Diorama Question

[davidg]

Steve
Good question as noted above. I build all my kits now while I winter in Florida. I don't make them "diarama's" but do mount them on Gatorfoam base. When I get them back to Vermont I install them along with the base on my layout and blend them in. As Jeffg said building them at your workbench is much easier than doing it on your layout. If I have a space that is not square I simply make the base first to fit the spot then convert the building to fit the base. Kit bashing is alive and well on my layout.

DaveG

[jlgrove]

...thanks Steve for the kind words...and by the way....our forum member davidg has helped me install a few of those dirorama's into my layout....thanks davidg....

Jeff

[Night Train]

Cactus Valley.jpg (130.34 KiB) Viewed 157 times

This is a great topic and can be explored many different ways.

When I built the Cactus Valley for MR I built all the structures off the layout on small squares of 1" thick bead board. These were finished and detailed.
I also used two layers of 1" beadboard for the scenic base - these were sandwiched together and only glued around the edges.
After the track was in and working properly (perfectly) I started the landforms on top of the foam. When I wanted to place a structure I just placed it on the scenery and cut around it's base. I lifted out the top piece of 1" foam and set the building in the hole. It would fit like it had always been there.

If the scenery had a rise or fall or wasn't level, I'd drop the structure in the hole and level the base using a line level. When the building was square I'd squeeze liquid nails around the edges and let it set overnight. Look at the street in the photo. It goes downhill but the structures are square and level.

I've seen Doug do the same procedure on Jimmy's Pennsy. He would cut away the old scenery after marking the outline of the diorama and drop it in place.

[bparrish]

Dave......

Your bead board idea is great for making buildings look "Planted".

Thanx
Bob

[Zephyrus52246]

I've seen Doug do the same procedure on Jimmy's Pennsy. He would cut away the old scenery after marking the outline of the diorama and drop it in place.

There's a section on the Pennsy video (available on the link above) that shows Doug doing this. My plan was to use pink styrofoam as a base and build the dioramas on it an insert them similar to what Dave F says. However, I'm building some on Gatorfoam instead of the pink stuff, but I think it'll work just the same, they'll just need to be shimmed to fit.

Jeff