More Oldhammer Box Dioramas!

 Since the last blog post I have produced a few more box dioramas, and I thought it would be good to share this in a compilation post, just like I did a few posts ago...so here we go!

In Darkness Hope Grows

The current political climate in this country is beyond anything I could have imagined, coming here as an immigrant at 28 years of age in 1997 and becoming a citizen in 2010. The move towards lawlessness, corruption and oligarchy (not an opinion, it's a fact) has really affected me, but also my youngest daughter who is graduating from UCLA with a degree in political science. I decided to to make an oldhammer diorama for her that represents present times and to not give up hope for a better future for her and other young people like her. 

The model is a 1985 (released in 1987) CO2 Citadel Wizard, Pedegrar the Green. The build was straightforward, although it took me a while to think up the look of it.

Of course the concept is simple, a burned earth, a wandering wizard who is admiring the fortitude of little things battling through adversity. My daughter liked it and that was the most important thing. 

Buddies!

Not to leave my other daughter with empty hands I built a box diorama especially for her. I wanted to show a couple of unlikely (anti) heroes sticking with each other through thick and thin - I felt it suited her very well (she hasn't seen it yet). The build was not too hard, but it took me a while to sort out the tree. The minis in this scene are a MM41 Marauder Ogre from 1990 (Aly Morrison) and a Citadel C11 Halfling from 1988 (Perry twins).  The box is 3 inches wide.

As for the look, I wanted to do the opposite of grim dark, so nice colors, clean clothes and lots of greens. I painted the frame myself in a mottled fashion and it will suit the house of my daughter well I think. This box has a hanger so it can be displayed on a wall. This is also the first time I have used that long grass in a scene, I think it looks rather nice.

Warhammer Fantasy Regiments Box Dio 1

I wanted to honor the great plastic set from 1987 and create a team photo or portrait of these six classic oldhammer sculpts. I knew I wanted to make two versions of this set - because the box came with alternate heads and weapons - Box Dio 2 follows below!

Anyway, the setup is simple although it was a bit finicky to get everyone to pose well in such a cramped space. Here's the build (which was similar for both of them):

I knew I wanted to display the group in a high fantasy setting with bright colors, saturation and lots of greens. I added some foilage to the top to give the top part a bit of vignette. The frame I found at a yard sale, it was hinged, so I removed the hinges and ended up with two identical frames. 

For the second box I used all the other alternate parts, heads and weapons, and painted it in the opposite way - dark and moody and a bit more grim. I painted that same frame darker as well, together they look pretty cool!

Ok, here they are together...

True Hero of the Imperium

I have always been a bit skeptical of the Spacemarine adoration in our hobby - I think they are pretty much the most boring characters in the 40K universe. Being partial to the Guard and having read all the Gaunt novels, I decided to create a messy, blanchitsu sort of scene with a classic Guard mini from 1988, trooper Brock, sculpted by Aly Morrison. I will say I am not that good at this 'messy' stuff so it was a big challenge. Not sure if I like it though. 

"Is that you breathing, trooper?" (thanks Richard Orlord Hale for the title"

I have been wanting to create a space hulkish diorama for a while now and I finally got together a set of minis to pull it off. This diorama is sort of a tribute: here's the story: Once, a , long, long time ago Rusty Gouldman (who passed away recently) commissioned Darrin Stephens to paint up some oldhammer minis. Darrin painted them very well, but in the mists of time they were forgotten and eventually sold to Jeff Kirkell. He posted them for sale a couple of months ago, and I bought them, not knowing anything about them. When I received them, I realized they were painted so well, that I spent some time figuring out their history and got the story above. Darrin and I connected and I decided to NOT to strip them, instead honor his great paint job but repair it, and re-highlight it as a little tribute to Rusty (who I never met). But it seemed like the right thing to do. Good karma is what I am going for here. Oldhammer forever!

Minis from left to right: -Spacehulk Genestealers - 1989 -Termagaunt (plastic), - 1995 -Ripper (metal), - 1995 -Pilot, - Citadel RT601 1988 -Pirate, Citadel RT601 1988 -Space Pirate, Iron Claw 1988 -Pirate, Citadel RT601 1988 -Space Pirate, Iron Claw 1988

The build was complicated, and I needed a ton of parts to make the background look believable. 

Building the gene stealers and creating some movement in them was the biggest job - I used the plastic Spacehulk minis and cut them up. I think the result worked great and the one coming through the hatch gives the scene a lot of oomph. The one mini from 1995 on the floor gives the scene a nice balance.

Here are the close ups. I tried to create some lighting effects, but my painting skills are limited, so this was as good as I could do it.

And that is it!!

Thanks for reading through all this and hope this inspires!

SC Mike