Dioramas!......

[midmanc82]

OK so I couldn’t resist a few pics lol, am now on the crappy hand blistering task of squaring off more lollipop sticks, all needs doing though


One of the last 3 windows filed, might get another one done tonight, depends how much I can be bothered to after squaring off the lolly sticks


Internal wall and doorway cut out. After checking on the video game there is no actual door, just the opening so that’s fine by me, less work is always good


That’s as far as I’ve got so far with the flooring


Venkman’s getting coffee! Sadly we only have one mug, sorry boys… I had my courtroom Egon delivered last week, as I’m sure most of you know how many little bits n bobs he comes with, there’s some fab additions to this fire house model thanks to him, stuff I would have paid for seperately in bits n bobs off ebay, In a sense I’ve actually saved money from this item



Sleeping area, unlucky on the bed situation


And this is how many sticks I’m going for squaring off, got 2 lots and the loose ones all done so far

So thats my weekly pic update, as I say I just couldn’t resist lol,as it happens I’m child free tomorrow night and my girlfriend is off out for a girly night so I’m gonna make good use of the time to get as much finished off as possible, the next run of flooring will take a little extra time as I’ve gotta get the round file on the bits meeting up and around the second fire pole cut out but if there’s anything significant I will be sure to throw up another few pics.

Oh and I actually had a crack at making the sign today, I thought I would have a go at making the flat part out of the foam board I use but I wasn’t happy with the result so I ditched it in favour of using the same stuff I made the internal wall out of, if I get any further on with that you guys will be the first to know

Catch up with you guys soon

[Farah]

Very nice! Keep up the awesome job on this.

[midmanc82]

Thank you Farah, I’ve actually managed to finish of a massive portion of this build today, the full upper flooring has now been finished!!! I can’t tell you what a ball ache that was but finally it’s done. Well when I say done I mean all the craft sticks have been laid and the floor is fully covered, I have still yet to file/sand the edges flush but I need to wait for the glue to properly dry out but that’s not gonna be a major job. Also have filed out the remaining window cut outs on the fire house front So that’s 2 annoying jobs finished and now I think I’m at the stage where I can start on carving the foam board out, at least for the bottom ground floor anyway. Not sure if I will do that today or give it a rest, tbh compared to that lollypop stick flooring this one will feel like a breeze lol.

Anyway here’s a few pics for you

So there we have it and it’s only monday, I think the next jobs are the foam board and the support columns, once that’s done I’ll probably get a crack on with the stairs and spindles. Still got venkmans office and the guys lockers to do too but was planning on doing those once the foam has been carved and painted on the interior back wall, sides & ground floor, just makes it easier for me rather than trying to remember to compensate the extra 5mm depth of the foam board

Hope all you guys had a fab weekend and all are getting well into the festive spirit

[alex-newborn]

I will be watching this thread with great interest.

Seriously, how have I missed the existence of this thread up until now?

I’ve never done any dios with quite the permanence of this one, but I’ve tinkered with some dios that would work for photography and then break down to store flat. It provides several options for setup when taking shots from different angles.

For my Muppet Show stage dios, I used existing dollhouse hardwood flooring and vinyl brick wall patterns.

I used modified frame grabs from various episodes to create ‘flats’ to go behind the characters who were onstage.

These augmented the existing Muppet backstage playset so I could display various ‘acts’ going on over at the main stage.

But what you don’t see in these pics are the dozens of popsicle sticks that I collected to make a picket fence for a planned diorama that I never actually began, so seeing your approach to the hardwood floor brings a smile to my face.

Alex

P.S. In the revised numbering since the forum switchover, this is my 1,984th post… the GB1 release year post! Yay!

[midmanc82]

Hey there Alex, it’s an absolute pleasure to have received a comment from you, I have indeed seen some of your ghostbusters 2 dios, the courtroom and theatre ghost ones I remember being one of the first threads I looked at before becoming a member on here, really impressive

Loving what you’ve done with the muppets too, was telling my gf about them last night so will show her when I see her later on today

I’m relatively new to making dioramas, I have done one out of printed paper and cardboard boxes for my arkham asylum collection, after browsing a few sites like figure realm I was really interested in some of the ones that had been done using foam board and brick carving etc so I ended up having a go at that for my stepsons ninja turtle figures and as long and drawn out as the process is the end results can be awesome. The vinyl brick card stock you use, is it textured so the bricks are raised slightly for the 3d effect?

Speaking of foam and all that jive, I have just cut the floor pieces and most of the ground floor walls, am now peeling the paper backing of the carving side now and managed to get a couple of pics

Hopefully I will be able to at least make a start on those today, was really aiming for the flooring to be done but because I’ve had to soak the foam board to strip the paper off the carving side its still a bit wet and being a shaven headed bloke I do not own a hair dryer

I may actually file the edges of the lolly stick upper floor if they don’t dry out in time and save the carving job for tomorrow

[alex-newborn]

Glad you enjoyed them. Compared to your efforts, they were all very simplistic, although the one that I got the most elaborate with was the set for World of the Psychic.

This video reveals just how little of the dio was built, while everything else was made from existing toy lines, including: Austin Powers, the McKenzie Bros, the Muppets, and various wrestling toys. Peter is by Mattel of course, and his jacket is from a Mattel Batman figure, namely Alfred.

Here’s how the sign was made.

Hope your girlfriend likes the Muppet stuff when you show her. The pic of Fozzie onstage while George Burns watches from backstage probably makes more sense to the two of you than it does to casual American Muppet Show fans. I myself was unaware of the existence of the “UK spots” until a friend bought me the boxed seasons 1, 2, and 3 on DVD. (Wish they’d release 4 and 5!)

In fact, I have a friend who is such a huge Muppet fan that one day while I was playing the DVDs he was sitting there telling me all the memories it was bringing back. Where he was, what chair he was sitting in, who in his family was there… All of a sudden, the UK spot came on and he was like, “WHAT’S THIS? I have never seen this skit before!” It was like telling him I had some extra Dead Sea Scrolls to add to his Bible. (He was my lead puppeteer when I directed a local production of Little Shop of Horrors in 2012.)

For those who don’t know what I’m babbling about, American commercial breaks were two minutes longer in the 70s than the breaks in the UK, which is actually where TMS was filmed. So for each episode, a short song was produced only for the UK version, then trimmed out for the American broadcast. Most of them were traditional pub songs, such as the one Fozzie sings in the full George Burns episode: “Wotcher (Knocked Em in the Old Kent Road)”. For even more British flavor to the song, Fozzie is dressed as a ‘pearlie’, which is a concept most Americans probably know best from the animated musicians in the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious number from Mary Poppins.

The guest stars were never seen in the UK spots, that I recall, so my depiction of vaudevillian veteran George watching Fozzie from the wings is my own fusion of what might have occurred just off-camera. The Burns doll was one of a handful of TMS guest stars who had toy versions in a scale anywhere close to the Palisades TMS line. ‘Pearlie Fozzie’ was a custom made from parts of two Fozzies, plus a hand-sculpted hat. Palisades used magnets in the hats of their figures, so I even embedded a craft-store magnet in that hat before I boiled the Sculpey to harden it. I then hand-painted all the pearl buttons onto the hat and vest, copying the patterns seen in the clip. It even has the F on the back.

But that’s enough thread-hijacking by me for today. To answer your question, yes the vinyl brick is raised. That made it slightly easier to repaint it. The times we see the back wall in TMS the mortar was black, while the vinyl sections had it in white. So I first painted the entire thing black (actually, four panels of it, cut to blend the outer edges into the brick pattern), then I did a white dry-brush over the raised portions of the bricks, and then a coat of red onto the white. Some white spilled into the crevices, so it wasn’t a perfect attempt, but I was able to knock it out pretty fast and then move onto the stenciled NO SMOKING letters.

On the other hand, the raised pattern makes it really difficult to glue the vinyl brick onto a wall. On the back side, the glue is having to adhere to the smallest surface area, the lines of the mortar.

They make other vinyl pieces. I know there’s a ‘bathroom wall tile’ one and a ‘tile floor’ one. I’ve got some of those to make a long-postponed Veterinarian’s Hospital dio. And they also do a ‘tin ceiling’ one with a very nifty pattern.

Alex

This is my 1986th post. You remind me of the babe.

[midmanc82]

Awesome mate, that world of the psychic one really does look amazing as do the muppet show ones, it sounds like you have a busy time of things! I also saw another thread of yours recently on more of the custom figures and I’ve actually had a few bits n bobs from viperskingdom myself, I’ve just bought some closed pke meters and loose neutrona wands so I can dot them about my fire station once its all built up and was really tempted to buy a venkman head loose and try one of the batman figures myself but as it stands at the moment I am only short of the new 30th anniversary removable proton pack figures to have a complete set (obvs like you I am an opener) so that means that essentially I have a good few variants of the same figure and as big as this firehouse is going to be I’m gonna struggle displaying them all without it looking a bit odd, I think so far I have 6 versions of Ray alone lol, thats not to mention the diamond select versions I’ve pre ordered too so it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that as soon as I’m done with the initial firehouse I’m going to have to get a move on and do the basement lol!

Also have started thinking about some other locations, the diamond select ones will eventually have its own dio built up with their 12 figure release so I guess thats some of those sorted but I’m gonna have to try and manage janine going in the firehouse despite being an inch bigger than the mattel ones but oh well… Other locations namely being the library, possibly museum? Tbh I thought the video game did a really good job of layouts, shandor island and the central park graveyard was especially awesome, in fact back when I was in primary school (kindergarten/elementary school to you guys? The one before high school) and ghostbusters were right at the top of their game, I remember being 6 years old and writing stories based on the ghostbusters busting slimer in the graveyard of my local church, I had totally forgot about that up til completing that game for the first time plenty of fodder for ideas too with the gothic looking crypts/church/temple type buildings but god knows where I’m gonna put all these, my girlfriend said to me why don’t you just turn your whole flat into a ghostbusters theme park with some batman and ninja turtles bits floating around, I told her that she would be sorry she said that as thats the most intelligent thing she’s ever said

Haha anyway, I have now made a start on the brick carving and that’s probably going to take me even longer than the lollipop stick flooring as upon closer inspection to the vid game firehouse interior the bricks are ever so slightly textured rather than that of a new build which makes sense really given how old the building actually is. That being said aside from the first initial viewing the trio had in the first film being a complete dump, It’s actually a really well maintained building with little evident scarred or cracked bricks so unlike my ninja turtle sewer dio and the run down building rooftop I did, I won’t have to spend the additional time picking out little bits of foam to make cracks/holes etc. Well not in the walls at least, I want the flooring to look a fair bit more weathered with the odd pot hole, tire skids etc given that the floor obviously will be subject to more wear and tear than the walls, especially where the ecto 1 will be parked.

Anyway that’s enough rambling from me, here’s a taster of the brick work so far, the whole back wall minus the support columns have been cut and scored with brick pattern and I’m now in the process of ever so slightly distressing the bricks to give them that slight weathered look and character. This takes ages to do so until I’ve completed the back wall, primed, painted and glued on I probably won’t post much else.


[Farah]

Very nice. It looks excellent so far. Keep up the great work. :eyeroll: :whatever: :sigh:

[midmanc82]

Hey there Farah, thank you for the nice comm and smileys I hope to have those bricks finished off today and painted, until then I thought I would post some new additions to my collection via ebay

Expecting these delivered today, fitting for the festive season

Had this delivered saturday, picked him up for £25 ($40 ish) on ebay, it’s the mattel one so it does look good with my figures, even tho it has started the yellowing and there’s a couple of minor dings in it. But at that price I can’t complain really, I still want the bigger and more resilient diamond select bank version but he can wait a while now, I wanted the gb2 set in santa hats more

Picked these up off vipers kingdom on ebay, thought they would look well dotted about the firehouse, I recently watched the film again the other day and noticed that while the three founding members are eating chinese takeaway before they get the first call to the sedgewick there is a neutrona wand on the table, these were only a fiver, slightly less actually and free postage too

So hopefully I’ll be able to post a couple more pics here on my actual build, as I said though, these bricks do take ages to distress even slightly so it maybe tonight, maybe a few days, depending on my patience level

I’ll most likely post here again before the big day but if not here’s wishing you all the very best of the festive season, a fab christmas and happy new year, love from me and my son (Alfie) ■■■

[kingpin]

There are also two Proton Guns on the table behind Dana when she’s being interviewed.

[midmanc82]

awesomely well spotted kingpin! I’m keeping a close eye on bits and bobs sold by vipers kingdom, I’ll be sure to include them should i land myself with more of these, I also went on a mooch around the basement of the vid game firehouse and saw a few bits n bobs lying around on a workbench down there but the most noteable little easter egg was there was a pke meter down there from the real ghostbusters cartoon I watched the film again last night, it’s the only film I never ever get tired of seeing, back in the good old days of video rental shops if all else failed then ghostbusters was the safe choice lol, seriously it would have been cheaper for my mam to just buy it for me lol

[midmanc82]

OK maybe a little off topic here but I thought he deserved a mention on a site that has become quite important to me over the years.

Yesterday my much loved cat (Morrissey) passed away peacefully in his sleep around 10am. He had the biggest personality out of all the cats I ever had the pleasure of living under my roof. I don’t want this to be a sad post or to be melancholy, this is to remember his life and how important he was to me and my son Alfie and all the people who’s life he touched including friends, my girlfriend Claire and my ex wife Hazel and her family.

Night night Morris, love you always xxx

[Farah]

Oh I’m sorry to hear about his passing away. Rip Morrisey. you will be missed :whatever: :sigh:

[midmanc82]

OK after all the festivities, the passing of a much loved cat and some much needed rest time with my girlfriend without the kids I finally managed to complete the stressing on the foam bricks for the back wall of the firehouse. So here’s the plan now: prime coat to be applied today in acrylic paint, hopefully that will dry out within 1-2 hours and then will possibly apply another coat if I haven’t quite covered the pen marks as I’ll be doing it in as light a grey as I can get away with before applying the white coat. Once I’m happy with the white coat I’ll be popping on the green coat and start having this looking like the actual interior is taking shape

While I’m waiting for the coats of paint to dry out i think I’ll make a start on slimers containment tank, I’ve found some matt silver fablon which I thing will do to cover all the pieces so it looks metallic and then will start adding bits over the top using the same foam I use to carve the bricks.

Once I’m totally finished on the paint job on the bricks I’ll be gluing them to the back wall bit and then I’ll stick down the foam floor and make a start on the carving. That’s probably going to be another long job as the brick flooring is going to be more weathered than the walls so what I will do is pop the back wall up with the pre carved ground floor (I’ll do the brick patten though to give you guys a better idea of how it’s gonna look), take a few snaps and bob em up. Will actually pop pics of the completed paint job as it is so there’s something to at least look at here.

Anyway in other news I started a little picture while at my girlfriends over xmas, it’s nowhere near finished as you’ll see but thought I would pop it up here anyway and also in the wake of my cat morris’ passing I decided while no pet can ever be replaced, I believe that given the space I have here shouldn’t go to waste and got my son and I a new kitten, everybody say hello to EGON!!!

And here’s my little side project, still a bit of work to do/touch up on the eyes but thought I’d bob it up anyway given my new cats name

OK I will get cracking on with this prime coat and hopefully will have some more actual topic related pics up here soon, I am also away for new year so if I cant get it all done by tomorrow it will most probably be after weekend

Wishing you all the best for new year and hope youv’e all had a very merry christmas from ant, claire, kids and cats ■■■ :love: :love: :love:

[midmanc82]

OK managed to get the prime coat and the first layer of white, I think its gonna need another white coat though before doing the green layer and the lines, am away from home at mo but once back i will slap the second white layer on and then hopefully will be able to get the green done same day.

The past dios I’ve built I’ve dry brushed the brick colour over the prime but this is different as it’s essentially supposed to be a brand new paint job so its just a case of slapping it on without a great deal of finesse but obvs needing to be done with care so it doesn’t look like king kong has had a go of it

Happy new year folks, all the best for the new year

[midmanc82]

OK relatively productive day, after applying the second coat of white it looks heaps better but still looks like it might need a final 3rd coat. I’ll wait until morning so I can see how it looks in daylight though. Anyway once I applied that second white coat to the bricks I decided to paint the staircase I made seeing as though its going up against the wall I’m working on at the moment so that’s had 2 coats and I think that’ll do that one but the main thing that’s had a fair amount of work on today is the slimer tank. That has now had fablon applied to every piece and I’ve glued all but the front together. Have also cut 3 bits of foam board and a mock up sill bit but I’m gonna make another neater one, I just wanted to see what it looked like and whether it looked more like slimers tank than a wood hut! Still needs painting up in the right places, in fact the whole thing really needs embellishing a hell of a lot more but for now it’s coming along pretty well.

Here’s some pics anyway, now my son is back at school tomorrow I will have all my free time back to hammer away at this build and hopefully can start piecing the entire thing together very soon

Be sure to check back tomorrow for some more pics, I am dead sure I can have that ■■■■■■ back wall finished once and for all lol!

[midmanc82]

OK pics from this morning, just waiting on the green paint to dry before I do the 4 green lines, will check back on it in a couple hours. Also painted some of the slimer tank, that’s gonna need a second coat too, hopefully will be able to finally get a start on the ground floor bricks later on

More pics coming up later today

[midmanc82]

OK here’s another one for ya, you might not be able to see on this pic but there’s gonna be a few bits that want touching up with the white where sadly the green slipped under the masking tape. Just waiting for the top line to dry and then will do another one. More pics to follow.

[midmanc82]

Yaaaaay finally it’s starting to come together! I can now make a start on the ground floor now that the back wall is done.

Once the floor is complete and painted up I will cover the support columns to complete the back wall ground level and get a start on the interior fire house entrance and back wall. By the time that’s finished we should be through most of skint January and will have some more cash to get a crack on with finishing the staircase and sorting out venkmans office

Anyway, pics as promised, hope you enjoy

still needs touching up with some white paint on those green lines, got the ■■■■■■ hang of doing it neat on my last line

the staircase will have some long panels covering the visible side so it won’t look as rough as it does here

still gotta work on the slimer tank too

So in a nutshell I’ll be touching up those green lines to get them looking better and then will make a start on the brickwork/cobbled flooring tomorrow, if I get a decent amount done tomorrow I may bob some more pics up but the likelihood is I will post pics once the floor has been patterned, weathered and have got at least the prime coat on it. Nighty night all

[midmanc82]

OK it pretty much took me all day Tuesday to mark out the bricks through til afternoon yesterday to score the patterns and this morning I began to heavily weather the brick floor but for the most part I’m having a break. I may carry on with it later but will most probably crack on back with it tomorrow once the dull ache in my hand has subsided lol

Here are some pics of where I’m up to, I have decided to hang on a while and get the flooring finished before I touch up some of those lines that got a bit messy on the wall because there are going to be some items that will cover up most of what you can see on the bare pics, slimer tank, the guys lockers (when I make them), stairs etc, chances are I can cut the time down it will take considerably so the real trick will be making sure they are done properly like that top line on the support columns and the wall that will be on hinges.

What I’m thinking of doing is giving the floor a black prime coat, dry brush a light grey over the most part and then really minimally dry brushing a white coat just to see what kind of tones & contrast I can get out of it, the black will accentuate the pot holes being chipped out of it and will break it up from it just being white walls and flooring with just a bit of green to break it up.

Once I have the paint jobs applied I will fire up the pics rather than have this thread start to go stale with step by step boring stuff lol.