Diorama Projects

  

 

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary defines "diorama" as:
"a miniature scene, wholly or partially three-dimensional, depicting figures in a naturalistic setting."

 

At Moments In Time, our primary focus is the design and creation of dynamic, historically accurate scale dioramas depicting particular "moments in time" for museums and visitors' centers. Below we have gathered for you a set of image galleries, each highlighting a different project.

(Please contact us for referrals associated with these projects.)
 

 

Each of the project galleries will be introduced by a brief description of the project, including the identification of the client (who and where), an explanation of the problems the intended diorama was to solve, the challenges represented, and our solution. The scale, including the size of the figures, is given for each project, as well as any other noteworthy information. Clicking on each picture will open a page with more information.

 

Listing of Moments In Time Diorama Exhibit Image Galleries:

 

"Oregon Trail Covered Wagon and Cargo"
A "hands-on" traveling exhibit
2004 -- Benton County Oregon Historical Society and History Museum

Size: 10 in. x 18 in.
Scale: 1 in. = 1 ft. (1/12th scale)
Figures: two 5+ inch tall 'cut-out' photo figures mounted on hardboard backings help show relative scale.
Features: A robustly constructed covered wagon plus a scale collection of provisions and belongings typically carried by immigrants to the Oregon Territory during the 1840's.

 

"Citrus Reaches California"
2003 -- the California Citrus State Historic Park
Size:18" x 36" x 18"
Scale: Approx. 2in. = 1 ft. (1/6th scale)
Figures: 2 men at 11 in.; 2 oxen
Features: The figures are dressed in historically accurate clothing. The oxen pull a two-wheeled carreta or cart filled with baskets of oranges over authentically rutted ground cover.
 
"The Farallon Light on the Devil's Teeth"
2002 -- San Francisco Maritime Museum
Size: 24 in. x 36 in.
Scale: 1/8 in. = 20 ft. (1/1920th scale)
Figures: none (scale is too small - a figure would be about 1/32nd inch tall)
Features: A working lighthouse light; topography taken from USGS Topo-map; stunningly dynamic water depiction.
 

"Petroleum Centre, 1867... The Wild, Wild East."
2002 -- Oil Creek Pennsylvania State Park with the Oil Heritage Region, Inc.
Size: 48 in. x 96 in. (4 ft. x 8 ft.)
Scale: 1/8 in. = 1 ft. (1/87th scale, or HO gauge)
Figures: 221 at 3/4 in. tall
Features: A dual-gauge railroad, barges, horses & wagons, 61 scratch-built buildings, several oil derricks, hundreds of barrels, and the oil-fouled creek over-full from spring rains are the surroundings for this story about the early days of Pennsylvania crude-oil discovery, production and transportation in this oil "Boom Town".
 
"The Niantic, 1850... No Longer a Buoyant Ship."
1999 -- San Francisco Maritime Museum
Size: 48 in. deep x 48 in. wide
Scale: 1/4 in. = 1 ft. (1/48th scale or O gauge)
Figures: 60 at 1 1/2 in. tall
Features: Realistic water depiction with lots of flotsam as the incoming tide promotes the arrival of a new wave of rowboats and barges from ships anchored out in deeper parts of the bay, and new groups of people and supplies join the game that is "The Gold Rush!"
 

Figures for the Hide and Tallow Barque "Dana"
1998 -- Santa Barbara, CA Maritime Museum
Size: N/A
Scale: Approx. 1 in. = 1 ft. (1/12th scale)
Figures: (2) at 6 1/2 in.; (3) at 5 in.
Features: Pose-able figures provide a dynamic depiction of the loading of the Dana, including below-deck as demonstrated through the use of a cross-section of the sailing ship. Also included are some rats scuttling about the cargo of cow hide's and leather-bagged tallow.
 
"Oregon's Rogue River Valley and the Railroad, 1911"
1998 -- Jacksonville Children's Museum of the So. Oregon Historical Association; Medford, OR
Size: 22 in. deep x 22 in. tall x 75 ft. long
Scale: 1/8 in. = 1 ft. (1/87th scale, or HO gauge)
Figures: over 150 at 3/4 in. tall
Features: interactive working railroad; interactive question / answer buttons; application of "selective compression" to provide room for greater action and detail in scale scenes; inclusion of artifacts at key points of the display to help tell "the story".
 

"Forty-niners' Wagon, 1850"
1993 -- Santa Cruz Historical Trust, Santa Cruz, CA
Size: 10 in. x 18 in.
Scale: 1/2 in. = 1 ft. (1/24th scale)
Figures: none
Features: Traveling exhibit for elementary school use illustrating the kinds of items '49er's usually included on their journey west, and how much space those items required in a typical covered wagon.
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