W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by The_Cryptid_Person Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:57 am

Check my Twitter for customs and digibashes! || My ongoing Transtopia thread
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by North Sunrider Tue Apr 06, 2021 6:33 am
Can't wait to see your next update.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:36 am
I spent the last couple days carving out the foam on the right side of the diorama. I made a small little cave out of the bigger rock in the back and added a couple of boulders here and there out of the cut off pieces.
I'm currently taking advantage of a gorgeous 75 degree day to begin painting the right side of the diorama. I started with a Rust-oleum Satin Espresso base coat for the rock, mainly for all the dark cracks and crevices. This is the first time I'm using Krylon on full pieces of Great Stuff spray foam. I'm really curious to see how fast it dries and how well everything holds up.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:48 pm
Once that dried, I wanted to give the ground on the base some texture. I found the perfect spray paint that would give it not only texture, but a variation in color and make it look like sand/dirt without the mess:
The Rust-oleum Stone Accents worked perfect. Just enough texture where figures will be able to stand yet realistic enough to be slightly uneven. I plan on using a small hand brush with a lighter color to highlight the corners on the rocks. Once that is done, I'll probably give it a dull, satin clear coat to seal it up and protect it. Now that I know this process worked exactly the way I had hoped with no bad reaction from the foam, I'll use this method in the next week or two on the mountain containing the Ark itself.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Tue Apr 06, 2021 7:57 pm
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Wed Apr 07, 2021 2:05 pm
North Sunrider wrote:Wow, Maximal Prime, this is really starting to look incredible. I love your clever solutions for things like the parts you scavenge from old electronics. Really great stuff. I'm really glad you're sharing your progress with us, rather than just showing the finished product. Makes it even cooler.
Can't wait to see your next update.
Thank you very much! Part of the fun should always be the creativity of it I think.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Wed Apr 07, 2021 2:11 pm
Latebrus-K wrote:This project is nothing short of epic and each update is a joy to read. Thanks for posting this here for everyone to see !
Thank you! I've always been blown away by custom dioramas but custom figures usually outnumber them 10-1 or more. Hopefully I can inspire others to share their projects, ideas, etc.
It doesn't have to be a huge diorama, even small ones that fit on a shelf can bring such life to the figures or a particular scene.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:24 am
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Thu Apr 15, 2021 11:50 am
I also began work on the entrance door to the inside of the Ark. Like all great playsets from the 80's, this one will be no different with moving parts and accessories. I cut out a section of the 1/2" foam board I got awhile back to use as the sliding door. I spray glued the first side of the Ark panels to the door and now wait for it to dry.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Sat Apr 17, 2021 8:21 pm
I finally hit the $200 mark on this diorama when I found plastic dinosaur skeletons online at a website called Dinosaurcorporation.com.
For $16.99 you get a bag full of these 4" to 6" full skeletons. The best part? the skeletons for ALL 5 original Dinobot modes are included. I absolutely could not resist.
I cut up the skeletons, measured the panels for the inside of the cave and spray foamed the walls of the cave. Once the foam was down but before it dried, I placed the skeletons into the walls and a few pieces that will be on the ground. Once it all dries, I'll begin carving the walls, applying filler and painting the rocks before installing it all together as the Dinobot/fossil cave.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Fuhzimota Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:26 am
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:48 am
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:01 pm
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:34 pm
I also painted where the two bases meet for a seamless look.
I also measured and cut a plastic rubber tote lid into 1" strips to use on the door to the inside of the Ark.
I will have to paint the 1" frame and then glue it on both sides to the door the next nice weather day we have that I'm off work, hopefully either this coming saturday or monday. I'm planning on painting the fossil/rock walls for the cave at the same time as well.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Sat Apr 24, 2021 6:57 pm
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:06 pm
Once that was done, I spray painted some larger stalactites:
I then glued them to the ceiling of the Dinobot cave. Once that dried, I put the pieces of the cave interior into place and put the ceiling part in last. The roughly finished cave:
I still have to put a few small pieces in as filler in 2 spots close to the ceiling, as well as spray paint the cave floor with the same ground texture paint as the outside. I also may paint the exposed bones with a slightly white dry brush, since they are a little more yellow than I wanted. I think a little white may help them pop a bit more on the rock background. Grapple and Wheeljack decided to inspect the cave for dimension and scale:
I still have to paint the exterior of the cave and side of the mountain yet. Maybe next weekend. Once I had the cave put together, I turned my attention to the background. I made another run to the hardware store and picked up a 4'X8' sheet of 1/8" thick rigid backing board for $8 that they cut into 3 pieces.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:08 pm
This is what I'm going to use as the background for the diorama. I also picked up some Rustoleum Satin Oasis Blue spray paint for the background:
Then I gave one of the boards two coats of paint. My plan is to "Bob Ross" the backgrounds by using a mix of spray paints and paint brushing to create as close to a G1 cartoon animation style background as possible. Once the backgrounds are done being painted, I plan on using magnets on the back of the background boards to keep them upright and in place to a frame. That way this will be easier to move in pieces from one room to another if needed.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Fri Apr 30, 2021 10:42 pm
I feel like the white makes them pop against the rocks a bit more. Now I just have to give a little more brown touch-ups to the rocks around them. Once I finished that, I gave the backgrounds a second blue coat, and then added some clouds and some dark brown on the bottom of the first background board:
For kicks I brought it into the house and set it up behind the Ark. It's trending towards how I want it to look, next week I'll hopefully have a chance to really add some depth and detail to the mountains on the backgrounds.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Wed May 05, 2021 6:19 am
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Thu May 06, 2021 9:10 pm
Prime: "Grapple look, there's so much room for activites!"
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Sun May 09, 2021 7:47 pm
Right now I'm in the process of gathering material and measuring the walls of the interior Ark. I have a lot of things I want to do, but I want to have a solid plan of how I'm going to build this first. Which leads me to my next question. How I'm going to tackle the problem of Teletraan-1. In a perfect world I would love to have the iGear Teletraan-1 set, but the prices for that set I have found are absolutely insane. I saw a 3D printed version CybertronSurgery.com offers, as well as the X2Toys BG-A2 masterpiece size one. Does anyone else know of any other 3rd party Teletraan-1's out there? I could probably printout the version from Mandingo Rex that he did along with the Ark walls. Ideally I'd like to have it be plastic and not foam core though.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Fri May 14, 2021 3:12 pm
That's what Grapple said too.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Fri May 14, 2021 9:56 pm
I made the whole front view screen on a hinge so that it moves forward to allow a cellphone or any kind of viewing screen to be inserted into the slot.
On the back I have an open space for a LED light set up I plan on installing. Once the glue on everything is dried and I find the lights I want, I'll drill small holes for the lights to go into. I also put blue tinted plastic Lego bricks at the top which I plan on illuminating from behind as well. Then I'll glue a few raised details and put in the center console. It's hard to make out the details now, but once this thing is spray painted orange it will make sense and come together.
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Glarryg Sat May 15, 2021 9:18 am
Glarryg

The battle rages on...
Looking for: Netflix/ER Soundwave
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Re: W. I. P. G1 ARK Diorama
Posted by Maximal Prime Sat May 15, 2021 5:00 pm
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