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Post by DinoLord on Feb 12, 2011 13:42:58 GMT
Wow, that's some realistic water! I'm sure the dio will look even better when done.
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Post by totoro on Feb 13, 2011 19:48:09 GMT
Thanks Bokisaurus and DinoLord. I spent a little time last night working on the sauropod base. My intent here was to build a smaller scale diorama that could accommodate the larger beasts. This requires that the add-ins are also smaller scale, which is a bit harder. I wanted sort of a forest edge look to it with grazing Brachiosaurs. I'm partially done with it, and so showing some progress:     And, just to show that the Papo Pachyrhinosaurus is good for something, I offer this photo to show how it helped hold trees in place while the glue was drying:  The base is made from a Sculpey foundation with small rocks pushed into it for terrain. Then, after I painted the base, I added finely ground lichen over a watered-down wood glue prep for more ground texture. I used the lichen because the sand I had was probably too large-grained to look realistic. I considered mixing soil into the base paint, but ended up liking the idea of using powdered lichen (I used an old coffee grinder to powder dried lichen, so there are no doubt old powdered coffee grounds in there too  Those Brachs will maybe have a little kick in their step for a bit! ;D). I used a combination of real sticks and painted plastic plants for the trees and stumps/fallen logs. I want to do some more touch-up painting of the "trees", but think this one's almost done. One thing I noticed is that the photos really show every little detail, for good and bad, just as a zoom in on a small painted figure shows how blotchy the paint jobs are up close. As with those, the dioramas actually look a lot better when you back away just a bit. Hopefully, my painting/design talents will improve over time and they will look really good even when you zoom in! Thanks for looking! |
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Post by DinoLord on Feb 13, 2011 19:53:52 GMT
Ooh nice. Are the figures glued to the dio or can you just place whatever figure you please in it?
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Post by totoro on Feb 13, 2011 20:19:36 GMT
Ooh nice. Are the figures glued to the dio or can you just place whatever figure you please in it? Yeah, I don't glue them. I like having the ability to swap dinos. Unfortunately, many of the chocolasaurs come partially linked with a base, which kind of prevents them from working on these. I will probably have to switch over to Krentz figures or other small figures without bases soon. |
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Post by totoro on Feb 15, 2011 23:37:32 GMT
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Post by Himmapaan on Feb 16, 2011 0:07:51 GMT
Excellent!  It's wonderful how some of these figures look as though they've changed poses altogether from different camera angles. Those Stegosaurus for instance. |
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Post by totoro on Feb 16, 2011 2:09:40 GMT
Excellent! It's wonderful how some of these figures look as though they've changed poses altogether from different camera angles. Those Stegosaurus for instance. Thanks Himmapaan. Your just so gracious, 24/7. I agree on the poses, and wish more of the chocolasaurs came without bases, or were removable in such a way that they didn't leave parts on the bases! Then again, it's just an excuse to buy more figures! Like all of those beautiful Krentz figures, for example!  |
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Post by Trexroarr on Feb 16, 2011 2:21:11 GMT
These are absolutely amazing!!! I'd love to see a "big" one depicting a Late Jurassic NA scene with Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, and Allosaurus! ;D |
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Post by totoro on Feb 16, 2011 3:01:25 GMT
These are absolutely amazing!!! I'd love to see a "big" one depicting a Late Jurassic NA scene with Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, and Allosaurus! ;D Thanks TRexroarr! That would be very cool! I would have to probably piece it together since I bake my Sculpey in a small oven, but that shouldn't be too tough. The other challenge is coming up with the dinos. The chocolasaurs don't work very well, since they aren't to scale, so the Apatosaur would look way too small. That's why my dioramas are basically singe-species displays, sadly. I could do a scene with Krentz figures, but need to score an Apatosaur or two to do one. I wrote him lately and he's still out and is looking to arrange to have someone else produce the pieces for him in the future, since he doesn't make much profit on it. Anyone have a spare Krentz Apatosaur they would sell? ;D Of those figures, I could include: Apatosaurus Stegosaurus Allosaurus Otherwise, it's hard to find scale models with lots of species that overlap geographically and temporally!  |
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Post by Trexroarr on Feb 16, 2011 4:14:05 GMT
Ahhh! So your a scale kind-of-guy! Well regardless of scale, all of those DinoTales together, with your obvious skill, would still be epic! |
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Post by totoro on Feb 16, 2011 4:40:06 GMT
Ahhh! So your a scale kind-of-guy! Well regardless of scale, all of those DinoTales together, with your obvious skill, would still be epic! Haha...YES! ;D It has to look realistic for me to appreciate it. Man, I'm so picky!  And, really, it is VERY easy. If you like these, I highly recommend you go to your local supermarket and grab some Sculpey clay and a few cheap bottles of paint and just try creating. There's a local recycling place here called SCRAP that often sell used art supplies for pennies, so I grab some of my stuff there. Portland rocks for stuff like that. |
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Post by bokisaurus on Feb 16, 2011 6:41:33 GMT
Very impressive and nicely done! :DI love how the diorama is so versatile, that you can switch out different figures. I understand what you mean by scale... I'm pick the same way when trying to do diorama ;D In your case, it would be hard to find small ones that are scale to each other. Oh, btw, I like your new signature  |
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Post by postsaurischian on Feb 16, 2011 8:49:56 GMT
Wonderful, Totoro! These dioramas are very charming and perfectly corresponding to the Dinotales figures. The pics of your signature are BRILLIANT (I especially love the Eryops dio). As long as you can't get the Krentz Sauropods you could give the Favorite Soft models a try (Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus are approximately in the 1:80 scale). Keep on doing these enjoyable little things !
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Post by lio99 on Feb 16, 2011 9:35:02 GMT
LOVE THAT PROTOCERATOPS  |
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Post by Griffin on Feb 17, 2011 19:24:05 GMT
These are so awesome!
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Post by Libraraptor on Feb 17, 2011 21:45:29 GMT
How could I overlook this thread so long? You´ve done some very, very innovative little dioramas. Microramas, so to say. Very good, and I hope to see more soon.
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Post by totoro on Feb 20, 2011 7:41:18 GMT
Thanks Postsaurischian, Lio99, Griffin and Libraraptor. I enjoy making them. I just started another one tonight, so will try to post some photos tomorrow. Seems like the weekend is the only time I find to putz with these. I will look for the Favorite soft models Postsaurischian. Is there a link to a site where they can be found?
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Post by postsaurischian on Feb 20, 2011 9:46:04 GMT
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Post by totoro on Feb 20, 2011 23:51:07 GMT
Thanks postsaurischian. Here are a couple quick pix of the next Microrama, as Libraraptor as so aptly labeled them (I like that).     OK, I know...doesn't look like much right now. This is just after the first firing. The mound to the right has a foil armature. More to come soon. |
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Post by Himmapaan on Feb 21, 2011 0:03:00 GMT
I like seeing things in progress! |
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Those Brachs will maybe have a little kick in their step for a bit! ;D). I used a combination of real sticks and painted plastic plants for the trees and stumps/fallen logs. I want to do some more touch-up painting of the "trees", but think this one's almost done. 
