Modeling the Macabre

[Story]

When I was a kid, I found inspiration in a local department store's annual Halloween-to-Christmas HO train setup. It was a (relatively) huge setup behind a plexiglass sneeze and fingers shield, but what fascinated me was the Haunted House.

It was sited on a hill significantly higher than the surrounding terrain and settled next to a graveyard (of course). I couldn't tell *what* the original kit was (other than they probably had it on the shelves for sale), but this Polar Lights BATES MOTEL gives you the jist (https://www.scalemodelnews.com/2013/03/small-scale-horror-from-polar-lights.html).

Whoever built it had a sense of humor, since the grounds and windows where filled with all sorts of Easter Egg details barely visible from the edge of the display.

Since then, I've tripped across similar inspirations.

Like Kris Kuksi's works, from his framed creations to his CHURCH TANK http://www.kuksi.com/


Then there's the Chapman Brothers' Hellscapes.
https://www.wired.com/2014/01/chapman-hellscapes/

https://jakeanddinoschapman.com/

Any other inspirations lurking out there?

[Frank3k]

My favorite horror/science fiction/fantasy book (and I hate fantasy...) is "The Night Land" by William Hope Hodgson. He was an inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft. Unfortunately, Hodgson went out of his way to make the book appear as if it had been written in an archaic English and style from the 1600s-1700s, which makes it a slog to read. James Stoddard rewrote the book in modern English and it's far more readable and memorable: "The Night Land, A Story Retold"

Some people have done a great job of drawing some of the creatures and places in the book, and they've been remarkably consistent (and close to what I imagined):

Google image search

Some examples:




More at Night Land website

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I thought at first the artist was the same one responsible for the opening scene artwork from Starz Television Series 'Black Sails' (2014–2017) . 

[Story]

Abigail Goldman highlighting a selection of her miniature murder scenes. Created at a scale of 1:87, Goldman's die-o-ramas present intricately gruesome crime scenes and violent acts. Having worked many years as a reporter and investigator for the Federal Public Defender in Las Vegas, Goldman draws on her work experience to create pieces that put an interesting spin on society’s fascination with crime.

https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/sculpture/abigail-goldman-brings-her-die-o-ramas-to-station-16-gallery/

https://www.abigailgoldman.com/

New York based artist Thomas Doyle invites us to look into another world with his humorous, and often times dark dioramas.  his small-scale sculptures of houses and suburban towns provide an unexpected perspective of domestic life.

https://hifructose.com/2016/01/11/thomas-doyle-presents-new-dioramas-in-if-the-creek-dont-rise/

https://www.thomasdoyle.net/

Oof
https://www.thomasdoyle.net/hypothermia3/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Proxy_PottersBend_1.jpg

https://arrestedmotion.com/2016/02/upcoming-thomas-doyle-if-the-creek-dont-rise-hudson-river-museum/

[elmayerle]

Not exactly macabre, but the model railroad layout in the basement of  the railroad museum in San Diego's Balboa Park complex has a shark in a swimming pool as a bit of an easter egg.

[Frank3k]

Some of the work on those sites is not very different from what we have around here... so are we all artists?

[Story]

Not exactly macabre, but the model railroad layout in the basement of  the railroad museum in San Diego's Balboa Park complex has a shark in a swimming pool as a bit of an easter egg.

That's macabre all right, just subtle.

You want a good shark-in-the-pool story, see P.3.c3&4 of this publication
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00031661/01987/3j

Some of the work on those sites is not very different from what we have around here... so are we all artists?

Fancier if you put an 'e' on the end of it.

[Old Wombat]

Yep, sounds like us.

[Story]

Yep, sounds like us.

You mean like getting all those kits & projects finished? 

[GTX_Admin]

You had to mention the elephant in the room...

[Story]

So 'the Junkyard' made it's way home.

This was an effort from ten years back to use up all the scrap from my 1/72nd scale aircraft builds as a forced perspective centerpiece on a friend's O Gauge model railroad. Since he's getting rid of his collection, I've reeled it back in to retool as a HO (1/87th) German junkyard.

Originally just stacking bits and pieces on a small sheet of scrap lexan; with white glue, bits of aluminum foil and flocking. Shortcomings (like visible seams) are obvious, but consider the size of the originally intended platform no observer would have been close enough to whine about that. Since I suspect eyeballs will be closer for this go-around, I'm going to get artsy-fartsy.


I've slipped in a Sherman hulk and will probably add some viney vegetation, maybe even a perimeter fence from wire mesh to duplicate chain link. Ultimately, I'd like it to have a Stalenhag vibe.
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/simon-stalenhag-sci-fi-art/index.html

Inspiration originally from this place https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/19902
...and tanks do show up in European junkyards http://www.ww2incolor.com/modern/junkyard+panther.html

[Story]

Parallel project, fuel station ruins.


Inspiration is this abandoned station in Hunsrück, Germany.


See also https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/000/862/351/large/oscar-sjostedt-glasskiosk.jpg?1434806703

[Frank3k]

Gas stations in Ludlow (in the Mojave) turn around for some abandoned buildings.

My wife went into that house on a trip - I wasn't brave enough/know about rotting wood and snakes hiding out in the cool shade under a house.

Also, Roy's Cafe in Amboy, a few miles East of Ludlow

[Story]

Miniature horror figures, the perfect Easter Egg

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4834242

[Story]

Anyone remember when SNL was inspirationally well-written? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZMoGyr1BFU

Coming soonish in 2022 to an HO Scale Euro-Layout

[Story]

Kuksi's NEW ROME

[Story]

 

https://www.history.com/news/cattle-mutilation-1970s-skinwalker-ranch-ufos

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Story]

[aerospacer]

Is that a flying spaghetti monster?

[Story]

Saturday Night Entertainment

[Story]

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Saturday Night Entertainment

Were you listening to "Burning Down The House" by the Talking Heads while watching it burn?

[GTX_Admin]

What the…?

[Story]

What the…?

Yes.

[Story]

[raafif]

Hmmm, clearly early experiments with Virtual Reality helmets

[Story]

Were you listening to "Burning Down The House" by the Talking Heads while watching it burn?

More like The Bloodhound Gang.

Now go check your emails from me.

[Story]

Explanation
https://twitter.com/katoya01/status/1249806371756769281

[Old Wombat]

That's just weird but totally in sync with the Mecha (Macross/Gundam/etc.) ethos.

What would make it more weird would be an even smaller human(oid) sitting in the back of the pilot's head.

[Story]

[Kerick]

Saturday Night Entertainment

Very realistic flames.

[aerospacer]

That's just weird but totally in sync with the Mecha (Macross/Gundam/etc.) ethos.

What would make it more weird would be an even smaller human(oid) sitting in the back of the pilot's head.

Why stop there? Inquiring minds from the Escher & Magritte Engineering Bureau want to know...

[Old Wombat]

Oh, there's absolutely no need to stop there!

The ever diminutive "pilots" would only be limited by the modeller's skill set & the power of their magnification systems.

[Story]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOdca_kJimE

Not all nightmares are so easy to wake up from.
An exploration of Simon Stålenhag’s brilliant worldbuilding artbook ‘The Electric State.’

[Frank3k]

I have most of his books and they're all fantastic. "Electric State" is great - there's a movie adaptation coming out next year.

[Story]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOdca_kJimE

Not all nightmares are so easy to wake up from.
An exploration of Simon Stålenhag’s brilliant worldbuilding artbook ‘The Electric State.’

Same reviewer, this time of the Labyrinth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMFhD9JB9bQ

Bonus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Electric_State

[Story]

Modeling the "Costa Concordia" wreck / not mine, just made me giggle

 

[Frank3k]

It needs a drunk captain fleeing the scene...

[The Big Gimper]

It needs a drunk captain fleeing the scene...

You read my mind Frank! 

[Story]

It needs a drunk captain fleeing the scene...

along with his Moldovan trollop.

[Story]

I was going to be mundane and put this in an Inspiration thread appropriate for a T80, but then i thought about it.

"Wagner mercenaries driving on Moscow, but I had to walk my Pomeranian".



Full disclosure - I keyed on the pic because of the dog. Most people dismiss Poms as yappy little armpits (and truth be told, most are) but "mine" (came with relationship) chilled the f*ck out once he realized he didn't have to punch above his weight class defending mommy anymore.

I miss that little furball. 

[Frank3k]

Long way to Siberia... although if they're lucky, that's where the Wagnerites will end up, and not in a ditch somewhere.

There was a video taken during the 1991 attempted coup in Moscow - a woman in a ritzy part of Moscow was walking her dog as tanks were rolling in the background. I couldn't find the picture, but this photo is from the early days of the coup:

[The Big Gimper]

I was going to be mundane and put this in an Inspiration thread appropriate for a T80, but then i thought about it.

"Wagner mercenaries driving on Moscow, but I had to walk my Pomeranian".



Full disclosure - I keyed on the pic because of the dog. Most people dismiss Poms as yappy little armpits (and truth be told, most are) but "mine" (came with relationship) chilled the f*ck out once he realized he didn't have to punch above his weight class defending mommy anymore.

I miss that little furball. 

We have a Pom in the neighbourhood. His name is Elvis. Supercute. Love the way he walks.

When the Ottawa River freezes over, he becomes Elvis Stojko.

[Story]

They look like a plumed helmet in motion with four tiny legs, a cartoon notion of a dog viz a real dog.



There's also probably a Tiananmen Square style diorama potential to be exploited here.

https://3dexport.com/3dmodel-pomeranian-415293.htm

 

[Story]

Another inspiration dump

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2124558/An-eerie-glimpse-world-end-civilisation-Model-makers-apocalyptic-obsession-life-gone.html

https://laughingsquid.com/the-distillation-series-darkly-surreal-dioramas-of-destruction-and-family-life-by-thomas-doyle/

this is better -> https://www.thomasdoyle.net/distillation/

https://www.abigailgoldman.com/work

I've been laughing at this one since my first cup of coffee today

[robunos]

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/CMKN72045


cheers,
Robin.

[Old Wombat]

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/CMKN72045


cheers,
Robin.

Oh, if I let my imagination loose, I could make that very macabre!

[Jeffry Fontaine]

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/CMKN72045

cheers,
Robin.

Oh, if I let my imagination loose, I could make that very macabre!

Freeze it then smack it with a large mallet?

[Mig Eater]

There are few tricks you could do with a vacuum chamber to make a model accurately implode... 

[Story]

Books brought to life -

[raafif]

Interesting idea !  A book's pages instead of a time portal    Atilla the Hun vs Nazis ??

[Story]

Not mine by a long shot

[Story]

[Story]

[Story]

Not mine but it fits

[GTX_Admin]