Updates have been slow around my sites lately, but that certainly is no indication that things have slowed down, as I've been very busy working on something special for my photos. If you've checked out my
Facebook page, you would know what I'm talking about. However, if you haven't, or if you just don't like Facebook in general, I decided to post a quick entry detailing what I've been working on. Mind you, the project is not finished yet and the photos below are
mostly taken with my phone, so expect blurry, crappy, unfinished shots. Read on to check it out...
After building my
Crystal Lake/Woods diorama, I noticed that it makes taking photos so much more enjoyable and allows me to really get creative. So, seeing how I want my photos to stand out and get noticed, I decided I needed to build something that could be used with a variety of different action figures (Terminator, Predators, zombies, etc). That's when I decided to start working on a city alley diorama, one that would allow some versatility with photos and something that would bring the action figures to life.
I started off with idea in my head of having a back alley, with two walls and a fence. The ground of the alley would have some stairs off to the side, which would lead up to an old beat up door. I purchased my materials, which consisted of pink foam board insulation, a $1 BBQ vegetable tray for the fence, wall joint compound and some misc wooden scraps (along with a boatload of different glues). I built the ground and stairs and then proceeded to lay a bunch of wall joint compound all over it. It was my first time working with the stuff, so the results turned out disastrous, yet added a nice authenticity to the beat up ground. I then glued everything together and did the painting and weathering.
 |
| Weathered ground. |
 |
| Stair details. |
 |
| Kyle Reese figure guarding the stairs. |
The fence was next. I dismantled the vegetable tray (realizing that the
wire is razor sharp...ouch!) and made my posts out of wooden dowels and glued them. I took some thin wire and tied the fence together and put it
in place.
 |
| Perfect scale! |
Next, I started on a side wall, which I decided would be a beige colour, with some exposed brick work behind it and one window. After craving some bricks in and plastering it with compound, it started to turn out pretty good. Once I did some paint work and weathering on it, that's when the details really started to come out.
 |
| Wall Joint Compound drying. |
 |
| Painted wall with Kyle Reese figure. |
Now onto the next wall, which was going to be a brick wall with a door and window; the stairs would lead up to the door. I craved all the bricks by hand and painted it first with red paint, then weathered with black. I was going to leave it like that at first, however, I decided to put some white in between the bricks and in doing so the wall started to really pop and I'm glad I did it. I also needed to do a ratty looking door and windows, so I used some balsa wood and thin acrylic sheets (a pain to cut).
 |
| Starting to come together. Rail is an old, unused design. |
 |
| New rail (not great, but it will do the job). |
 |
| Final wall with a few details added (door, window, weathering). |
The city alley diorama is not finished yet, as I still need to finish up some misc paint work and add some misc things (garbage cans, dumpster, etc) and finish detailing the rail for the stairs. I also thought it would be neat to have the walls be removable, so I need to make some braces to prop them up so they don't fall over. For now though, you've seen a few sneak peeks, but once it's finished, I'll be doing a bunch of showcases in it and that's when we'll see if my hard work has paid off. Okay, back to work I go!
I'm a gamer, movie watcher, book reader, collector of action figures and sometimes on random I'll wander outside. I mostly enjoy horror related items of terror, so you might notice a trend when visiting my two sites: From the Mind of Tatlock and From the Basement of Tatlock.
Post a Comment