Lessons Learned

In this post I'll share a few lessons I learned from building a diorama for the Walthers National Model Railroad Build Off contest.  While building a diorama may seem like a simple, straight forward thing to do, it really challenged me to think differently.  The process also made me realize a few things about myself and my approach to the hobby; beliefs I had held but never clarified into solid ideas. 

This is a BIG image if you'll click on it, then open the picture in a new tab for the full size.

First off, this diorama taught me that I could fully scenic a 2'x4' space in only four months, from ground cover to scratchbuilt trees, four feet of brick street, two feet of hand-laid track, three craftsman structure kits, a kitbashed structure, a Jordan vehicle, a kitbashed streetcar and numerous figures, all hand painted.  My current model railroad is only 4'x6' - that's just three times the area of the diorama.  Plus, the Purina Mill, Strickland's store, streetcar, billboard and orange grove all have spots already marked out on the railroad once I decommission this diorama.  If I were to work at half the pace I did to get this diorama done, I could have the Pine Branch Park railroad scenicked in two years or less, to a very high standard of detail and realism.*

Four feet wide

In this contest the focus was strictly on two parameters as defined by the rules; creativity and skill.  I set out to tell a story about a place in central Florida in 1914.  My model railroad has a similar goal, but is set in the late 1920s and includes operating trains as part of the storytelling.  Both use creativity and skill, but the diorama is a more limited setting.  Instead of operating the trains to provide action that tells the story, the setting itself has to do that task.

Why is this man sleeping behind this sign?  Some stories raise questions.

In truth our models, apart from the ones that move, all face the same challenge; how to imply action without motion.  While building my horse-drawn streetcar I realized one possible reason for why more folks don't model this mode of transport; it can't be made to move realistically.  A powered streetcar pushing a lifeless horse down the street would look odd, yes?  Some modelers don't like to use figures that are in an "action" pose, as if time is frozen, because it looks strange next to a train that does move.  On a diorama with no moving trains this matters less, if at all.

Is this a train?

Another challenge I faced was whether or not to use a backdrop.  Modules or home layouts often include a backdrop and the Walthers contest did not require one.  However, the contest submission form called for photos of the "front", "left" and "right" sides of the diorama.  Oh.  I hadn't considered front or back, left or right when planning the scenes.  It was a diorama to be viewed from any angle, and engaged with by the viewer from any direction.  This arrangement made it difficult for me to designate a "front" of the diorama. 

You can't see this from the front.

As someone with an "island" style railroad (see more about that here) I've always built structures with an eye to how they'll look when viewed from all sides.  On a layout where the views are controlled structures and other scenic elements can be built to take advantage of that, omitting back walls for example, or only detailing what will be seen.  On my diorama different views and vistas would open or close as the viewer moved around the scene.  This is how I had begun to imagine the elements on my layout so naturally it is how I placed these elements on the diorama and why all sides received some level of detail as appropriate for the scene.

Did my design choices hurt my chance of winning the contest?  Perhaps.  Most of the entries that made the final cut were pretty clearly arranged with a defined front and back, though not all.  What about the railroad elements?  None were required for the contest, technically, though a train did need to be shown in the final photos.  I think a horse-drawn streetcar is a train and though I had no freight car on my spur at the feed mill, one of the finalist entries showed no train at all.  And the era?  Or locale?  Perhaps.  Very few folks model Florida and nobody I've seen models Florida in the teens or twenties.  This is new territory in our hobby, and sometimes the familiar scene will win out over the unfamiliar.

Figure provided for scale. ;)

Would I do it differently if I were to enter again?  Maybe...or maybe not.  My design choices were deliberate even though I wasn't fully conscious of all the assumptions influencing my choices.  A viewer can't see it all from any one angle, just like real life.  It tells a story through the composition of elements and placement of details.  The setting is unique and hasn't really been explored before.  It demonstrates skill and creativity.  But most of all I'm happy with the diorama I built - it makes me smile whenever I look at it. 

Thanks for reading - feel free to comment below or ask questions.

 

*Completing the current model railroad will likely take longer than two years.  As of this writing I'm still unpacking boxes and sorting my garage, and won't be doing any more work on the railroad in situ until I know the roof won't leak and rats won't be chewing the scenery.  I'll be following Bruce and Janet Chubb's example from their early modeling days, building models at the kitchen table until the train room is ready.