PlaymoFriends
General => Community Events => Topic started by: skypurr on September 09, 2011, 21:40:34
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This is the diorama that I have always wanted to do. It was very hard to plan because although I had the image of what I wanted to create in my head, it was hard to put it down on paper and because of lack of space at home I couldn't create it beforehand.
All I could do was plan how much steck I would need for each tower, building etc. and make sure I had all I needed.
In the end it went together surprising quickly and was more or less how I had imagined it.
To give the impression that the castle was surrounded by rocks and high up, I used an 8x4 foot board on top of tables and used underbed storage boxes with another 8x4 foot board on top of these and built the castle on top. One problem with this was that being only 5'2" I couldn't reach to put things in place. Luckily Damo was around on Friday to carefully climb on the tables and put everything in place.
There are lots of photos because I wanted to show all the different parts of the castle and village...
First, Hogsmeade Village...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade1.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade-1.jpg)
The Hogwarts Express in the station...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmead3.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmead2.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade4.jpg)
A later photo taken when Gorden had taken his carriages home...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwartsexpress.jpg)
The Owl Post Office... (One of the things visitors could do was to count the owls in Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade7.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade6.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade5.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/owlpo.jpg)
The Three broomsticks...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade9.jpg)
The Hog's Head...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade8.jpg)
The Shrieking Shack...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade11.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade12.jpg)
Hogwarts Castle...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts1.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts4.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts22.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts21.jpg)
Hagrid's Hut...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts5.jpg)
Harry Ron and Hermione with Hagrid in his pumpkin patch...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts6.jpg)
The Whomping Willow...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts17.jpg)
The giant squid in the lake...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts7.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeadebridge.jpg)
Professor Snape in one of the towers...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts16.jpg)
Professor McGonagall, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts13.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts12.jpg)
The tower containing Professor Dumbledore's Office...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts10.jpg)
The Owlery...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts9.jpg)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts14.jpg)
Flying lesson...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts11.jpg)
Inside the castle grounds...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogwarts8.jpg)
Hogwarts staff and students...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/studentsandstaff.jpg)
and finally, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Hagrid...(can you work out how I made Hagrid?)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/harryronhermioneandhagrid.jpg)
Hope you like what I have attempted to create.
I'm planning on taking this to Knaresborough so hope to make more of the other shops in the village by then and make more students and teachers, so watch this space!
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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Great buildings, great customized figures of the main characters.
Thanks for sharing, Elaine.
Hm, could Hagrid's legs be taken from one of the "temple guardians" that go with the treasure hunter theme?
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It was a fine creation, Elaine! - I really cannot wait to see the improved version for Knaresborough!
Ah, what fun we had putting it together :lol: Steck flying everywhere! 8}
Damo :)
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That looks great! (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/luwerner/gif/clapping.gif)
Nice to be able to "go wild" ;).
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:wow: :wow: :wow:
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Great structural work, you really get the castle feel out of it. Nice work on the figures too, just right
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Hm, could Hagrid's legs be taken from one of the "temple guardians" that go with the treasure hunter theme?
Yes, it was this one http://playmodb.org/backs/4848_back.jpg
I wanted to make him taller than the rest and this was all I could think of to use. I had to remove his knees first though!
Ah, what fun we had putting it together :lol: Steck flying everywhere! 8}
Damo :)
I'd forgotten about that :lol:
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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Forgot to say "Thank You" to Walter for giving me the train to customise.
He did remove the motor first so I didn't feel so bad about painting it!
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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Forgot to say "Thank You" to Walter for giving me the train to customise.
He did remove the motor first so I didn't feel so back about painting it!
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
It looked great, but I still don't agree with it! :lol:
btw, the 4052 would look amazing! :evilplan:
Damo :)
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Great buildings, great customized figures of the main characters.
Indeed! :yup: :)9
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It looked great, but I still don't agree with it! :lol:
btw, the 4052 would look amazing! :evilplan:
Damo :)
Yes, that's what I would have liked, but I was grateful for what I was given!
Mind if you had a spare 4052 I could customise it in time for Knaresborough ;D
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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Wow! :o Great setup and the characters look awesome. Gotta show these pics to my mom. She is a Harry Potter freak!
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i think its great
the castle looks stunning
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I tried to make a post this morning but the computer went odd. This is my dream project Eliane and I have really enjoyed looking at the photos. I love the way you have kept to the story with things like the giant squid and the whomping willow. I have scoured ebay for the 'hogwarts uniform' figure and own about three, but how did you do those grey jumpers and where did you get the one Hermione is wearing? Great work on Hagrid to, as he is always a challenge - love your thinking!
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I love every small deatil of this dio!. Hagrid is awesome and the use of those legs is genious! :love:
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This is an AWESOME!!! Diorama Elaine. A shame you don't have the room to keep it set up at home and do some photo stories.
Looking forward to your planned improvements!
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Thanks for the photos, Elaine. There was a lot of detail I missed when I was looking at it in real life.
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Severus is the best! ;D
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Thank you everyone for your lovely comments, I can't wait to be able to set it up again. Should be more owls too next time - they keep arriving with the post! :lol:
I have scoured ebay for the 'hogwarts uniform' figure and own about three, but how did you do those grey jumpers and where did you get the one Hermione is wearing? Great work on Hagrid to, as he is always a challenge - love your thinking!
Thank you Linda, I was hoping to be able to order the coach driver from ds but he wasn't available so in the end I found all the spare klickies I could with black legs (that's why the number of students was limited this time, but I'm working on more for Knaresborough) took them apart and sprayed the arms and torsos with grey paint - I ended up using primer as I wanted a matt paint and this was the only one I could get locally. I then painted on a white v for the shirt and marked on the collar and tie and stripes around the neck of the sweater with permanent markers. (At least I was sold them as permanent but as you can see in this photo I think it is starting to come off so I will try and paint them with a very fine brush for next time.)
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/studentscloseup.jpg)
Hermione's top was just a spare lady's torso I had that I painted in the same way.
I was running out of time so used a custom painted tartan skirt I already had for McGonagall but think I will change it to a green tartan one.
Hope this helps,
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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hello elain :)
i somehow missed this thread ??? excellent work :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:
what did you use to paint this house? it looks so real !!!! :o :o :o :o :o
The Shrieking Shack...
(http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac300/skypurr/hogsmeade11.jpg)
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The castle is absolutely breathtaking dear Elaine :wave:
So many details to enjoy :love:
Karim :)
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amazing simply wonderful. i remained stunned. wow i think this is one of my favorite custom ever. wow. keep up the great job elaine hope maybe to see more. wowwwww
:blackhair:
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A belated thanks for the information on how you did the uniforms elaine! My thoughts went to Hogwarts yesterday when I received some castle steck and we made a Hogwarts room with it. I want so much more steck do I can make a model like yours :love:
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Really a great customs.
Lots of lovely details.
Thanks for sharing.
Schluss
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Great work but i really dont understand why in so many such big steck designs their creator dont use toasters to fill all these hols and make them look as proper steck, i really find these holes rather ugly and they spoil the greatness of such designs :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:
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some of us just havent got the toast to spare... :'( :lol:
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I don't want to take Elaine's topic too far off - but there are different views about the 'toast' fillers. I always use them, but Martin Milner across town never does. His view is that real castles have holes all over them anyway so it's reasonable to leave them empty. I like mine to be as comfortable as possible. I even cover over the stone end gable windows with a piece of the bottle-glass to keep the cold air out. I would bet in Elaine's case it was mostly due to being so rushed to get things done for the event.
I'm wondering if this thread should maybe be moved to Diaramas instead of events?
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Great work but i really dont understand why in so many such big steck designs their creator dont use toasters to fill all these hols and make them look as proper steck, i really find these holes rather ugly and they spoil the greatness of such designs :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:
Actually although it took so much time to put in the toasts I actually ran out of them - I had I thought, ordered some last minute from ds but when the order arrived I found I'd not added them to what had been a very long list :-[ it was then too late to order them again.
I know that those of us here notice such things, but I doubt if the visitors for whom the event was organised noticed that they were missing! :)
I'll try harder next time George ;D - BTW do you have any to spare? ;D
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
Edit: It's fine by me if the mods want to move this to dioramas.
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Elaine , first let me emphasive the word ' impressive design ' i mentioned in my prev email as i dont want to be misunderstood .... this design is indeed impressive as a steck hardcore i cant see steck without toasts .. I had a difficulty finding them on ebay about a year ago as i didnt know back then how to phrase them etc etc :lol: :lol: :lol: :-[ :-[ :-[.... I have a few left from my grand design but not enough to fill all my existing steck.. i actually plan to buy a few hundred from DS when the bakery is finally down here . when i get my toast order i will sent you some as i love your designs etc and that would a tiny gift i would love to make . please pm me you r details queen Elaine and post more pictures of your srteck designs. i love steck so much its my favourite playmo thingie by far !!!! :love: :love:
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I was only joking George :lol:
I agree that they don't look right with the holes.
Are you sure that you can't get them from ds now? We don't have the bakery in the UK but I was able to order parts from it back in July? It's worth a try.
I am also going to order chimneys for all my houses; I thought I'd try ordering two back in July, but stupidly put the wrong part number and got two grey and white horses :doh: ;D
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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I can't remember if Daniela has ever posted her Harry Potter figures here. She has a set she made, very nice.
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I am also going to order chimneys for all my houses;
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
Now , thats a GRAND idea QUEEN ELAINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:
I just need eeerrr about 32 chimneys then !!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Fantastic customs. I have just noticed this thread.
Beautiful and detailed job!!