The scene depicts an early spring morning structure fire in the City of Boston. The stores have not opened yet.

Everything but the light posts and fire apparatus are scratch built. I started with the building using Crescent Illustration Board for the walls. The storefronts are scratched built from the Crescent Board as backing and sheet plastic from different packing material. The upper windows are made from wood strips and plastic material. For the shades, I used color paper.

To give the building not only a weathered look, but also the smoke effect, I used chalk pastel sticks. The sidewalks are made from basswood, painted and detailed to look like concrete and the street was painted in a charcoal gray water base paint with auto pin striping for the crosswalks, touched with the charcoal gray for that worn affect. The ladder against the building is actually off of Truck Co 23.
 

This diorama shows a British Red Arrows Stuntteam Fighter Jet crashed into a  civilian home just outside Chicago O'Hare international airport. the pilot did safe his self by using his eject seat and no civilians were home  during the crash. the O'Hare fd responded to the call with a squad,sub,engine ,crash and a  ambulance. The diorama is a tight fit in my cabinet.

Materials I used:
2 brothers ruined house kit
Airfix red arrows kit
kid shoe strings for the hoses
fimo clay for the firemen and the things in the playground.
sand used for a 3000BAR watercutter
plaster for roof parts, debris, pavement and walls
grass made by Preiser
lawn mower made by Siku
car made by hotwheels (from a hard rock cafe set)
crash truck repainted and renumbered
squad kitbashed
ambulance repainted and renumbered
engine 10 kitbashed
suburban repainted and renumbered

didn't count the building hours but is prolly close to 50-75+ hours

this diorama couldn't be made without the help of my wife and code3 friends.
MikeA
Primed
Rich
Fred
Paulina
 

The scene: 10-75 in Da Bronx, E 82 is first due and making the primary attack via the first floor windows. At the same time another Engine company is trying to open the access door. The command post is installed and L31 is preparing a massive attack on the 2nd floor.

THIRD PLACE

UNITS FROM CHICAGO’S 4TH BATTALION RESPOND TO A STILL ALARM REPORTED BUILDING FIRE AT 1234 WEST 23RD STREET. THE STILL ALARM BRINGS ENGINES 4, 9AND LADDERS 17, 32, AND BATTALION 4.

ENGINE 4 ARRIVES ON SCENE AND ADVISES HEAVY SMOKE SHOWING AND REQUEST THE ALARM BE UPGRADED TO A STILL AND A BOX ALARM. TO FILL OUT THE STILL AND BOX ALARM’S ENGINES 17, 23,43,46,70 (RIT ENGINE) LADDER 2, 6, TOWER LADDER 10, AMBULANCE 3, BATTALION’S 6, AND 10 AND AIR MASK UNIT 33 ARE ADDED TO THE ALARM.

THE 2-11 HAS BEEN TRANSMITTED BRINGING ENGINES 78, 92,109,121, LADDERS 46, 57, AND TOWER LADDER 23. ALSO RESPONDING ARE SPECIAL OPS 561 AMBULANCE 6 AND BATTALION’S 11, 15, AND THE DEPUTY CHIEF.

THE INCIDENT COMMANDER HAS JUST GIVEN THE ORDER TO SWITCH TO A DEFENSIVE ATTACK AND HAS PULLED ALL INTERIOR UNITS OUT. HEAVY STREAMS ARE BEING REDID TO START OPERATING.


INFO: THIS DIORAMA HAS ALL OF THE UNITS ON A REAL CHICAGO 2-11 (EXCEPT A SQUAD COMPANY WHICH SHOULD BE HERE BY SUMMER).
 

FIRST PLACE

Based in Manhattan NY on the FDNY the diorama shows a 10-75 (working fire) on the top floor of a 3 story apartment/offices building with shops on the ground floor. The fire crews have extinguished the fire and are in the mop up stage looking for hot spots.
The rescue Co. is on stand by on 6th Ave. NYPD ESU with normal NYPD personnel to assist with road closure and traffic control.

The diorama has taken about 9 months to make so far. It is still a work in progress
I.e adding firefighter figures and more people figures which will be around 50-70 of them in total. I bought many of the street accessories from many sites on the web some of which where HO or O scale so I had to change them to make to S scale. Buildings are made by Trainstuffs LLC which I kitbashed several of the Vollano Vistas to make the large building, the other buildings are made by DSL Shops. Vehicles were bought from Diecast Direct and E-Diecast, Fire vehicles are made by Code 3 as well as the NYPD ESU Unit. I used glue that is white and goes clear for water and I used deck and
path paint which has sand in it for the road. The Traffic Lights were scratch built from evergreen plastic and thin metal tube which you can buy at your local hobby store. Ideas for the diorama came from many photos.  Back ground is printed on to paper and glued to the back board. The Diorama measures 58 inch long by 16 inch wide by 19 inch high
 

SECOND PLACE

This is called "TAKEN IN" This was done to depict a working fire in New York City. All of the buildings were done separate, weathered and decaled then put together. This was done up in O scale. the figures are O scale and the hose you can get from your local craft store. which my wife thinks is my second home. you will see wet roads from the water used to fight the fire and smoke coming from the buildings.
 

My mythical city of "Oxford, Florida". There is a real Oxford, but, there are only about 6 to 10 folks who live there with the  cows, horses and other animals as its a farm community. In my city of Oxford we are depicting a  typical Monday a.m. say 9 or so where the Department Heads are holding their weekly meeting with the mayor, the fire department at Headquarters Station #1 have just completed their equipment checks as they start at 8:00 a.m., the Police Department is getting their weekly gasoline delivery
and the cops are busting two (2) mules (drug dealers) who there was a BOLO (Be on the Lookout) for at gunpoint with the assistance of detectives right near the Fire Station and Highway Garage.

Assistance on this project was given by my wife and Mike Adams. Decals are by JBOT.