paleoferroequine's diorama-LONG!

[paleoferroequine]

Thought I'd post a few other shots of my diorama. Basic base is pink or blue foam insulation like used in houses. Contours are made with more foam, in this case 1/4in(6mm), then a product called light weight spackle is used to smooth out the contours. The spackle is white, water base and something like thick plaster in consistency but very light weight. After it dries, a base coat of light brown latex paint is applied on the diorama base. Now, a coat of fine dirt is glued on with white glue. This provides a good base. Now, remember all stages have to dry thoroughly before going on. The water is a two part resin called Envirotex , takes 12 hours or more to dry but that allows you to add scum, duckweed, cattails and other flora without having to rush. Assorted leaf litter, ground up bark and other stuff are then glued to the ground. The bald cypress trunks are made from a product called Model Magic by Crayola. It's odd stuff, white with feeling of marshmallows! It won't stick to your hands at all but will stick to itself. A newspaper cone is rolled for the trunk and the "clay" is applied to it and shaped to what you want. The stuff doesn't take much detail but works well for this.It takes overnight to harden. It is then spray painted light gray after which a black wash of acrylic paint is applied to bring out the detail, also dry brushing grays and light browns along with more washes is done. The cycads are Phoenix palms by a railroad supplier called MRC, they come in variety of sizes. The other shrubberies are from Grand Central Gems. Mushrooms are Sculpey clay rolled into little balls, flattened, baked and painted.



]

[stoneage]

That's incredible! You should sell dioramas.

[Permiantriassic]

thats a wet dream ;D

[Pangolinmoth]

Yea, That is simply stunning. I am blown away by the detail. Huge props!!

[Griffin]

Just to clarify, is this diorama entertaining the idea of meat-eating ceratopsians?

[paleoferroequine]

Jul 13, 2010 2:35:18 GMT Griffin said:

Just to clarify, is this diorama entertaining the idea of meat-eating ceratopsians?

Well now, that's the point. Just what are they doing? I've always considered ceratopsians to have a disposition of hippo's and kind of cantankerous. In this case two inexperienced sub adult Albertosaurus have returned to a kill and started to drive off some dromaeosaurs. Soon however a pair of punk Pachys show up and proceed to thrash the Albertosaurus. Now whether they want to scavenge the body or just simply do not like Albertosaurus, well, that's the big question isn't it? Things that make you say hmmmm..... ;D ;D

[hkhollinstone]

It is amazing, really fantastic! I love the trees and the water, the detail in your dio is incredible.
Is the croc the Papo Nile and have you repainted it? Looks really good.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Any chance of larger images ? There is so much detail I feel like I'm not getting it all... ;D

[Libraraptor]

WOW! What an amazing diorama, truly a worthy winner of this year's contest! Congratulations! Ever thought of doing something like this for money?!

[Meso-Cenozoic]

Wow, simply amazing! Thanks for taking the time and walking us through this.

Speaking of time, about how long did all this take you???

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

What's the pachyrhinoaurus, papo?

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

Jul 13, 2010 2:35:18 GMT Griffin said:

Just to clarify, is this diorama entertaining the idea of meat-eating ceratopsians?

It's thought that many plant eating dinosaurs had a little meat or at least insects as a part of their diet.

Hey paleoferroequine, how much did all of this cost?

[paleoferroequine]

Jul 13, 2010 6:22:46 GMT hkhollinstone said:

It is amazing, really fantastic! I love the trees and the water, the detail in your dio is incredible.
Is the croc the Papo Nile and have you repainted it? Looks really good.

No, the croc is Tamiya hard plastic from the Mesozoic Creatures set. The Hypsilophodont Parksosaurus behind the croc is from the kit also.

[paleoferroequine]

Jul 13, 2010 8:16:49 GMT Blade-of-the-Moon said:

Any chance of larger images ? There is so much detail I feel like I'm not getting it all... ;D

I'll see what I can do. For now go to my Flickr page, click on a picture, then on the upper right click the magnifying glass to get to where you see on the upper right again; view all sizes. They changed recently for the worse. Harder to navigate Errghh, the link won't work, you'll have to cut and paste.

www.flickr.com/photos/42365905@N06/

Jul 13, 2010 11:17:49 GMT Meso-Cenozoic said:

Wow, simply amazing! Thanks for taking the time and walking us through this.

Speaking of time, about how long did all this take you???

Three weeks, I actually ran out of time and didn't finish everything, I wanted to make some varanid lizards and other small critters. I also wanted more variety of flora. I did spend about two previous weeks constructing this first in my head, building the dinos and other stuff.

[paleoferroequine]

Jul 13, 2010 13:32:10 GMT Pachyrhinosaurus said:

What's the pachyrhinoaurus, papo?

Yes, modified with quills,(just to annoy some people ;D ;D) modified frill horns, and belly scales and changes in posture on one.

[paleoferroequine]

Jul 13, 2010 16:08:20 GMT [][][]cordylus[][][] said:

Jul 13, 2010 2:35:18 GMT Griffin said:

Just to clarify, is this diorama entertaining the idea of meat-eating ceratopsians?

It's thought that many plant eating dinosaurs had a little meat or at least insects as a part of their diet.

Hey paleoferroequine, how much did all of this cost?

There's a bit over a $100 retail in this, but I got it wholesale. I took a bunch off of my train layout so some of it will go back to be replaced by different types of plants. Most of the bigger trees are scratch built so they are cheap. I would have done more scratch building (the cycads) if I had more efficient with my time.(started earlier :

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Jul 13, 2010 17:18:26 GMT paleoferroequine said:

Jul 13, 2010 8:16:49 GMT Blade-of-the-Moon said:

Any chance of larger images ? There is so much detail I feel like I'm not getting it all... ;D

I'll see what I can do. For now go to my Flickr page, click on a picture, then on the upper right click the magnifying glass to get to where you see on the upper right again; view all sizes. They changed recently for the worse. Harder to navigate Errghh, the link won't work, you'll have to cut and paste.

www.flickr.com/photos/42365905@N06/
quote]

Thanks, that's def some awesome work..I need to get some time and money to work on faux water effects one day. It's really the only thing I'm missing from my dios.

[Griffin]

Jul 13, 2010 16:08:20 GMT [][][]cordylus[][][] said:

Jul 13, 2010 2:35:18 GMT Griffin said:

Just to clarify, is this diorama entertaining the idea of meat-eating ceratopsians?

It's thought that many plant eating dinosaurs had a little meat or at least insects as a part of their diet.

Hey paleoferroequine, how much did all of this cost?

I know that I wanted to clarify though just to make sure I wasn't looking at the dio wrong. flesh-nibbling marginocephale isn't very commonly depicted really.

[DinoLord]

There are a lot of supporters for omnivorous ceratopsians at some of the forums I go to.

Here's a nice link on the theory.

[paleoferroequine]

Jul 16, 2010 2:01:03 GMT DinoLord said:

There are a lot of supporters for omnivorous ceratopsians at some of the forums I go to.

Here's a nice link on the theory.

Yes, Mark Witton's Styracosaurus( look, spiky bits ;D ) was most of the inspiration but I also wanted everything to be a bit ambiguous as to what was going on so they could be trying to claim the carcass or just grumpy and aggressive like hippos, who, by the way have been known to kill and eat animals. I favor the grumpy and aggressive idea a bit more.