Building a Corner Diorama for that Difficult Location

By

William Lyders
What would be your solution if you had a room corner that needed scenery, had completed trackwork/some scenery in front, AND required climbing on/into the layout to access. To solve these problems, scenic a corner and eliminate the construction accessibility, I chose to build one of my waterfall scenes on a diorama external to the layout and then install the diorama later.

Along the way I decided to try some new scenery techniques e.g. rock carving, a new tree technique, foam terrain, and a new resin for water. I’ll explain these as I describe the triangular diorama construction below.

Diorama Framework

I wanted a lightweight but sturdy framework that allowed me to easily lift, carry, and position the diorama multiple times for layout alignment and scene evaluation. In Figure 1, you will see a view of the backside and interior of the completed diorama showing:

·        1- thin wood base (from 1/8 inch paneling scraps) for the diorama bottom base, approximately 24”x24”x36”(front)

·        1-thin wood base (from the same paneling scraps) about 8” up from the bottom base to be used as the actual scenery base.

·        3-tall (12’’) supports (1”x 1” wood pieces) for each corner of the diorama

·        2-short (8”) supports (1”x 1” wood pieces) aligned along the 36” front edge approximately where the waterfall was planned to be.

·        3-horizontal (note: lighter shade wood) supports (½”x 1”) along the scenery base for support

All the above pieces were put together with screws and glue. A triangular frame made from 1”x 2” wood was then constructed and mounted on the room wall in the layout corner to allow installation of the diorama. A couple of treks in/on the layout to install the triangular frame and test the diorama framework was carefully completed successfully. Now it was time for adding scenery to the diorama framework.

Diorama Back View.jpg (32028 bytes) Photo by W. Lyders
Photo by W. Lyders

Figure 1. Diorama Framework   Click to enlarge

Terrain
The terrain was constructed by layering 1” pieces of foam board until the correct height for the last layer came up to the 12” diorama supports. This required about 4 layers of gradually decreasing width pieces of foam. Using a razor knife, I carved the foam to make a tapered hillside with some terracing. The foam was glued together using liquid nails. Grass and groundcover was added by painting the terrain with flat latex paint (a brownish red color similar to our VA clay) and sprinkling on Woodland Scenics grasses. The results are shown in Figure 2.

Trees
The trees were made using a technique taught to me by a club member. I pull out small (golf ball to tennis ball size) clumps of polyester fill that I purchased at a fabric store.  For each fiber fill clump, I spray it with black paint (K-Mart flat black) and roll it in ground foam (homemade, but that’s another article) to make foliage clumps. Put lots of paint on the fiber fill and it will hold the ground foam as it dries. Also do it in a well-ventilated area. I then stored the foliage clumps in a copy paper box top until dry and I was ready to build the trees.   

For tree trunks, I went out on my driveway and in my yard and picked up very small diameter twigs. I also used dead azalea branches. To create and plant trees, I would poke holes in the terrain (usually 2-3 per tree clump) about 2-3 “ apart with an 8 or 10-penny nail. Then I would glue the 4-6” tree “trunks” into the holes with Elmer’s glue (full strength). The tree foliage would then be attached to approximately 2-3 ‘trunks” with Elmer’s glue on the trunk.  I used at least two shades of ground foam and distributed the different colors into the forest, hopefully in a realistic distribution, as shown in Figure 2. Deadfall and downed branches were also added.

Diorama Front View.jpg (55495 bytes) Photo by W. Lyders
Photo by W. Lyders
Figure 2. Terrain, Trees, Stream, Waterfall, and Cliffs   Click to enlarge

Rock Cliffs

The cliff face was constructed by initially stretching 1” masking tape from the terrain base to the diorama base making a gridwork horizontally and vertically across the front wide (36”) side of the diorama. I made the cliff face recessed back about 3” in the middle (to make room for the waterfall). The cliff face had no recess near each edge of the diorama.

Paper towels soaked in Hydrocal plaster was used to make the initial cliff face “shell”. When the Hydrocal shell was dry, I made batches of Plaster of Paris and plastered the cliff face over an area of 8”x10” at a time about ½” to 3/4” thick. As each area started to set up, I would use a small metal trowel (1” wide) and carve the rock face. I created horizontal ledges, vertical cuts, and anything that looked realistic, as shown in Figure 2.

I painted the rock face using my Paasche airbrush and various shades of acrylic grays. I also put a slight vein of brown across part of the cliff face to add color and contrast of a different rock color. The picture doesn’t capture the different shades of gray but you wouldn’t see the cliff details if the darks on the bottom and light grays from the top were not there.

Water and Waterfall

The stream shown in Figure 2 was made by shaping a streambed with a Hydrocal plaster base and then adding small rocks (broken pieces of plaster) in the streambed. The stream bottom was painted using dark greens and a brown near the shore. Downed logs and debris were added. At the back end of the diorama, a small waterfall (1” in height) was created using acrylic clear caulk to show water entering the diorama. The actual water was a liquid plastic clear casting resin (castin’craft sold in Michael’s Craft Stores). The effect of rushing water was then accomplished by dry brushing white paint where whitewater would appear, e.g. around rocks, etc. 

The waterfall is a technique I’ve used for many years and seen recently written up in Model Railroader. I cut an 8”H x 2” W piece of clear plastic (actually very thin plexiglass). Using acrylic clear caulk, I attach the top to the terrain base at the front edge of the diorama at the stream. The bottom is attached about half way between the cliff face and the edge of the diorama (you need space to show water crashing and foaming). Then I ran long beads of the caulk down the plexiglass, until it is all covered. An extra bead along the edge is also needed. I also made a “pile” at the bottom of the waterfall to simulate the turbulence when water hits the streambed below. The caulk is colored white when initially put on but dries a milky clear. Then I dry brush white paint on the waterfall.   

To add to the effect, I added lots of broken up plaster pieces as talus at the base of the cliff.

Final Installation

Work for the framework, terrain, trees, rockwork, and waterfall were completed in my TV room so I could work in short spurts every night and still socialize with my family. The creation of the water in the stream, the painting of the tree foliage, and spray painting of the rock cliffs was done in the garage for obvious aromatic and mess reasons.

With all the scenery completed on the diorama, I climbed on top of the layout and carefully installed the diorama on the triangular frame. The completed scene, with the curved trestle in the foreground is shown in Figure 3.

Diorama Installed View.jpg (79071 bytes) Photo by W. Lyders
Photo by W. Lyders

Figure 3. Completed Diorama installed on the Layout Click to enlarge.