It's been a busy week at Scale Model Scenery HQ so far, with lots of enquiries coming in from the Hayle Model Railway Club show last weekend, a rather huge, not quite lifesize signal box nameplate for Hafod Vivien Sidings layout. But we have found a little time to work on some new dioramas to showcase some of our most popular detailing kits…
Ladies and Gentlemen may we present to you, our 40mm diameter Micro Dioramas! We've been collecting these circular offcuts from our baseboards for months, possibly years as it seemed a shame to throw them away. But we had no idea what to do with them… Then along came some 5 am inspiration… as it does, totally out of nowhere! Why don't we create our smallest dioramas ever to showcase the tiny detailing kits we do, primarily in OO scale, but eventually, ones covering other scales too such as N and O gauge?
So we had a play with a little snippet of pavement, some texture papers, a couple of signs and some spare road markings… et voila! It worked a treat :) Here are the ones we've created so far. We're now working on a set of shelving to hold around 280 of these, which will hang on the front of our counter in our showroom near Truro, Cornwall.
Pavement Signs Diorama
This is our first micro diorama which was built just to see if the idea had legs… And it did… Well metaphorically at least. This particular diorama was built to showcase our LX470-OO A Frame & Pavement Swing Advertising Signs.
Kits used in this micro-diorama:
- LX470-OO A Frame & Pavement Swing Advertising Signs
- RX014-OO Weathered Laser Cut Self-Adhesive Road Markings
- LX217-OO Laser Cut MDF Pavement Strips
- TX158-OO Weathered Asphalt
We could still go to even further with the detail on this tiny scene if we wanted to… We could add litter and maybe a drain. Possibly even lean a bicycle up against one of the signs?
Park Bench Diorama
The second diorama we build was for one of our Park Bench kits in OO scale. This is a much simpler diorama but the addition of a little static grass softens it a little and gives it a more natural feel.
Kits used in this micro-diorama:
Again, we could add further detail to this tiny scene with the addition of a little litter (tut-tut) and maybe a litter bin next to the bench.
Garden Gate Diorama
This is one of my favourites as it has a little mystery and intrigue to it. Where does the gate lead to I wonder?
Kits used in this micro-diorama:
Other texture papers have been used to create the wall using simple MDF offcuts as the core. Static grass softens the base along with the addition of a simple gravel path which can be created using any of our ballasts or even stone powders if you prefer a dusty path.
Parish Noticeboard Diorama
Every town or village has a Parish Noticeboard to keep its residents up to date with the local goings on… be it the bingo next Tuesday evening at the church hall, the Sunday service or the Jumble Sale to raise money for the new church roof. They're a quintessentially British feature that every layout should have.
This micro diorama features one of the double, freestanding Parish Noticeboards which come complete with an assortment of posters and notices to go inside them. They even feature engraved “Parish Notices” detail on the top of the boards for that extra touch of realism. Again we've kept things simple on this one with just some concrete slab texture paper for the paving and a short length of weathered garden fencing.
