Jurassic Park Diorama Project HELP

[T-rex23]

Alright here we go, I'm getting ready to do a Jurassic Park diorama, the plan is I am going to make an upright diorama of the whole island. The visitors center will be on the middle shelf, if you're looking at a map of Isla Nublar I will basically be going from the top of the island down. The shelf its self will be custom built because I am going to use hard wood so I can make the material stick and have a shelf that will last.
     Now here is where I need help, what do I use for the ground, I wasn't sure if I should use the grass mat like they sell in Hobby Lobby, or do I need to make the ground out of something totally different, and I am open to ALL suggestions here. Secondly I was going to use Papo figurines for the animals, and I want to know if there are other brands that are more accurate to the dinosaurs in the film. ANY help you guys can provide would be great.

[Arul]

Hello  sorry i dont have an idea for this, but your plan seems great  if you need a fast answer you can contact Federreptil or bl00df0x by PM, i think they are the best in handmade or natural diorama.

[T-rex23]

I don't need a fast answer I have time.

[Dinomike]

I have used this site for building my terrains for different dioramas. Simple ways for creating good looking surfaces:http://www.3t-studios.com/archives/2642

[Arul]

Oops sorry i miss someone else, Dinomike is here ! 

[T-rex23]

I will definitely keep that book marked, so I guess I can mix the dirt and the grass in the paddocks, now I'm curious as to what to use to build the base for the fences.

[SpittersForEver]

I will definitely keep that book marked, so I guess I can mix the dirt and the grass in the paddocks, now I'm curious as to what to use to build the base for the fences.

Chicken wire perhaps? For the lights on the top you could use some LED lights.

[T-rex23]

For the lights I will definitely be using battery powered L.E.D's, I need to research later and get a concrete color for the electric fence base and maybe shave down popsicle sticks for the beams to old up the wire for the fence. Unless somebody as another idea that would be easier to support the wire..

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

It may not be easier, but you could sculpt the fenceposts and cast them in resin, which might look a bit more realistic.

[T-rex23]

This will sound stupid but you mean wit clay right?

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

Yes, polymer clay would work, however some sculptors use air-hardening epoxy putty. I haven't used it for an entire sculpture, though. Alternatively, there's 3D printing, but I don't know how much money you want to spend.

[T-rex23]

I won't be spending a lot of money. I went to Hobby Lobby with my wife when I got off work this morning and looked at the diorama stuff and all they had was the brown tyrannosaur and spinosaur, but the rex was $33 so the spino was probably the same. While I was there looking I seen another issue, I compared the Papo tyrannosaur to the scene-o-rama trees avaible there and they aren't to scale with the papo models, where could I buy bigger trees, or how would I make the palm trees and oter tropical foliage. I hate to be bothersome but I have no Idea what I'm doing.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

One thing I do is I buy plastic plants like this:

(Coincidentally the picture is from Hobby Lobby)
or any plant which could pass for palm leaves in a small scale and cut the leaves/fronds off. From there, I either insert the cuttings into the ground or into a clay trunk. There are other ways to make trees, but that is what I use and it is probably cheaper than buying trees.

[SpittersForEver]

This has inspired me to do my own.
These could be of some help      https://www.behance.net/gallery/14459875/Jurassic-Park-Dioramas

[T-rex23]

One thing I do is I buy plastic plants like this:

(Coincidentally the picture is from Hobby Lobby)
or any plant which could pass for palm leaves in a small scale and cut the leaves/fronds off. From there, I either insert the cuttings into the ground or into a clay trunk. There are other ways to make trees, but that is what I use and it is probably cheaper than buying trees.

So basically get anything that looks like tropical foliage, roll out some clay to scale of my model and shove the greenery in the top of it, I like that Idea....

[T-rex23]

Would it be easier to purchase the palm trees and things if I knew what scale of the dinosaur was?

[tyrantqueen]

Who says you need to buy palm trees? It's easy to just make your own.

http://blacknick-sculpture.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/making-miniature-trees-part-two.html

[T-rex23]

Yeah I'm looking at both options, not sure which one to go with. Things will be easier once I find the scale of the dinosaurs though.

[Federreptil]

If you don't want to pay too much, you should build your palm trees yourself. The best scaly ready-mades are from CollectA and you need a lot for a jungle. If you look to the work of "109" and his fantastic lakeshore diorama here in the forum, you can see, he used laser cut leafs from Fredericus Rex from Germany. But this is a little bit expensive too. Palm trees in 1:40 are rare, but you can use cheap plastic palm trees in 1:100 from ebay for small ferns, if you crop the trunks. A very fine inspiration for a good combination of hand-mades and customized ready-mades is the diorama of "Ikessauro" in this section.
Maybe it would easier to give some advises if you show us some pictures of the making-of in progress.

I have no idea about the dimensions of your diorama and what are your favorite spots. If I remember the first Jurassic Park movie well, you can build a plain with grass some rocks and fallen trunks for the T-Rex hunt of the Struthiomimus herd and a plain with some single trees for the Brachio-Scene. The Dilopho-attack and the T-Rex Escape at the fence are a steamy dense jungle with high trees, palms, ferns and liana. More a steppe with high grass and bushes is the surrounding for the sick Triceratops. The concrete-cage of the Velociraptors will be totally custom-build like the other buildings. So it's not a special Cretaceous flora but good mixed modern Hawaiian landscape.

The both T-Rex of Papo will fit well the JP Standard. The Brachiosaurus and the Triceratops from Papo match the movie style also perfect. If you want an ill Trike, you can take the corpse of CollectA if you close with putty the wounds and repaint it. For all this inhabitants you get a scale near 1:40. The Velociraptor of Papo and his cousin from Schleich are in comparison too big in scale (estimated 1:10). Here is a the Tamiya-Kit 1:35 of six Velociraptors better scaled stand-ins. The Parasaurolophus-herd at the lake can use models from Papo, Schleich and Bullyland and so on. The flock of Struthiomimi is a little bit tricky, my favorite is here the polyresin-model of four running Gallimimus' called "Mongolian dash" from Dinostoreus/Kinto/Favorite and I know only one source here in Germany. For the very special collar interpretation of the spitting Dilophosaurus is the best choice probably a JP merchandise of Kenner or something else. Or you customized the newest Safari one. But for the Compys I know no good solution, because small dinosaurs in a good shape are a curiosity. Even the Kaiyodo JP Compsognathus (out of stock) is too big to be true in scale and the Weibel Compy ist a little bit silly.

The Spinosaurus like the Preranodons from Papo looks also like the JP fan them needed, but this is the next insula and another movie.

[T-rex23]

Thanks for that tid bit of advice that actually helps me out a lot, which now knowing the scales helps me out wonders. Though my diorama will be of the animals in their paddocks so I wonder how I would do the tyrannosaur paddock or better yet where I could get a turf to simulate jungle floor, so should I use grass or simulate a dirt/sand base.