Making Oldhammer Box Dioramas...an absolute joy!

 For most of 2024 I worked on the painting of an oldhammer Dwarf Army, but after a while it got tiring, painting up many minis that all look pretty similar. I got stuck in a painters block. Inspired by really great modeling projects online I started thinking about single mini projects with a background, all different so I would not get burned out. In this post I will show you all the ones I have created so far, including an unpainted version to show how it was put together. I named all the projects, but that is just vanity.

'KING OF THE NIGHT'

The first  'different' project I tried was this one: A Heritage Lich from 1981. 

I created a little painted backdrop for him and a gravestone made of cork. I really enjoyed it and although it's all pretty simple, I still felt pretty pleased with myself - most importantly I beat my painters block with this mini! The base and backdrop together form an L and are both made of cork with strips of plastic card covering the sides.

'A SPACEHULK LEGEND'

After finishing the Lich, I saw some box dioramas online and decided to tackle one. I used Jes Goodwin's Magus Genestealer from 1989 and created a space hulk environment around him, topped with a little frame that I repainted. The size is 2.5x3.5. This diorama was a gift to a friend.

The background was created using bits from 25 years of modeling from across the miniatures spectrum. The round wall piece was from a Tamiya kit from 1969.

The box (and all the ones after it) is made from plastic card, like for-sale signs at the hardware store. You can also buy it as a modeling product.

'BEST FRIENDS'

The second box diorama was a duet between a Citadel Chaos Sorcerer from 1988 and a familiar from 1986, both sculpted by Jes Goodwin. I loved how they looked so great together and both of them carry this boisterous spirit within them, so they were a natural fit. 

The construction was very simple, all cork basically. The color scheme for the background has two contrasting but dark colors and I kept the minis light to make them stand out. This box dio was also a gift for a friend. 

'FELLOW TRAVELERS'

In a second hand shop I found a 4x5 gold frame and thought right away I needed to use it for a box diorama. I chose Tom Meier's wonderful Frost Giant from 1977 and added a little dog to the scene as his buddy. I wanted to make the scene lush and green and it was my first attempt to create a dense forest scene. 

The construction of this box was pretty complex, figuring out the tree trunks (old branches), the hill (cork and green stuff) and the foliage (a mess). But in the end it looks pretty reaslistic behind the pair. Obviously the backdrop is a bit darker to make the mini stand out. 

'EUREKA!'

After finishing Fellow Travelers I thought up a wizard scene in a dark tower - I used the Gary Morley wizard from the Talisman Dragon expansion from the mid nineties and built a background of bricks, one at a time.

The window is from a 1980 Grenadier Wizard room set and the door is a Citadel sculpt from 1982. The bricks I have had in abundance and with some balsa wood you can create a pretty good little room.

The frame was from a 2nd hand store and the little metal vignette insert was actually gold. But I liked it the same dark blue color to make the mini stand out. It's fun, using the tighter window, so when you look in on the sides, you can discover other, not front-visible, details.

"WATCH OUT MISTER FRODO!"

I love the Lord of the Rings books and have always been a fan of the chapter on the barrow-downs. I felt I had to make something like that, my wife really loves that novel as well and I knew she would like it a lot if I did something with that. Here's the result:

The setup of this one was very simple, Frodo and pony from the LOTR ME range from 1985 and a Citadel skeleton from 1985 - some cork, painting and flock. I could not figure out how to do effective mist, so I left that out. I toyed with felted wool, but it didn't look right.

HEROQUEST MATCHBOX DIO

One evening my wife threw an old matchbox on the table and said "hey, maybe put something in this!" So I did, a more gruesome door in Heroquest. 

  

Using the old bricks and a bunch of skulls I had fun making something creepy in this cramped space, and I used an original mummy from the 1989 Heroquest game. 

"A PERFECT MATCH...?"

During the dark days of chemo I received a wonderful gift from an oldhammer buddy: a couple of sets of the 1988 Hobby Products Asterix minis, quite rare and hard to find nowadays. I finally decided to build a little box diorama with the village chief and his wife, Vitalstatistix and Impedimenta. They always argue in the comics and have a very combustible relationship, so I thought it would be fun to put them in a calm and bourgeois scene, in front of their house.

The build was pretty complicated and it was hard to not weather anything and make the scene look bright like a comic. The minis are amazing, full of crip details. I thought the gold, metal frame around it made the rest of the colors stand out a bit more.

"WARM AUTUMNAL COLORS"

I had been thinking for ages about a box diorama that involved a cemetery and the undead in general and this is what I came up with: a 1998 Citadel ghoul, sculpted by Paul Muller. The mini is really effective, scary and nasty and the rock in his hand is a great detail. I sculpted the grave stones myself.

I knew I wanted to paint this scene in warm colors, not the classic cold hues. I think it worked well, lots of browns and oranges, really a perfect Halloween image, although I finished it up in December. The build was pretty easy, and the tree framed the scene well. This box also has a frame that crops out some of the content from the front, but if you look 'in' on the sides you can find some more things to look at. 

Hope this is inspiring to someone - it's really, really fun for me to do. These box dioramas have given me new energy to do something with my pile of shame. I really don't want to end up with boxes full of models that never see the light of day....

Thanks!

SC Mike