Oooh - very cool.

I bought some grass like that, but couldn't figure out how to get it to stand up, so I went with the simpler stuff.

Thanks!!

I thought about buying a Gundam or Robotech model and having it almost complete underground, with just a couple of tiny exposed pieces almost covered in dirt/grass.  But then I realized how much models like that cost.  

As a little bit of frivolity, I did make some surfing Vikings (because that was a joke among guns762's students).  But I didn't glue them down, so they are not part of the final model.  

Yeah, I wanted the chill guy who is sitting up on the cliff watching the battle to be under a blooming Japanese cherry tree.

Exactly.  


I might do this every winter.  Make some pipes ahead of time to build up inventory, and then put away all of the pipe tools and equipment, and spend 3-4 months making a diorama.

It was a very nice project, and was very relaxing and satisfying.

I did briefly briefly search for a 1/72 Godzilla figure ... but decided to stick with the original plan.

Maybe next year, it could be Vikings and Samurai putting aside their differences to fight a common Kaiju enemy!  

It would be like an inspirational Hallmark movie.  

Nice!    

You are far too kind!

Believe it or not, it's actually quite difficult to find 1/72 scale animals.  I believe Ravell makes a kit with farm animals (so maybe there's a goose) but for the wild animals I wanted, it was REALLY hard to find.  I managed to find someone who sells 3d printed ones, so there are two stags and a bear in the model, up on the hill by the stream.

ETA:

SgtAR15 approves!

J/k nice job.

Awesome!  

Thanks!



I have no idea!  

The one on the right is a Great White, and the one on the left is an Oceanic Whitetip.

I just looked it up, and apparently Japan is within the Great White range, but not so much for Oceanic Whitetips.  


ETA:  From now on, I'll just tell people they are BOTH Great White sharks!

Next step - preparing and pouring the resin.  This is where my inexperience (and impatience) led to some problems.


First I needed to get the diorama ready for the pour.  After watching some youtube videos, I bought some acrylic sheets - and I bought a washing machine pan to put the whole diorama in, in case of leaks.  

I put it in a guest room, near a window for ventilation.


Then I attached the acrylic sheets with silicone grout (sealing up the seams), and taped them to hold them in place.


I wanted to get just the right subtle blue-green color, so I experimented a little with some dyes I bought.




Then I was ready to pour.  I had purchased some "deep pour" resin that was supposed to allow for much deeper pours than the regular inch or inch and a half you can do with most resins.  Supposedly it also did not generate as much heat while curing as regular resins, which can apparently be a big problem on deep pours.  I also wanted to avoid having multiple "layers" that might be visible.  So I started pouring.


Unfortunately, I had made a stupid math error when I was calculating how much resin I needed, so I only got about half of the "ocean" filled in.  That was my first mistake.    I then ordered some more of the deep pour resin, which was going to be about a week to arrive.

After about three days, the resin had cured, and that's when I made my second mistake.  I had some left-over resin from when I played with resin about a year and a half earlier, making some coasters with Japanese maple leaves from our yard for my wife.  It was not the deep-pour type of resin, but I figured I could just add a layer of about an inch, and it would be cured by the time the additional resin arrived, and then I could do the remainder with the new resin.  Big mistake.  First of all, it definitely resulted in a somewhat visible layer - perhaps because it was a different type of resin.  Second of all, it did NOT cure as well as I had hoped, leaving large bubbles/voids in the corners - in retrospect that might have been because it was over a year old.  Apparently, you are supposed to use it relatively quickly after opening, and not leave it sitting around in half a container for over a year.  So once I got the new resin, and added the final layer, I not only had a visible layer, but also some visible bubbles in each corner.  Entirely my own fault, because I was impatient.  (I did reduce how bad the bubbles looked by later drilling into them from the side, and using a syringe to inject in a quick-curing UV resin, which made the bubbles a lot less visible).

Here's how it ended up looking right after the pour.


With all of the resin in:


Then I removed the acrylic sheets.  In this picture you can see the two unsightly bubbles/voids in the middle layer in each corner.  They are quite visible, and I am still kicking myself!  

If I do another one next year, maybe it could be a Japanese ship that is shipwrecked in a Norwegian fjord!  

Although I am not sure Japan had good blue-water ocean going vessels.  I mean, obviously a Viking longship never actually made it to Japan, but in theory one could have.  I am not sure the Japanese had vessels that could have made it to Scandinavia.  ... but that may also be a silly thing to worry about when making an entirely fictional diorama.


ETA:  Although this might work, and it is 1/72 scale.  
https://www.japan-wooden-model-kits-zootoyz.shop/contents/en-us/p1660_Japanese-style-ship-HIGAKIKAISEN-Structure-reproduction-Wooden-Model-Kits-by-Woody-JOE.html

Or, they could ride on the back of Godzilla!