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Has anyone ever done an underwater diorama?


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I made a crashed zero diorama back in the '70's, the sides of the water cube were plexiglass with blue spray paint misted on, and the top, or 'surface' of the water was made from plexiglass shower door material, which had that waviness built into it. the dive boat was cut in half along the waterline, and after placing the top half where I wanted it, I glued the bottom half immediately below it after lining up the halves. The divers were close enough to the zero that short lengths of wire suspended the figure without being seen- So, it was hollow, and didn't weigh a ton, but it did lack the diffraction that might be achieved with a solid block of clear material. I also didn't have any scuba bubbles, but i think tiny beads glued together might be usable. It was around 18"x18"x 6"..... 

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What I did either above or under water was make the front out of polished wood and had a peep hole to look into. You totally forgot about scale and could get away with using various scales to force perspective. You could also put a light to give a sun effect with a rotating disc with wavy lines on it to produce the wavy moving shadow effect on underwater objects. Since you are looking through a peep hole, it looks quite real. Don't forget to spray the inside of the glass blue and/or green to look like you are looking into water. I like using a box or aquarium, although using an aquarium allows you to actually look into real water and have fish.

Edited by Fred Jack
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There was an interesting diorama in the 2007 IPMS Nats with a amphibian tank and crew searching for treasure. They used a fish tank and a plastic surface . Worked really good.

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I've seen the Titanic built as it currently looks, sitting on the ocean floor, and it looked pretty cool. An attempt to model water was not made, but it was pretty obvious what was what.

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Wow, I've got to say there are some cool looking builds in those links you guys posted. I'd say I'd kinda like to go for the look if the build of submerged tank only with a Zero. I'm not totally decided on if I want to go fully or partially submerged, I've seen real wrecks in both states.

 

I'm not too worried if the build is heavy in the end I'd just like to know how to do it correctly. And the process.

 

Would you guys say if I'm going to go with a build like the beautiful tank will I want to use Epoxy two part clear resin or a Polyester two part resin?

 

 

 

Thanks,

Brady

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The sunken fishing boat and floating LWS was built by Rhodes Williams.  I'm pretty sure he described it in the AMPS journal Boresight but it was a few years ago and I won't be able to access my issues from then for a few days.

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The sunken fishing boat and floating LWS was built by Rhodes Williams.  I'm pretty sure he described it in the AMPS journal Boresight but it was a few years ago and I won't be able to access my issues from then for a few days.

That's the one!

Found some pics:

10z4k12.jpg

13yqhh.jpg2127jmt.jpgIncredible dio in the flesh!

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Wow that is an incredible build! I'd love to do a Zero that looks similar to the condition of the boat with either the old Revell 1/32 A6M5 or the old Swallow A6M2. If I do this I want to be able to look at it from all sides. Do you guys know if Rhodes made the whole base out of tinted clear epoxy resin as one big block or was his water made differently?

 

Thanks,

Brady 

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A few years back, someone built an underwater wrecked plane diorama (featuring either a Dauntless or a Zero - I don't remember which), where the underwater effect was simulated by painted the dappled light from the waves above directly onto the model, which was placed in a suitable setting inside a clear case. It was amazingly effective, but I can't find an image of it now for the life of me. Hopefully someone else can.

 

Kev

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Hi Dutik,

 

That is an appealing looking kit for a diorama. I'll have to sleep on that one, since I already have the other two kits I was thinking of using if I actually am crazy enough to go through with this.

 

Does anyone know if I'm going to make a model entrapped in solid resin, do I want two part epoxy clear resin?

 

Kev,

 

If you or someone finds the build you are thinking of I'd be interested in it.

 

Cheers,

Brady

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