For context, I've posted a few times with individual things I was working on, why I made them, etc. and the community on here has been awesome. I know this story is going to be of no interest to most people, and I don't blame you. The cliff notes on my sob story is, had a pretty extreme childhood when it comes to abuse. Got into collecting toys as a teenager, probably for the same reason a lot of us do, overcompensating for not having a childhood. I attempted suicide about 10 years ago, when I was in my early 20s. Started working with my hands as a way to take my mind off things. Built furniture and things. But when I lost access to a full woodshop, I decided to try and mash my love of toys, and my love of (poorly) making things together. These aren't EVERYTHING I have made, but they are everything that required genuine effort (no fully store bought displays or cardboard backdrops included, though I've got those too).  I'll give a quick breakdown, though I know it's probably not that interesting. Thank you in advance if you read all this. I know it's silly, and a bad idea to seek validation from strangers, but this community has been good to me, and there have been days where the kind words of people on here were the only thing propping me up. Thank you and enjoy.

Pic 1: Arthur Morgan from Red Dead 2 at a wilderness camp. The camp fire is made from actual wood, the flames of the fire are resin planes that I made specifically to diffuse light. The light source are 2 COB LED's that are permanently cured into the resin, and wired to a potentiometer hidden inside a bush. It was my first nature diorama, and probably my best still to this day.

Pic 2: this is a power rangers monstrosity of kit bashing. The figures are super 7 ultimates, the. Computer console is a custom 3d print, with images cured into the "screens". Zordon is an iron studios statue that has been rewired to be usb powered.

Pic 3: Abe Sapien and Hellboy in the research library. The floor is wood laminate tiling, the wall is actually wood with mahogany stain.

Pic 4: The Devil May Cry sign was wired with COB LED's and tied to a potentiometer. Rack is an asmus toys armory rack. The weapons on it are mostly Resin 3d prints I made and painted.

Pic 5: this is part of a mortal Kombat display that is in the works. Pictures are an arch and pillar that will be part of a recreation of the colloseum stage from mk9. Resin printed and painted by me.

Pic 6: this is a WIP diorama piece that started as a Resident Evil piece, and ended up being reworked into a punisher safehouse. The wainscotting panels, floor, and walls are all 3d printed, but were surfaces using different methods (for the wood surfaces, a steel brush is used to add texture before painting, for stucco / drywall, I use about 12 tiny coats to matte spray to add texture, etc.)

Pic 7: a rooftop that I added to a much larger marvel display that spans all 7 of my display cabinets on one wall. It's a 3d print, but I experimented with a technique where I used different grains of sand, and applied them to the surfaces of each... Um... Surface to get a better analogue of their intended look (thick sand for brick, thin sand for asphalt, etc.) all painted by hand as well. 

Pic 8: This onimusha diorama was kinda rough, but every single part of it needed special attention. The bamboo stalks are resin prints that were all cut, airbrushed, then hand painted to preserve the semi-trannslucent look of bamboo. The rock is model railroad gravel that was dropped into a thick PVA slurry to Cure as a defined piece. The puddles are resin. The pathetic Japanese home panel is paper soaked on coffee and glued to a shitty balsa frame.

Pic 9: this is a 3d print with tons of custom elements and kit bashed. The surface is also genuinely raw sand. This was pretty easy to do, but came out really cool I thought.

Pic 10: this phantom diorama was something I wanted to do for a long time. I made aquarium rocks to serve as the cave backdrop, made his throne, turned a stencil into an iron gate, and spent a ton of time painting.

Pic 11: this is more of a knick knack than a diorama I guess, but I like it anyway. Car is a jada toys Ford anglia. Whomping Willow is a custom print with foliage painstakingly glued piece by piece.

Pic 12: this scene took like 4 tries to get the gimmick right. The priori incantatem beam is 8 COB LED's wired in sequence, and attached to a metal frame. Then that frame had extremely high-temp hot glue added, and shaped with a hot knife. I was super stoked with how it came out.

Pic 13: it's cute. 

Pic 14: custom tiles, chamber of secrets sink made from a toothbrush holder. Came out pretty neat.

Pic 15: 3d printed a frame for a test tube, then took an old polycarb drinking glass from IKEA, and matte sprayed it to give the frosted look, and stuck it on a puck LED. The environment uses the "ubiquitous diorama" and a custom door.

Pic 16: 3d print, paint, you get it by now.

Pic 17: another nature scene, but took forever to hunt down the props, the fencing, making the water look good (but not too good).

Pic 18: custom 3d print, paint, and addon of new parts (hoses and various greeblies). Took two days and came out cool.

Pic 19: this onevwas tough to figure out. Used expanding insulation foam to create the cave geometry, and threw mixed grain sand on it to give it some texture. Went though after with a knife to shape it. Cut frames out of balsa and ran wires along the walls to match the original scene.the big munitions crate is a custom print with coffee paper packing. Flames are sourced from a bunch of places. The guns and ammo cans on the left are model kits I built and painted. The door at the back is a 3d print that I made, painted, then baked in the oven and warped by hand to give the illusion of iron man having busted through it.

Pic 20: technically still in progress. The I teresting bits here are the bits you can't see. There is a super-mini smoke machine hidden and wired up inside the tool chest (which is hollow) and there is a vent hole drilled to let it escape to the left to make it look like dum-e is using the extinguisher on tony.

Started Diorama Building in 2022 to Combat Depression. This is everything I've ever made (worth looking at)