My friends, yesterday I made the foundations for the new diorama "Bear Crossing". The reference/inspirational photo is at the end of this gallery, and it will represent a collapsed bridge hastily repaired with wooden logs.
This time I opted for an oval base, and I was surprised how large the whole scene turned out! The oval is 30cm long.
To cut this shape, I had to draw an oval using a compass on a piece of cardboard (actually the box from this model), cut it out, and use it as a template. The hot wire doesn't burn through cardboard so it nicely traced the shape when I glued the styrofoam on top of it. The cut isn't perfect, but laminating the sides with veneer should clean it all up.
So far I've just scribed the brick wall, and the next thing will most likely be the bridge. I'll use the styrofoam shapes as a template, and build the plastic bridge "on top" of them.
Normally I'd laminate the scene as quickly as possible, but this one has too many elements that need to be done prior to that, so I'll complete the bridge, make some initial terrain features, and then I'll add the veneer. Just as with the A7V diorama, I want everything to look seamless, and it's not gonna be easy here :D