Dioramas: Where To Begin?
 

I really wanna create some dioramas for my TMNT figures.

While I am still very much an amateur, I think my sculpting abilities are competent enough to do what I want. The thing is, where does one start? Specifically with respect to the base structure.

How should I go about making the floor & walls? I don't want to just use clay itself, but what would I build on top of? A cardboard box? Ideally, this thing would be solid, & sizable. The idea is to create not simply a piece in which to display figures, but to take pictures, too. So it's gotta be tall & walled. :trazz:

I'm not worried about furniture or prop making, just roughing out a model of the room. Help!

I've done something kinda like this on a very small scale, creating damaged buildings for my Gundam kits (see examples below), by sculpting around chunks of postage boxes & painting them. Maybe I could use the same technique (if not a similar approach) but up-scaled, using different materials?

http://i65.tinypic.com/174fg7.png

Any help would be appreciated.

Watch glenn webb on youtube his last customizing live vid will provide some ideas of what you could use.
R.I.P. Glenn Webb

Balsa wood or construction insulation sheets really work well. The insulation at least, you should be able to cut out pieces to fit snug together where the wall and ground meet. That would offer more sturdiness.

Both materials are firm enough to have a strong structure but soft enough that you can sculpt details into them, such as sewer brick.

After I've planned the shape & size, I'll start by building the rough shapes out of foamboard. Once I've got that done, I'll either use brickpaper or carved foam to use as cladding - with the carved foam, you can get almost any texture you want, from stone, bricks, concrete, anything. Then I'll start detailing them, using all sorts of stuff I've hoarded over the years.

2 things that are invaluable are styrene sheet and shapes (tubes, rods, girders etc) and doll's house accessories (these are usually 1/12 scale, which fits in great with 6" figures).

Here's some pics:

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net...59&oe=5906EBCC

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net...59&oe=58FDDDF3

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net...c3&oe=594B63F4

Dollhouse and Barbie accessories work great for filling scenes and accumulating fodder when you find it, such as WWE accessories. Dollhouse tutorials are incredibly useful because a lot of the same techniques go into action figure dios, Pinterest is your friend.

Balsa wood and the big pink or blue foam insulation boards (pink com Home Depot, blue from Lowes) are fantastic as well, lightweight and easily carved into. Bob the Odd has a lot of good info. If you're on Facebook join the diostructure group it's got a really supportive community.

Damn, Discogod, that looks incredible!

My daydreams about a bigass custom sewer always start with a thick, large, flat board from Home Depot or wherever to serve as the floor, and thinner ones as the walls.

But this daydream has been in my mind for the better part of a decade with nothing to show for it; I have gone to Home Depot and eyeballed the materials a time or two, but that's as close as I've gotten.

Setting aside any confidence issues, I can't commit to dio-building or painting toys because I can't afford all the toys I want as it is; if I add paint and materials to my shopping list, that's just fewer toys I can buy.

[QUOTE=Discogod;1656890]After I've planned the shape & size, I'll start by building the rough shapes out of foamboard. Once I've got that done, I'll either use brickpaper or carved foam to use as cladding - with the carved foam, you can get almost any texture you want, from stone, bricks, concrete, anything. Then I'll start detailing them, using all sorts of stuff I've hoarded over the years.

Can i Ask
Wath you mean with carved foam?is it the foamboard you carve Brick structure on or is it something Else you mean

[QUOTE=The Purple Dragon;1660912]I've used both foamboard with one side of the backing removed, and insulating foam. Basically, use a pencil or pen to lightly score in the design you want, then carve it in with a knife blade.

[QUOTE=Discogod;1661272]
Thank you discogod i did Wonder if you got something with struckture you just glued on.also i am travling to Birmingham next mont is ther eny toy/comic shop around you can tell me about??