28mm Diorama of Lawrence of Arabia's Ambush at Hallat Ammar (September 1917)

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My last post detailed a locomotive that I was building for a diorama. Since then I've been frantically working on the rest of it, along with Scipio and our SB5 comrades: Ollie and Mike.


The diorama was made for the Shifting Sands exhibit, which details Lawrence's involvement in the war and examines the consequences of the Great Arab Revolt that are with us in the present day. Built around the work of the GARP archaeological project, it's an outstanding exhibit and an excellent addition the the National Civil War Centre. Cannot recommend a visit enough, and not just to see our diorama.

This is the first time I've done a diorama so it was a steep learning curve, there's a lot that I'm not happy with on my side, but overall I think we recreated the ambush as described by Lawrence in his memoirs Seven Pillars of Wisdom as well as the limitations of space, resources and time allowed. But it was all experience for the next projects...

All credit for the beautiful painting of the Turks, the engine and the creation of the lovely sandbags go to Scipio, and likewise the Arabs are all Mike's handiwork. Ollie selected the miniatures and created all of the lovely shell casings scattered around, reflecting the archaeological finds and helped me put the finishing touches to everything on the last day at the museum - and a special thanks to Scipio, who on the evening before his wedding, drove to my house to do some last minute work on the diorama and then transported it in one piece to the museum. That's dedication. 

I'm not going to waffle too much, I'll just share the photos, any questions are welcome as always.

The four dioramists (author on the left showing the effects too much wine)



















And a few shots from construction, sadly I couldn't chart the progress as much as I'd have liked due to time restrictions. 






Comments

  1. Zzzzzz30 October 2016 at 16:09

    I didn't recognise you with your new hipster identity. Are you under cover ?

    obtw, nice work on the diorama. As with everything one always feels that there might be more to be done. However, that looks great. I remember seeing dispersal diorama at RAF Hendon when I was about 7. Still sharp in my mind's eye 42 years later. You could be having the same effect on another primary school boy right now.

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    1. Kieran B31 October 2016 at 20:14

      Ssshhh, don't tell anybody

      Thanks very much, if it has that effect then I'll consider it a job well done on my part, hopefully it will; I have similar memories of dioramas and displays that have stuck with me

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    2. Dai1 November 2016 at 20:11

      One for me was a WW1 diorama in the Hamleys models section. Inspired me to get into the hobby beyond Airfix aircraft that I'd worked on up until that point!

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    3. Kieran B6 November 2016 at 11:51

      Excellent stuff, I think the first diorama or rather display that stuck in my mind was the Dambusters one at Eden Camp

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  2. The Kiwi31 October 2016 at 00:20

    Awesome. Great result. Well done all of you. cheers

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  3. Kieran B31 October 2016 at 20:15

    Thanks very much Phil

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  4. Mordian7th31 October 2016 at 23:06

    That is seriously cool - awesome work all around!

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    1. Kieran B6 November 2016 at 11:50

      Thanks very much, definitely the reaction I was hoping for

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  5. Dai1 November 2016 at 20:14

    On display in a musuem no less!!?? That's like, all serious and grown up and stuff. Impressive too!

    Very nicely done to you all. You sound like you're proud enough, you should be. I'm proud of you, if that amounts to anything.

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    1. Kieran B6 November 2016 at 11:47

      Thank you very much Dai, really appreciate that, definitely amounts to something. I am proud of what we've done just know it could have been better. But there's already another one in the pipeline... Far too serious and grown up

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  6. Admiral Drax1 December 2016 at 00:15

    Oh, just brilliant: bloomin' well done you chaps!

    Very impressed by the maturity so obviously on display right here...!

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    1. Kieran B2 January 2017 at 12:55

      Thank you very much sir, really appreciate that - maturity is not a word we're usually associated with

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  7. Col. Ackland20 August 2017 at 09:14

    I've been off my blog for a long while so I missed this. I just had to say WOW! That is some other level of modelling! Simply stunning.

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    1. Kieran B17 April 2018 at 18:57

      Blimey I've been off of my blog even longer it seems, thank you very much sir, very kind of you to say

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