Making DioramasMaking DioramasThe Tawhiti Museum uses many models in its displays – from ‘life-size’ fi gures, the size of real people The Tawhiti Museum uses many models in its displays – from ‘life-size’ fi gures, the size of real people – right down to tiny fi gures about 20mm tall - with several other sizes in between these two.

Why are different sizes used? To answer this, look at the Turuturu Mokai Pa model. The fi gures and buildings are very small. If we had used life-size fi gures and buildings the model would be enormous, bigger than the museum in fact –covering several hectares! So to make a model that can easily fi t into a room of the museum we choose a scale that we can reduce the actual size by and build the model to that scale – in the case of the Turuturu Mokai Pa model the scale is 1 to 90 (written as 1:90) – that means the model is one ninetieth of real size – or to put it another way, if you multiply anything on the model by 90, you will know how big the original is. A human fi gure on the model is 20mm – if you multiply that by 90 you get 1800mm - the height of a full size person. So as the modeler builds the model, by measuring anything from life (or otherwise knowing its size) and dividing by 90 he knows how big to model that item – this means the model is an accurate scale model of the original – there is no ‘guess work’.

How do we choose which scale to make a model?There are three main considerations:

1) How much room do we have available for the display? Clearly the fi nished model needs to fi t into the available space in the museum, so by selecting an appropriate scale we can determine the actual size of the model. The Pa model already mentioned is just such a case – we have the whole pa model in 1:90 scale, then next to that is a cross section of part of the pa in 1:32 scale, allowing more detail of the defences to be shown – rather like magnifying or enlarging detail.2) The purpose of the display – what is it trying to show or demonstrate? The purpose of the display needs to be clearly identifi ed right from the start when planning the display. For example, if the purpose of the display is to show how early Maori dressed, then there’s no point in modelling the whole pa – a life size fi gure would be better to show details of clothing, weapons, facial features etc. However if the purpose is to show how a pa was defended and how the buildings were laid out etc, then it requires a smaller scale which allows a much bigger area of land to be modelled. 3) What scale are the molds we have for making fi gures for the display?If fi gures are an important part of the display, then having the correct molds is important, because we don’t want to make new molds for every display we build – a lot of time and cost goes into making new patterns and molds, so it’s easier to make use of existing molds. The main sizes of fi gure molds we have in stock are:

Perspective

Just to complicate matters, some of the models in the museum have used more than one scale – in fact if you look at the diorama of Kimble Bent entering Ohangai Pa on horseback, there are four scales of fi gures – 1:12 at the front, reducing to 1:32 in the rear. (Can you identify the four separate scale fi gures in that diorama?)

Why mix scales? The answer is really very simple - to help create the illusion of distance. By modelling fi gures smaller as they get further back in the diorama, it looks as though they are getting further away from you, the viewer. If all the fi gures were in the same scale it would still work to some degree, but by making them increasingly smaller, it accentuates the depth or distance. This technique is called forced perspective – the modeler is forcing the effect of distance. An added advantage of this technique is that it allows more area, or a greater fi eld of view, in the rear of the diorama.

If you look at drawings or paintings you will see the same effect – objects further away are drawn or painted smaller than those in the foreground. You probably already use this technique in your own drawings without really thinking about it – if not, try it – it makes your drawing look more ‘real’. There are books about ‘perspective’ drawing – and almost all art technique books have a chapter about creating perspective in your work.However one limitation of this technique is that it’s not possible to use forced perspective in a model that you can walk around. It would look very strange if you viewed the display from the ‘rear’ and the fi gures were small in the foreground, getting bigger further away – the far fi gures would look

1:90

1:64

1:43

1:32

1:24

1:12

1:1 (lifesize)

very odd – like giants! So forced perspective is restricted to displays which have a single frontal viewpoint.

Look at the long diorama with 800 Maori fi gures walking into Taranaki – mostly in 1:32 scale, but there is one small area where another scale is used to create the illusion of distance. Can you fi nd that spot?

Another area of the museum which uses forced perspective dioramas is out in the ‘barn’. Opposite the stables there are several models featuring colonial children working at various tasks. Check out the children off to school on horseback. How many scales in that small diorama? Look at the diorama with a woman milking a cow, with her three children beside her – note the buildings modelled in forced perspective behind her. See how they have been made with the wall and roof lines converging – getting closer together and smaller as they get further away. That’s very different from how you would normally make a model building. The pigsty model too has forced perspective, with the house and cabbage trees in the distance so much smaller than the foreground subject – a leap from 1:12 scale to 1:90 scale.

Follow up work

Now that you have studied how we design and assemble our models here at the Tawhiti Museum, perhaps you can use some of these ideas to build your own models, scenes and dioramas. Remember the idea comes fi rst – what story you want to tell – then plan how best to illustrate that story. What characters are needed, how will they interact, how will the setting help tell the story, and of course – scale – what scale will I use. Should I use forced perspective?

Many of the materials you will need for your model can be found around your neighbourhood – moss, lichen, sand, gravel, small branches, seed heads etc. You may already have some fi gures you can use, or you may want to model your own using ‘plastecine’ or ‘fi mo’. Cardboard is a great modeling material – especially if you have access to a hot glue gun. ‘Plaster of Paris’ too is a cheap and versatile material. Bits of wood, metal, plastic and old broken models often have wonderful new uses in your work. Do some fi nishing painting and there you have it – your own little slice of history recreated in model form!