12 Inch Square Diorama Contest

Article and Photos by Rich Thom

 

The SV&W NMRA Clinic’s February meeting topic was the long-anticipated (well, since September anyway) diorama contest, this year shepherded by Phil and Susan Gonzales. The rules were simple: Build a small diorama, not to exceed 12 inches square [ed.], that tells a story. The mini-scenes could be any scale, and any height or depth so long as their footprints did not exceed the specified area. Entry categories were: scratch; kit; kit bash; and humorous.

Attendance on the night was lower than usual due to threatening weather, and we’re sure that several more dioramas were intended to be entered. (Those modelers are invited to bring in their work to the March meeting.) But the ones brought in on this evening were both clever and beautifully-constructed. Awards were presented using “Peoples’ Choice” voting, rather than any formal scoring system. Without further ado, let’s show the dioramas and say a few words about how each was constructed.

 

Fig 1- Cliff Aaker’s Station Scene, Platform Side

Fig 1 shows Cliff Aaker’s O-scale scratch-built station scene. The story: A boy is tempted to pet a frisky dog, left, but his mother, center, is unsure about it. Another pair of passengers, apparently more sure about their petting, awaits the train on the right. Note the stationmaster visible in the window; to see his other side, just turn Cliff’s diorama around …

 

 

Fig 2 – Cliff Aaker’s Station Scene, Interior

… to view the station interior (Fig 2). Cliff used Kepler siding for both sides of the wall and Kepler scale lumber for the platform structure. Cliff’s station scene garnered the award for best scratch diorama.

 

Fig 3 – Rich Blake’s Stuck Bus Scene

Rich Blake’s O-scale diorama—Fig 3—of a VW bus stuck in a hole and facing some foot-sized boulders in the road ahead, has its owner thinking: “I can do this; I don’t think I can do this.” Rich’s model, actually in 1:43 scale, features a toy bus he found at a train show. He first airbrushed the whole vehicle grey to fade the paint then further weathered it with oils and chalks, applied a dull coat, then added more oils and chalks. The roof rack is scratch. The tree on the right is a Paul Scoles tree (which Rich described in last month’s clinic), and the one on the left was built up by Rich by adding Supertrees materials to an armature. Rich’s scene was the best in kitbash.

 

Fig 4 – Al Frasch’s Coal Train Protest

If there had been a category called “political commentary”, Al Frasch’s creation shown in Fig 4 surely would have walked away with the prize. Al’s n-scale diorama depicts a section of a spiral tunnel in Kicking Horse Pass in the Canadian Rockies with a coal train passing through. Protesters unhappy with coal transport by rail have gathered and lined the track—the one above ground anyway—carrying their signs which read “Coal vs. the Planet” and “Power Past Coal.” Clever!

 

Fig 5 – Mike Garcia’s Donkey Diorama

Mike Garcia built two dioramas, the first shown in Fig 5. This animated scene shows a crew preparing to take a donkey off a flat car at a new work site. The donkey is scratch as are parts of the truck in the foreground as well. The background is a clipping from a magazine. Mike’s fine scene is in HO-scale.

 

Fig 6 – Going to Church, by Mike Garcia

Mike’s second diorama, Fig 6, tells a simple story: Going to church. The church flat is purchased; the truck, center, is a Jordan kit. The usual elements of such a scene are present: the minister at the right, with his bible, welcomes the congregation; a mother, far left, carries her child, who doesn’t appear very enthusiastic, only hoping that the boy remains quiet during the service.

 

Fig 7 – Susan Gonzales’ Garden Goes to Pot

Susan Gonzales captured the best humorous diorama vote with her HO-scale flower garden scene, Fig 7. Most of the flowers are Busch products, individually glued to a foam base covered with ground foam. Some dried flowers from Michael’s were also used. Susan built the fence from a Bar Mills kit; the pots came from a different kit. The story? The best-tended plants in Susan’s garden are the cash crop: the thriving marijuana seen at the upper left. Some poppies are also doing quite well at the upper right. No Garden of Eden is complete without a snake, so Susan included one too, lower right.

 

Fig 8 – Jack Tingstad’s Sad Tale

‘”Mortimer Stiph’s Caskets & Headstones” (Fig 8), built by Jack Tingstad, was the best in the kit category. It’s an HO-scale Bar Mills kit. Jack, ever the storyteller, had a good one for his scene. The widow Thompson, right, is asking the mortician about the sizes of his available coffins. Her husband Jeffery, it seems, a local tallowpot who tipped the scales at 300 pounds, was doing his job of engine cleaning by climbing onto the boiler of ‘ol #9 early one morning when he slipped and fell, impaling himself on the clean-out rack. We’re perhaps fortunate that Jack chose not to model the tragic accident scene itself!

 

Fig 9 – Ray Vaughn’s O-Scale Scene

 

Fig 10 – An Unwelcome Visitor, Ray Vaughn’s Diorama

Ray Vaughn’s O-scale diorama, Fig 9, features a Milwaukee Road telegraph shanty scratch-built from plans published in a 1980’s issue of Model Railroad Craftsman. The rock face is bark from a fir tree. The crew is pondering how best to encourage a diamondback (Fig 10) out of the shanty, which shows no real interest in leaving, and prodding him with a stick doesn’t seem to be improving his mood. Ray fashioned the annoyed rattler from wire and Aleene’s Tacky Glue.

 

Fig 11 – Clearing the Cut on Jon Wilbert’s Diorama

Jon Wilbert’s Hon3 diorama (Fig 11) recreates a small slice of narrow gauge railroading in Colorado, a typical one on the prototype but not frequently modeled. The crew has picked up the smaller rocks from the slide in the narrow cut, but one big boulder remains, and a crewman is bringing in the dynamite to break it up. The handcar is a Durango Press HOn3 kit, which Jon weathered using MicroMark’s 4-bottle rust set. The walls of the cut are castings made with Bragdon molds.

Thanks to all who invested many hours in crafting these “24 square-inch” scenes, all of which displayed remarkable ingenuity in subject matter and telling “their unique stories.”

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