Ride the Line final built images 1-24 scale diorama

[Stickframe]

Hello model builders,

Unhappily for me, this build is now complete. Unhappily because this was a lot of fun to make!

The project is loosely based on the film “Stalker” which our very own @KoSprueone shared in a thread in the railroad section. In brief it is the story of some travelers making their way across a tormented landscape to enter the “zone” via railroad speeder to find what they are looking for. The cinematography is pretty cool, including ambient, urban, rural, and post industrial settings.

While not action packed, long, and with subtitles, the remarkable settings inspired this project, which is the story of a small group of travelers making their way to the end of the road to a railhead where one will ride into the abyss on a railroad bike -

OK, lets go:

Our most intense character, not to be messed with -

Crossing the old bridge to meet the railhead

Our character heading out on the rails:

And his partner, less resolute, maybe forlorn:

The other side of the landing, where the bridge is out:

A desolate place:

Their trusty rig took them as far as the road goes:

A short view of a long ride

Let’s get out of here -

While I was at this, I discovered the software I was using to layer the cutout images of the model over a backdrop, would provide me with some other choices - lol - wow:

And with that, we can wish our travelers well, and head on to another project -

thanks for having a look!

Cheers
Nick

[KoSprueone]

The detailed realism is astounding. I like your topography design of this diorama. Talk about the fluorescent light tubes and how you made them look like they are on, or did you already cover that in the WIP thread?

[KoSprueone]

And thanks for the mention and yeah stalker is such a great psychological adventure film with a lot of cool scenes for models and diorama ideas such as “Ride the Line”

[Johnnych01]

This is one that will need to be revisited several times to get all the little detail gems. It is a masterclass in building and how you weather it to get those looks on the metal and in fact, every part of it. Beautiful scene, and easily another gold award if it was entered into anything. Bravo Nick !!

[HAVSUM206]

This is absolutely amazing and stunning!! So well done.

[agincajun]

@Stickframe

. . . this was a lot of fun to make!

Nick I feel like I speak for all of us following your project that we had as much fun watching your progress and seeing the diorama grow, very realistic scenery but your photo background as always, is what makes it come alive.

Cajun

[MoramarthT]

@Stickframe

thanks for having a look!

It’s us who should be the ones giving thanks, primarily to yourself for this awesome display of artistry (“modelling” and “Diorama building” simply do not do justice justice to your achievement) but also to Tarkovsky and the Strugatsky brothers for the inspiring source material.

Regards,

M

[KoSprueone]

@MoramarthT

but also to Tarkovsky and the Strugatsky brothers for the inspiring source material.

well said

[Dioramartin]

Anyone else looked at those images & noticed jaw was hanging open for some time?

It’s kinda mind-melting to isolate pretty much any square inch from any image and work out what had to be done to make the elements within that window look like they do. Then multiply by a hundred or so. Then bandage head to prevent explosion.

Nick promise me you’ll add a Diorama tag to the Sci-fi one, you really need to make all those contributors choke on their breakfast too like I did Just brilliant

[Karl187]

This is amazing Nick, to put it simply. The level of realism you manage to achieve is hard to comprehend- as others have said your work often requires multiple viewings and study both to appreciate but also to work out how you did it! The way you have done the inside of this decrepit old building is my favourite of the whole thing- the various bits of weathering on the steel, the wood and the concrete- the weeds sprouting up from the corners and the cracked floor, wires and cables hanging randomly as it falls apart, random bits of equipment left to the dust and decay- it all speaks wonderfully to the idea of neglect and desolation.

[Edson_Alves]

Absolute perfect, I loved it!

[Robert_Goldman]

This post apocalyptic vision is starkly beautiful. Nice job..
Hey kids welcome to the future Chicago.. Detroit, etc…

[MoramarthT]

@Robert_Goldman

Hey kids welcome to the future Chicago.. Detroit, etc…

But I thought they looked like that already?

Cheers,

M

[Robert_Goldman]

Oh I just love what you did to the place

[srmalloy]

They’re definitely not getting their deposit back…

[Stickframe]

Hi Model Builders,

Thanks to you all, I really appreciate it. This turned out to be a really fun project.

@KoSprueone, the lights are made by plastruct, they are colored acrylic rod - which, in the right light glow! I wish I could say it was fully planned design genius, but not really. I purchased several packs of these years ago from a hobby shop closeout - they were cheap and looked cool, and every now and then they are pretty helpful.

@Johnnych01, thanks very much. This is a project where having built a few similar pieces of parts really paid off. The difference was bringing all of it together at one time!

@HAVSUM206 , thanks!

@agincajun, well thank you - I enjoy building these, and am glad you guys like to see them as they go. I must say, I skim through the various categories here looking for techniques and ideas. Even completely unrelated projects offer good insight on how to handle things and solve problems, so hope some of this is useful too.

@MoramarthT Ha! you know the source material! The movie provides a lot of base materials for ideas!

@Dioramartin, thanks, Tim. Yes, you are certainly aware of the headaches of taking and cleaning up dio photos!

@Karl187, thanks for noticing the interior - it was none other than our old colleague Jerry Rutman @JRutman who drilled into my head the importance of building random that is in fact apparently random - I have discovered this a lot easier said than done

@Edson_Alves, thanks very much

@Robert_Goldman , thanks - you know, when I started this the plan was to build a pretty sparse project and rely more on overall atmosphere than singularly important objects. While there is a lot of detail, the actual structure/objects are pretty minimal, or as you said, stark.

Thanks very much for having a look and taking some time to leave your comments

Cheers

Nick

[SSGToms]

Nick, I’ve been lurking this whole time and watching your progress. Congratulations. This is a masterpiece. Simply outstanding work with a 1:1 scale look to it everywhere. Very well done. You should be proud.

[JRutman]

I will break radio silence to congratulate your finished artwork. All the hallmarks of your style are on display and so impressive as usual.

J