Thunderchild (7): The diorama

As I promised, here's the finished diorama.

I already did some preparations beforehand. The hardboard plate was painted in blues and whites, simulating the wake of the ship with white and in darker blues some depth differences in the water. Perhaps it is too blue for an estuary, it perhaps should have been muddier in colour but hey, it’s SF, fantasy and I like this colour. It contrasts nicely with the orange fire cloud of the hit tripod, too.

I use transparent acrylic paste which dries hard as rock to make water surfaces. It’s milky white when applied, but dries 100% transparent. I used the original glass plate between the acrylic paste layer and the underground. It gives the diorama just a little more depth, literally. Just the tiny 4mm between the acrylic layer and the painted bottom makes a big difference.
I already did that once with the Apollo after splashdown pick-up diorama and that had a nice result. You can add stuff below the glass plate, for example.

Anyway, Paste applied, spread, moulded with flat brushes, let it set a little, moulded it again, making the structure more refined for the scale, and after drying, adding some white paint for the waves, white heads, wake and stern wave. In fact I used a colour called “arctic” which has a whiff of blue added because pure white is too white in this scale I think.
I explain the process of how to do a water diorama more elaborately on the tutorial page you can find in the column on the right here.

Well, here it is. Thunderchild versus the tripods. Three paper models with some yarn and metal bits added, the diorama made of a 20x50 cm picture frame with acrylic paint. Enjoy the photos and till next time!

--PK

below you'll find a couple more pictures.


Here are some action shots of the diorama.

Thanks again and see you soon.