Fans of the television series Mr. Robot, may have noticed the large scale diorama of New York City featured in Episode 9 when Angela looks for Elliot in their childhood haunt, the Queens Museum.
Conceived by the infamous Robert Moses for the 1964 World's Fair, the Panorama of The City of New York was built by architectural model makers, Lester & Associates, who employed over 100 workers to complete the 1:1200 scale model from 1961 to 1964. The total area of the finished diorama is 9,355 square feet.
View of Downtown Manhattan on the Panorama, c. 1985. Photo by Dan Cornish, Esto
So if you're looking for a new haunt, check out this awesome miniature model of the Big Apple.
Fun Fact: Two crew members left their names spelled in shrubbery. So if you visit, look for Bill and Ed somewhere in Jamaica Bay...
View of Queens Museum, New York State Pavilion, and the Unisphere on the Panorama of the City of New York
Grand Budapest Hotel Model on display@Arclight Cinema-Los Angeles
Wes Anderson, master of cinematic naivete, has again charmed movie-goers with his latest film, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" now nominated for 9 Academy Awards, including Best Achievement in Production Design and Best Picture.
The film features many large scale model miniatures constructed by a talented team and led by Berlin based model/prop maker Simon Weisse.
Liz Hickok, a San Francisco based artist, models urban landscapes in Jell-O. "I have always been interested in
architectural scale models of cities, and how photography can play with
the viewer’s sense of scale, blurring differences between the real city
and the constructed one."-Liz Hickok (from artists website)
Here are some quick videos introducing the benefits of using Heki grasses in your diorama or scale model creations.
You can purchase Heki products from Scenic Express or other hobby retailers.
Check out the other informative how-to's found on the Jim Elster/Scenic Express Youtube Channel.
Looking for a tube of Civil War Soldiers? Or a bag of jungle animals? Safari Ltd., has a wide range of miniatures and replicas for all your wild dioramas. From miniature Bulaga whales to models of the solar system , Safari Ltd.'s Catalog will be sure to meet your needs, even if they include a miniature Roman Colosseum or a lair of dragons. Their vast miniatures collection comes in a variety of scale sizes made with non-toxic materials. You can also find Safari Ltd. on Amazon.
Rebecca Dudley, is an Illinois based artist and children's story book author. Her book Hank Finds An Egg-blends the worlds of diorama, photography and storytelling. Her website Storywoods, contains other diorama-photo-stories that will soon be turned into books.
Looking to get your spook on and create an awesome paper craft project? Head over to Ray Keim's Haunted Dimensions -"a gateway for art, news related to Disney's haunted mansion attractions, the haunt industry, FREE spooky 3D paper models, gingerbread architecture, photologs of "haunted" places and all things Halloweeny."-haunteddimensions.raykeim.com
Ray Keim, an artist and 3D modeler/designer (and also part of the Halloween Horror Nights Orlando Design Team) has put together a Spooktacular website full of free downloadable papercraft/scale modeling goodies like this Bates House Paper Model
Each download kit available on Haunted Dimensions comes with a list of supplies and instructions to help you build the Horror House of your dreams (or nightmares).
Haunted Dimensions-Ray Keim
Also be sure to check out the fan gallery of user submitted photos for more Spooky Inspiration.
Lori Nix is a New York based photographer who crafts exceptional dioramas of a dreamy post-apocalyptic world. From churches to libraries-laundromats to subways-the worlds are abandoned, overgrown, fractured and frayed. Her latest work will be on view at Catherine Edelman’s booth at the IPAD Photography Show at the Park Avenue Armory, this April 4-7.
