A Diorama for Jessica

[Trucklover]

Hi guys,

Im in the process of building a small diorama for my girlfriend, Jessica, that i am going to hang on her wall when im finished with it. She has been asking me to build a pink house for her for quite some time, and in finally got around to starting it. She liked the Walthers "Aunt Lucy's House" kit, so i ordered it. I also got a Great West Models small 2-Car Garage to go with the house. I ordered a bunch of Woodland Scenics Figures, and im going with a theme of Backyard Birthday. Im thinking i might do the backyard in the front of the module, with the street along the backside. I also got a Basketball set that im going to put in the driveway in front of garage. She also picked out a Cadillac Escalade and and a Dodge Charger to go with the pink house.

I agreed to build this little diorama under one condition, that i could include some construction on the diorama as well. She wasnt thrilled about it to say the least, but i found something to model on the left side of the board that would kinda go with the theme. Its a Faller Pre-Fab House Under Construction. Ill set up the scene with a crane lifting a pre-fab wall into place on the house, and i think it will look pretty dang cool. Lots of figures and trees will litter the diorama and help bring it to life. To top it all off, ill wire up a small power supply to power the 4 streetlights and light inside the pink house.

Here are some pics of the start. These pics were taken before i thought about doing the backyard of the pink house in the front of the board.... But this shows the basic intentions of the diorama.











Notice the blue trim on the pink house for the window frames and the doors. For some reason, Walthers had the parts molded with the "glass" and the frame in the same piece. This makes it nearly impossible to paint to match the house. I told Jessica about it, and even showed a wall section to her, and she wasnt thrilled with it, but she said it was okay. i even tried to mask and paint an extra window part that had come with the kit, but it didnt come out good at all, and i just didnt want to risk ruining the rest of the windows, so i chose to leave them blue. Yeah it doesnt match, but i also dont think it looks too terribly bad

Will post some more progress when some more work has been completed

[tomustang]

Good job, now you're expected to buy her a house like that and two cars

[eightyeightfan1]

Looks good so far.
I wouldn't worry about the window panes being blue. I've seen some wierd color cominations on real houses, that would make you throw up.

[TinGoat]

Hi Josh,

It could always be a "Paint-Party".

Have a few figures in overalls finishing the Pink Paint and another one on a ladder starting to paint the Blue window frames white...

[Ralph]

FUN!

RALPH

[Herc Driver]

Josh - lemme get this straight - she asked you to "build her a house" and you thought that meant a tiny one? Ummmm...I think you might consider the real possibility that in your future you might find yourself building her a 1:1 pink house, and attach a small gold ring to the keys.

Of course...I could be completely wrong.

[Trucklover]

Good job, now you're expected to buy her a house like that and two cars

Josh - lemme get this straight - she asked you to "build her a house" and you thought that meant a tiny one? Ummmm...I think you might consider the real possibility that in your future you might find yourself building her a 1:1 pink house, and attach a small gold ring to the keys.

Of course...I could be completely wrong.

LMAO, well that wont be for a couple of years, but one day

[Trucklover]

Ed, Ron, and Ralph, thanks for the comments and suggestions guys. Woodland Scenics does make a painter set, i just might consider getting it lol

[Trucklover]

Okay so its been quite a while since i did an update. Ive been extremely busy with my second job. Worked 12-1/2 hours today but at least the paychecks will be good and we all know what that means, more trains!! And well more gifts for my girlfriend LOL

So i got the Faller House Under Construction in. I was a little disappointing, it didnt come with any construction details like i was hoping. They were littered all over the picture, and for the price, i thought for sure they would come with the kit, but no dice. The kit did come with a scenery piece though, and it did make it pretty easy to model the house in the kit. It also came with some super sticky stickers that went to the segment walls, some only the backs, some both sides. The only thing i painted in the kit was the rigging/hoist brace's, i painted them to resemble steel.

I also got the road poured. Dont be confused, i went with my original idea, and the pictures below are showing the back of the diorama. This will be the side that is against the wall. I did this to highlight and make the backyard of the pink house stand out. The sidewalk was poured, as was the curb along the curved section of road. Plastruct Sidewalk/Curb sections are layed out. The driveway for the house under construction was also layed out. The curb painted red, the sidewalk painted concrete. Some illegal parking is taking place in the pictures lol.

The driveway for the garage was also layed out. Ill weather it to make it look not so black. The slab for the basketball court was poured, and the slots for the 4 trees have been dug into the foam. The first working street light behind the pink house has been drilled and installed.

I think that about wraps up the latest progress on the diorama, so here are some pictures for everyone to view. Sorry about the bad pics, i was in a rush. My eyes are getting heavier by the second! Good thing im just about done lol

[sgtcarl1]

Josh,
Looks good, as usual!! Didn't know you had a second job?? What are you doing?? I'm happy to learn you have a new job!! Best of luck!!

[TrainNut]

Looking good Josh.
A suggestion... get one of them backdrops from Walthers (I think), glue it with Photomount to a piece of blue foam and use it as a backdrop for your pictures. It will make a world of difference!

[Green_Elite_Cab]

damn, i can't snooze, lol. It was my girlfriend's birthday back in october. she loves horses, so i put together a little scene for her. it was nice, but not as elaborate as yours. somehow, it still cost me an arm and a leg to make though (and a good portion of my sanity. those horse figures WON'T STAND!).

good luck with that

[Russ Bellinis]

damn, i can't snooze, lol. It was my girlfriend's birthday back in october. she loves horses, so i put together a little scene for her. it was nice, but not as elaborate as yours. somehow, it still cost me an arm and a leg to make though (and a good portion of my sanity. those horse figures WON'T STAND!).

good luck with that

If the horse figures are plastic, put a wire in one leg and drill a hole to fit in the base where you want it to stand.

[TrainNut]

If the horse figures are plastic, put a wire in one leg and drill a hole to fit in the base where you want it to stand.

That's what I was thinking too... unless it's in N scale.

[Russ Bellinis]

If it is in N scale, glue a piece of sprue to one hoof, make sure the diameter of the sprue is smaller than the hoof and drill a matching hole in the scenery to set the sprue into. If the hole is slightly big, a bit of sand or dirt around the leg after it is installed will hide everything.