doom minatures diorama - advice sought

Hi all. I want to build a diorama for my doom minatures. I have a box with a glass slide panel which I will build it in. The dimensions are something like this

   _____________________
  /                    /|
 /                  2.5"
/____________________/  |
|                    |  |
|                    |  |
|                  7.5" |
|                    |  /
|                    | /
|________11.5"_______|/

The list of minatures I have for this diorama are:

• arch-vile
  
• arachnotron
  
• 3 imps
  
• 2 chaingunners
  
• mancubus
  
• cacodemon
  
• revenant
  

Each of the minatures has a base, which looks like foam but I think is meant to be a generic gravel. I want the diorama to represent some of the more recognisable visual motifs from doom, e.g. base, hell. I think there can be a little bit of doom3 influence too, so maybe some martial exterior.

Because of this I may cut the bases off, so that the minatures stand directly onto the floors of the diorama I build. Some people may recoil in horror at the thought of butchering the minatures but I'm not concerned about their worth fiscally - I want to make a convincing set-piece to store them in.

I was thinking that the archvile should be the centre-piece for this, as it is perhaps the most impressive monster in the bunch (although I reckon the best model is the arachnotron). I have a vision of the area around the archvile being base, but burnt and melting (so red-yellow-white hot bits of metal, smoke, etc.). However fire is very hard to do well in a model setting so I'll draw the line at flames.

Does anyone have a set of good ideas for incorporation into this diorama? Does anyone have experience with such things, and thus could impart some advice on good techniques etc.? How much do you think I should let doom3 influence me?

I have pictures of the minatures on my doomworld site (including two painted ones: an imp and the mancubus) but I haven't got my password handy and the pages are broken so I can't fetch the URLs :(

You made the miniatures yourself ? or is it some Reaper Mini's ?

It's a shame you don't have any marines,But you could set it up so that it looks like the Arch Vile is travelling and commanding the monsters through the huge base,Like have them from strongest to weakest in a big cloud type thing.

VinceDSS said:

You made the miniatures yourself ? or is it some Reaper Mini's ?

Reapers.

Caco-Puff said:

It's a shame you don't have any marines.

Yup :/ but, I could fake some by buying and cutting up some warhammer figures. Don't think I'll try and buy some proper ones though.

If it's an exterior dioramar use the ol glue and colored sand to get that rocky terrain. Maybe a pool of laval for hell, possibly nukage. Then grab styrofoam and carve it up into rocky shapes, put some plasticine or modeling clay, and paint it with a base color then dry brush a few different colors over it.

Alternatively, you could do an inside the base deal, and try copying some of the textures like startan or something have some computers etc. Or better yet, make an actual level of how you want the diorama to look so you can get a good basic design to follow. Then afterwards you can add all the little important peculiar details. Most importantly, remember to show us afterwards, have fun.

You could always print out the textures on to paper and paste em :P

try making some barrols. don't use games workshop cause they'er too big. you can also make some lost souls using the games workshop skulls and horns. is this box your bilding it in from IKEA?

Rather then cut the bases off, why not just set them into a slot and build the floor around it? That way the figures arent harmed

Here's a photograph of the box I want it to fit into:
http://vm.alcopop.org/~jon/doom/diorama.jpg

Perhaps a bit pokey. Still it shall do. You can see the minatures and the scale compared to them there.

Yes - I'll keep you all informed on how I get on :) I think I'll have some outside and some inside. I quite fancy making up some kind of startan-inspired wall :)

Rather then cut the bases off, why not just set them into a slot and build the floor around it? That way the figures arent harmed

thats quite a good idea- the model would probably be permanently stuck in there (unless the diorama was destroyed I suppose). It might not be possible in all circumstances but I'll certainly investigate that. Cheers

The best way to display them all would be to make a stand like this:

(stairs)

Kind of like how games workshop does it. Are you making a plausable scene, or just arranging them for pretty display?

I wouldn't cut tem off the bases. just paint the bases the same color as the the ground. It's funny cause I saw that case at IKEA and thougth about making a doom dio for the miniaturea as well

Shapeless said:

I wouldn't cut tem off the bases. just paint the bases the same color as the the ground.

I think that would look really odd though. The bases definitely won't fit in with a metal base floor theme.

It's funny cause I saw that case at IKEA and thougth about making a doom dio for the miniaturea as well

Go for it :) I Think mine was from ikea too.

the bases could blend in with the floor if the floor is not metal, but rather graval.

POTGIESSER said:

If it's an exterior dioramar use the ol glue and colored sand to get that rocky terrain. Maybe a pool of laval for hell, possibly nukage.

Yes, put lava in your box. It should hold it. ^.^;