History in Miniature

March 9, 2007 9:05 AM

Joseph Neumeyer's Dynamic Dioramas has tons of cool photos of dioramas with miniature soldiers and ships from many different historical eras.
posted by marxchivist (17 comments total)

I love this kind of stuff.
posted by marxchivist at 9:05 AM on March 9, 2007

So realistic! Makes me wonder if there's anyone working in the field of photographing life-size, actual-human tableaux. Like, get a bunch of guys to put on helmets and whatnot, stick 'em on a tank and then add a ballerina. Take picture and voila, ART!
posted by DU at 9:24 AM on March 9, 2007

When I was in the fourth grade I did one of the solar system as seen from the Sun.

These are better.
posted by psmealey at 9:27 AM on March 9, 2007

Well DU, they aren't doing period pieces or anything, but Jeff Wall and Gregory Crewdson are both staging those sorts of large scale "actual-human tableux".

Also, this guy wang qingsong seems to be a bit more dramatic, but to great effect.
posted by JBennett at 9:56 AM on March 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

Hey, that's neat. A little distant from the action, but I guess I don't want to see a close-up dismembered corpse anyway, no matter how fake.
posted by DU at 10:04 AM on March 9, 2007

I like Sandy's work, too.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 10:06 AM on March 9, 2007

whoops.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 10:10 AM on March 9, 2007

Uh, one of those wang links is NSFW. Maybe I should have guessed from the name. In any case, my things are in boxes and I'm on the curb right now.
posted by DU at 10:45 AM on March 9, 2007

Marxchivist, thank you so much - these are awesome! I was a big diorama/model maker as a kid and always dreamed of making something this realistic. Great post!
posted by LeeJay at 11:14 AM on March 9, 2007

I like 'em, but think they'd be better with Weebles.
posted by Dizzy at 11:15 AM on March 9, 2007

Oh, but the NSFW link is chock-full of references to timeless paintings. Count the Odalisques.
posted by dhartung at 12:14 PM on March 9, 2007

Amazing craftmanship!
posted by homodigitalis at 1:34 PM on March 9, 2007

These are so cool. Thanks!
posted by rtha at 3:12 PM on March 9, 2007

Note to 9622v2 survivors: There are Viking ships in the first link. Relive the past.
posted by Cranberry at 4:45 PM on March 9, 2007

Closer inspection confirms that there is no Nice Donkey on any of the long boats.
posted by Cranberry at 4:47 PM on March 9, 2007

Man, I would have lost my shit over this stuff at age 13, back when I used to drool over the MRC/Tamiya catalog.
posted by gottabefunky at 5:03 PM on March 9, 2007

I like the attention to detail - notice the 1:35 scale Playboy magazine and empty beer bottle on the deck.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:32 PM on March 9, 2007