Wanna know how I made this diorama? Hi there you scale model kit lovers and welcome
in my super tiny shed! I am going to show you how I built the diorama
for the Mini Cooper in 1/24 scale. This project cost me 300 hours to accomplish
and today I'm gonna show you all that in just over 20 minutes! If y'r new here, please subscribe and please
like the video if you like it.
A diorama should have a good plan and that's
why I drew it in scale. The inspiration for the dio comes from a road
in Birmingham. I sourced a lot of modelling ideas from Night
Shift, go check him out on YouTube. During the build this lovely robin jumped
around in my garden next to my shed and later on you'll see him featuring in this diorama. In scale of course! Prepping the plastic parts is always a bit
of the boring part of scale modelling, but I gave it all my loving and drilled holes
and made scratches and dents as this car will end up in a sorry state. For the dent I used an incense stick as it
gets really hot, and makes the plastic melt easily. The crusty layer which represents rust, is
made with micro balloons and wood glue. Spray painting time and boy did I spray paint! Layer after layer to get the proper results.
Chipping medium was the most uncomfortable
to spray, it looks more like hosing on dishwashing liquid. I should warn you for using Light Rust from
Vallejo, it give you synesthesia tendencies. Brushing off the top layer reveals the underlying
one which I protected with matt varnish. The roof is sprayed multiple times to get
proper coverage, same for the body that looks pretty in Vallejo's UK Azure. With all tools I could lay my hands on I made
scratches on the body after I wetted it with tap water.
The roof got the same treatment and my signature
and after that it was sealed with varnish. This scrap yard Mini gets a door in a different
colour and I chose a mixture of Emerald Green and Metal Medium, a tinge I really like. I made a design for a racey sticker to go
on this door, that looks the part to me. Painting the window trims is not for the faint
of heart.
For the chrome trims I mixed Vallejo Light
Grey and Model Air Chrome to give it a dulled appearance. Dark Grey Wash by Tamiya is the best choice
for panel lines in my opinion. Painting rust is fun to do. You start from the inside of the rust spot
going out and make the rust tones ever so much lighter. I just look at a lot of reference pictures
to get it right. Rustifying went on in the evening hours, also
on the roof. Here is the contrast even more pronounced
and with delicate dotting techniques and rust streaks, it gets more and more convincing.
This roofs looks to be on fire people! Did I say window trims are daunting? Well, painting those metal trims in the rubber
trims is SUPER daunting! MicroScale Kristal Klear is used to fix the
windows as it dries clear and doesn't fog. I made scratch build b-pillars for the interior
'cause this dio isn't only about the exterior. Most of the graffiti and tags are rubbish,
but I liked this one very much and wanted to recreate it on the Mini. I designed a mask line in Illustrator and
had my Silhouette cutting plotter cut it out on thin plastic. With some raised edges glued on the back it
creates overspray, which I wanted. Painting the shapes in the sprayed area is
scary, it's all about judging proportions, getting the shapes right. There was a nice tag too, probably from the
same artist, that I wanted to have on the bonnet. But the green turned out a little too light…
Sir Alec Issigonis, the designer of the Mini,
is a hero and I wanted to honour him with a tag I designed myself. So I made a rather swirly one. The other tag was repainted twice because
I didn't like the contrast of it. You could hardly see it and that's a shame
of all the hard work, so a darker green did the trick. These two colours can only refer to one country. In honour of my fellow Ukrainian modellers
I painted this tag on the Mini. Let's hope there will be peace soon. In this kit there is a complete engine and
you'll have to build it even if you don't want to show it, as I do. That's because the front suspension is an
integral part of the engine build and you need it for the front wheels. The underbody got the whole shebang of layers
too. First priming it, then spraying it with dark
rust, sealed it with matt varnish, followed by chipping medium.
After that you hose on 'turd brown' and when
that's dry you wet it with tap water and brush off the paint where you want the dark older
rust to peek through. I went even further by trying to use pigments
but that was no real success in my view. Enamel washes by Tamiya are a necessary feature
to add depth to parts. Anyway, no one but us is gonna see the underside
of the floor pan ever again.
The exhaust of the Cooper version of the Mini
is a cool looking pipe in the centre of the car. With micro balloons I gave it some rust texture
and rust paints and a dab of black oil paint to represent soot finished it off. The inside of the pan was made dirtier by
using acrylic washes from Vallejo. The original seats have piping… and I learned
the hard way how to make this. Turns out it's best to first glue it with
normal Tamiya glue (the white bottle) to the seat and after that you bend it and melt it
on with extra thin cement (the green bottle). The seats are two tone coloured. Three of them will be light blue to match
the body, but one will be red. This one will be out of the car and have a
prominent position on the dio.
The seat leg so to speak, was made of brass
rod. Tamiya dark grey wash gives the seats more
depth. The red seat got some highlight painted on
and dry brushed on. These simple tricks make objects just look
better. I told you the seat would be left outside
of the Mini? Well, it will look like it had a hard time
out there. Oil paints are excellent for this as you can
fiddle around with them for a long time as the dry slow. Did someone say the white stains are bird
poo? I wanted an object to go on the seat and designed
this Lucas battery just from it's advertisement from the fifties. Cleaning the 3D print takes some time but
it is so satisfying to make a small two part kit by yourself! I spray painted it and made the top element
look a very bleached out red.
The details of the print were highlighted
in order to have them stand out more. I made the decals myself too. After a dirtying up of the battery I had made
my first scratch build part of this diorama. Let some more follow! The original steering wheel in the kit could
use a detailing treatment. With extra thin cement I melted the burrs. All the work went into making the steering
wheel appear to be made from wood. The secret lies in the last stage of painting;
adding a coat of Tamiya err…X-27 Clear Orange. This ties the other brown colours together
and turns the steering wheel into a very shiny one.
I made a decal for the core of the wheel myself
and protected it for later weathering stages with a layer of clear varnish. Look what a few simple interventions can do. The stick shifter had a to massive shaft in
my opinion so I made a new skinnier one from brass rod. I couldn't reuse the knob so I made one myself
from Evergreen rod. A bit of sanding and chopping later it was
done. It had to be tested of course. Painting the H-shifting scheme was a mega
precision job but I like to do those things. Talking about precision painting, the dash
was in need of such a remedy too. Silver fairings all over the place, I admit
it takes a steady hand. The decals for the gauges were punched out
with a small hollow pipe. After those were stuck on as good as it gets…they
were put behind 'glass' with a thick layer of gloss clear.
The lower part of the dashboard was fixed
to the main component. Dash done! Other interior parts were processed with what
I call fake chipping. Painting damage chips by using white to represent
the primer and a dark brown dot to look like rust. A technique I learned from Night Shift. The interior of the car could use more objects,
so I made books. Not just any books, but 1/24 scale Autocourses,
the yearly annual of Formula 1. I do collect those in real life, this one
from 1978 is signed by world champion Mario Andretti. I also produced this canister. When you support me on Patreon, you can get
this design for free. I told you this diorama is more than only
about the exterior. I went all out on the interior which cost
me heaps of time. MIG's Oilbrushers are handy as you can use
the oild straight out of the bottle. There is no need to de-oil it on paper.
Putting oils on my tediously made dash was
a bit daunting but the result turned out fine. Pigments are harder to use I find, but you
can create actual mass, as in volume, like with these dirt piles. In the wheel wells I used this vomit coloured
paste that has a good texture but an awful tint. I will paint that later on.
For another project I made these carton boxes
and I wanted to use one in the interior. The inside of the Mini is starting to fill
up now. Don't you just love these bottles made by
Asuka? Once painted and decalled they add so much
joy to the model. I punched some American oak leaves from real
American oak leaves! How about that for being true to realism? Bringing together all the parts that cost
me so much time to make really is a pleasure. The wells got their promised coat of brown
and the precious steering wheel and books where layered in dust. You know now what's inside the box. Finally it was time for a happy marriage between
underbody and the upper body so to speak. Always a bit of an anxious moment; will it
fit? But it did and the engine was hidden forever
behind the bonnet.
The most shiny part of this little heap of
rust is the rearview mirror. I didn't glue the roof to the car. Because of the ridges it can be clicked on
so showing the inside of the Mini is always an option. For the rear window I held the Bumper Sticker
Bout, a price winning interactive competition in which you could win a place for the sticker
you wanted there.
It turned out to be a nice array of stickers
and of course a bleached out GB label was present. These are parts of my Tamiya Jaguar chrome
sprue which I used as an example of the Mini chrome parts. I already dechromed those earlier on, but
the process is easy and quick. First I sprayed the parts dark brown as this
is the base of the rust. I wanted to recreate that typical chrome rust
look, which is very spotty. I did this using very fine kitchen salt, sprinkled
on wet parts. when that was dry I sprayed them with Vallejo
Model Air Chrome. Then the salt was brushed and peeled off the
parts, leaving those dark brown spots behind.
With Model Air Light Rust, which is thin,
I hand painted the areas around the dark spots, giving it a realistic look. The emblem that goes on the hood didn't come
with decals, so I did some painting with chirugical preciseness on it. On with the lights that I painted in Tamiya
enamel paint instead of acrylic paint for the first time. Turned out fine. The trims were painted in a mix of Vallejo
Light Grey and Model Air Chrome. The eyes of the Mini got some lenses fixed
in them. Zaanse mayonnaise is a treat that goes with
French fries here in Holland, but the aluminium of the tube can be well used for model making. For a number plate for instance. The benefit of this material is that it can
be bend as you're about to witness in a mo.
Mounting time for all the different chrome
parts like the grill and head lights. Fixing the precious emblem required a super
steady hand. The number plate got a twist and turn as it
must have seen a lot of curbs and tow bars in its life. CA glue mates the parts to the body. Satoshi Araki invented this method of making
a flat tyre, which takes some practise, but looks quite persuasive. Please use flexible CA glue. The rim is aluminium in real life and on my
car it is wasted of course. So no metal paints were used here, just greys.
Aluminium oxide can be imitated splattering
on white surface primer as this has the best viscosity. With dark grey wash and some rust tones I
detailed the wheel further. Making the tyres dirty was done with Vallejo
pigments, mixed with airbrush thinner from the same brand. First bring in the pigments with a bit of
thinner. After that's dry, wipe some off with a cotton
bud drenched in that same thinner. I used different colours of oil paints to
weather the wheels. These air valves made by Decalcas were fixed
in place for even more realism. When all four were done, the Mini finally
found its feet! The chrome door handles got a rust treatment
too, but not with salt this time but using the fake chipping technique.
I painted the bumper stickers with a layer
of varnish to protect them from what is coming their way: a true weathering storm! With the whites I wanted to make the sides
a bit more bleached out. The roof is subject to dirt and algae residues,
just as the bonnet is too. For weathering the windows, I took this reference
photo. I wanted to recreate those characteristic
streaky algae patches. I tried this method on a leftover piece of
transparent sprue first and the Abteilung 502 Odourless Thinner doesn't fog the glass. Once it has dried it will look a lot like
this. The body of the Mini was dotted on with oils
and soaked in odourless thinner to spread it all out. Fuel streaks, this petrol is probably stolen
with these gas prices, are made with MIG enamel paint. The right hand side will be greener as it
will be close to vegetation in the diorama.
I like those black stippely mustiness streaks
on the car. The headlights and indicators are made less
shiny with white oil paint. Then I did the final oil weathering passes
with all the colours I used before. Even the wipers got some algae green on the
rubbers. I gave the edges a bit more faintness and
highlighted the hinges in one go. I like adding these furry patches on the car
very much. There's always a bit of moss growing in the
gutters of the roof, certainly when abandoned. The Mini also got a fair amount a mud splatter. Warning; always test this on your dummy model
before you do this on your project. It takes awhile to get the hang of splattering.
So there you go ladies and gents, the Mini
all worked up from this virginal white plastic to a rusty wreck in 12, I repeat, 12 layers. Let's make a nice environment for it! As a base for the diorama I use a polyurethane,
or PU, block of insulation material. This is best cut using a foam-cutter like
this one from Proxxon. Pieces that can't be cut with the foam-cutter
are sliced with a hobby knife. I wanted the sides of this block to be neat
and tidy so they don't distract from the dio and made them from Evergreen plastic. Mark made this beautiful oak wood base for
me on which the whole diorama will be mounted.
Knauf Renoband is excellent to make terrain
textures with. Sand and small stones were sprinkled on the
wet plaster of Paris and even footsteps were pressed in. I used one of the tyres to make track marks. This well was designed by me looking closely
at a Google Street View image. With a little squeaky sound…it was pressed
in the foam, after which I bituminised the road with Vallejo Black Lava. I also did this with the pavement. Black Lava gives a nice looking asphalt texture
and it is easy to use. I like road signs in a diorama as they add
to the realism of it. I made this dented one using Street View as
an inspiration once again. Aluminium tube will feature as poles for the
sign, the clamps are scratch build from Evergreen plastics. I test fitted it and concluded it was A-okay. A wall will be present too on the dio and
for making this I borrowed a large amount of Night Shift tips and tricks.
Even dental tools were used to make head joints. Also a lump of folded aluminium foil is handy
to batter the bricks and make this less smooth. With this self made tool you can make the
wall look more uneven and interesting. I made these wall tiles myself and glued them
on the PU which I sprayed Tamiya NATO Black. After that dried a meticulous task of hand
painting bricks was carried out. The joints between the tiles were filled with
putty and fine sand was pressed in to give it roughness. A Night Shift technique was used for filling
the joints of the wall. A mixture of plaster of Paris and fine sand
was rubbed in and fixed with VMS Ballast Freeze. Some algae and dirt streaks add to the faded
glory of this wall. Two different colours of lichen are dotted
on the wall tiles and some furry pads give it another notch of credibility. This ivy by Ammo which is lasered paper, is
awesome too. Together with a real twig it comes to life! Please enjoy! These grass sea balls are tipped by Night
Shift.
With these you can replicate fine twigs on
the ground. Another great asset he uses is Ballast Freeze
by VMS which fixes stuff easily with an e ye dropper bottle. A static grass applicator was bought on eBay. This tool makes grass static in order for
it to land vertical on a pre-wood glue-lubricated soil. Make sure to ground the mesh of the applicator
after use, its charge is hefty I can tell from experience! I made grass tufts myself too and planted
quite a bit of them on the scene. Hundreds of leaves were punched and glued
on the diorama. With brush hairs and Vallejo Plastic Putty
I made these grass spikes. You can also make some with saw dust for diversity. This set of dandelion leaves was designed
be me and etched in brass some years ago. A bit of folding later provides me with a
nice plant base. Aspergus from my moms garden is also a very
nice addition to the dio, but it's leaves or needles need to be fixed after they've
dried.
What not to like about this beautiful sea
weed by Joefix? With all these different plants and bits a
nice theatre comes to shape. To some this seems a mad undertaking, spraying
all of the diorama black. It is a technique made popular by Night Shift
and it gives you fake shadows. And also the possibility to build up the colours
yourself. First I spray paint the dry grass at the bottom
and after that I colour the soil.
Gradually you make the grass a bit lighter
green. Adding yellow or yellowish tones makes the
plants come alive. I hand painted the leaves to make them a bit
more prominent. I even went so far to paint the veins on the
leaves… I painted the asphalt light grey as it is
almost never black, but left the recessed areas dark grey. For painting the curbs I used a mixture of
light grey and a beige colour. The well was dry brushed in a lighter shade
to make the edges pop. Tamiya washes work fine to make shadow accents
around the pebbles. The road sign was stickered with home made
decals and I made a sticker of Birmingham's local football club on it.
A graffiti tag was designed by me and hand
painted on the sign. This was tough, as you don't get a second
change at positioning the tag in a proper composition. With a piece of household sponge I replicated
the black dotty patterns which is a product of trees and plants in real life. The robin. I promised you it would take the leading role
in this dio. Eventually I made it from Fimo clay on a print
brought to scale for the correct dimensions. Thin copper thread is used as a skeleton. Indeed, birdie needs a bake off to harden. Fabricating its feet was one of the fiddliest
and nerve wrecking jobs in this whole build. With Vallejo paints I coloured the robin and
even managed to get a glimmer on its eyes. Back to the dandelions.
Out of yellow felt I punched the flowers. These furry disks were glued on copper thread
stems. And then it was time to glue the Mini on the
base. This operation scared me, but wood glue got
my back. I made some nice garbage items and putting
in place all the pieces I worked on for so long, really pleased me. The robin was fixed to the chair with flexible
super glue that I used for sticking it to the dio too. The name plate leaves no clue on who is the
king of the diorama. Some last leaves were put in place and then
finally, after more than 300 hours, the whole diorama was finished.
It took me a total of 500 hours including
filming and editing in which I shot more than 32 hours of footage. My friend Frank and I made this nice short
film in which the diorama comes to life. Please know that this diorama is, at the time
of speaking, for sale. There is a link in the description below to
get in contact. If you've liked this video, please consider
to subscribe yourself to the channel and hit that like thumb thing if you liked it.
And don't forget, don't be sobby, build a
car model kit and watch Hobby Robby!.
