A downtown car show diorama

[Sixties Sam]

Hey, guys, this is a diorama I just made to simulate a car show typical of many downtown type shows seen all across the country. It's a two piece L shaped unit that fits on two 6' folding tables, and holds about 22 models. I'll have it on display in some local 1:1 car shows this summer. Here it is set up in our back porch.

Here's a closer, spectator's eye view on the corner.

The diorama is on a wooden base with black foamboard for the pavement. Building fronts are foamboard with some plastic windows and doors, and some just printed on posterboard, and framed with wood sticks. The church window is a plastic kit I made in Vacation Bible School 50 years ago! I've been working on the dio for about four months. I also plan to use it for a model photo backdrop. It was a fun build! Hope you like it.

Sam

[Mercman]

Sam that looks good. Kindof like almost being there.

[JamesW]

Looks a lot like downtown here on the third Friday of every month during the summer.

[cobraman]

Man ! That is real nice.

[Intmd8r]

Great work! I lovew the attention to detail. The effort paid off.

"It's a two piece L shaped unit that fits on two 6' folding tables, and holds about 22 models", sounds like a PITA to move around though .

[rmvw guy]

Neat idea and great display! I love those kind of shows.

[Badluck 13]

Sweet looking dio,just a neat concept that not only looks real but does exist in some way or another all over....love it!!!

[martinfan5]

That is really cool, I like it, looks good, great job

[crazyjim]

Wonderful dio. I was going to ask for more pics after seeing bits of it in your flamed '49 Merc post.

[David G.]

Very cool idea and very well done.

David G.

[Eshaver]

Sam, that dirama needs to be shown at a real car show and yes, it needs an award too ! Ed Shaver

[Repstock]

su-WEET! Very well done, very convincing! I'd like to see it in person!

[GTMust]

How you did this much in a few months is amazing Sam. I'm really impressed! More street level pictures, please.......

Thanks for showing it.

Tony

[dptydawg]

Sam, this is a very good diorama. Your building flats are very realistic. The ground level picture looks 1:1. It is unfortunate that we don't have a better supply of 1/25th scale figures to use in our dioramas. This one could use a few dozen spectators to populate the show.

The latches to hold the two sections togeather is a great idea.

Thanks for sharing this diorama with us

Carl

[KHamilton]

That's really nice, Sam. How 'bout some construction details?

[jerseyjunker1]

WOW!!! Sam that is just to cool. if i ever get to your area car shows or you get to any i go to it would be a hoot to set these dioramas up together. your car show and my junkyard.i will tell you one thing you should try to make nnleast next year. super great job.

Manny

[Helix]

Fantastic Dio mate, top notch stuff

[Dr. Cranky]

I love it, but I would also like to see more pictures. Builds like this take up a lot of room but they end up being crowd pleasers at shows.

[vaughn]

Thats pretty cool Sam. Looks like City of Norcross where they have shows. Good work !!!

[Sixties Sam]

That's really nice, Sam. How 'bout some construction details?

Ken, the dio bases (2) are a frame of 1x2's with 1/4" plywood on top. The pavement is black foamboard glued over the plywood. Sidewalk is the same 1/4" ply, painted with white house paint. The building fronts have foamboard walls (painted or with brick paper glued on) with a frame of 1/2" square plywood on each building. the ply frames extend 1 1/2" below the walls and attach to the base frame with wood screws. I can easily remove any building front for repairs or changes, or even swap it out for a new building if I want. The doors and windows on the tavern and pizza shop are from Colorado Model Structures. Most of the others are AutoCAD drawings printed on posterboard, cut out and glued to the walls. Wooden stick frames were added to give a 3D effect. The big display windows in the Family General Store are plastic from CD cases.Trees are G scale RR items set in brown tile grout. The orange traffic cones are those black plastic things the doctor looks in your ears with, cut down and glued to a styrene base and painted orange. The fire hydrant, streetlights/signs, and porta-potty are diorama items from eBay. Here are a few more pics.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Sixties Sam

[modelmarknz]

wow nice work Sam

[Sixgunner68]

Love this one! It looks like our downtown courthouse area on the last Saturday of the month (right down to the little vendors tents).

[vaughn]

Sam... I really like the fact that you used different mediums. Beyond styrene. Cool !!!

[SDS]

Sweet!!!! thats very detailed wish i had the time to do one of that mass...

[bryan_m]

WOW!!! that is very, very nice man! beautiful work.

cheers

bryan