For my future project, I’ll have a loose blueprint because I want a canyon wall, one-lane mountain pass road, and the mouth of the cave entrance that starts in the corner and exit to be determined. The size will mainly be for Bumblebee/3P minibots. I thought about adding a creek with water but haven’t decided if I want to mess with water effects.

It will all be connected by magnets, which will make for easier storage. After I’ve laid the geography, then I can start winging certain details.


Getting close to being complete.

 

Just needs some touch up paint and the shuttle is done.


"Hot Rod look! There's a hole in the shuttle!

 

Looks great! Awesome work!

 

Thank you. This one went by fast.

 

Great job. I love it! Did you coat the foamboard with anything to help harden it against dents or does the paint do a good enough job of that as is?

 

I didn’t apply any hardening agent to the foam. The acryllic paint does a good job of coating and provides a slightly harder layer of protection, but I do need to go back and apply a sealer to prevent the acryllic paint from sticking to itself and peeling up. I still have to be careful about how I move the dio because a dent would be fatal and I’d have to do it over.

 

Decepticon detention center diorama in progress.

 

Looking forward to this one's progress.

 

Finally done etching in the details and should be set to paint as soon as I decide on a color.

 

Those look really fantastic! Nice work.

 

I wish I was talented enough to do this kinda stuff. :3

 

Believe me, it’s not hard. A ruler, a super sharp and thin blade, a metal scribe, some foam board and patience. It’s certainly a crawl before you walk activity. Just start off with simple ideas.


First coat of paint applied. Second coat and cartoon lines next. I love the way the color came out.

 

I like that shade of purple. Its nice and smooth looking too.

 

I’m finding better success with using interior/exterior house paints instead of acrylics. I may have to apply a clear coat as well because the surfaces are a little rough to the touch at the moment.

 

Been slowly building up a city scape. Hoping to finish it soon.

 

Keeping my eye on this thread

 

I want to say, first off, these are genius. BRILLIANT, even.

Now one thing I have observed from tinkering with diorama ideas is that in the cartoon, floors are slightly darker and more metallic in the G1 cartoon. This helps visually break up floors and walls. So the one bit of constructive criticism I have would be to mask off the floors and hit them with a translucent tamiya coat similar to what they use for headlights. The underlying tint will be consistent but it will distinguish the floors from walls, look nice under lighting, and hopefully reflect the figures a bit in the floor detailing, which helps show off your sculpting detail as opposed to other people’s flat detailing.

The only other observation I have is that if you add keys/buttons, those tended to be an olive green in close-up shots in the cartoon and that, when going for a more detailed version of the cartoon, I’d look at close-up shots of stuff for any detail reference.

This is all fairly minor stuff on my part and I’m super jealous of your talent and gorgeous displays.

 

Thank you for the suggestions. They are good ones and ones I’ve thought about while sourcing my materials.

I did think about painting the floor and ceiling a slightly darker purple because some cartoons displayed that coloration. Other cartoons displayed the same purple from top to bottom while others showed a dark blue-ish grey mixed with purple. I may add something to the floor. Definitely a clear coat because the diorama is a little coarse right now. I may adopt your idea about the coating.

Once I’m done with the final coat of paint and drawing in the lines, I’ll look for control panels to attach. I may have to make them myself, but I want to 3D print them so I’m in the process of sourcing one right now.