[abhisheksircar]

It's been almost 10 years that I worked for an organization and I thought of trying out some new challenges in a new organization. I got just 5 days in between to give time to myself. I started planning for a break which is almost therapeutic in nature. I looked around and found meditation centers, healing centers and what not and then I came across this term, 'Diorama'. I watched some videos and decided, THIS IS IT !!

It started with ordering two models from Scale Arts India

1. 2021 Ford GT Heritage Edition
2. Ferarri FXX K

I started looking at it and imagined various dioramas that could be built around it but then since I was absolutely new to this, I thought of keeping it simple, A garage.

I took a quick course on it suggested by my neighbor who is an Art Director and is an artist too. 'Techniques to Create Scale Models' in Domestika. This sure helped me learn some very basic but very helpful steps to get this done. Things which would have been a learning through mistakes if I got into it directly.

After doing the course, I was all pumped up to get this right. Immediately picked up what was required for the build.

- 3 mm Foam Boards
- A1 size cutting mat
- Pen Knife
- Paper Cutter
- FeviQuick
- Fevicol
- LED Strips
- LED connectors
- Acrylic Sheets
- Acrylic Cutter
- Some wires
- Soldering kit
- Loads of creativity

Along with these I also picked up a diorama accessory kit

And then began the work. I spent almost 6 hours average for 4 days to get this and primarily because you keep improvising and keep trying to get as close as possible to the real deal. It was fun working on it, reliving the engineering days although after almost 20 years of tapping the keyboard, the mortar skills and intuition have gone for a toss and I was going all over. Thanks to my neighbor, Paul, who being an artist guided me very well to remind me even how to hold a pen knife properly for good cuts.



The planning stage



The mock frame





The electricals



The digital prints

The whole process was really fun as you visualize something in your thoughts and then you see it building up in the 3 dimensional space with elements which needs attention.

The highlights

- The lifts space with working lights
- The vintage posters
- The flushed roof lamps which are formed off LED strips vertical to the roof and then photopaper facing down to give that clean diffused flushed lights through acrylic sheets
- The beading on the floor which looks simple but it complicated
- The marble flooring which is a print on photo paper
- And the textured wall and roof

And this is the final bit









And the model together from a distance



This was my first attempt and hence not perfect but it ended up to be way better than what I imagined. A big shout out to my neighbor, Paul, who kept pushing me to get this right.

Hope this inspires few other petrolheads out here to work on something creative, the next time they get some time ! Have fun.

[TrackDay]

A labour of love indeed !

All that attention to detail, even in the tiniest of bits makes your diorama really interesting. It truly looks like a therapeutic exercise and is very rewarding to see one. Back in the day, shopping malls (abroad) used to have this miniature replica of the mall and neighboring buildings with scale cars all around and humans, trees etc. As a kid I used to look at them for hours ! Your post brought back those memories. This is one hobby I need to learn, though I am not very good with the electrical bit Your post also reminded me that I have a Ford GT somewhere. Fished it out. It is not a very detailed one or anything, but a Hot Wheels piece of the '17 GT that I picked up at a supermarket counter.

[abhisheksircar]

Originally Posted by TrackDay

A labour of love indeed !

All that attention to detail, even in the tiniest of bits makes your diorama really interesting. It truly looks like a therapeutic exercise and is very rewarding to see one. Back in the day, shopping malls (abroad) used to have this miniature replica of the mall and neighboring buildings with scale cars all around and humans, trees etc. As a kid I used to look at them for hours ! Your post brought back those memories. This is one hobby I need to learn, though I am not very good with the electrical bit Your post also reminded me that I have a Ford GT somewhere. Fished it out. It is not a very detailed one or anything, but a Hot Wheels piece of the '17 GT that I picked up at a supermarket counter.

Attachment 2179614

Go for it. It's fun. The electricals are not very complicated and will be least of your worries. What this requires is precision cause you are playing around in millimetres. Even the way you cut defines the cleanliness of the final outcome. A wedged cut could lead to weak bonding zones. But after few cuts, you are all good to go.

I can totally relate to the nostalgia attached to these scaled models. I used to go lost in those miniature worlds. And here I am back to the square one. Aquarium and the well done miniature models can still keep me intrigued for hours.

Love the '17 GT. It's a timeless beauty. Thanks for sharing.

[evilmessiah]

Hey, thanks for this thread! I have been meaning to do this for ages- years, in fact! This idea was there in my head since 2016, but was never able to get around to doing this. I had actually planned everything- a floor plan, sketches, bought a pen knife, some materials and garage tools, but things never worked out.

Your thread has given me some much needed inspiration and a kick in the rear to get around to creating my garage diorama that can also serve as a dust proof storage case for my 1:18 models. If that works out well, I would have to figure out a diorama cum storage case for the rest of my 100+ 1:64 hotwheels collection as well.

On another note, you can explore customizing your scale models a bit more. Like for example, you can add carpets in the Ford GT like this t-bhpian abhijitrpatil did with his Panamera 1:18 model in this thread:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...hread-865.html (The Scale Model Thread)

[TheGearBox]

I just love these kind of projects! I used to create "dioramas" with my toy cars too when I was a kid, though nothing quite so detailed. But that was a long time ago and those ventures have been since been reduced to mere memories.
I think you might have just rekindled that lost spark.
Where did you source those miniature gas cylinders, tool drawers, etc?

[abhisheksircar]

This is really a pleasant surprise to see this right up on the home page. Woke up with GTOs message and read it twice to accept it. Never thought it to be right up there from 'Shifting Gears'. A small Raw video as a Thank You. Next one has to be on a video slider. The project keeps growing.

https://youtu.be/wYnCZsPpY3k

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

Your thread has given me some much needed inspiration and a kick in the rear to get around to creating my garage diorama

Mission accomplished. My reason for posting this, as I really knew that many are right there to build something like this and this should just get them going. Will look forward to the build.

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

On another note, you can explore customizing your scale models a bit more. Like for example, you can add carpets in the Ford GT like this t-bhpian abhijitrpatil did

Wow. This is super cool. Will try it out. Great stuff there.

Originally Posted by TheGearBox

I think you might have just rekindled that lost spark.
Where did you source those miniature gas cylinders, tool drawers, etc?

Really glad and will look forward to the build. Feel free to message me if you need any guidance, now that I learnt from making mistakes.

The tool kit was also from Scale Arts India. I have shared the link in the write up. Cool stuff they have. I have my eye on Stig now which is supposedly proudly made in India.

[rdas81]

This was my first attempt with a garage diorama. 1:24 scale.

[abhisheksircar]

Originally Posted by rdas81

This was my first attempt with a garage diorama. 1:24 scale.

This is cool stuff. I plan my next one for the Retros. Where do you buy your kits from ?

[abhisheksircar]

Few from my son's collection



Ferrari F50



Bentley Continental Convertible



Range Rover Sport and Jeep Rescue Concept

[Mr.Boss]

Wow, that's an amazing outcome
Looks realistic and flawless, kudos to your efforts.

I always wanted to make one and ended up making few cardboard garages just to keep my kid engaged on some boring weekends. Your post motivates to get my hands on something better. Thanks

[abhisheksircar]

We all know that Stig follows Team-Bhp pretty closely and when he saw this thread, he got really curious about the Ferrari FXX-K. He is quite intrigued by the beautiful lines of the Ferrari and has been staring at it for hours now.