks.

I see what you did there


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Ok idea crew, i need your help!

I'm trying to decide how to do the walls for the tardis, in terms of mounting them to the box such that the display area is viewable. There's the original method where all 4 side panels are split down the middle and they just pop off, held in place by magnets, but i'm starting to think that this will get really hairy around the corners...

There's also the possibility of splitting the sides down the middle, the front doors would open, the sides would all also open like doors just because... giving it kind of a jewelry box feel maybe. This would add the area under the display but i could easily fill that with a quote applying to the scene, or simply a title with a cool background involved. This would use hinges, probably 2-3 per side, or a total of 8 sets for the double door style. May or may not be easy to work with re:corners.

The last idea is to do a single hinge, each side panel swings all the way out. This would be a bit easier than the second method, and use less minihinges... but it would be harder to have multiple sides of the display open at once.


Any thoughts or suggestions? Need to see a picture to know what i'm rambling about? Gonna go source some hinges and spacemans now. I think i'm tentatively planning to cut the visor area out and hollow it, fit a skull from a skeleton mini into it, paint it -including back-lit glow effect maybe- and cover the gap with 5 minute epoxy, which should dry clear enough to show all the detail, maybe give that a light blue glaze to make it more obviously some kind of glass. Ehh?