Diorama - fascinating miniature world

Most of all, each diorama tells its own story. It is a snapshof of a scenery, worked out to the last detail, and sometimes this modelmaking happens in a format not bigger than a shoe box. However: The ensemble is greater than the sum of its parts. A diorama is an invitation to plunge into a charming world of its own.

As model railroads are my hobby, I build dioramas not only for contemplation. Some technical functions are a "Must Have" for me. I want to see my little locomotives moving! Inspired by the "Ruhrgebiet", which is a huge industrial region here in Germany, I created a little N scale model railroad diorama, which shows a blast furnace with iron and steel works.

Big industry on small 85 x 45 (cm)! As I did not like the original color of this model kit, I painted it first in a "rust-brown" color before assembling. The brick build parts were painted in a "stone grey". After that the building was finished with black water color (more water than color!), thus bringing patina on roof, walls and fittings - all that, what modelers call weathering.

Coming back to my industry diorama: the bird's-eye view. Raw materials and primary products are delivered on the upper level; wagons on the lower level will carry away the end product: raw crude iron.
Of course, this "trackplan" is not very elaborated - there is no "real" connection between the two levels. Traffic seems just to be a "forward-backward" with my model trains!

Working 24 hours day and night, right?
Some lamps between the rails make the scenery atmospheric, and a flickering light inside gives an impressive view of this blast furnace! And if you have a close look at the foto on the right you will even see some smoke.....

But generally, of course, dioramas are numerously: military dioramas, dioramas with ship models, dioramas with dolls and puppets, or model railroad dioramas. Especially military dioramas are very popular, often featuring a historic moment or battles with tanks or soldiers from WW II.

Another diorama, which I created in 1:160 scale: A ship along the quay. This little harbor scenery is typically for the river Rhine here in Germany. Crane and buildings are available as N scale supplies; the silo, however, is from the DIY superstore, section for electrical and sanitary installations - a great place for cheap silos! And the model ship? More about my ships, and more photos on my website (see the link in the "link"- section below).