Jasper vs. the 2020 Diorama

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Hey look, yet another Jasper topic.....

 

But this one is different (I hope).  I actually have a time frame in mind, to get this finished before the end of 2020, and submitted for the annual diorama contest.

 

I love dioramas, and I've been pretty happy with the few I've made. BUT I always put off getting started and then end up rushing over Christmas to get everything done.

So this year I'm starting in January (if just barely) so that I will hopefully get some stuff done before December.

 

I've had the idea for this diorama since the very first moment I saw my first "sneak preview" of Khanjira (that would have been approximately Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 7:57 PM ADT, according to when I got the email from Kickstarter).

My first though was something like "What a beast! Imagine if he was fighting something from a smaller scale, like CAV...."

So that has been bouncing around in my head ever since.  

Then I was messaging with @Pochi a few weeks ago about the contests and got talking about dioramas, and I mentioned this idea, and she said I HAD to do it.....so here we are. 

 

Basic concept is the classic Kaiju attacking a future city harbour. CAVs (any or all of tanks, vehicles, mechs, infantry, maybe even aircraft) defending. (I briefly considered going even smaller scale as I have quite a bit of 6mm stuff too, but CAVs are easier to work with,  I have about a billion of them, and they are awesome).

 

Today was a beginning.  I grabbed some stuff and laid it out just to get an idea of a size I'm going to want.

Obviously I just grabbed what was handy to get some scale. Khanjira is represented by my 7 days Khanjira (handy, that ). I plan to try to get him a little more upright, since he won't be on his base and at least his front foot will be "under water". With his pose (which I don't think I have the skill or know how to adjust too much) I'm thinking maybe an elevated highway that he has just crushed to be what his right leg is on.  That or a boat of some sort....we'll see.

The box is just a reference for the land, glasses are just some buildings.  I'm picturing something similar to the Halifax waterfront with boardwalks or something and docks/jetties (the grey upside down drawer represents) and then big buildings. Army will be in place along the waterfront, so some barricades and stuff. Possibly a trench of energy blasted ruin from the "breath weapon" if I think I can pull that off.  Again, we'll see.

So just from the mock up, this is going to be fairly massive...like approaching 2 foot kind of dimensions 

Not something I would do if I was following advice on building award winning dioramas, but then that's not what I'm focusing on.  I just want to make the image in my mind a reality, and I'm using the contest deadline to hopefully focus me.

I'm also going to have to learn to do a bunch of new stuff for this, which should be fun!

 

Step one will be to dig out my other Khanjira and start cleaning up up.  And decide on what I'm going to use for a base for this thing.....

 

[Glitterwolf]

Awesome!

And I stronlgy suggest a flyer or two, maybe even circling around the beast's head ( clear plastic flightpole, or somehow semi-attached to a horn??)

Crushed building or vehicle?

Footprints in the concrete.

You know the drill.

[Jasper_the_2nd]

So having slept on the idea now, my first issue will be coming up with somewhere for this thing to sit for the next 11 months while I work in it. I expect a smallish folding table will work, but if I need something more stable I can dig out an extra adjustable work bench type thing I have somewhere in the garage. 

But my paint room is not ready for any sort of additional table, regardless of size, so I need to clean up that pile of boxes that I've been ignoring since we moved.  As my unpainted Khanjira is on a shelf behind that pile this will also allow me to get him out and start cleanup and prep.

I've also been pondering what to mount this on.  I expect I'll go with plywood or mdf, as I want it rigid, since with water and the like having the base flexing would be bad.  But all of my power tools are stacked in the garage from the move, and won't be getting unpacked and organized until at least April when my car comes out of winter storage.  So in the meantime I think I'll dig out one of my extra crappy G&G battleboards (the "paint job" was so bad on the cobblestone set that they sent an entire 2nd set, which wasn't much better) and use that for planning since they are 2' x 2'. They have too much flex to use as a base for gluing too though.

[Standifer]

I look forward to seeing this diorama being built! Giant monster, big robots, it will be really cool to see!

HHHHmmmmmm.......... too bad there isn’t a battle mech around the same size as the Khanjira........

[Jasper_the_2nd]

28 minutes ago, Standifer said:

I look forward to seeing this diorama being built! Giant monster, big robots, it will be really cool to see!

HHHHmmmmmm.......... too bad there isn’t a battle mech around the same size as the Khanjira........

Oh but there are, especially if I go to 28mm scale.  I have the Dictator B from Talon. And a bunch of various sizes including the Tiger Mecha from West Wind which might be bigger than Khanjira, if I wanted a more WW2 feel. Not sure what size that Gundam I picked up will be when assembled....
Now a 10mm scale mech of that size would be ...something....

 

But for this particular case I want everything else small to make Khanjira seem even bigger. More Godzilla attacking Tokyo than Gipsy Danger battling a Kaiju

[Pochi]

Yes!! It's going to be so good!I can't wait to see what you come up with!

[Standifer]

On 1/31/2020 at 1:02 PM, Jasper_the_2nd said:

Now a 10mm scale mech of that size would be ...something....

 

That is more along the lines of what I was thinking. But it is your diorama!

Edited February 3, 2020 by Standifer

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Well, so much for getting started early in the year.....

With everything else going on this year, I took a lot longer to get anywhere than expected.

But now I have a space, and have started planning...

 

I grabbed a piece of plywood left over from building so shelves.  I figured it was way too big, but I could use it for planning and go from there.

But now that I'm setting stuff out....

 

I could probably make it not quite as deep (which would be good as that is 2 feet currently) but still need room between the jets and the big guy.  There will be missiles and exhaust trails and the like.

The blue foam would be the coast line with him still in water.  Unless him being at the shoreline would be better....hmmmm.

CAVs and humans are just there for scale so far.  Buildings are just ones I had printed already, there are lots of options. Building would be on foam as well, just the other pieces are big to bring in until I decide on a size a bit.

Shoreline would probably be a boardwalk with a road behind it (to get some space for tanks and robots) with a road going inland.

There would be one blasted path leading inland already (can't attack a city without a breath weapon). The good thing about 3D printed building is you don't feel so bad about blasting a hole on one or two.....

With him in the water I'd likely need to cut his feet down a bit (other than building up waves I don't want to add depth to the water too much. Blue case is there just to prop him up.

 

Thoughts and ideas?

 

[Standifer]

I don’t what stance Khanjira is in, but you have one foot on a rocky outcropping and the other in the water. Just a thought. 
For some cars and stuff Steel Warrior has some sci-fi civilian vehicle stl’s in 6mm. 

Edited July 19, 2020 by Standifer