Death Trooper diorama
Built the figure awhile ago but just recently finished his new home. I used insulation styrofoam for the base structure then applied sculptamold for ground texture and the tree bark. For the ground cover I used finely sifted soil, tile grout and woodland scenics fine soil mixed together. Sprayed the now dry sculptamold with watered down pva glue then sprinkled the soil mixture. Sprayed the ground cover with isopropanol alchohol and water mixture then repeated the last few steps until the ground was properly covered, I then used various plants purchased from craft stores and place them on the dio (some with the help of cut to size toothpicks). Once that was dry then it was onto the river bed. Using the soil mixture with added sand and gravel, glued it then it was onto adding the epoxy resin. After damming up the sides the resin was poured, I added a couple of drops of Tamiya paint to the resin while mixing (the paint goes a long way as the couple of drops made the resin darker than I wanted) once the resin was dry I added Modge Podge for the ripples and waves . I used an airbrush at one end of the dio to “push” the Modge Podge for the desired current direction. Used balsa wood to clean up the sides of the base and finally voila diorama done! Any questions just let me know and as always thanks for looking!
7 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Andreas Fey said on October 20, 2019
Very cool, and awesome work with the water and plants! The figure is from bandai, correct?
Travis Paschall said on October 20, 2019
Yes sir, Bandai 1/12, all the joints have been covered with either epoxy putty or VMS Paper Shaper
Andreas Fey said on October 20, 2019
great idea to convert the joints!
Travis Paschall said on October 20, 2019
Thanks, yup can’t stand the joints on the Bandai kits makes’em look like toys!
Robert Royes said on October 20, 2019
Great job!
Travis Paschall said on October 21, 2019
@roofrat , thank you sir!!
Reinhard Spreitzhofer said on October 20, 2019
Very cool! The water looks realistic and the figure is nicely painted!
Travis Paschall said on October 21, 2019
@grimreaper , thank you sir, appreciate it!
Tom Bebout said on October 21, 2019
Well done, nice work on the foliage as well.
Travis Paschall said on October 21, 2019
@tom-bebout, thank you, thanks for looking!
Greg Kittinger said on October 21, 2019
Nice – looks like a perfect muddy creek to me!
Travis Paschall said on October 21, 2019
@gkittinger , Thank you sir, yeah it does but I was hoping for it to be a little more transparent because a quite a bit of work went into that river bed and now it can’t be seen, oh well you live ou learn. Thanks again!
George R Blair Jr said on October 21, 2019
Really nice job. I have a bunch of Bandai’s recent Star Wars kits, and I plan to do dioramas with some of them. I also build model trains, so a lot of the scenery technique is the same. I especially like the figure’s foot in the stream, which in my mind is now stuck in the mud and his boot will come off when he pulls his leg out of the stream. Maybe that only happens in real life…