Palm Sunday Diorama 2

Background buildings were cut out from strong cardboard and fixed into place. The foreground will have to be modelled with more groundwork.

The painting of the zinnfiguren set is being finalised.

Palm Sunday Diorama

I decided to work again on this diorama following a break. The key thing here appears to be the representation of Jerusalem town, the East or Golden Gate by which Jesus entered Jerusalem from the Mt of Olives. During this time, that part of town was dominated by the Holy temple, overlooked by the Antonia fortress, all built during the time of Herod.

I cut up some cardboard pieces to represent sections of the wall, gate , the temple and the Antonia fortress towers. Simple non-rigorous perspectives were observed. I posed some figures from the zinnfiguren set to get a sense of scale.

This initial layout shows the main features wall, gate, temple and the Antonia tower. I rather liked it as it could show quite a bit of Jerusalem spilling over the hills behind. However, it seemed to waste quite a bit of the sky portion which would be unused. So I decided to enlarge the front elements and, maybe later, to paint in higher hills in the background.

               

In this next layout, I created more of a perspective in order to enlarge the gate.

Deciding that the gate had to be even bigger, I sketched in the main features of the gate as a guide. Its turning out to be quite an interesting project.

Glad you liked the postings on this blog so far

I haven't posted for a while but noticed that the number of visitors to this blog continue unabated. There must be some real flats fanciers or diorama lovers out there.

The break has allowed some dust to settle in the wake of the recent Kulmbach festival for which I continue to hope for the eventual re-release of much sought after Gottstein/Krog and other fine sets.

Meanwhile, I have been doing some 3-D modelling and brushing up on my modelling skills. As alluded to earlier, I hope to marry 2-D and 3-D techniques to make even more interesting dioramas.

So keep watching this space.

Mammoth Scene Completed

I finished this diorama , creating a suitable cardboard matt frame and completing the lighting.

 The scene without lighting

The scene with internal lighting

This piece was on the workbench for a while and completing it gave me immense satisfaction.

Progress on Mammoth Scene 5

Now for the final touches.

The foreground was repainted and all unsightly marks covered. All the rest of the zinnfiguren were fixed in place.

Close up showing the main scene

Foliage was added and the log jam was created in a fit of inspiration to show the classic animal trap in a canyon

Close up of the scene

Progress on Mammoth Scene 4

The whole scene was levelled with cardboard pieces glued at the back.

sideview of the cardboard scene balanced on a stack of cardboard pieces

backview

noticed this statement

Progress on Mammoth Scene 3

I repainted the background mountains in oils, refining the colours and shapes.

Close up of background scene

Gouged out foreground to fit a large zinnfiguren

zinnfiguren slotted into position between the cliffs

foreground was built up with more plaster

close up of foreground with zinnfiguren and rocks placed in position