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Egyptian Street Diorama

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Egyptian Street Diorama

The Diorama Idea
I have been thinking for years to make a diorama of an Urban Egyptian Street with all of the everyday events that take place on our streets.

The idea took many years to develop and over the years I gathered bits and pieces from here and there to save parts for this diorama.

The main diorama idea is an Egyptian street with a military truck loading supplies from a local supermarket. Instead of putting all the focus on the truck model, I decided to put more focus on the street and the house and the people. Everyday scenes of urban Egyptian streets are interesting to document in this way. Instead of a normal diorama this would become a complete scene showing our everyday life.

The Model
The model used here is the "Revell" Zil truck kit, a very highly detailed truck with a large number of parts. The stowage inside the truck was also a very interesting part to make.

The building
This building was purchased from the company MMA accessories, they make excellent Middle east accessories for diorama. I added some damage to the building due to time, and painted and weathered the exterior. The interior was very interesting as well since I had to fill it with everyday furniture and accessories (mostly 3D printed)

The base
The base was made with foam and the asphalt effect made with AK putty heavily weathered with several coats of dust and soot.

The Figures
The figures were taken from several figure sets, some of them were actually German soldiers who underwent a complete transformation to become Arab merchants and traders.

The conclusion
As an overall project this turned to be my most detailed Diorama I ever built. As usual I try to make the diorama as interesting from all viewable sides as possible. I believe a diorama is mainly a story-telling tool not just a static model, the more the eye is challenged into discovering small details here and there, the more pleasing and amusing the diorama becomes to the viewer. During exhibitions when I saw people look at this diorama and they would smile and tell their partner "look here, have you noticed this detail?" At this point I feel that the diorama has achieved its purpose.
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About the Author

About Hussein El Kaissy (helkaissy)
FROM: AL QAHIRAH, EGYPT / لعربية

37 years old Egyptian Engineer, I have started modeling since 2013 and got totally hooked to it. My background as a painter helped me a lot to progress in the hobby. My focus is usually on modern armor and Dioramas mainly in Egypt and the Arab region.


Comments

That's all kinds of cool, great stuff!
MAR 17, 2018 - 01:49 AM
Great job. I like the subject matter. Sometimes every day things are the most interesting. Nice work on the painting and weathering. It is a fantastic little look into daily Egyptian life. Jeff
MAR 17, 2018 - 07:47 AM
I liked this. Although on the margins, I thought the vegetable seller and the guy on the bike were pretty cool. I hear you about the artist background. I'm certainly no artist but I remember Doug Lee once saying that diorama builders should think "artistically". I took from that that good diorama's engage the viewer's emotions in a way the people, setting and vehicles on their own could not. Again, nice job. HD.
MAR 18, 2018 - 04:17 PM
Fantastic work Hussein - I just spent 10 minutes (that’s a lot in diorama-time) looking round your street, wonderful details everywhere. Who knew you can buy Heinz Baked Beans over there?! I particularly like your figures, obviously they’re “posed” but they look more like they would in a “real” photograph, rather than dummies in a shop window - making those small difference is hard to do but you did it, bravo.
MAR 18, 2018 - 04:23 PM
Great work Hussein, we can tell a lot of thought, planning and effort went into this.
MAR 21, 2018 - 11:13 PM
You brought Egypt to us! Great job. Everything just feels right in your Dio!
MAR 23, 2018 - 01:46 AM
Thank you all for the lovely messages, coming from top modelers such as yourselves, they encourage me to carry on Modeling.
MAR 24, 2018 - 05:57 PM