This is a remarkable diorama in a couple of different ways. First off, it has a special effect (sound of a rifle shot) and secondly the groundwork for it was sculpted with air-dry modeling clay. And that sculpting gives this diorama a remarkable look.

Luis has some great tips for us on how to make something like this and on how to work with the air-dry clay.

My thanks go to him for sharing with us another great diorama. He has made many dioramas of various types including military, shadowbox and fantasy. You can check them out right here: Dioramas by Luis

This small vignette titled the 'Gotcha Moment" is of two 82nd Airborne
soldiers (my alma mater) trying to trick and shoot the enemy at a distance
during the autumn 1944. The main reason I used the 82nd Airborne was because
I spent my first 5 years with them before I was sent to another duty station,
which I loved every minute of it.

Base ground work - was made of air - dry modeling clay, which took me a week
to make; this includes the two bushes. The tree trunk was from a from 60mm
kit I from a European company which I can't recall for I had it for some
time and unfortunately I had thrown out the box some time ago. But a real
tree branch would have been better but I just want to use them up to get rid
of them.
The one thing for those individual who want to sculpt anything out of clay
is to keep in semi-moist and when not sculpting cover it up with a wet (but
not too wet) towel, cloth or paper towels (which is better in my opinion)
for if you don't it will dry up overnight.

Vegetation - the background of a forest during autumn time, which was from a
poster I brought on sale at AC Moore. The tall grass and weeds that border
the vignette base are from Woodland Scenic. The leaves on the ground is
Italian seasoning, which makes a great looking and very cheap plant debris.

The flower and the small tree are real plants from real living weed and
plant which I used technique from Entomologist Diorama (Insect Maker) by
Alberto J. Almarza in Stormthecastle.com.

Soldiers - came from a mix of parts I have in a box of body parts. The same
goes with the American Army WWII equipment which I try to portray as
accuracy as possible. The M1 rifles are from LiveResin purchased online
from Spruebrothers.com. The 82nd Airborne patch and ranks are from Archer
decals.

Extras - On the vignette, the Soldier that is the shooter - If you look at
his rifle barrel, you will notice the shot fired. This is a tiny piece from
a cotton ball soaked in a water/glue mixture and molded into a rifle shot
blast. Once dried it was glued to the muzzle and then painted to look like
a rifle shot.

On the wooden base there is a toy doll voice box brought on amazon from
Stuffens Toy Shop. It will record for about 10 second compared to some other
voice boxes I have used in the past. The voice box worked well for the sound
effects that I needed, which is the shot, followed by the bullet being
extracted and chambered 3x, until the Soldier says "GOTCHA!". The rifle
sounds were taken from a Youtube sound effect of an M1 Garand being fired. I
then stopped it and recorded my voice saying GOTCHA!. The 82nd patch I
downloaded from the internet and the title of the vignette I typed it up and
printed it out.

Hope all you Storm the Castle viewers enjoy this one too. See you next time.

More Dioramas by Luis:

"Dragoons of Angola " A Moment of Peace in a time of war

This is a large and very detailed diorama showing mounted Portuguese Troopers (Dragoons) during the war in Angola. It is another amazing diorama made by Luis. See lots of pics and get some good tips on how to make something like this. He also made significant modifications to the soldiers to make them more accurate. The scene depicts the troopers during a quite moment with Angolan wildlife including elephants and crocodiles. Check it out here:The Dragoons of Angola Diorama

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