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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!

Hello everyone, now that my Perils of the Underworld diorama is built, I'll post here the detailed steps of my paintings sessions. The Work in progress of the display base can be found HERE. Let’s start the painting section with a hack to save time. When I paint a large surface, typically a terrain piece, I apply paint straight on the surface and spread it with a large brush. It’s way faster, since I don’t have to go back to the palette each time to reload the brush bristles. Here I’m using a #8 flat brush. As a base coat for the display I used 09660 powderburn brown. I filled the gaps and hard to reach areas with a #1 brush. At this step, I’m using old brushes as it doesn’t matter if the bristles are sharp or not. I then applied a dry brush of 09028 muddy brown all over the base. I dry brushed of 09028 muddy brown on the upper part of the 03602 stone lurker and started painting the bat as well. The bat is from the 02018, Familiar Pack I. I used the same colors on the bat's perch that those I used on the display base. I painted the bat body in 29843 solid black. Next, I started layering the bat wings with military grey (this out of production color can be substituted by 09438 tempest grey). Here’s the picture I referred to for the bat wing colors. For the bat fur, I used 09059 aged bone and the fingers were painted with a mix of 29839 maroon red and 09059 aged bone. Even if it will be impossible to see the back side of the bat when it would be attached to the display base, I painted it anyway. 17mm wingspan ready to take off. I applied a 29822 suntan flesh highlight on the stalactite, then a mix of 29822 suntan flesh and 09059 aged bone for the final highlights. Here’s the back side completed with a final 29822 suntan flesh highlight. Here you go, that’s it for today. Spread your wings and go explore the Underworld.

Good day everyone, I will share here my progression on a project I wish to do for a long time. I already know all the parts I'll be using for this diorama. Starting with the carefree 03082 Ingrid sculpted by Derek Schubert (I'm converting her as a svirfneblin prospector), accompanied by her faithful familiar the 14453 hunting cat sculpted by Sandra Garrity. They are taken as prey by a 03602 stone lurker sculpted by Kevin Williams. I will also add a 02018 bat from the familiar pack 1 hanging somewhere on the rock wall. I already worked on Ingrid. I removed the base and give her a pickaxe. I made her tool with a paperclip and a piece of scrap metal. This all-project idea started with the gemstone she’s holding in her left hand.

Yes! We can do it again! Let's make a tank! Let's make a beautiful tank! Once again, it's a diorama project based on a game scene, once again, it's Combat Mission. In this particular diorama, the commander of a Panzer III M is a reallylucky person. In a shootout during the Let's Play of German wargaming channel "TaktikfuchsTV", his Panzer III got hit around 20-25 times, prompting everyone to believe that this particular tank was dead. And I mean ... DEAD! But to everyone's surprise, the crew reentered the vehicle and drove away - going like: Here's the scene: Kauder reenters his tank (In German) So I got me a commanders figure and a tank ... First off, some pictures to see what this project will look like: So I got me a Panzer III from Tamiya and started to do some minor conversions ... and over the course of one afternoon, this vehicle was finished. I am really proud of those selfmade smoke launchers. The vehicle will be displayed with open hatches. That's a challenge due to the really lame interior, but that's not a problem. I'll use colors to make the less detailed parts dark and the detailed parts white - I hope that will work! Tomorrow I'll go over the armor and do the shell damages. The only thing I am not certain about is the frontal armor provided by the spare tracks. I don't know how those look when they are hit. They are pretty massive and I simply cannot imagine them looking the same way as a normal armor plate when hit. I've got to dig deeper into it.

I am not good at telling stories on paper. my mind races far ahead of where the story wants to go and I never get it right so I will let the diorama tell itself. this is an original copy of the Clutch of Fear produced by Ral Partha in the early 1990s. The piece is high lead content. so soft infact that without some strategic pinning the joints fail (or so I have been told). The basic story is that 2 egg thieves come to relieve a mother dragon of one of her eggs and she comes back early catching them just as they are leaving. The setting on the box seems to be some type of sulfur spring or volcanic hot spring and I get the impression of stillness of morning broken only by the shriek of an enraged mother. I went pretty classic on this one, going with the red dragon and robin blue eggs like the box art but decided that the spines and chest plates should be more contrast than the slightly darker red of the box. I took the original base pieces included in the box and expanded them to a small diorama of a hotspring using Magic water, a transparent epoxy to create the water around the spring. The resin developed a little bit of a lip at the edge but I wasn't willing to cut it down and risk the clarity of the water by trying to sand and polish the resin. (its more rubbery that solid and difficult to polish -- I tried on two sample pieces and it didn't work out well.) anyway the WIP is here if your interested: https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/94482-a-new-year-a-new-old-dragon/ and here are the images of the final project. Hope everyone has as much fun looking as I did creating this. Feel free to comment and question away as always. The project was a lot of fun and the they got the expression of the egg thief who is looking back to see an enraged mother dragon bearing down on him just about right! One shot from the human's perspective to give an idea of the trouble they are in.... And one from a mothers perspective as she hones in on the ones who are trying to steal her precious eggs!