Hi all. New member here.

So this is a diorama I've been dying to make for a long time, and I finally put it together:



'Night view' with the lights off:



It started with many 3D Sketchups. I wanted a street in the middle surrounded by buildings, but I didn't like how these small cars were all viewed from a top view, which had the least details. Ultimately, I decided on an 'inception-style' stitched drone shot where a drone captures several angles before stitching them together: https://petapixel.com/20...ion-style-drone-photos/



You'll also notice that in addition to the changing prespective, the scale changes as well from 1:87 in the back to 1:42 in the front to provide fake depth more than this small 14" cabinet can afford. As you move outwards, everything gets bigger (street, pavement, lampposts, cars...etc), and same as you move higher (e.g. fireman vs street people).

This design also allowed for plenty of room for the LED wires to stick from the back:



So I used several thin wood parts I had from a bed I never completely assembled, and sent them off for laser cutting at a local business:



I used a metallic spray to give it that skyscraper look:



I then stuck greenish mirror sticker to flexible see-thru white plastic sheets, and glued the building plates on them before cutting them out for a sleek skyscraper window effect that allows light to pass through:



...while reflecting lights the way normal windows would do:



Then I started assembling the street pieces together:



I had originally planned to use the big holes to pass the car wires, but then I determined I should use them to place magnets and use them to attach the cars to the street. Turned out the magnets I already had were a freakishly perfect fit for this unplanned change:

https://i.imgur.com/tYejZX6.gifv

I proceeded to stick the street roll I had, the gradually increasing pavement, then start adding the lamp posts with the biggest in the front:



The, trees and cars looks really cute when added to the street:



Then I added benches and people:





The street was suspended from the back, and the extension at the front kept it in place.



Each car needed to be individually dismantled for the LEDs to be soldered in:




Final assembly with the building plates:



The building lights can be turned off for a 'Night mode', as with all my living room dioramas for when I want to watch a movie and don't want bright dioramas around the tele. All my dioramas have two levels of lighting:



This is how it looks next to my blacklight-lit Spider-Man poster:



This is how the cabinet looks with the Batman Arkham Diorama over the Spidey one, with Inception underneath:



I'm still waiting for the police and ambulance siren lights from the amazing guys (Thanks, Dave) at https://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/, as well as lights for the other cars, but in the meantime I'll enjoy this and hope you do too!




Thanks to http://www.thecraftyengraver.com for the laser cutting
Thanks Dave from Evan Designs for the mini LEDs: https://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/
Plastic sheets: https://www.amazon.ca/St...7-5-sheet/dp/B01M09IU7K
Mirror cover: https://www.amazon.com/g...e_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Front (bigger) lamp posts: https://www.amazon.com/L...eet-Lamps/dp/B000BVSFWS
Rear (smaller) lamp posts: https://www.amazon.com/p...-Lamp-I-5/dp/B07C4QBQC7
Used these magnets: https://www.amazon.ca/De...igerators/dp/B01MZ6EJE2
LED strips: https://www.amazon.ca/Co...-Activated/dp/B078HDJBFK

Oh no. I have to do it myself for each photo??? That's kind of archaic. I thought the forum did it itself my shrinking them to fit.