Diorama building help for a beginner
 

Hi all,

I am an avid figurine collector and have a few action figures and statues collected over the years. Recently I started losing interest in collecting as I always felt that the poses that the statues came in were not quite what I wanted.

So I decided I would try and get smaller figures (3.75" - 6") that were poseable rather than massive statues (most of the stuff I have is around the 10"-18" range). I want to get into diorama making and honestly want to see if I can make something similar to the Marvel Universe SDCC Diorama with the Sentinel Assault on the X mansion.


I know that one has been done by professionals but I want to try and do a simpler version of it but with all my favorite marvel characters.

My question was for a diorama, should I start with 3.75" Marvel Universe line or go for the 6" marvel Legends line. I have always preferred bigger figures but while I was trying to make a Contra diorama with the NECA 7" Contra figures, I realised that bigger didnt always mean better for dioramas.

Has anyone had the same dilemna before? I would love to hear some suggestions from people here.

I am no expert, but have built these two displays from scratch.

I have made a few Legends (6") things, but the space required is pretty crazy. If you only plan to display 5-10 figures I would say go big 6". If you want to display 20 or more figures in a scene 3.75" allows it to happen in a much smaller footprint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMLzK7r2Z10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdIcYHb-4uQ&t=3s

Wow. You are being modest there. That is an exceptional collection and setup you have there. (Pity you had to bunch it all up though it still looks amazing in all that chaos).

Thank you very much for that. I think for the X mansion diorama I'll stick with 3.75" as I would love to have a lot of characters on screen and they can also look right for the 16" Sentinel I want to use.

Question about the first video: In your setup was it all just foam or did you have anything else to reinforce it?

I used 1x1 wood and basically built table legs for the support.

Very cheap stuff like 4' pieces for around $2 each.

I did use 2x4's for the support of the fish tank.

I also used pink foam exclusively. There is a green foam as well, but I only bought the pink stuff.

And last but not least use craft paint. A lot of different paints will eat through the foam. I usually used the cheapest paint I could find at Walmart.

Thank you!