It always starts innocently enough. Let’s say you like Batman. Wearing the t-shirts and debating the ideal length of his ears on the Internet is all well and good, but soon you discover you crave a more tactile experience. So you buy an action figure and, hey, it’s pretty cool. You spend a few minutes playing with the figure before you realize something isn’t right. Batman is alone — he needs someone to interact with! Before you know it, your shelves are packed with Robins and Rogues and all the colorful characters in between. It’s fantastic to see them all gathered together, but you can’t help but notice your birch veneer Ikea bookshelf makes for a crap Batcave. Congratulations! You’re ready to build your first diorama.
di·o·ram·a:
noun - a partially three-dimensional, full-size replica or scale model of a landscape typically showing historical events, nature scenes or city-scapes, for purposes of education or entertainment.
Sounds boring, right? Well, if you’re looking at museum dioramas of tiny people signing even tinier bits of paper or “A Day in the Life of the Whelk” then, yeah, they can be a bit tedious. But they don’t have to be. Action figure enthusiasts have taken the hobby by storm, creating amazing character-specific displays for their collections. Fwooshers like snowman and Matthew K blow up the front page weekly with pics of their eye-opening builds, while glorbes and CustomCreator keep things hopping over in the customs thread.
A diorama can be made of anything, but most hobbyists work with readily available materials and gear. Basic tools are a utility blade for long, deep cuts, and an X-acto-type blade for detailed, precision work. A ruler is essential for measuring dimensions, while a t-square ensures clean, straight cuts. A variable-temperature hot-glue gun is important for getting all the bits to stick, And let’s not forget pencils for marking our work out, ballpoint pens for rendering, and a variety of brushes for painting and sealing.
Your materials will vary depending on desired effect. Cardboard, papier-mâché, and wire mesh can all be used to great effect, but these days many dio-builders prefer to use extruded polystyrene insulation foam board. It’s easy to cut, takes nicely to carving, and is lightweight enough to build large dios out of. A foam board build can be supplemented with basla wood for framing, clear plastic for windows and doors, and bendable drinking-straws for pipes and wiring conduits. Acrylic paint is ideal for diorama work: it’s cheap, readily available in a variety of colors, and, most importantly, doesn’t melt the foam like enamel-based paints will. Many of these items can be found at your local home improvement store, with the rest found easily at craft shops.
Every build will be different, and you’ll learn a lot with each effort. Taking work-in-progress pictures (WIPs) is a useful way of charting your progress and sometimes figuring out where things may have gone wrong. It also allows other people a chance to observe the process and see the work from the perspective of the builder. Let’s take a walk with CustomCreator through his Punisher diorama:
After the dimensions of the diorama have been established, work on the floor begins. Wooden tongue depressors are cut to varying lengths, then laid out as the floorboards might be. After the arrangement of the wooden planks is determined, CustomCreator peels them up, paints the foam beneath them, glues them back down, then paints and weathers the boards. At the same time, he begins to frame the walls. These wooden beams will ultimately be left exposed, enhancing the “real-life” look.
Any hideout worth a damn needs to have a window, so CustomCreator set about making one. First, he built the framework, then he cut an opening in the foam; clamshell plastic from an action figure stands in for window-glass. After scuffing it up a bit to simulate wear, it was given a wire-mesh covering.
CustomCreator filled in the gaps with sheets of craft-store brick, then he gave the whole thing a gritty paint job. After a nice drybrushing he used some DecoArt’s Snow-Tex to provide texture.
Next, the beams were given a weathered coat of paint to add to the decrepitude. Green is a good choice for “old” wood, especially doors and window frames — it was a common choice back then and can look very realistic when done right.
CustomCreator used poly-fill sprayed with pink hairspray to great effect, simulating insulation inside the wall. He then covered it with thin brown paper as though the project has been abandoned. It makes the hideout seem grim and hopeless, which really adds to the realism.
The dio is really coming together now. Paintwork continued on key areas like the pipes, wiring, and wooden beams, CustomCreator provided washes, stains, and drybrushing until Frank’s hideout was appropriately gritty. A working door had been installed and some clever lighting gives us a sense of what’s to come. I swear, I’ve been in this room before! It’s uncanny.
The addition of pre-existing props can add a lot to the believability of an environment. Here, the radiator from McFarlane Toys’ Little Nicky keeps Frank warm, a sink from WWEW keeps him clean, and Toy Biz Marvel Figure Factory boxes gives him some place for his stuff. Pen holders from the local discount store are used to great effect as gunracks.
Handmade props can be created when none exist. For example, CustomCreator created this map for Frank to consult before going out for the night. It was printed out, folded tightly, then opened and abraded with fine-grain sandpaper. As Frank is likely living out of this room, he’s going to need to wash up. White medical tape cut to scale and then tightly wrapped creates a convincing roll of paper towels: it looks better than a store-bought prop, and, even better, CustomCreator made it with what was on hand.
As more is added to the scene and CustomCreator’s vision comes close to realization, he is free to make the most of available space. The addition of motorcycle parts really grounds the dio in the here and now — it’s disassembled nature creates a sense of the real-world problems a character like the Punisher would face. He doesn’t have a garage full of Batmobiles; he has whatever pieces he’s managed to scrounge.
Other details like the American flag and the abundance of wanted posters embellish the piece nicely. Solid construction, a compelling design and top-notch work turn what had been a pile of materials into a masterpiece in miniature.
And so it goes. Frank will be safe here for a while, but sooner or later they’ll find him again. He’ll need a new base to wage his war on crime. If he’s lucky, he’ll have a friend like CustomCreator there to help him out.
Want more Dio-Dome? Tell us in the Fwoosh forums!
If you’re interested in purchasing this diorama, contact CustomCreator here. Thanks for allowing us to feature your work, CustomCreator. See you in the ‘Dome!
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