Diorama: mountain scenery

Modeliing cars with three young kids in the house has been quite challenging for the past few years. I am glad that they are growing up and that we can start working together on some projects like this one. I don't feel like they are ready to work on cars but I figured that we could work on a diorama.

My two oldest girls Valentine 6 and Camille 4 have been great helpers so far. We have been trying to replicate a turn from the Var in Southeast of France where we originally come from.

Let's see some pictures:

http://s6.postimage.org/tbkn0spyp/IMG_0474.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/opoisg4fh/full/)


We started with a cardboard area for the road and some folded newspaper for the mountain shapes. It was covered with some strips of plaster fabric that I found in a craft store. Then we applied some actual plaster to work some refined details on the rocks and we included some molded rocks.

http://s6.postimage.org/xlzawdv1t/IMG_0540.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/70ws0tsod/full/)


Here you can see Valentine starting to add some color to the scenery. We used some yellow, brown and black.

http://s6.postimage.org/4m9hu51td/IMG_0542.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/uukmjilwt/full/)


http://s6.postimage.org/e832afsz5/IMG_0544.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/px71yejxp/full/)

Then it was time to add some vegetation. We sparkled two shades of green grass in several areas.

http://s6.postimage.org/g15yyre5t/IMG_0555.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/plplln3hp/full/)


http://s6.postimage.org/ae9m1abn5/IMG_0556.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/a1i7v3td9/full/)


http://s6.postimage.org/41ugrg8kx/IMG_0557.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/yw1pp6e7h/full/)


I wanted to add some material on the road that would replicate the asphalt on the road. We created our "asphalt mix" by mixing some plaster and 2 different sizes of black sand. Here is Camille working on the mix:

http://s6.postimage.org/qrtlkfrsh/IMG_0559.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/cldup7gx9/full/)


And here is the first batch applied to the diorama. I think that the texture came out perfect. The color is too clear as we did not add any coloring to hide the white of the plaster. We will add some black wash later to fix it.

http://s6.postimage.org/gj14em3qp/IMG_0560.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/er85jpkdp/full/)
upload photos (http://postimage.org/)

It was not easy to apply our mix as it would not really stick to the diorama. Sadly I could not let the girls participate as much as I originally planned for this part of the work but they got to make their own road on a piece of cardboard:

http://s6.postimage.org/w5sdrzhip/IMG_0562.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/4ifodvwbx/full/)


And here are pictures of where we stand so far:

http://s6.postimage.org/m9rascbqp/IMG_0563.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/gll01g7e5/full/)


http://s6.postimage.org/u3rwdqjjl/S2000_Sony_007.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rmg56gzn1/full/)
image sharing (http://postimage.org/)

I work in road construction and I wanted to replicate some usual damage that you can see on mountain roads: construction joints are opening due to harsh conditions with cold winters and hot summers. I hink I got it right as you can see on the last picture. I also plan to add some ravelling on the sides of the road.

The grass seemss too green and we will also add some light color to "dry" it a litlle bit.

Next we will add some water to the scenery, some lose rocks and possibly some more vegetation.

I am really proud of my girls for doing this with me and I hope you like it so far. I wanted to share our project with you as I thought it might inspire some fellow young fathers in the hobby.

Your comments and criticism are welcome.

Looks great so far, look forward to seeing more..!! Great that you got your children involved as well. Far too many kids these days are happier with a Playstation game than doing something constructive..

Great family project. Is it to a specific scale - ready to display a rally car or something?

Christophe (and the girls) - that is absolutely fantastic! It is very realistic and the rock colouration is brilliant. A nice tarmac spec rally model is opposite lock (2WD preferably) with the crew figures in the car would look superb.

I have DidierAuriol's Tour de Corse winning Ford Sierra Cosworth on the workbench at the moment and that would suit that diarama down to a T.

what a great way to keep the family quiet on a cold wet winters day. you really are a cool dad.

Great project and family work...
Congratulation about this great inspiration to your kids. Nice mate!!!

Just one word: amazing!

That looks super! The road looks great.
I am going to try that for a road or parking lot one of these days.
Like Steve said, it is great to see the girls involved too!
Cant wait to see it with a car on there!
Andy

Thanks guys for your comments! :smile:

Great family project. Is it to a specific scale - ready to display a rally car or something?

The scale is 1:24 and I would like to display some rally cars. I have finished a Renault 5 turbo that could fit well with some weathering when I will be done with the diorama.

Here are a few pics to see the scale:

http://s6.postimage.org/hv011p375/s2000_110.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/gspuj5kdp/full/)


http://s6.postimage.org/9194klg8h/s2000_113.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/8ohqeexyl/full/)


http://s6.postimage.org/t9wi6bfjl/s2000_114.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/y8k0kujcd/full/)


Now back to work! :wink: