DIORAMA

Diorama is a model representing a scene using 3D figures. These figures are usually miniature in scale and may vary from 1/64, 1/43 to 1/18. 

A life-size figure is known as 1/1 scale, while a 1/18 scale simply means that the 3D figure only accounts for 1/18 of its size, in terms of ratio.

Take a look at the chart below:Reference: Model-Car-World

3D VISUALISATION

One of the reason why diecast car model collectors love diorama is the ability and flexibility to re-enact a scene anywhere. It is a 3D depiction of a moment in time. Collectors may be awed by a scene from Fast & Furious movie which left a great memory in them. To reminisce the memory, collectors may either rewatch the movie or create the scene by themselves. 

Creating a diorama by yourself allows flexibility in depicting the scene you had in your mind. In the movie, you may have hope that the Toyota Supra didn't crash or you hope that the Supra should have been white colour. Hence, creating a diorama allow you to "DIY" the scene to your style. 

The experience of creating the diorama according to your personal style is definitely an addictive experience. 

Credit: Instagram: mannuelhernandez

NOT AN EASY TASK

Creating a Diorama is not an easy task. Aside from sourcing various uncommon materials, you also require patience and some technical skills. Being creative will definitely help in the project however if you are unable to visualise a diorama scene, you can simply search on Google Images.

To help collectors save time and money in creating diorama, there are various brand and hobbyist who came up with iconic diorama scenes for collectors to "DIY". These dioramas comes in disassembled parts and all you need to do is to assemble them together. 

Check out an unboxing video of The Initial D Fujiwara Tofu Shop Diorama below:

Assembling a diorama now is easy and will only take you a few minutes. Another advantage of buying a market-place diorama is the ability to disassemble and keep them again. Often, custom-made diorama do not have the ability to disassemble for storage due to the materials used. Custom-diorama are focus on realism so they materials used are often not suitable for storage. The only way to store it is to have a really huge box to keep them inside or to custom-make an acrylic case to hold them in place.

 

VERDICT

Custom Diorama	Market Place Diorama
High Price	Low Price
Poor Storage Capability	Easily Assemble/Disassemble
Flexibility to design any diorama you want	Diorama design is dependent on the brand manufacturing decision
High Realism	Medium Realism
High Transport Risk	Low Transport Risk

 

Overall, if you are looking to take professional photographs of your diecast car models in a realistic environment for commercial or editoral purpose, a custom diorama will be the better choice as it provides you with a realism effect.
But you are just looking to display your cars and take nice photographs, a market-place diorama will be a better choice and it is wallet-friendly.