原创 Great to know we're not alone!

As you may recall, one of my hobby projects is to construct a caveman diorama in a beautiful 1950s wooden television cabinet. This little scamp is growing in the telling, with all sorts of sound, light, and special effects to beguile and charm the observer (see also Algorithm for simulating flames).

I've been working on this little rascal on-and-off for a few years now. One problem is that it can sometimes be hard to rouse yourself into action if you are working alone. As fate would have it, however, a few months ago, my wife (Gina the Gorgeous) introduced me to a guy called Mike. Gina is a realtor, and Mike and his wife were looking around her model home.

During the course of their conversation, Gina discovered that Mike creates model railway dioramas as a hobby. Mike is interested in adding lights to the streets and houses in his dioramas -- I'm interested in learning about creating dioramas in general -- and we're both interested in polishing our skills with regard to creating rock and water effects -- so now Mike and I meet up on Saturdays here in my office where we happily work on all sorts of "stuff."

Now, I know that there are other people who are interested in creating models and dioramas -- there are all sorts of magazines about this stuff and you can find myriad "how-to" videos on YouTube -- but it had never really struck me that any of them were living local to me here in Huntspatch Huntsville, Alabama.

As I was driving into work the week before last, however, I heard a public radio announcement about a modelling competition to be held by the Huntsville Plastic Modelers Society in downtown Huntsville that coming weekend.

Mike and I met up in my office as usual that Saturday; we worked a bit on our Caveman Diorama; and then -- around lunchtime -- we headed out to the competition to have a root around and see what there was to be seen.

It was great! It turns out that this annual competition is open to everyone, from bright-eyed youngsters to grizzled elders and from absolute beginners to mega-experts. Also, the subject material covers everything from military displays to science fiction and fantasy offerings.

Take a look at the following photograph, for example. I'm assuming this is something like an old, derelict tug boat:

 

Now take a look at this model, which was presented next to the photograph. The two boats aren’t identical, but it's the paint job on the model that makes me squeal (inside my head) in delight:

 

I'm currently keeping my eyes open for more old television cabinets on my travels. Once we've finished the caveman project, I can easily see myself creating more dioramas in the future. I already have one in mind for a post-apocalyptic ruined industrial plant-type scene, so I'm taking note of interesting tricks and techniques, like the way in which the derelict boat is presented above.

Below we see a photo of the competition area. There was another large area at the other end of the hall where people were selling models and modelling equipment.

Up until now, Mike and I hadn't really set a timeline for finishing the caveman diorama -- we're just enjoying the process of creating stuff (sometimes the journey is more fulfilling than reaching the destination). However, we now have a goal, which is to enter our caveman diorama in next year's modelling competition.

We've actually been making a lot of progress with the caveman diorama; I'll be posting some more blogs about this later this week. In the meantime, feast your orbs on the following images, each of which caught my attention for one reason or another.

(Click here to see a larger image.)

 

Some of these take my breath away with regard to their creators' attention to detail, like the mud in the tread of the tires in the truck model above, or the autumn leaves on the floor of the model before that.

What about you? Do you have any interest in this sort of thing? If so, is this an old interest, or have my Caveman Diorama columns set your creative juices flowing? And what about the models shown in the images above -- do any of these (or any specific details) jump out at you?