This diorama was built around Campbell’s “Summer Band Stand” kit# 383. The diorama was specially built for my wife, and will be put on display at the hospital she works for. She helped pick out all of the figures and details… Hence, lot’s of dogs and flowers… The theme for the band stand was inspired from an old (1974) Campbell catalog I had laying around. Believe it or not, I bought this kit over 25 years ago. The original price tag on the box was $9.50! I just never got around to building this kit until now. BTW, the kit was a blast to build.
I hope you enjoy the pics…
The first pic shows the park entrance. The statue was done by painting a Preiser horse and figure with Floquil’s Bronze. Durham’s water putty was used to model the sidewalks. The rose bushes were assembled from a Busch kit.
Here’s a close up of the band stand. Woodland Scenics figures were used for the performers.
This last shot shows the right side of the display along with these kids at play.
Alan. To age and weather my shingles, I start out by painting them with Floquils earth. Once the paint dries (about 2 hours) I stain the roof with a heavy mix of alcohol and India ink stain. I then go back with a single edge razor and “pick” the shingles up to give them that uneven look. I finish up with a mist of dull-coat to kill the shine.
Bob, what a wonderful extension of the MRR hobby. How is the diorama going to be displayed? What sort of patients are likely to be looking at it? I have always admired your work and the fact that you chose to share it with us so freely here, I now have even more admiration for your generosity in making this for hospital patients.
Simon. The diorama will be displayed in the Ultra-Sound room. For those unfamilar with this term, Ultra-Sound uses sound waves via a transducer to display a sonographic internal image of a patient. This procedure is often done in a dark room enviroment to help the sonographer (my wife) see the image more clearly. I made sure to add plenty of street lights and large bulb under the band stand canopy to help illuminate both the display as well as her patients
You capture the spirit of the small town so well! We have a band stand in our small town of Farmington, Me. And on Monday nights the Old Crow Band practice in the summer. Beautiful work what detail, you are a artist in every sense of the word.
This photo set passed the “Wife test” My Spouse loved it and SHE does not like the “trains stuff” too much.
From her reaction of pleasure seeing that image on the computer tonight tells me that this particular diorama will give many people joy of what was once a time and place in the USA.
Yes we have one of those slightly bigger in our town and a park to go with it. But not too many people have time to use it. They are too busy rushing kids to school, commuting from work, running errands, attending church and rushing to catch up on tasks deferred to the weekend.
The rose gardens were done using a busch kit. I found this kit at my LHS. They also make sunflowers and other great looking flowers. The kit is a bit tricky at first, since the instructions are written in German. Lucky, the illustrations used in the instructions are good enough to see how they are to be assembled. As far as ground cover, “real” dirt (sifted to remove unwanted debris) was used topped off with Woodland Scenics grass, turf, and fine leaf trees.
Your diorama is very nice indeed. I too am a registered diagnostic medical sonographer and can appreciate working in the dark! The fact that it is lit up is a nice touch. I’m sure the patients will appreciate it very much.
Nicely done. It reminds me of a little town my wife and I visited somewhere in Vermont years ago. If I remember correctly we went to a local deli. Bought our lunch and brought it back there to eat. Bravo Bob.
