Scenic Development

St Donats 1963 has very few structures, and only a single track to carry trains from one side of the diorama to the other. Consequently, the scenery and particularly the trees form an important part of the illusion of recession. Trees salvaged from Kyle of Sutherland are used here to help create a mock-up view of the diorama with an out-of-region goods passing through in the direction of Llantwit Major.

The choice of the horizon height, 5 inches above the baseline of the 13 inch deep viewing window, will be key for the success of the finished diorama. This will hopefully also be the natural viewing height, and is the height at which the photograph was taken, just slightly above the height of the mock-up mini-view pinned to the backscene. This is above the model height of the bridge and so I've artificially compressed the bridge perspective and “pointed up” the parapet towards the horizon.

At this stage the trees, scenery, bridge and track bed can all be removed in order to work on individual items away from the diorama.

Diorama In Progress

The diorama, now with track, scenic jigsaw foamboard bases, a trial horizon and the trial bridge shaped to accentuate the perspective, is at an experimental stage. The temporary, wallpaper backscene is pegged to a semi-elliptical shape with cocktail sticks in the foamboard bases of the scenic jigsaw.

The proscenium arch is clearly too high and reveals the top of the backscene, but if the viewpoint were raised to hide this, the horizon would cease to be horizontal. Already it is very slightly curved up in the middle. The scene is lit by LEDs, the position of which need adjusting to flatten the sky.


The objective is to be able to photograph (or view) the scene at horizon level with the backscene appearing flat to the rear wall of the diorama for almost its whole width, the view being limited only by the proscenium arch and wings.

Theatre-style Presentation

The basic diorama box is ready for scenery and track.

At this stage, the temporary wallpaper backscene is there to define the shape, the LED test-lighting rests loosely on front-to-back supports, the ply track bed is roughly in position with paper marking out the boundary of the front and rear scenic jigsaw pieces to come. There are many possible trade-offs to be made.

This first attempt at a theatre-style presentation is based on Kyle of Sutherland's exhibition format, the box being roughly equivalent to one-third of Kyle of Sutherland.

St Donats 1963 Re-start

Since the last post in April 2019 I have struggled to get back into modelling, the last work on the diorama finishing around February 2019. I did have a flurry of activity upgrading 1649 at the Missenden Summer School in 2019 and continued until October. Compare this photo with the one in the post of 1^st February 2019. It’s strange to think how I was happy to exhibit 1649 on Kyle of Sutherland in that form and that no-one commented on the lack of detail.

The detailing and the above view of 1649 were based on a photo of 1643 on the cover of Roger Cox’s copy of “The Pannier 16xx”, a double page spread of 1643 inside, and photographs of every 16xx for cross-referencing. My shed books tell me 1643 was a Llanelly engine, which I saw in 1963, so it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to re-number 1649 to1643 for use on St Donats 1963. My thanks go to Roger for an extensive loan, the book being now safely back in his hands again.

Of particular note are the sandboxes folded up from 6 thou nickel as in Photo H9, page 94, of Guy Williams “The 4mm Engine, A Scratchbuilder’s Guide”, and the water balance pipe made from a 5 thou brass fold-up over a hard brass core, just visible behind the middle splasher. The snagging list still contains over 20 items, including a new front lamp with improved carrying handle.

But what of the diorama itself? My self-isolation to reduce the risk of catching the corona virus has brought about a resurgence of interest and enthusiasm in modelling. Here a health expert keeps me company while I review plans for the main structure, aka the “box”.

With the experience of making Kyle of Sutherland under my belt, I decided this time to make the box first, rather than the layout, and avoid the difficulty of boxing up the completed layout later when I needed to store it.

Now, with the top and front panels removed, the base of the box will be revealed as a traditional baseboard (salvaged from Kyle of Sutherland and reduced in size) with the box sides and back panel able to support the proscenium arch, backscene and lighting.