Sheila and L Figs - Diaramas

One of the really fun things to do with a big figure or a set of figures is to make a diarama to display them in. A big piece is not as cool just sitting on a base.

This is one of L's figs; it's called "Bridge of Sorrows" (I guess because the unlucky chick that the red dragon has snagged is pretty much dead). This came with all 4 figures (dragon, chick, wizard, centaur fighter), as well as the bridge pieces. This was the first use of "water" (it's plastic beads that you melt and pour to make a water-look surface).
We bought the wooden bases at a craft shop, and the dirt, sand and lichen bush bits at a hobby store. The dragon is all metal, which is very heavy, and caused a lot of problems with assembly. You can see the metal supports that L had to drill into the underside of the dragon so that it doesn't collapse under its own weight.

A close-up of the dragon's head. Great colours. That chick in his claws does not look happy. A shot of the wizard and the centaur fighter on the bridge. A good look at the bushes and water, too.
Vampire Count's Carriage - L Fig

L did this in the last 18 months. This is a Games Workshop boxed figure, of the Count's carriage, coffin, driver, and skeletal horses. L's vision was to have the carriage racing through the woods. He bought a tree kit from the local hobby shop and built all these trees individually. They are plastic with wire in them, which you twist into shape and then glue the bushy stuff onto them. L also gave the trees a light brushing on the trunks to make them look less plastic. Looking back towards the carriage. You can see the driver in the middle - creepy!
Looking down at the detail on the top of the carriage. The roof of the carriage comes off so that you can see the coffin (the coffin is also removeable and it opens to show the Count - sorry, I didn't take pictures of that stuff).
A shot of the back of the carriage. That's the end of the coffin.
"The Protagonists" - Sheila Fig

This is a really old boxed set, one of the first ones I got. I just got around to painting it in the last year, though (it is not a floor polish figure). Unfortunately, I have knocked this over a couple of times - the demon riding the dragon has been re-glued a few times, and I think the pegasus is no longer attached.

This is a really simple example of a diarama, where all I've done is a road, some stones and some grass. I didn't want to distract from the figures, but I wanted them to be on a base together. Sometimes you just want to keep it to a dull roar."Nydgogg, the Wyrm" - Sheila Fig

I am very proud of this figure. This is a limited edition piece - it is meant to stand upright, but like the red dragon in "Bridge of Sorrows", this is solid metal. It's way too heavy to stand without some serious propping/drilling. I came up with the idea of having him crashing through the woods, so I gathered some wood from L's folks' property when we visited them, and used some of that for the wyrm to arch over, like he is climbing over it. This fig started out rust-coloured, then brushed stripes on him and gold "scales" - I also really like the wings - they have a nice semi-transparent look to them.
This entire piece is about 12" long by 9" wide, and 8" tall.
"Cauldron of Blood" - L Fig

This is a pretty amazing diarama. L cast these rocks himself, using sandy moulding material and rubber moulds. He then painted the rocks, added lichen, mushrooms (hobby store), and painted gold veins in the rocks, to make it look like an underground cavern.

These are drow (they are goofy-looking with crazy-ass hair because they are Games Workshop figs and GW can't resist making all their figures look terribly cartoony), with a cauldron of blood for some evil purpose, being drawn along by spiders (an addition of L's).

I like that the spiders are crawling over the rocks. L also researches all animals that he does and paints them like actual species. Awesome!