Diorama Tutorial, Boardwalk/ Tiki Bar Diorama

[morpheus]

Step 1: Measure your kit

After rummaging through a few of my finished kits, I noticed five that have no diorama. For me, a kit looks rather uncomfortable sitting, standing, or laying on a wooden base. This provided an opportunity to exercise a bit of creativity during this wonderful two-week parole from work.

A diorama in modeling terms is simply a unique base that adds background and meaning to a model kit. It can be simple or ornate, large or small, detailed or plain. There is no set "standard" that totally encompasses the definition. By adding context, the diorama can bring "life" to a model.

After a couple years of pondering, I decided to spend time creating a base for my 1/7 scale Naru that is scantilly clad in a leaf bikini.......which, according to the current season, should be easy to make and readily available. After numerous attempts at a beach scene, I settled on a boardwalk drink stand -the kind you would more than likely see at Venice Beach or in the Caribbeans.

Naru is roughly 9 inches tall from head to foot, that would make her 63" or 5'3" according to 1/7 scale. Measuring a kit is important; the size of your diorama depends upon the size of your kit. Seeing that she is 5'3" I can now design the diorama using those standards in proportion to architectural ones.

This may seem like an overdrawn point, but on the other hand, I could also interpret her as a 1/8 scale and create a diorama around that statistic. Of course, that would make Naru 72" or 6' tall (not totally out of the realm of possibility) but I would also have to make the diorama parts proportionately smaller. I'll stop there.

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Step 2: Plan, Plan, Plan

An architect always creates a floor plan before giving them to the construction worker. This way, the builders will know the equipment, materials, and time required to complete the project. It is no different on this level. And although there is much more room for error -since nothing living will occupy its space- a lack of planning could result in a waste of time, materials, and also add to the frustration meter.

This thread was initially one for a fitting room diorama, but after years of stagnation, I decided to change it. Besides, I misplaced the initial plans and decided to scrap the idea.

I started by looking at different boardwalks from across the world. Each has a different look with regards to architecture, location, and of course culture. As of this moment, there is nothing set in stone with regard to the "exact" interaction between the diorama and kit. I also plan to put a "tiki bar" beach stand nearby to provide a touristy yet tropical atmosphere.

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The tiki bar is basically standard wear for just about any type of party looking for a "tropical" feel -but unfortunately, is far from the paradise of any bikini-clad beach. Believe it or not, most of the watering holes here in Hawaii are like those around the world -some elegant, some cheap, some hospitable while others are just downright nasty.

The average size of this "faux-Polynesian" bar is about 2.5'x5'x7'(top of roof), with the bar height at about 42 inches.

Mathematically speaking that would roughly translate to...

.......calculating based on 1/7 scale......30/7 x 60/7 x 84/7

approximately 4 1/4" x 8 9/16" x 12" with a bar height of 6".

With the length of the bar being about 8.5 inches, I need to add about an inch more to accommodate the roof. This will mean that one side of the diorama based will more than likely be over 10 inches if I plan to place the bar flush to one side.

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While the tiki bar plan seemed to fit well, I wanted to know how it would appear on paper. The 1:1 diorama scale drawing appears below.

The dark pencil lines are those of the tiki bar with the dimensions above -taking into account the additional space needed for the roof. I felt this was a bit to large and cumbersome, so I decided to scale back the bar a bit. (shown in red) Two inches was taken from the length, and one inch from the width. The location of the bar is arbitrary at the moment and will be moved and adjusted to better accommodate the kit and other elements of the diorama. The new dimensions of the bar are as follows:

7" in length
3 1/4" in width
6" in height

The bar will now be able to seat two customers comfortably rather than three. This means that only three seats will have to be found (or made) rather than four. The height of the roof may be taken down about 1/2 of an inch as well.

Naru will be placed somewhere in or around that circle facing away from the bar. More on this later.

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Step 3: Gathering Materials

While perusing Mechahawaii, I happened to notice a Re-ment set of cleaning items. The scale for these items was just about right, the packet included a fold-out chair, trash can with plastic liners, and a broom/dustpan set. While the chair may be a bit small, the trash can and broom set will truly come in handy. Thanks Sean!!

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I decided to repaint the trash can and the dustpan; the bright colors may detract attention from the kit itself. Here are the trash can and dustpan primed and ready to paint. The broom will also be repainted to complement its dust holding partner; however, I may decide to replace the solid bristles with actual bristles from a cheap paintbrush. Or I may just paint it black!

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Looking at the boardwalk, it appears that the size -or more exactly the width- of each wood plank differs greatly from place to place. Initially the plan called for 1/4" wide planks, but that would amount to about 1 3/4inches on a 1/7 scale. So I opted for 1/2" wide planks, this translates to actual planks a wee bit less than 4 inches wide. It also saves a lot of time as each plank will have to be individually glued to a base board that I have yet to find and cut. By the way, the wooden planks are 1/16 of an inch thick.

P.S. I need to place a ruler or familiar object to scale these things.......keep forgetting!

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The blueprint for the diorama now looks something like this.

Half of the base seems to be covered with 1/4" wood planks while the other has 1/2" planks. This is NOT how the boardwalk will appear in its finished state, but just a way to compare the different sizes. As noted before, I plan to use 1/2" strips of wood.

I will also need a 10" square base board that will be trimmed at the corner.

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[morpheus]

An note on April Storms:

The tiki bar will need a bit more than simply some chairs, drinking glasses and bottled beverages. I thought of a small magazine rack -customers would more than appreciate the opportunity to turn a few pages while enjoying a refreshing drink.

While not staring at Naru, what more could a guy ask for than a swimsuit issue of a sporting magazine, and what model would be more perfect than April Storms -other than Cheryl Tiegs that is!

April Storms was a swimsuit model for Ujena Swimwear back in the 90s. She also graced the cover of Sport Magazine and won the Bikini Open contest in 1992. April was also crowned Mrs. North Carolina in 2007.

Making a long story short, I remember getting a hold of her modeling agency back in 93 and sent her a trading card and swimsuit magazine, along with a small request for an autograph. A week or so later, the materials arrived back, signed -in fact April signed each one of the pictures throughout the magazine.....I still have them today.

So I downloaded some of her pics and create a miniature magazine and will use it in the diorama.

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Yes, I also put in a few more pages besides the cover.


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I decided to replace the plastic one-piece bristle set with those from actual paint brushes. These brushes to the left are very inexpensive, and while not ideal for model painting can still be used to mix paint or apply glue. Keep these items on hand and see how convenient they can be.

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Removing the green bristles was not easy. The entire piece was cemented in quite well. In fact it had to be torn off -leaving some of the residue inside the groove.



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Luckily, I used a thin 1mm diamond bit grinder to hollow out the material that remained inside. Because this is a soft plastic, take precautions and use the rotary tool on low settings so as not to melt the plastic.

The sun is going down, so I'll continue this thread later.

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Getting back to the base, here it is: a 1/2 inch ply board cut to a 10" x 10" square with a small corner cut off.

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The next step is to measure out a guideline for the 1/2 inch planks of wood that will make up the boardwalk. Since the wood planks will be set at a 45 degree angle, I simply measured three inches from each side of a corner and made a straight line.

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