Lite and Narrow Column - 10
A
good couple years after doing the first diorama set for
the Subway commercial, a call came from the movie
company again. They had another commercial to shoot
and wanted another diorama to use as a set!
This set was to be larger, both in size and scale, with the same
western theme. Instead of an open spaces type of set, they
wanted a western town in a larger scale than HO: we settled on
S scale.
There had to be two key structures on the set: a church and a
saloon. Everything else was left to my discretion.
In the two years since I constructed the previous set, more mate-
rial had become available to allow easier base construction of
the diorama. This time, I used rolls of large vinyl mats from
Woodland Scenics® in desert sand. These large mats made the
project less expensive as well.
I constructed a framework of 1” x 2” lumber and covered it with
¾” foam board glued into place using foam board construction
glue applied with a caulking gun. I attached the vinyl mat using
the same glue. I did leave a three inch loose edge of material on
the front of the diorama to avoid an abrupt edge on the front.
I found the structures to be the most time-consuming part of the
project, with me building a total of seven buildings from crafts-
man kits. I purchased four structures fromWild West Models
and three from BTS.
Larry Smith shared how he built a model
diorama for a TV commercial in his last
column – now, he gets to do it again! ...
Building amovie set, take 2
FromWild West Models: Miners Supply, Assay Office, Don’s Dry
Goods, and Harvey’s Hardware. From BTS: Kee’s Laundry, Red
Eye Saloon, and Country Church. The building ranged from easy
to difficult in complexity of construction. In addition we cut
wide board sidewalks to use to connect the buildings.
Here’s the final commercial: the cowboy pulling the horse with
the rope is me reduced to S scale!
Subway commercial using an S-scale set made
by our Lite & Narrow columnist, Larry Smith ...
MRH-Oct 2014
