BAMComix's Dio building

I am sure there are many ways to build a diorama, and I doubt there is a "proper" way. However, as I had some spare time today I figured I would try and put a rough guide together as to how I do them  
Rather than do it in comic form, I figured I would try and do a step by step guide that might be easier to follow, hope you guys enjoy it and find my method helpful

So here we go        I use my workmate (not my missus  ) and a board to set up my scenes on. In this guide I am setting up in my kitchen as there is a lovely double window that allows lots of natural light onto a scene. This can be both a blessing and a pain!



Using a second board stood upright I add my black sheet and pin it into place to keep it nice and tight.



The next stage is to cut down some barbecue sticks, I use these to hold my foam walls together. Cocktail sticks work just as well  



Having cut down the sticks I place my painting as a background, I doubt in the final scene you will see much of it if any.



Using the BBQ sticks I cut down earlier I put some foam walls in place.



Then I add a couple of the 3D fish tank walls I have,



Then another two 3D walls,



Here I add a couple of fence panels and my statue (a garden light).



Next, it's time to start dressing the scene, I use plastic aquarium plants, but I am sure real plants would work just as well?



The last stage is to add the rest of my plants and then my vines, this I find really brings the whole scene together.



Okay, so we have set the scene, no we add the figures into the scene. In the following pics I have edited them to the size I want for the finished result, hope you like them. Today I am using my two other enhanced agents, Annabelle and Tami  











Well that's it guys, I hope you found it useful. I use this method all the time, a method shown to me by MiskatonicNick, he was extremely helpful and patient while explaining this to me! . All my Dinosaur Valley scenes are built this way, and the best thing is I can rearrange it as many times as I need to create new scenes.

Thanks for looking  

Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place, please move if needed

This looks great. You have picked up a great many nice pieces and have put them together in a vivid way that makes for a wonderful setting for your figures. I like it a lot, and am a little envious that you have such cool 3D pieces at your disposal. I don't know if you need it for something else or if there is another reason not to do it, but I would be tempted to paint the brickwork walls.

I like the clarity and apparent simplicity of your approach! You make the process look easy, and the results are outstanding!

Bob Ross, is that you?

Looks great. The plastic aquarium plants are a nice idea.

GubernatorFan wrote:This looks great. You have picked up a great many nice pieces and have put them together in a vivid way that makes for a wonderful setting for your figures. I like it a lot, and am a little envious that you have such cool 3D pieces at your disposal. I don't know if you need it for something else or if there is another reason not to do it, but I would be tempted to paint the brickwork walls.

thanks so much! It is a technique I learned from MiskatonicNick, the only downside is how long it takes to pick up all the bist and bobs . The 3D foamboards are for a fish tank or aquarium and I think you could get some a per store? I do agree about the stone walls, I have been meaning to paint them for a good while now, but it is one of the jobs that keeps getting pushed back because of other projects
Thanks for the great comments

davidd wrote:I like the clarity and apparent simplicity of your approach! You make the process look easy, and the results are outstanding!

Cheers Dave! I think the more you do it, the easier it becomes. In fact you are becoming good at it too

TravelGuide wrote:Bob Ross, is that you?

Looks great. The plastic aquarium plants are a nice idea.

I'm sorry, i don't know who Bob Ross is? Thanks for the great comment, I hope it helped

BAMComix wrote:

 I'm sorry, i don't know who Bob Ross is?

I have a hard time believing it. The painting just screams "The joy of painting", by Bob Ross.
A random video of him painting one of his paintings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLWEXRAnQd0
(you can skip to the end to see the result).

TravelGuide wrote:

BAMComix wrote:

 I'm sorry, i don't know who Bob Ross is?

I have a hard time believing it. The painting just screams "The joy of painting", by Bob Ross.
A random video of him painting one of his paintings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLWEXRAnQd0
(you can skip to the end to see the result).

Thank you for the link, always great to put a name to a face

Having seen and marvelled over so many of your photos , these come as no surprise . It`s very good of you to share techniques . I hope it inspires others to have ago and post pics of there figures .

Chip wrote:Having seen and marvelled over so many of your photos , these come as no surprise . It`s very good of you to share techniques . I hope it inspires others to have ago and post pics of there figures .

Many thanks Chip , you are very kind. So pleased you enjoyed the how to guide. It will be so cool if others can use or even evolve the technique here and produce some amazing new images

THIS. IS. AWESOME!!! Nice breakdown of how you did this. So very cool, and very educational. I wonder if a little dull paint over the aquarium plants would make them look a bit more realistic -- though it's hardly necessary.

Stryker2011 wrote:THIS. IS. AWESOME!!! Nice breakdown of how you did this. So very cool, and very educational. I wonder if a little dull paint over the aquarium plants would make them look a bit more realistic -- though it's hardly necessary.

Thank you! I am so pleased you enjoyed it . It really is a great way to set a scene for figures. It would be so cool too see others take on this method for themselves, sure it takes a while to put together the plastic plants, but its good fun making scenes. I have never thought about adding paint in truth to the plants, but I guess it depends on how real you wish your scene to look? It's an idea well worth thinking about

i'm always grateful getting some insight on new or different techniques as i tend to stubbornly end in situations that are unnecessarily complex or time consuming. more so when noone will notice the difference anyways.

as for a right or wrong way building a diorama or backdrop, i found out that you can only carve so many bricks out of foam before turning brain dead so a little help from a good whiskey goes a long way, as well as the "f-it all van gogh technique" with obscene quantities of energy drinks... minus the ear part of course

Tjolnir wrote:i'm always grateful getting some insight on new or different techniques as i tend to stubbornly end in situations that are unnecessarily complex or time consuming. more so when noone will notice the difference anyways.

as for a right or wrong way building a diorama or backdrop, i found out that you can only carve so many bricks out of foam before turning brain dead so a little help from a good whiskey goes a long way, as well as the "f-it all van gogh technique" with obscene quantities of energy drinks... minus the ear part of course

I hope you found my small thread useful and maybe you can incorporate a few techniques from this into your dio's? I think you're right about over thinking and over complicating things, sometimes you end up with an overcrowded scene .

if the price at my local hardware store is right, the fish tank parts might have an appearance in a future fist of the north star diorama. saves a lot of time instead of shredding through styrofoam sheets.
turns out my grandfather was a carpenter and left some "strange" tools which are perfect for scraping off pieces of foam, making it look like a rocky surface. but the time it takes to peel off the excess stuff and literally drench it it paint, the fish tank walls are ready instantly.

plus i guess with a non permanent technique those parts are reusable and can be taken apart more easily. wooden frames sure are durable but can be a pain to store for they take up loads of space.

Tjolnir wrote:if the price at my local hardware store is right, the fish tank parts might have an appearance in a future fist of the north star diorama. saves a lot of time instead of shredding through styrofoam sheets.
turns out my grandfather was a carpenter and left some "strange" tools which are perfect for scraping off pieces of foam, making it look like a rocky surface. but the time it takes to peel off the excess stuff and literally drench it it paint, the fish tank walls are ready instantly.

plus i guess with a non permanent technique those parts are reusable and can be taken apart more easily. wooden frames sure are durable but can be a pain to store for they take up loads of space.

That is the beauty of the fish tank backgrounds, I often use them again and again. It gives e the freedom to create many different locations using the same items. It is surprising how many different scenes you can make by just moving stuff around .
I will have to check the back posts to find some of your stuff

thats what i meant when i mentioned my stubborn dead end, build to last approaches sure i can literally stand on the foundation of certain dioramas but store them somewhere temporarily? nope, basement is full chunky parts i cant pick apart any further without destroying them, so those tips of yours are literally a life saver for those getting into building larger scenes.

theres a wonderful saying that doesn't really translate well into my native language "if the starving man eats, hunger is forgotten", ever since i had more space to build, i forgot when i was renting smaller apartments and had to store a good part of my figures in boxes. not to mention the luxury of a basement where you could litter all you want with wood, metal or plastic and not have to live in the aftermath of a styrofoam cutting session and the stench of paint

so yeah, this modular technique has many advantages. thanks for sharing.

There are some amazing tutorials for making and weathering foamcore brickwork/stonework for Dungeons and Dragons and the like (much smaller scale stuff, maybe 1/28?), that I would love to try out, but for 1/6 scale. Unfortunately, it would be extremely labor intensive and everything would have to be cut and glued or "carved" manually, as the "terrain" pattern rollers are far too small in both overall size and pattern size to work for our scale, and the pieces of foamcore would probably come in sizes that limit some of the practicality. I wonder if Valiarde's beautiful 3D diorama pieces were not made in this manner -- using the long and hard manual approach, of course. With just a few such pieces and the use of lush plastic vegetation, one could do wonders.

Tjolnir wrote:thats what i meant when i mentioned my stubborn dead end, build to last approaches sure i can literally stand on the foundation of certain dioramas but store them somewhere temporarily? nope, basement is full chunky parts i cant pick apart any further without destroying them, so those tips of yours are literally a life saver for those getting into building larger scenes.

theres a wonderful saying that doesn't really translate well into my native language "if the starving man eats, hunger is forgotten", ever since i had more space to build, i forgot when i was renting smaller apartments and had to store a good part of my figures in boxes. not to mention the luxury of a basement where you could litter all you want with wood, metal or plastic and not have to live in the aftermath of a styrofoam cutting session and the stench of paint

so yeah, this modular technique has many advantages. thanks for sharing.

I am so pleased you found it useful

GubernatorFan wrote:There are some amazing tutorials for making and weathering foamcore brickwork/stonework for Dungeons and Dragons and the like (much smaller scale stuff, maybe 1/28?), that I would love to try out, but for 1/6 scale. Unfortunately, it would be extremely labor intensive and everything would have to be cut and glued or "carved" manually, as the "terrain" pattern rollers are far too small in both overall size and pattern size to work for our scale, and the pieces of foamcore would probably come in sizes that limit some of the practicality. I wonder if Valiarde's beautiful 3D diorama pieces were not made in this manner -- using the long and hard manual approach, of course. With just a few such pieces and the use of lush plastic vegetation, one could do wonders.

I agree it can be time consuming but the results are well worth it. When I was much younger I spent many years making warhammer scenery, so converting it over into 1/6 which I must admit, I find much more rewarding. The foam core boards (not the fish tank ones) can be easily carved, it's just extremely messy . As you say, adding extra layers for texture could be really rewarding, and something I have yet to experiment with,
I started off small, just to see if I could do it, I really hope you give a try

BAMComix wrote:I agree it can be time consuming but the results are well worth it. When I was much younger I spent many years making warhammer scenery, so converting it over into 1/6 which I must admit, I find much more rewarding. The foam core boards (not the fish tank ones) can be easily carved, it's just extremely messy . As you say, adding extra layers for texture could be really rewarding, and something I have yet to experiment with,
I started off small, just to see if I could do it, I really hope you give a try

I haven't done anything with foam core (as opposed to foam board), but it definitely seems worth it. A long time ago I made a real brick wall with sixth-scale real bricks and isolation tape as mortar, but ran out of bricks before I got the full desired height. Anyway, it did not survive the big move, and I don't think I will be trying that again. Something more practical, lighter, and modular, is the way to go.

GubernatorFan wrote:

BAMComix wrote:I agree it can be time consuming but the results are well worth it. When I was much younger I spent many years making warhammer scenery, so converting it over into 1/6 which I must admit, I find much more rewarding. The foam core boards (not the fish tank ones) can be easily carved, it's just extremely messy . As you say, adding extra layers for texture could be really rewarding, and something I have yet to experiment with,
I started off small, just to see if I could do it, I really hope you give a try

I haven't done anything with foam core (as opposed to foam board), but it definitely seems worth it. A long time ago I made a real brick wall with sixth-scale real bricks and isolation tape as mortar, but ran out of bricks before I got the full desired height. Anyway, it did not survive the big move, and I don't think I will be trying that again. Something more practical, lighter, and modular, is the way to go.

that is such a shame it didn't survive the move, it sounded really cool. I have seen people carved complete brick walls with amazing results. Londonroadhog (Colin) is doing some amazing work with it

Another quick diorama set up. An easy and simple way to create a scene using flat pack walls.

It may be relatively quick, but it's very effective. Beautiful job, and nice to see it bring your little people together. Although before they get any further, Daxter might need a smidge of a recoloring to the head or the body.

GubernatorFan wrote:It may be relatively quick, but it's very effective. Beautiful job, and nice to see it bring your little people together. Although before they get any further, Daxter might need a smidge of a recoloring to the head or the body.

Cheers Ian, easy to store too .

HAven't commented in this thread yet. Thank you for the step by step explanation of doing setups to shoot.
I like the first example, but would probalby tone down the plastic flowers a bit. Other than that, very nice
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As for the second one, I like this one even more. The red walls are perfect for a nice indoor scenery and quick to setup and restructure.

When you say 'Flat Pack Walls', are these parts sold like that in a hardware store or did you create some walls and painted them and now have them ready to set up whenever you like?