This diorama is based on those underwater monster movies we enjoyed as a kid and in some cases as an adult.

This piece will be displayed and showcased in an art exhibit in Newark, NJ in January 2017 with several other works and paintings by a friend of mine.

Special thanks to Luis for making this diorama and sharing it with us. He has contributed a whole series of wonderful dioramas to my website. You can check them out right here: Dioramas by Luis

Luis tells us how he made this diorama:

The base - was a box made of wood I had laying around. The top part of the
diorama was an old wooden picture frame. The piece that the figures are on
was from an old busted window screen I had saved some time ago for work just
like this when the occasion permitted itself for me to use a screen. I then
painted the entire box with a number of blues, starting with dark to light.

The bottom of the diorama - is covered in sand that I mixed with a little water and craft glue like Elmer's. it was then left over night, to dry.

Once dried I glued some real rocks and real tiny sea shells that can be bought in an arts & crafts store. I added some sea life such as two sting rays and a sea tortoise which came from a pack of mini ocean animals by Safari Limited.

On the outside of the box I add two dolphins swimming. There is
also a treasure chest used in fish tanks.

And finally the main character:
the Octopus (it is also from Safari). Although the octopus is store bought, in one piece, and already painted, I did some minor changes. The first thing I did was repainted it by adding some more bright colors and redid the suckers on the tentacles.

And the second thing was I cut the tentacles that were molded onto the octopus's body. The reason for them being detached from the body can be clearly seen in the action photo.

The Sea Buoy - was totally handmade with a wood wheel as the base, 3 toothpicks as the metal bars, a piece of thin plastic cut into a triangle, two index card for their thickness and ease to handle, which were used for the side panels, an actual LED light, and another toothpick and a ship propeller to make a wind anemometer, and lastly I add two 1/35 scale metal boxed to make it look like electronic outage boxes. (See picture).

To give it life, like I do in all my dioramas, I add animal life. This a pelican by a company called Industria Mechanika (they have a 1/35 set of sea birds).

Behind the buoy is a scuba diver. The diver's bottom half has been sculpted from air dry modeling clay, while the top half was a left over from an old kit by Italeri of Frogmen which has been out of production for a number of years, so I had bought of those kits on Ebay at a reasonable price. The scuba tanks were handmade from Milliputty and a paper staple.

The raft and figures - the raft came from the Italeri Frogmen kit I had as a leftover.

The only modification was that I added actual string to it by drilling a few small holes on the top edge.

Then pulling the string through
and gluing it. The accessories on the raft are from odd and ends I had
laying around such as a gas can, 1/35 boxes and used some of my wife's jewelry making trinkets, some scuba gear and a vest. The female came from an all 1/35 female kit by Preiser. The only modification is her arms to give her a scared to death look. The diver with the knife, is from the Italeri frogmen kit. The body and head are out of the box but the arms are not. The arms are from different figures but craved them up to look like part of the wetsuit. Also to knife was a add on from a German soldier's bayonet. The last figure (the one that is in the octopus' grip) is half out of the box
(top half) and handmade (bottom half).

Luis' UDT Boat Frogmen Diorama

Before they were Navy Seals they were called Frogmen. A web visitor (Luis) has created an amazing diorama with incredible detail. He tells us how he made it, how he achieved the water effects and more. (And we have lots of pics) Check it out here: The UDT Boat Frogmen Diorama