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Howdy, all you fine folks! 🤠🐍 I'd like to show you something new that I've worked on in the last days, a Wild West Scene🌵🤩 A broken stagecoach, battered and beaten from years of hard ridin' and hold-ups, scuttlin' scorpions, colorful cacti, a weathered city sign with the watchful vulture, hitchin' post, rusty water pump and a black widow 🏜️🕷️ Models are printed on a Photon Mono SE using M70 resin from resione and painted with Greenstuff World Colors🎨 What are your thoughts on the Wild West theme? Is it a genre that interests you, and if so, why? What are your thoughts about this snake-peak & What catches your eye the most? Have you ever created a similar diorama or scene before? If you could add one unique element to my Wild West scene, what would it be? Do you have any recommendations for resources like books, websites, or tutorials that could help me improve my diorama-building skills? Feel free to share your thoughts, ask questions, ideas!!!🗣️💬🤝 The final result is still on its way 🤠 Yeehaw! 🌵🐎🌅

Hey all! Here's a sneak peek at my 2023 Ordnance entry for ReaperCon's MSP contest. Cart and Merchant were sculpted by Vae Victis, plants were 3D printed from Epic Basing. All Reaper paints used. This was my first real foray into freehand work- which I tend to avoid because my hands are so shaky. Fingers crossed it pays off at the con.

I found myself rather fond of this sculpt when I found out about it, but I wanted to go with basing that was different than what seems to be the usual, or hinted at in her renders. I'm still tempted to do a second rendition of her later on, and I even have an idea for such, but we shall see what comes of it, since I only have so much room to display things. Anyways! After a bunch of thinking, and trying out a few different scenes and angles, I've narrowed things down a fair bit to hopefully tell a good story of things - one of Oleana stepping into an ancient, sacred grove, with Japanese influences. Many things were tried, but some things have been removed or narrowed down in the process to try and keep things less cluttered. Originally I wanted two Inari statues, as such is tradition, however I didn't want to compromise on the water feature, as well as the whole... Oops, it really does conflict with her spear issue. But yes, the water feature (aka sacred grove) is one that I wanted this to be centered around, and preferably with the bonus of the scene being visible AND viable from two different angles. So here we are, at its fourth? incarnation, the second of which has had Play-Doh used to build and shape a temporary base to verify the flow and design of things... Because it's a lot easier to modify this way, and there's very little pressure, so one can experiment a fair bit. So here's where we are now, with the general basics temporarily laid out with Play-Doh. Hoping to actually get started with the air dry clay in the next few days.

Next Session PCs are headed out into the islands to hunt a dragon. They start on a sailing boat, have the chance to capture a larger pirate ship, (they may decided to damage and outrun it ) and then switch to a small fishing boat for the final approach. they are sailing around a slightly colder Mediterranean sea. Also they are building a spelljammer helm and can either take a keel boat (already arranged for) or the captured pirate ship on wildspace/ moon attack adventure. So clearly I needed to build a boat. I built the base hull 20x60 - sailing ships are 20x100 with forecastle? and/or sterncastle, and cargo hold. keel boats ate 20x60 with a single deck. So terrific this one can be a small sailing ship, and then be used for both the fishing keel boat, and the river boat. as a sailing ship it has a cargo/hold sleeping area , but I don't anticipate needing it in battle, so I didn't create one. If I build a second ship, I should make the hull in 2 pieces so I can take it to conventions for my Spelljammer One shot (already submitted to reapercon) the party are called the colors of midnight and includes the goblin, drow and human holding a spear from the last image. I will probably add more boxes and barrels as set dressing.

Started a diorama for ReaperCon. I've got quite a bit to touch up but wanted to post progress here!

First, my apologies - I just cannot get a good picture these days! I would welcome tips but to be fair (#letterkenny) I'm not sure how much time I want to sink into photography what with my ten thousand other hobbies (mini painting chief among them, so...). This is my adventuring party, the Unicorn Chasers. We have been playing together for just over two years in this campaign running through all the adventures in "Tales from the Yawning Portal." We all play online because we're scattered across the country. That means, in case you're wondering, these minis are 100% unnecessary...but this group has come to mean so much to me during quarantine and COVID and everything else that I've probably become a little obsessed. Regardless, I took the best pictures I could and the display diorama I built for them. 99% reaper paints, but so many different colors I have no idea what's what. I can tell you there are a variety of flesh triads, most if not all weapons are the "natural steel triad" and any golds are the gold toned metal triad. Minis are: 02621 Laurana, Sorceress (Willow, Human Sorceress) 02667 Halfling Wizard (Bilzivur, the Gnome) 03010 Silas, Male Cleric (Wilster, the Cleric) - Plus 77730 Bones Mega Weapon Pack for shield 03647 Drago Voss, Assassin (Erikk, the Rogue) - Plus 77730 Bones Mega Weapon Pack for Bow 03836 Jakob Janssen, Monk (Monad, the Monk) 14005 Lord Ironraven (Joarin, the Paladin) 60174 Jirelle, Iconic Swashbuckler (Miriana Cooperson, the Bard [My character]) - Plus 03032 Musical Instruments (12) - Plus a shield from what I *thought* was Stern Kestrelman but apparently is not...it's a cleric with a big two-handed sword and he looks like he can't barely lift it. 02812 Kallista, Female Mercenary (Hilda, the Fighter) - Plus 77730 Bones Mega Weapon Pack for shield Base is a 5x7 trophy base found on Ebay, plus pink insulation foam and 1/4" foamcore middles for the dungeon floor. Textured with a knife, a pencil, a ball of tinfoil, and some basing sand. Background minis: a GW skeleton to represent an old dungeon casualty (same source for the filthy penant) and our old friend 77730 for the skull & crown shield on the wall. All told a couple weeks of work. Hard to say because it's not like this is a job where I'm punching a clock. Anyhow, hope you all like this! The usual caveat and asterisk chain of "pictures don't do it justice" should be implied. Please take my bad photographing of these lovely minis with a big grain of salt. I'll try to do better pics in the future if I luck into some actual photography skill!

Don't even think of getting inside with your dirty boots on. A minute later; you could have at least left your hoe outside. Someone’s gonna sleep in the dog's house tonight...

I haven't been at the painting desk very much lately. This was largely due to winter preparations that I'd gotten behind on. At the end of a long the day it was less taxing to simply watch a movie or even read a bit instead. Add to that a bit of project fatigue and what should have been a short break turned into a long one. Tonight however I finally got back to the desk by starting a new project. Quite awhile ago I came up with a basic idea for a small diorama that I'd give to my wife this year. This isn't meant to be the main gift by any means (I'll still find something more traditional as well) but I thought this would be right up her alley. Simply put this will be a D&D esque recreation of my proposal. Thanks in part to over buying and spotting a certain miniature during the last Box of Goodwill I even had the perfect miniatures. I spent tonight building up the diorama's base and test fitting models. The actual building seemed to go by quite quickly, I certainly didn't expect to be this far already. Though everything still needs painted seeing it like this only reaffirms my belief that the wife will love it. Something simple to put on a shelf or on her work desk to remind her of our years and adventures together, afterall our weekly D&D game was a big part of our early relationship.

This is the third in a series of four posts each concentrating on a different entry category. You can find information about the scoring system itself in the Painter Division post. From here forward I will just concentrate on how the component guidelines apply to the other three divisions Diorama Division The Diorama Division does not exist in the MMSI structure. At MMSI a diorama goes into the Open Division as it encompasses the same set of skills. I, however, felt the Open Division ignored or down played the story and what is a diorama without a story? This is the division that lets you show off the same skills that the Open Division does and wrap it around a story. Again if you have just a single entry then the judges can just go ahead and score your entry, no discussion is necessary. If you have multiple entries, then there will be a discussion between the judges on which entry they want to score. That conversation is typically the only conversation although these discussions tend to be longer than they might be in the Painter Division. However, when selecting the scoring entry the conversation is still based on “I can score this one higher than the others” or words to that affect, till they come to a decision just as it would be for the Painter Division. Let’s take a quick look at the scoring guidelines the judges use (which is published as part of the MSP Open rules. One cautionary note’ these particular scoring guidelines may change slightly): Difficulty: 15% Creativity: 15% Workmanship: 25% Painting Skill: 30% Presentation: 15% What does this mean for the Diorama Division? In this division we are really want to see all your hobby skills as well as your story telling ability. While the components remain the same the emphasis has obviously changed a great deal. Difficulty: This is a tough one for the Diorama category, since most dioramas are difficult to begin with. We reduced the emphasis here because we feel that you should not take a hit for a good story that is comparatively simple to tell. Creativity: Creativity steps up a bit here. While painting is still factor this is the portion that shows us the story you are telling. Now painting is combined with your ability to convert, sculpt and tell a story to your audience. The entrant’s imagination comes into play here, you are looking to tell a story to your viewers. You are striving for the audience to understand your story without commentary from you. It can be subtle or in your face but if you have to explain it then you have not succeeded. Workmanship: This remains a pretty straightforward component but in the Diorama Division there is a higher emphasis on it. It reflects how well constructed the entire piece is. Any type of non-painting effort is represented here. This is includes your ability to do conversions and/or scratch sculpt or at least be able to blend your miniatures in with the scene you have constructed. A missed mold line, poor assembly or a poorly executed conversion could easily drop you a while numeric value in the scoring. Painting Skill: Everything that was said about painting still applies in the Diorama Division but there is less emphasis. At this point workmanship and creativity components exceed the painting component. While we don’t expect your abilities to be exactly equal in those areas you cannot count on your ability to paint alone to carry you over the top. Presentation: There is more emphasis on the is component as well. You are building the entire entry, essentially from scratch, and the presentation of everything you do affects the story. From the miniatures to the setting, this is where it all comes together. How you present it can be the difference between gold and silver.

Mine diorama I made based off of the adventure "A deep and creeping darkness" that is in the "Candlekeep Mysteries" anthology book for D&D 5e. I'm really happy how this turned out. Included are: Human Fighter Cassiatta - sku 77204 from bones 1 Dwarf fighter Fulumbar - sku 77011 from Bones 1 Sorcerer Magus Battleguard - sku ? from bones 3? - simple head swap from a human monk Meenlock's 3d printed Comments welcomed Thanks.

First diorama I've done since I've been I was ill this winter. Although I have been doing a lot of reminiscing and wishing, which is what this piece is about. I have at least one of all the Burrows & Badgers range from Oathsworn and one of the parts I like is thst ao many or their miniatures can be used for non-dnd or domestic scenes. I also finally found a use for the stable piece from the Reaper nativity scene. I built an actual stable for that sp I had thst bit left over and it worked pretty well here. I could explain it but I'm hoping the piece speaks for itself. Hope you.all enjoy I find tje affect the best when staring through the portal...

I started this little side project in my Children of the Night WIP. Models are from Freebooter Miniatures ( Werne Klocke) the Crypt is from Minimonsters, Gravestone is from Greenstuffworld, the stairs are made of foam. WIP: https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/79298-children-of-the-night-by-glitterwolf/ ********************* Ahhh Love... When you find the right person it's forever. And by that I mean FOREVER!!!! Here's Mr. Mort, He's found his eternal love, and every year on the day they met he brings her a rose and ask her to be his girl once again. Her beautiful blond hair, her lovely smile, how could he resist? And every year, she plays along, holding him off for a short while and then agrees to be his girl, forever and ever. *********************

I made this last year for a challenge. It's taken from the scene in John Carpenter's The Thing where the Norwegian husky reveals its real self. I made the dog-thing from greenstuff, a husky head and plastic rod, and the tentacles wrapped around the other doggo are dental floss painted Dead Flesh.

(Now a 2022 WIP) Yes, a 2020 ReaperCon WIP! And a massive undertaking at that. I'm trying very hard not to nerd out and put this whole project into, er, Project. There's just so many pieces to keep track of, that maybe I'll just use this first post to keep track of things. Some background stuff, starting with a quote from the "Paint a giant robot! Group WIP" where I wrote some of what's planned: You can read the rest of that post here: Paint a giant robot post and a second one to see where I'm going with this: PLA print post in same topic Biggest takeaway is that, while useful, my PLA printer can only do so much. I have a resin printer backed on Kickstarter, but considering it's now 3 years late, I don't think I should hold my breath on it ever showing up. Especially when I can get a new Elegoo Mars resin printer with more capability for relatively cheap (<$300). The PLA machine was bought with both hobby and household goals in mind, and it's served well. But the resolution just ain't there! More on that down the posts. I also had the chance to gain some experience on paper plants at ReaperCon (Main post for that in the Terrain section post here: Vellum Paper Plants - Alien Jungle (WIP) Basically, I have the scrap booking machine to make my own alien plants: Which now leads me to this WIP. This is going to tie all those pieces together. The robot WIP will still be to get a good camo scheme, but that print job is not going to be used for the final diorama. Instead, that will be the resin printer's job. So, let's break down the WIP work that I can see so far, and will be edited later to add things and mark completions. Tasks to be completed: Figures Needed Wight (being pulled down backwards, caught by hidden lines) Gremlin Unit 01 (stole a supply crate and ran; actually just bait to get the larger CAV to follow) Gremlin Units 02 and 03 (trip line pair, successfully snagging Wight across the chest) Gremlin Units 04 and 05 (trip line pair, successful across another part of the chest) 2/27/22: Too busy; cut Gremlin Unit 06 (burner unit, cut Wight's left gun in two) Gremlin Units 07 and 08 (trap door unit, hiding entrance to jungle path with camo doors strapped to them) Gremlin Units 09 and 10 (trip line pair, successful across right thigh) 2/27/22: Too busy; cut Gremlin Units 11 and 12 (trip line pair, broken cable across chest, possibly falling over from sudden jolt) 2/27/22: Too busy; cut Gremlin Unit 13 (ECM unit, some large radar dish looking thing) EDIT: Maybe use older model (2018 or 19 ReaperCon entry) Gremlin Units 14, 15 and 16 (cargo units, loaded up with stolen supplies and headed out) 2/27/22: Too busy; cut Gremlin Units 17, 18, 19, and 20 (gun units) 2/27/22: Too busy; cut Gremlin Units 21, 22, and 23 (missile units) 2/27/22: Too busy; cut Gremlin Unit 24 (large gun unit) 2/27/22: Too busy; cut Gremlin Unit 25 and 26 (junked units; scavenged for parts?) 2/27/22: Not going to be a permanent camp, so no junkyard Gremlin Unit 27 (2nd style missile unit) 2/27/22: Too busy; cut Gremlin Unit 28 (personnel carrier unit) 2/27/22: Too busy; cut Wight Conversion Right Leg: cut from pelvis; reposition Feet: cut off both feet and swap positions since the tread is only on one foot Base: cut away from right foot, possibly keeping full base around left foot Left arm (maybe): cut gun into two pieces, having one falling to the ground after being cut by a heat lance/chainsaw rope Details to be included Camo doors at front leaving marks on the dirt path, but hiding the ambush from the main trail Pieces of old broken larger CAV units around 2/27/22: No longer a permanent encampment Wight gun cut in two, maybe showing inner details. May have to 3D print an add-on piece Dust being kicked up by the stolen crate (going to try using dyed cotton) IN WORK One cable snapping dynamically, with several bends and twists (superglue on thread?) Multiple vehicle tracks around camp Campfire and tents for people A latrine Other camp details (laundry, chairs, sports equipment, bored carvings, etc) Jungle Plants (V=Vellum cuts, B=bought, S=Sculpted, F=Found, P=Printed) Large lotus flower like plants, but dry land and maybe odd colors with a large conifer cone growing from the middle (V) Jester hat plant (balls on stems around a central point) (V) COMPLETED Spiky yucca like plant (V) Jagged leaf plant (V) Tentacle plant (V) Tripod trees (three spoke trunks) (V) Large palm fronds (S) Coral like trees (P) Horn tree (lots of horn shaped leaves from a central trunk) (P, V) Ball vine (like ivy but with odd leaf shapes) (V) Cabbage-like jungle plants with large wrinkled leaves (V) Fuzzy vines (thin wire coated with static grass) (S) Anything I can buy from N/HO scale train setups and painted alien-ish (B) Reaper figures that can be clipped and painted to be plants (B) Odd trees with strange leaf shapes (onion shaped) (V) IN WORK Random grass-like jungle plants (V) IN WORK Stem ends from mandarin oranges (seriously, pull one off and look at it, stem towards the ground) (F) Anything and everything else (VBSFP) Base mounting system Design and print modular tiles with bristles on top (basically, Bristle Block toys) Allows mounting of all the above jungle plants Fill in around plants with thinned plaster via a syringe to create the ground surfaces

I decided because I have a bunch of grass boards, that I should do some backdrops for nice dioramas and maybe just regular photos. So I primed (mostly matte medium which I have liters of and a little primer and a tiny bit of craft paint for volume) some of my many cereal boxes. Should I do anything more than sky and land/horizon? Tree silhouettes maybe? Got any good examples

Finally the spelunking diorama is finished (WIP thread). I am quite happy with the OSL, even though it was a struggle at times and obviously there is always room for improvement. The miniatures are two converted Bones Miniatures using Statuesque Miniatures heads and weapon swaps from the bitz box. The top level miniature was converted from 77049 Arthrand Nightblade, Elf Ranger and the character in the cave from 77387 Lanell, Female Rogue. The base is entirely scratch built, only the fern is an awesome photo etch kit by Chichkovshop and the foliage by MiniNatur. The initial lighting sketch was applied by airbrush, using violet, orange and turquoise. I then went back in by brush and added more contrast with yellows, greens and blues. I don't think anyone tried to depict fireflies so far, at least to my knowledge. They are made of paper and Greenstuff. So, how do you like my second OSL attempt? What could I improve with the next one, which parts do you like best?

Some may have seen it in the Facebook Group already, but I am working currently on a spelunking diorama that is a study in OSL. My first serious attempt at OSL it turned out to be a daunting and mindbending affair. I established the base colours and lighting via airbrush and then went back in with brush. Still a few things to fix, but it is getting there.

part one was opened in mid December, part 2 on Christmas morning. I’ll build into a full diorama in January Which I will then hide until next year

Here is the work in progress for the Spring Exchange 2018 I did for @Leopardpixie And here is the Show off completed version of it. http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/81910-last-stand-spring-exchange-2018-picture-heavy/

It feels like an age since I last posted a terrain build, my last build journal (still unfinished) was actually in October of last year, so it has been a while! Anyhow, my circumstances have changed and I have found myself with more free time to enjoy my hobby, and so this week I was able to sit down and start a new build, another photo backdrop, this time a cemetery (sorry no build journal this time, I just wanted to enjoy the project). This one had been on my to do list for ever, the gravestones, coffin and the wall are all Reaper accessories. I had a lot of fun with this one. On another positive note, I've now got some time to go back and revisit my 'Post Apocalyptic Suburbia' build journal. I'm sure many people don't even remember it, but leaving it unfinished has really been bugging me, so hopefully that one will have a much overdue update by the weekend!

For my online business, we cut lots of wood and leave lots of pieces in the scrap bin. Well, we just processed a beautiful seasoned branch of oak and cut it every which way right up to the very last piece, the spot where it was cut from the body of the tree. For some reason I spent a few minutes looking at the piece and decided to bring it with me to clean up. As you can see in the pics it cleaned up but I wasn't sure what to do with it. So, I had just posted an ash burl to my website and suggested in the description making it into a treasure horde for your dragon. And I realized what this piece was... a broken column sitting amongst the dwarven horde lost to a dragon. As you can see below, I painted the middle to look like solid rock. I left it slightly exaggerated so the paint could be seen under the gold and artifacts I was planning to place on it. Next step, add the booty to the piece. Which is going to require making some treasure bits, golden and silvery pieces with a smattering of platinum. The last question is, being a dwarven treasure, would you use coins, bullion nuggets, or both for the piled mass?

So I really had to share this because I'm super proud of it and had to show it off

Dan's Build Journal #1 Bag End Completed Project Photos: My Other Build Journals: Greetings all! I recently undertook the task of creating several display pieces to serve as scenic backdrops when photographing my miniatures, however being the procrastinator that I am, I have instead found myself with an ever growing pile of unfinished projects. In an effort to break this cycle I am no longer allowing myself to start new projects until my current one is complete. I figure a progress journal would be a great way to hold myself accountable, and hopefully by sharing my build process even inspire others into giving diorama building a try. Anyway, without further ado here is my current work in progress, a good old fashioned hobbit hole, my interpretation of Bag End. I managed to pick up a cheap and incomplete resin kit (front wall and chimney) on Ebay a while back. I painted it about a month ago, and it has sat on my desk gathering dust ever since. Today I finally started to put in some real work on the build. 29/05/20 - Laying the foundation. The first job was to lay the foundations of the build. I hot glued thick polystyrene sheets to an old photo frame and then cut them to shape using a hot wire cutter. The challenging part was then getting the front wall to fit convincingly into the hill, being an incomplete kit, the front wall was completely rectangular and just didn't look right no matter how I positioned it. To fix this, I measured out and then cut some thick card stock in to triangular sections, and then cut some thinner strips to match the wooden beams on the front of the house. I then glued these to the house so that the walls now followed the contours of the hill more organically. I also made some curtains using some old fabric (The original kit has holes for windows and I needed to hide the polystyrene behind them). Next I mixed up some Sculptamold and started to cover the polystyrene and base of the picture frame before adding some rocks that I had cast previously with Plaster of Paris (They are probably hard to make out in the photo, as they blend in with the white sculptamold, but once painted they should stand out nicely). With that done I decided to call it a day, and give the sculptamold the night to fully dry before adding any paint. And that is pretty much how I spent my Friday afternoon. Apologies for the poor picture quality, I took the photo during the evening in poor lighting with my ancient phone camera. I'll get some better pictures up once I have something more substantial to share.

Hello Reaper friends! You might remember I did a whole tribe of Hill Giants on a display board, with hex bases? This is my follow up to that, this time: Stone Giants. Errrm, it all got a bit out of hand, and I'd LOVE some input from you all, please This is where I'm at after a week and I'm a bit stuck tbh. I think I need to decide more about what the "finish" will look like before I go a lot further. Once I cover that foam with more than paint it's going to be harder to make changes. I'm thinking of sort of "cladding" it in pieces of slate, with sculpted bits / groundwork in the gaps? I'd also love to hear suggestions for other miniatures and features to add to the scene to break up those big open rocky spaces. Current extra bits and bobs are just there for a sense of scale and how extra minis might "interrupt" or "enhance" the scene. Some next steps though: - cork around the hexes on the platforms for the bases to fit into - some sort of "door frame" - "box in" the sides (which are cut out of a continuing mountainside, in my head at least) Please, rain your ideas and encouragements upon me!