This small diorama gives a grand feeling. An urban context where the fusion takes place between the urban fabric, such as various forms of infrastructure. Pedestrians, cyclists, space for car traffic and of course rail traffic all have a place, which seamlessly merge into each other. The beautiful and ingenious details ensure that the attention of the viewers remains for a long time. Imagining how you would move through this environment yourself, and what you would feel and do is tempting. Or otherwise how you can also make something so cool in model. That is why we would like to take a moment in this showcase to reflect on the beautiful details and the ingenuity of Luc Dooms involved.
There are many small things that often subtly breathe a high degree of ingenuity. Things that make the life of the model builder easier or make the diorama a lot more lively. And then preferably with only small interventions on the usually standard construction kits and construction methods. Take the telephone booth with the open door. Of course, it is only a small task to leave the door ajar during construction. But of course it has to be thought about from the very first minute. And what is the story? Did the spring that normally always closes the door firmly give up ? Or did the last caller suddenly start running to catch that last train? An open (roof) window and a flat bicycle tire could also fit into that “same category”.
On a larger scale, it already starts with the design of the diorama such as the square with frame, although we would like to come back to that in the “composition”. Then come the furnishing details. There are various pedestrian areas. For example, also that of the square. Let's take a closer look at the paving. In terms of colours, they play nicely together, and in terms of materialisation, we see standard 30 x 30cm tiles for the pavements and a beautiful fan pattern of cobblestones or paving stones. This subtly suggests that the paving has history, which fits in nicely with the theming of the buildings.
Half-relief buildings are perhaps even better suited for an interior than full-relief buildings. Because unlike full-relief buildings, you can still reach the interior of half-relief buildings from the back. But Luc thinks that this could be improved. Because if we have a large building with multiple floors, it might be useful if each interior per room can still be removed. If a different interior is desired or if a piece of furniture does not fit completely to your liking, changing or exchanging it is still very simple. Luc has tackled this practically by using some cardboard walls, ceilings and floors to create rooms that can be slid into the skeleton of the building as "drawers". This also makes it easy to apply the wall and floor covering to surfaces that are still flat on the cutting mat. Much easier than "wallpapering" your newly constructed model building.
By using half-relief buildings, against several edges of the diorama, the square is given a well-themed framework. The height, style and even layout of the buildings are important. This also creates various interesting views, which invites you to admire the diorama from all possible angles. By also furnishing the buildings and dressing the square appropriately, the whole thing comes to life. It gives numerous reasons on all sides to fantasize beyond the boundaries of the physical diorama edges. Perhaps it would even be possible to accentuate the long lines in the diorama with small mirrored surfaces on the edges. For example, those of the railway or the street. A technique that is not always easy to apply, but can almost literally bring many extras. What is almost not noticeable is that in this diorama it was decided to work almost exclusively with Markenburg materials. (Except for the track, people and plants.) And then it can certainly be said that the builder has come far! However, we from Markenburg would encourage the builder to shop around and combine things. Although not in our range, the builder could very nicely apply (street) lighting in a diorama. Nevertheless, the many details and the atmosphere that this diorama breathes are particularly motivating.