What do you do when your brother-in-law is building a new house and says he wants a unique way to display his 25th Joe collection? Why, you build a GIANT diorama of course!
It has been a long time coming, but DNE76 and McCheif are finally proud to present our custom G.I. Joe Battle Scene Diorama. This massive scene is over six feet long, three feet wide and at least five feet to the the mountain peaks!
Overall view!
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/images...attach/jpg.gif
Snow side detail:
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/images...attach/jpg.gif
Joe camp detail:
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/images...attach/jpg.gif
Cobra mountain pass fortress:
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/attach...1&d=1357613756
But WAIT, you say, why is there snow on one side of the ravine, and desert on the other? We took a few liberties with "reality" in order to make the most use of DNE's collection (he's a big fan of the snow serpents!).
The DIO was made over several months. We used several techniques and materials, including:
-styrofoam for the base and forms
-spackle for texture
-craft moss for grass and weeds
-silicone and blue food coloring for the frozen lake
-decorative sands for extra texture
-clear acrylic bases and rods for helicopter placement
and a LOT of paint!
-We even had our wives help us paint a few times, since there was so much surface area to cover, and the paint technique worked best when blending the colors wet.
The room and Joes belong to DNE76, while I ( McCheif ) added the artistic details. We both but in several long weekends worth of work, spread out over several months due to "real work" schedules. We planned out several designs, some of which were actually BIGGER, but wound up just going by feel as things progressed. There are over 110 figures in the diorama, and at least 30 pounds of spackle! We also kept finding a new way to "plus it" as Walt Disney used to say, usaully by adding more BATS and sand-bags!
There are a few details that are hard to make out in the pics (which don't even begin to due this thing justice, mostly because I'm a bad photographer). The MASS device has custom LED's added into the beam crystal and the three elements. I also custom cast the three cubes of elements on the push cart, using a clear resin and food coloring, so that they glow inside the cube. There are also LED's in the middle section of the weather dominator piece that Firefly is trying to secure from Wraith. There is a duplicate shot of the Cobra fortress that shows how it looks without the flash, which I think gives it a little more character a mood.
This DIO was a blast to build, and always makes us smile when we walk into the "Joe Room". Our next project is the much smaller, but no less fun, Dreadnok HQ!
PS, DNE76 would like to appologize to anyone who attempted to purchase the green sandbags off eBay anytime last year, he kinda went crazy!
