January, 2015

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January, 2015: Happy New Year, and welcome to a massive update of new material on this site! Starting off, we have several new box dioramas seen at the MMSI Chicago Show in October 2014: “Cave of the Storm Nymphs” (see Web site editor Jim DeRogatis’s gallery page as well as his step-by-step article); “Box #3” (see co-editor Barry Biediger’s gallery page as well as his step-by-step article), and “The Birth of the Hunley” by a modeler new to this site, Paul Burgess, who now has a fresh gallery page.
Jim also showed his diorama “Il Cenacolo” in Chicago, and subsequently added to the step-by-step article for that piece based on questions from other modelers. Still busy returning to school to study theater design, our site’s other co-editor Darryl Audette has completed several ¼”-scale models for his classes, all very much of interest to box diorama builders, and those have been added to his gallery page. Darryl also took the time out from his studies to write a making-of article on one of those projects, a tribute to Andy Warhol.


Next up, John Long has a new box to show, and he’s given us a short step-by-step on its creation; as promised during the last update in August 2014, we’ve collected some great pictures of the boxes built by Markus Eckmann of Scorpio Models (be sure to see his gallery page and his great step-by-step for “A Night at the Scriptorium” ); we have a new gallery page for New York artist Michael Scarborough, and Jack Lynch has finished reworking his diorama “The Homecoming,” which can be seen on his gallery page.


As part of a big project (more on that in a second), we’ve also added a lot of new images to the Various Artists, Newer Work page and the Various Artists, Older Work page, so be sure to check those out, too.
Several veteran modelers also have gotten expanded galleries; these include Dwight Franklin, Lewis Pruneau, Spencer Van Gulick, and Philip O. Stearns. These pages were created because we spent a lot of time over the holidays scanning in literally hundreds of images and articles from the entire run of back issues for Campaigns magazine, as well as many file copies of older issues of Military Modelling, Figurines, and Historical Miniatures, along with a few other stray periodicals and some out-of-print books. Be sure to visit the articles page to finds this treasure-trove of new (old) material!
Finally, we’ve responded to a couple of new questions on our comments page, and we always welcome more, in addition to including your work, or happily accepting other older articles or images about box dioramas that we have not yet found and scanned to include on this site. We aim to make this the ultimate resource for box diorama builders and enthusiasts, and we need your help to make that happen!
Until next time, happy modeling, and enjoy the site!—Jim, Barry, and Darryl, your faithful editors of BOXDIORAMAS.COM

August, 2014

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August, 2014: Finally catching up on box diorama news from the MFCA show in Valley Forge last May and the World Expo in Stresa last July, we have added several pictures of new boxes seen at both events to the Various artists, Newer Work section of the Artists Galleries page. While boxes were not as plentiful at either event as at they were at the last MMSI show, it was still great to see them represented. Here are a few additional photos of the boxes at Stresa, including several featuring small-scale fantasy figures on display at the Scorpio Models booth (we hopefully will feature more on these soon). 

I was proud to have my “Il Cenacolo” share space beside John Schley’s two boxes, which are featured on his gallery page—he won a silver medal for “Nein,” his sniper scene, and the special Andrea Miniatures prize for “A Fallen Empire,” featuring Napoleon in his carriage after Waterloo.

One of the most satisfying feelings for an artist is to watch people enjoying his or her work. Here is an Italian family that seemed fascinated by “Il Cenacolo,” as well as a group of nuns who I caught a little too late, two seconds after they all had been oohing and ahhing over the scene for several minutes.

Finally, here are shots of Barry Biediger by his gold-medal-winning box and the two of us, your faithful Web site admins, hamming it up in sunny Italy. Darryl (admin number three!), we wish you could have been there!

October, 2012

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October, 2012: Box dioramas were back in a BIG way at the Military Miniature Society of Illinois Chicago Show, with more represented this year than during any even veteran members could remember! Jim DeRogatis and Barry Biediger each showed two boxes (one from Barry a work in progress not in competition), Dennis Levy and Dave Browne each had one, and Tom Surlak resurrected an oldie but a goodie. Go to the artists galleries page or check the updates page for links. Meanwhile, here is what the row of boxes looked like. Hopefully, the box diorama presence at MMSI and other shows will keep on growing!