Building the Deadzone Diorama – Part One

I suppose an introduction would be the best start. My name is Nick and I am a freelance painter. I have been an avid gamer and supporter of Mantic for many years now.

This project all began with painting some terrain for Mantic, as when dropping off a piece to Ronnie, we began discussing what challenge I could take on next. And here is where it all began. I remember him asking if I wanted something easy or something crazy... so I chose crazy.

We went into one of the many storage rooms at Mantic and Ronnie pulled out the terrain piece created by Chad. This was used for the artwork on the Battlezone. An amazing piece of work.

[caption id="attachment_15622" align="aligncenter" width="482"] Before I began[/caption]

Ronnie asked me to take this great piece and expand on it, turning into a diorama. We both sifted through lots of bits boxes, pulling lots of additional pieces and miniatures to add detail and bring it to life.

Ronnie, having great faith in peoples abilities, gave me a simple brief - 'Make it look awesome'.

So where to start. I added additional building work to one of the sections as well as pipe work with the idea of playing with some water effect.

[caption id="attachment_15623" align="aligncenter" width="482"] Some additional ruined pieces to build some additional cover for the plague.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_15624" align="aligncenter" width="482"] Pipey McPipeface[/caption]

Then filling all the gaps, with the intention of giving it less distracting holes, aiming for more realism.

[caption id="attachment_15625" align="aligncenter" width="271"] Couple of holes, And oh look a ladder.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_15626" align="aligncenter" width="271"] More holes.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_15627" align="aligncenter" width="482"] So many holes!!![/caption]

Then deciding where to add more details that will draw the eye and give the viewer a reason to circle the piece, inspiring others and giving them a reason to keep coming back and finding more things hidden away.

Then to begin assembling a couple of the models, if anyone counts how many zombies there are please let me know.

[caption id="attachment_15628" align="aligncenter" width="482"] I loved painting these guys. I will have to start gluing my own soon for DZ:I.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_15629" align="aligncenter" width="482"] And this is without all the zombies.[/caption]

And this is just the beginning... more to come soon.

You'll be able to see Nick's amazing board in person at Salute 2016. Mantic is stand TE03!

Check back tomorrow for Part 2!