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Dioramica 2016

Posted by DickerThomas on 24 Nov 2016, 08:22

Hello everyone, :-D

the dioramica was a very, very interesting weekend :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: .. the most interesting since a long time .. many thanks to wolfgang and his crew for this fascinating event... :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I was happy to meet so many people there ... Ray i hope your wife got better from her cold... :yeah: :yeah:

somehow i missed some of you guys (Mr. Cryns, Torsten (stenfalk) and many more ) .. :oops: :oops: .. sorry maybe it would have been better to wear some idendification at an event like this .. :oops: :oops: .. instead of thinking everyone would recognize me .. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Congratulations to a the winners :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: but i think all of the shown dio's were great .. :love1: :love1: :love1:
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DickerThomas  Germany
 
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Posted by Kekso on 24 Nov 2016, 09:04

Mr. Cryns wrote:Dioramica 2016 was the greatest figures&modeling event I have ever witnessed in my entire life.


For this blasphemy you will be banned from FIGZ :xd: :xd: :xd:
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Kekso  Croatia

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Posted by Susofrick on 24 Nov 2016, 10:58

It would have been great fun to have been there, but we have the pics at least.
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Susofrick  Sweden
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Posted by Cryns on 24 Nov 2016, 13:36

Peter wrote: Did you give him a coffee? Dutch they never change! Always trying to get everything for free! :mrgreen:

Yes we Dutch people are very succesfull in this. It must be because everybody likes us so much. What really happened is this: I invited Stenfalk to join me to the bar, I offered him a coffee and let him pay for both of us :mrgreen:
They also call that Calvinism.

Kekso wrote:you will be banned from FIGZ

Thanks for these positive words, mate :notworthy: :yeah:
But for you Kekso there is a lot of work to do now :mrgreen:
There are 3 different topics now, all dealing with reports and pictures of the Dioramica. One started by Thomas Mischak, one by Koppi and the third one is the continuation of the upcoming events topic.

We all wait in eager to see if you will be able to put all 3 topics together without losing the links, without losing the likes, without losing the pictures and without losing the right following order of date and time. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Come on Kekso, come on, show us your skills as a thrue moderator!! Or do you need Peters help now? :xd: :xd: :xd:

Regards from Mr. Crystal who likes to keep Benno's Forum clean and clear. ;-)
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Cryns  Netherlands

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Posted by Kekso on 24 Nov 2016, 14:08

I don't have moderator skills at all and Peter does all job for me :P

Topic from Wolfgang is in the Upcoming events subforum and topic from Thomas is in the Visited events subforum. They shouldn't be merged. And topic from Koppi is just advertising his blog.
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Kekso  Croatia

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Posted by stenfalk on 24 Nov 2016, 14:55

Mr. Cryns wrote:Yes we Dutch people are very succesfull in this. It must be because everybody likes us so much. What really happened is this: I invited Stenfalk to join me to the bar, I offered him a coffee and let him pay for both of us :mrgreen:


Also to be considered: Which i still think so far is it didn't lack a lot and i would have paid him also his pea soup. Who can explain it to me? :eh: :shock: ;-)
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Posted by Peter on 24 Nov 2016, 17:14

stenfalk wrote:
Yes, of course, and the Germans pay! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

No seriously: Peter, in 1/72 scale i always think globally. If i could, each of you would get a coffee from me.

:coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee:

See you at FIGZ! :mrgreen:
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by Peter on 24 Nov 2016, 17:33

Kekso wrote:I don't have moderator skills at all and Peter does all job for me :P

Tell me something new! I know I'm the only working moderator on this forum! :mrgreen:
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Posted by Cryns on 26 Nov 2016, 15:16

Thank you all for posting your pictures of Dioramica 2016.
Almost all of these were bird's-eye views of the diorama's and documentary shots of the participators and their faces.

Time to go a little closer to what participators made and what they did:

These are the newest Lituanian horsemen by Franznap:
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Herr Schilling invited Franznap to have a look at how his models are getting molded:

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Franznap works together with Schilling because of Schillings high quality, he told me. But I think today Franznap regretted this coöperation. The confusion was complete because Schilling tried to speak English and Franznap tried to speak German that sounded like Dutch.

Franznap: "When you casted my French Pontoniers last spring you broke three of my models."
Schilling: "That's correct."
Franznap: "Was that necessary?"
Schilling: "It happened because you did not wash your hands."
Franznap: "What?"
Schilling: "If you don't wash your hands before sculpting, your models brake when I make the mold."
Franznap: "You must be kidding!"
Schilling: "No. When I receive your models by post, I can see if you washed your hands or if you didn't. In case you did not, grease and dirt sticks between the different layers of the sculpting putty. There your model breaks when I push it into the silicone. You finally understand it now?"
Franznap: "Maybe you pressed too hard?"
Schilling: "I pressed too hard? I pressed too hard? :mad:
Well, I think today you better do it yourself then!"

So Franznap is switching positions with Schilling who asks him to press the silicon slice on top of the models. Franznap is carefull, fearing the fierce torment of Herr Schilling, and is pressing very very gentle.

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Then both gentlemen hear a little sound: "KNACK"
Franznap looks shocked at Schilling.
Franznap: "Did I break it?"
Schilling looks at him. He starts laughing and dancing (he really did).
Schilling: "Yes! Yes you did! You broke it yourself! You broke it yourself! Its because you did not wash your hands! I am so happy today! Yes! Yes!"
Franznap gets silent. He watches both of his own hands. And leaves for the toilet to wash them.

This is what the pre-mold looked like before the topslice was added:

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Green silicone is hardest, blue is softer and orange is the softest. These little colored pieces of silicone were added to adjust undercuttings and difficult shapes in the models and mold. The process is called vulcanisation. The silicon swells after heating so creates high pressure by which the molding material is pressed tight around the models. At least, this is what I understood of it.

Meanwhile Herr Schmäling from Art Miniaturen joins the session and watches Schilling with great interest:

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Schmäling: "Oh, that looks good Herr Schilling. I will try that at home. I have still some of those silicone slices in stock."
Schilling: "For how long?"
Schmäling: "Well... seven... or eight maybe?"
Schilling: "Weeks?"
Schmäling: "Months."
Schilling: "Eight months! You fool! Out of my sight! Eight months! The shelf life is only two months. After that you must throw it away! If you use it after those two months your castings will look terrible!"
Schmäling: "Wolfgang and Patrick just ordered 28.000 of my Austrians, Bavarians and French for their new Lobau Island diorama. These guys think great. They think of masses, not of individuals. And since they will have all of my figures painted by Sri Lankese ladies, they never have to have a real close look at my home casted figures themselves. So you should not worry to much about the shelf life of my silicone, Herr Schilling."
Schilling: "Please shut up and go away."

I was happy to see after this session Schilling, Schmäling and Franznap are still good friends. Schilling has a remarkable karakter. And he is a great professional indeed.

Here are some future Skytians from Frankzett, they will be produced by Hagen Miniatures:

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The man laying down is about to mount his horse.

Some remarkable details: Frank makes all faces separate before attaching them to his copperwire frames. He sculpts these faces on the side of a wooden toothpic (I'm sorry I forgot to take a pic of that) which have exactly the same width as a 1:72 scale human face. After hardening, he removes the face from the toothpic and ads it to his figure. He always has a lot of wire-frames ready. When he has putty mix leftovers that are getting stiff at the end of a sculpting session, he ads these to the wire frames as basic body mass. To safe material and so to safe money. Frank is a professional archeologist. That explains why his critics to ancient subjects often make so much sense. He brought a treasure of layouts, designs and copies of texts and illustrations with him, all about ancient subjects like galley's and dress. It made me wild.

This is the extraordinary work for a Rocroi diorama by Denis Huré who lives in Rocroi himself as I understood.

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The thing at the left looking like Spongebob is the raw shape of a horseman.
Denis is not sculpting them, he is sawing, sanding and cutting his resin figures, so his method is completely different from all other sculptors. Only as a final touch he is adding some putty for buttons and other small details. Miniature weapons and tools come separate of course, just like the heads for making lots of variations.

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This is Alfred Umhey, doing something I have never seen before:

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He converts plastic figures with a soldering iron:

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The first result is pretty rough but it can be polished before painting and melting the plastic is stronger than glueing it. And his purpose is for the great masses of figures, not the individual models. I was surprised to hear he is the man behind all the great, massive group-build diorama's that were exposed every year at the DUZI in Wesel. Here at Dioramica he participated in the Hastings diorama.

Also he made this diorama together with his brother Roland:

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Lots of daily life scenes behind the WWI front line going on just in one big diorama. Almost every figure is a conversion. The glossy varnish of the figures gave it an antiquarian look. A bit like the whole diorama had been made during the interbellum. A real curiosity.

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This man you all know already. He is half human, half god. Where ever he goes, there are sparkling stars above his head:

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He has many followers. Among the most talented dioramabuilders present at Dioramica, several of them made almost exact copies of this man's work, using this man's figures and his techniques.

People told me he is very good in doing modeling water. I think these people are right:
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They told me he is good at killing animals. I think that's right too:

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...just like he is good at breaking pots...

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...and destroying mother nature:

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But he is also a talented musician and painter:

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At Benno's Forum he calls himself Entrauner and he invited me to sit next to him at breakfast.

Entrauner: "Do you know how I became a professional modeler? As a nine years old boy I made my first diorama and showed it proudly to my father who was a professional wood model ship builder. My father looked at my diorama in disdain and said: 'Thats nothing! Its no good, son. I am realy disappointed in you.' For me that was a hard lesson. But also the best lesson a father could give his son. So I started all over again, destroyed my first diorama and build a second one that was much better already."
Mr. Cryns: "I see, Herr Trauner, I see, a nice story. Now let me tell you about my own father. He was an art&crafts teacher. When I was seven years old he helped me building my first diorama at home. When it was finished he was very satisfied with the result. But I was not. I destroyed all of my fathers work and replaced it with mine. Only then I was satisfied."
Everybody listening to our conversation was laughing very loud.
Entrauner: "You are susch a funny guy, Mr. Cryns."
But I am afraid he did not realise I was deadly serious.

However, it was my greatest pleasure to meet him.

At every modelling event there are people walking around with secret little boxes in their pockets. What's in those boxes is carefully hidden for the crowds and only exposed to the eyes of picked persons:

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I remember ten years ago a teenage boy called Benno came to me at the Duzi and showed me some of his Napoleonic figures that were hidden in a small wooden box. He liked to hear my opinion. I thought (and said) it was excellent brushwork.

At Dioramica there were at least three people walking around with such secret boxes in their pockets. The first one I met was Thomas Willers who had the most fantastic renaissance figures sculpted by Alex and painted by himself with him.

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I was delighted to see his paintingwork and honored to place them on my gaming table. Look at their faces. Isn't it great? It was the first time I had Alex' figures in my own hands and on one of my tables. :-D

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A silent man with very strong hands witnessed this. He had something hidden in his pocket too. It was a Highland cow. It turned out to be Stenfalk whose work I proudly placed on my other, much more fertile looking gaming table:

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Stenfalk, I look forward to see this Highlander painted by your own hands.

The third man with a secret box in his pocket was myself but that story is for another topic in this forum.

One of the most remarkable details I discovered was part of Rüdiger Fischers gold winning vignette 'Bootsfahrt zu Rheinsberg' :

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Look at the carpet. Its real! :shock: Its microscopic woven fabric. Kostis, if you read this, I am sure this will interest you. Its another way of making embroidery patterns but Herr Fischer told me he bought it and did not make it himself.
But apart from this I think Fischer is a remarkable modeler who displayed lots of fantastic work.

Look at the ceiling of this palace hall: in this (old) picture in Wolfgangs post the plafond had this 1970's laminated wood look:

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Fischer must be one of those people who is never completely satisfied, never says a diorama is finished and always prepared to improve it and listen to critics of other people. Thats what I like so much about him and his work. Look what happened to the ceiling before he took it to Dioramica:

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Some real baroque art added!

Wolfgang Hartungs medieval siege has been photographed and posted a lot already. And that has a reason:

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A big diorama with lots of perfectionism up to the smallest details. The siege tower, the wooden constructions covering the castle wall and many of the siege engines were build by himself, using cardboard. I think the result is excellent. The design of the siege tower was inspired by the much larger Elastolin model, he told me.

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Remarkable was the fact that another of his diorama's, a town with Napoleonic figures, was in the high background and added to the greatness of this medieval subject:

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Enough for today. I may continue this report later on, because there was more interesting things that I would like to share with you.
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Posted by Wolfgang Meyer on 26 Nov 2016, 15:36

@Mr. Cryns

fantastic report :yeah: :-D
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Posted by C M Dodson on 26 Nov 2016, 17:22

An excellent review of what went on and some nice anecdotes regarding our manufacturing friends. I do hope that they are all friends now as I use all of them myself.

The Lobau island sounds interesting. I have a hankering to fight Aspern Essling in the future and part of that would be Lobau.

The picture angles are great and reward the effort taken.

Some lovely ideas and I look forward to seeing some more.

Best wishes,

Chris
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Posted by MABO on 26 Nov 2016, 17:30

Hello Lodewijk,

you are telling interesting stories. If you have some more, let us know. The story of Eric moved my heart.
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Posted by Kostis Ornerakis on 26 Nov 2016, 20:20

Thank you Mr. Cryns for that excellent report. :notworthy:
You could bet that I was reading the article. :-D For the accuracy I admired like a child with an open mouth. Of course I was the most impressed from vignette „Bootsfahrt zu Rheinsberg“ and not only from the carpet. :thumbup:
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Kostis Ornerakis  Greece

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Posted by dirk on 26 Nov 2016, 20:51

Very good report, thank you Lodewyk ! :yeah:
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Posted by napoleonpati on 27 Nov 2016, 03:03

Hello Lodewyk,
a great Report.
Nice greetings to your wife from Patrick and Daniela
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Posted by Beano Boy on 27 Nov 2016, 08:00

Well that was and is the way English should be set down.
Yes Mr. Cryns , Bunny Ears ,Lodewyk,my friend you are learning the art of writing in English prose.
A very good and fine report. You left the Director side of your life aside, and in this instance became a Narrator upon people and grande events. Well done. :thumbup: BB
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Posted by entrauner on 27 Nov 2016, 10:40

hello Wickerl, my friend! thank you very much for featuring my work in your excellent and ultimate crynsy report :)
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Posted by despertaferro on 27 Nov 2016, 12:54

Very interesting report! :-D

Imaginative and funny storytelling... If you ever need a DoP, just let me know... 8)
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Posted by Erich von Manstein on 27 Nov 2016, 13:17

Thanks a lot for sharing these impressive & inspiring pictures and -of course- for your very worthwhile report. :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

If there is a Dioramica next year, I really hope to make it there.
So much dedication for this hobby, gathered in one place for one weekend...
Will put this event on a "have to do, definitely" list, just as the great FIGZ meeting.

Again, thank you very much for sharing. :thumbup:
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