Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

News Credits: 1 · by **The_Cryptid_Person** » Mon Apr 05, 2021 11:57 pm

This project is nothing short of epic and each update is a joy to read. Thanks for posting this here for everyone to see !

by **North Sunrider** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:33 am

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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 8:36 am

A small update:
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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:48 pm

The first coat of Rust-oleum took like a champ and was dry to the touch in less than 2 hours. Gave it a little more time than that and spent the day adding a few different color coats. I used Rust-oleum Satin Warm Caramel and Satin Nutmeg to give it some contrast.

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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 6:57 pm

Last post for a week, work and family obligations take priority. Grapple and Hoist will have to pick up the slack this week. :lol:

by **Maximal Prime** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 1:05 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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 1:11 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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:24 am

Small update: I did manage to paint and finish the road going into the Ark. I also touched up a few chips to the paint on the Ark. This week will be spent adding more filler to the mountain and finishing the paint touch ups on the Ark.

by **Maximal Prime** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:50 am

While I spend this week applying filler, painting touch-ups to the exterior and waiting for it to dry each time, I wanted to start brainstorming what I was going to do with the interior of the Ark. (Grapple called in some extra brainpower as you can see.) I cut some cardboard pieces to line the walls and ceiling of the Dinobot cave, which I'll be spraying with foam. I've got something really cool planned for the interior of the cave, but I can't spray foam it until it comes in the mail.

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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Sat Apr 17, 2021 7:21 pm

So my surprise project piece came in the mail earlier than expected.

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.

: 300px-SOSDinobots_fossilcavern.jpg (16.33 KiB) Viewed 187841 times

News Credits: 1 · by **Fuhzimota** » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:26 am

Absolutely brilliant ideas all around. After your beautiful paint apps so far, I can't wait to see the finished Dinobot cavern. I'm calling it now - Masterpiece Diorama 01. We are not worthy. :BOWDOWN:

by **Maximal Prime** » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:48 am

Now I'm getting somewhere. It's a beautiful day to paint the front of the mountain. I'll hit the really small spots with a brush by hand later.

by **Maximal Prime** » Sun Apr 18, 2021 3:01 pm

Last post for a few days, I gave it some mixed colors, let it dry and brought it inside. Next week I'm going to give it a paint touch-up where the two bases meet for a more seamless look.

by **Maximal Prime** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:34 pm

I managed to cut all the foam for the cave pieces this week, as well as apply compound filler.

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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Sat Apr 24, 2021 5:57 pm

I did manage to get a little painting done with some decent weather today, the fossil/rock walls are mostly painted and drying I just have some little touch-ups on the bones themselves. I also painted the frame of the door, added some dry-brush weathering and then added a flat, dull clear coat. I'm going to glue that in place and let it dry until monday. Hopefully monday I can start putting the cave together!

by **Maximal Prime** » Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:06 pm

Big update! Finally got a few things accomplished the last few days. I drilled a hole in the bottom corner of the mountain to fit the cord for the LED lights from the tunnel, and ran the cord up into the ceiling of the Dinobot cave.

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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:08 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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:42 pm

Finished brushing the dinosaur fossils white this morning:

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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Wed May 05, 2021 5:19 am

Since I haven't gotten a chance to paint this week, I added a little greenery to the outside last night. I found these 5" trees on clearance at the hobby store and picked a few up. I drilled a few holes in the base, added some spray glue and sprinkled some diorama grass from the hobby store. Dipped the tree in some Loc-Tite glue and planted a few trees. I played around with a few camera angles as well.

by **Maximal Prime** » Thu May 06, 2021 8:10 pm

It might not seem like much, but I did manage to spray glue the entire Ark floor to the MDF base and spray paint the whole floor using Rustoleum Metallic Rust today. Saturday I have to draw the grid and panel lines in the floor and give it a protective clear coat.

Prime: "Grapple look, there's so much room for activites!"

by **Maximal Prime** » Sun May 09, 2021 6:47 pm

Very small update...with a looming 72 hour workweek starting tomorrow I probably won't have much time to work on the Ark this week. I did manage to draw out most of the grid lines on the interior floor of the Ark, as well as gluing the smaller fossil rocks to the ground and spray painting the floor of the cave.

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.

by **Maximal Prime** » Fri May 14, 2021 2:12 pm

You know that end credit scene at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron where Thanos says "Fine, I'll do it myself." ?

That's what Grapple said too.

by **Maximal Prime** » Fri May 14, 2021 8:56 pm

Well, I solved the Teletraan-1 problem. Built one in a day using Lego's from my 13 year old son who not only gave them to me for the project but helped me build it. Cost me $0. I owe ya son.

It's 9 inches tall x 9 inches wide.

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.

by **Glarryg** » Sat May 15, 2021 8:18 am

This is awesome work. I love it! :APPLAUSE:

Glarryg

by **Maximal Prime** » Sat May 15, 2021 4:00 pm

I added a companion piece today for the Teletraan-1 I did yesterday. It will have a LED light up feature on the left side and the top lid is on a hinge so there's room to put the light on the inside. I also added a joystick and have a spot on the lid for a sky spy I plan on making as well.