Global Scale Modeller

I'm getting skittish because I ran out of airbrush cleaner so I can't paint my model kits and I feel like I'm not getting anywhere, so meanwhile I'm trying to find inspiration for building dioramas for my unbuilt model kits, however I'm rather short on ideas. Where do you get your inspiration for your Diorama builds? I mostly build...well, I almost exclusively build 1/35 scale tanks. I know you can build a diorama based on a photo, I've tried looking at a million photos, but mostly it would only consist of a tank driving along a road with maybe another vehicle behind them. I've also tried to look at some basic diorama building tips and books but it doesn't seem to help. I would like to hear your stories about diorama buildings and to see some photo examples of what you find inspiring.

I guess it also doesn't help that I can't find any trees for my dioramas, and buildings and many rock features are bloody impossible to make without expensive molds.

I've only actually completed one diorama but I get ideas all the time mainly just looking at photos of war, well war time era really, I don't go for sort of battle action shots.
The things that come into my mind are rarely the same as the photo, maybe not even the same time period, it just plants an idea in my head of a scene, a sort of snapshot in time.
I just wish I had the time, the kits and the talent to make them how I see them them in me nut!
I don't so much look at the equipment, tanks etc but mainly a scene you can interpret a story into. To me that normally means incorporating people

Reading back probably not much help, just figments of my over-active imagination.

Photos and movie scenes for me. Also, a particular vehicle can set me off. Eg, anything with winter camo and I start thinking, hey a snow scene!

I agree with Augustus, battle shots don't do it for me. Iconic moments and adverse terrain are much more in line with my way of thinking. I've got kits and ideas for the following

LRDG truck and jeep for a desert scene
RAF airfield set including the new tool 1/48 Hurricane for a Battle of Britain dispersal scene
Nashorn and Flak 36 with crews for an anti-tank gun position in a snow setting
Tiger II with Falshirmjagers for a battle of the bulge scene

Whether I actually get them built as dios is in the lap of the gods

You don't need expensive moulds or bespoke products if you don't want them. You can be off to the races with some foam board, DIY filler and gravel for fish tanks!

As for rocks, check this out.

Also one that comes to mind was when I just started off (only bout 18months ago) I bought a Trumpeter kit which looked nice only to get home and read up that it was a German proto-Type and only 1 or 2 built. So no decals (apart from a cross I believe) and not much chance to weather it as if it had seen battle. So I just got an idea of this getting stuck on a training field, or such, and then being taken away by a recovery vehicle. There's only one sticking point to this situation, I haven't got a recovery vehicle yet!

Stokesy44 wrote: Sat Nov 04, 2017 10:06 am You don't need expensive moulds or bespoke products if you don't want them. You can be off to the races with some foam board, DIY filler and gravel for fish tanks!

As for rocks, check this out.

Yep, my first one was DAS Clay, which got a few cracks, covered in wall filler, a few small rocks from the garden as they had layers and some kitty litter.

Augustus wrote: Sat Nov 04, 2017 9:57 am Reading back probably not much help, just figments of my over-active imagination.

That's fine too, it's exactly what I wanted a discussion about.

Augustus wrote: Sat Nov 04, 2017 10:12 am Also one that comes to mind was when I just started off (only bout 18months ago) I bought a Trumpeter kit which looked nice only to get home and read up that it was a German proto-Type and only 1 or 2 built. So no decals (apart from a cross I believe) and not much chance to weather it as if it had seen battle. So I just got an idea of this getting stuck on a training field, or such, and then being taken away by a recovery vehicle. There's only one sticking point to this situation, I haven't got a recovery vehicle yet!

I've bought a couple of those, although I'm most of the time completely aware if I'm buying a prototype tank. I'm usually fine with building a "what if" scene for them, as if they were put into production or saw combat. Let me guess, it was the Dicker Max or Sturer Emil? Both of those did see combat.

Stokesy44 wrote: Sat Nov 04, 2017 10:06 am You don't need expensive moulds or bespoke products if you don't want them. You can be off to the races with some foam board, DIY filler and gravel for fish tanks!

As for rocks, check this out.

I find it very hard to get a realistic result without buying something pre-made. I've built a million foamboard buildings for wargames such as Warhammer 40k, but those do look like gaming pieces rather than realistic buildings I would use in a diorama. I do love Andy's Hobby Headquarters' videos but he's a bugger for using these products that I have very limited access to.

You don't need expensive molds or kits for buildings. I did this one just to avoid any costs:

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=22158

You can also look on Youtube at Coen's stuff, he's built houses with coffee stir sticks and tongue depressors.

ForbesHutton wrote: Sat Nov 04, 2017 12:26 pm You don't need expensive molds or kits for buildings. I did this one just to avoid any costs:

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=22158

You can also look on Youtube at Coen's stuff, he's built houses with coffee stir sticks and tongue depressors.

I seem to remember following you building that, amazing work!

For armour models I think it's figures that often bring it to life, so I tend to have a look around for figures in the stash (coz I'm not buying any more this year right? ) that would match the time-period/environment of the armour subject and then work something out around that. I'm not a real stickler for making something 100% historically accurate but once I've got a rough idea in mind I'll do a little digging around the net to see what the environment might have looked like, and also what other modellers have done with something similar.

As some of the guys know I've got a few of the 1/35 minimart vac-form dios in the stash and they will often lend themselves to specific ideas although being vac-form they can be a challenge to get sorted.

If you don't fancy making your own trees JG miniatures in the UK do make some but they are pricey (and a 1/35 tree can be huge!)