I am thinking about building a Diorama that I can use to take pictures of all my trains out side. I am wondering if anyone else here has built on and what the thought of. Like what would you do different if you did it again and how you planed it out. Also, what type of scenery would you put on it. Thanks, Cody
I built my photo diorama on a 12 inch widex 24 inch long piece of spare 2" foam. This is sturdy enough as to hold on it's own. I have 1 piece of track, on a slight diagonal. I raised the back slightly and added a bunch of pine trees to help with a backdrop. Since I usually take this outdoors to shoot, the rest of the backdrop is provided by nature. In front of the tracks, it's just grass. I added a piece of road crossing the middle of the piece and created a crossing, including gates. I'm really happy with it. Jeff Augsburg & Concord R.R. (a fictional shortline in Central Illinois) Come see us on the web: http://www.pegnsean.net/~revnjeff
All my backdrop is nature. In my case I used a 4 foot long chunck of 2 X 6. I mounted the track along the back edge and gradually tapered the front down to the edge in front with a wood plane. On the bottom I mounted three threaded plates for "screw in" wood legs that you can find at most places like Lowes or Home Depot. This gives me a kind of tripod support. Other than ballast I used ground foam grass and some clump foam shrubs. I drilled some holes in the back face that I stick some pegs in that have telegraph poles glued to them.
Have seen some various times when you've used this setting. And it does show up well. A natural backdrop really adds depth to scenes, that is indeed difficult to capture in modeling. With Fall oncoming, my favorite colors will soon be abundant. Maybe someone will take a few pictures of recent projects to share. Set in late September and October scenes. Boxcab E50
I recently made one, partly as a photo diorama, and partly just to test out scenery/foam technique for the layout. I plan on photographing outside, and don't have a backdrop. But I think I ought to make one (even a separate free-standing one) for those times when I need to photograph inside. There are supposed to be some trees, but I haven't found a good local weed to use as of yet. Here are some shots of the diorama in construction. Here's one shot with some cars. Regards Ed
