The Diorama

For the Diorama I had a lot of Plans. There should be a turning Fanblade, a lot of rusty Pipes, a damaged Wall and Lights.Happily I own a 3D-Printer. That is a huge Help to realize such Ideas.For the Fan I ordered a 3V Gear-Motor from China. It has 6 rpm so it was perfect and for under $3 included shipping there was no risk.To make the printed blade rusty I used the Salt-Technique. I painted the Blade rusty and strew salt on the wet paint.After the Paint was dry I used Water and a hard Brush to remove the Salt. The Result look realistic.The Pipes where prepared similar with a rusty Painting but instead Salt I used another technique.After drying I used a hard flat Brush to paint the Pipes black. I made fast strokes so the Brush didn’t reach the spots near the connections and so they left unpainted.For the Wall I used Gypsum casting compound. So I was able to integrate the housing for the Fan-Blade. To stabilize the Wall I used Wires in the Middle like in reality when a Concrete-Wall is made.First Test-RunFor the destroyed Wall I used rusty Wires to simulate rebars and I used small crumpled Paper to leave Holes when casting the Wall.Next Step was building the Powerwires on the big Wall. I constructed a Mount in CAD and used 0,5mm Wires to make this.For the Base I used the Shelf of a Refrigerator-Door. :)It was long and not so deep so it’s perfect for my Base.I placed the Walls and the Manholes so they are all enclosed from the Casting compound. This make the whole Diorama stable and nothing will fall when moving.In the wet Casting compound I placed the Fences. I made them also with 3D Printer. PLA is melting on heat so I could create the Deformations with a hot air Blower.Next step was adding the remaining Pipes. Here I wanted to add some Water Effects. So I added Water in the Sewer, leaking Pipes and Water from a broken Pipe.For the Water I used Acrylic Water-Effects from Vallejo.For the Water of the broken Pipe I used a Acrylic Rod.Finally I added the rusty marks which are simulating long time withering.Last step was placing the Kettenkrad and do the electric wiring.The Diorama was ready to run.However, I wanted a Background but a normal Picture is so static.So I had the Idea of a Background with Lights.But how to make Lights in a Background-Picture?LEDs would be possible but then all Lights are similar bright.Then I got an Idea. I ordered a cheap Fiber-Lamp and cut some of the optical Fiber to use them for my Idea.I took a Cardboard where I wallpaper the Picture on the Front and a LED-Strip on the Back. Then I made holes with a Needle and put the Fibers through. The other End was fixed over the LEDs.This was tricky but worked in the End and because some Fibers are bent more and some Ends are out of the LEDs Focus-Spot they are different bright what give an more naturally look.On the Front I used a diffusor Foil to make the Lightdots softer.Finally I cover all with the same Picture I used for the Holes.With the Lights off you only see the Picture. Only when the Lights are on they are visible.This is the Final Shot.I only photoshopped the big Wall because it needed more perspective to look better.Here both to compare.At last some Impressions from the Diorama.THX for reading! :)