Photo Diorama

[Drew]

I haven’t done any model railroading lately, but this was one of the last things I did, probably 18 months ago or so…It was a diorama I built to photograph some of my Hon30 stuff…

I started by gluing some scraps of foam to a piece of plywood…



I laid a piece of flextrack on the foam, to kind of see what it would look like, then I added some more scraps of foam, & didi a little carving…in the first photo, you can see a piece of cardboard I used to give me an idea of what size bridge I would need to span that gap in the scenery…






I did a little more landscaping with this stuff called Sculptamold, & I poured plaster of paris where the “water” would go…

[Drew]

I made some rock outcroppings from plaster of paris…I mix the plaster, & let it set up slightly, & then just kind of slop it on where I want it…After it’s hardened, I use something sharp, like a nail or a screwdriver, & rough up the rock faces, carving in some horizontal strata…then I spray it with a black wash of alcohol & ink…



I added some cardstock to better form the roadbed…



Next I’m going to have to make that bridge…Since this is a narrow gauge logging scene, I thought the most appropriate type would be of timber construction…This was a very small span, measuring about 40’ long, & about 15’ high (HO scale)
I dug around in the scrap box, & it occurred to me that I could probably make something out of plastic sprues…
I marked the piece of track where the bridge needed to be, & then just built it upside down on the bottom of the flextrack…

[Drew]

I did some test-fitting, & I trimmed the length of the bents so that they were slightly shorter than they needed to be…I spray-painted the bridge flat black, then dry-brushed it with acrylics till it had more of a weathered timber look…





Next, I glued down the track, painted the “water” black, & dry-brushed on some tan paint to represent shallower areas, & I also added some sifted dirt for ground cover…The small “boulders” & loose rock are just bits of broken up plaster that I color with washes, & use as additional ground cover…

[Drew]

Here I’ve added some additional ground cover, & some trees & foliage…note the scenery is rising up to hide the fact that the bridge is actually dangling in mid-air…



I added a few coats of gloss medium to the painted “water” to give it a wetter look…
I also added some tall grass & other details…The surface of the water ended up a bit bumpy, but I thought it looked passable as a fast-moving river maybe…

[Trucklover]

That is some excellent work!! I love the river and bridge

[Dan85]

That is awesome! I did not expect something so realistic as an end result, very nice!

- Dan

[Ralph]

Drew,
This is a terrific step by step from pieces of styrofoam to a beautifully done diorama! The water looks fantastic!
Ralph

[Drew]

Thanks guys!

I guess I should've mentioned that in a couple of those last pics, I added some "smoke" with Adobe Photoshop...

[LynnB]

Always good to see your inspirational work drew.

[ngauger]

Nice!!! Wish I could build water like that Bridge is nice too!!!! Great Stuff!!!!

[Drew]

Thanks again, guys!
Mikey,
I must confess that the water looks better in photos than it did in person...
I wanted a smoother surface, but if you look at that sixth progress shot, you can tell how bumpy it turned out...I used a rubber spatula to help spread the soupy plaster...After it was dry, I actually sanded it to try & smooth it some...but it never looked that great to me...But when I put a blue backdrop behind the scene, it reflected off the gloss medium, & it looked so much better...like a river with some turbulence in it...But if you were just standing there looking at the diorama, it looked like a bumpy, shiney black area...
But hey, it was for photos anyway, right?

[ngauger]

neat!!! - - That's the great thing about pictures - they "see" things like that that we can't!!!

[Biased turkey]

Very, very nicely detailed loging railroad diorama.
Well done Drew.
I particularly like the bridge
Could you please tell what is the size of that diorama ?

Jacques

[Drew]

Thanks Jacques!
I used a scrap piece of plywood for the base, & the entire thing measured 18x29 inches...
It was HOn30 - HO scale on N gauge track

[Sumpter250]

That's the great thing about pictures - they "see" things like that that we can't!!!

A fellow model railroad club member, no longer with us, used the "unbiased eye" of the camera to model prototype scenes.
He would take color slides of the "finished" work, project them on a wall, and pick out the obvious "flaws". After those were corrected, he would repeat the process, finding "new" flaws. He usually repeated the process three to four times, before he was satisfied with the way the pictures looked.

A small stream, flowing into a larger river, isn't normally modeled, but you've done that, and done it well!
Nicely done, and nicely documented!