Welcome to another installment of Dio in a Day — where you can create an easy scratch-built diorama in just a day’s time. Not only are they fun to make, but they can quickly add a little extra *pop* to your action figure photography or displays.
NECA’s Big Chap Xenomorph has just been released (See Veebee’s review here!), and this dio will be built to serve my Xeno’s photo shoot. The plan is to construct a spacecraft corridor that will resemble the mining vessel Nostromo, but be generic enough so that it can be used with characters outside of the Alien universe.
Remember, for this dio, the goal is the photo. So keep it simple. Keep it cheap. And keep it fun!
The basic construction material for this project is the ever handy foamcore board. Foamcore is cheap and easy to work with, but the main reason it was chosen is to get the angled bends in the walls. I aimed to complete the project with just one board, but, of course, your results can vary depending on the size you want. The corridor will have two side walls, a floor, and one opened door. I don’t plan on adding a permanent ceiling or a second door. Remember, you still have to keep your shot lit.
The first step is to measure out the walls. I based the height on the NECA Xenomorph and wanted him to have enough clearance to stand fully erect. To keep things simple for me, I chose to use the length of the foamcore board as the determining factor in my wall size. After measuring the required height, I simply cut the board down its length with my X-Acto knife. Cut that in piece in half you’re left with your two walls.
For whatever reason, many spaceship corridors have walls that angle inwards at the top. I have no idea why, but it does look pretty cool. Creating these angles with foamcore is really no trouble at all. Draw a line down the length of the newly cut wall just a short distance from the top. My total height for the wall cut was roughly 12 inches, so I chose to have about 9 inches of vertical wall and 3 inches on an angle. Even with the angle, it’s plenty of room for the Alien to stalk his victims standing up. After your line is drawn, cut the foamcore through one side of the board and the foam, but take care not to cut the other side of the board. This will allow you to bend it to the angle you want and still keep it together as one piece.
The remaining strip of the foamcore board will serve as both the floor and open doorway and will be used to keep the structure intact. Both pieces are going to be the same width and the length has already been determined by the size of the walls. Really, the only care you have to take is to make sure the top outer corners of the door are cut at the same angle — the walls and floor won’t piece together properly if they’re not.
Once the door outline is cut, make the interior cut in any shape that you like, just be sure your blade is sharp since the foam has a tendency to tear with dull instruments.
Tip: Using a pin or tack to make starter holes in your interior door will make it easier to tackle the corners.
And here’s the basic skeleton of your corridor.
Paint and accessories:
As this will be a somewhat narrow corridor, it’s a good idea to paint as much as you can before gluing everything together. Aside from the living quarters, the Nostromo was a pretty dark place. It’s cluttered and busy and you can’t really make out too many details. That’s perfect for a dio like this as we want the focus to be on the figure. The walls and door will be painted with a dark metallic spray paint. Remember, foam and spray paint do not get along, so take care in your painting.
Once dry, a light wash of black/brown acrylic paints will be applied to anywhere that you think might collect dirt and grime. For this particular ship, I didn’t want to overdo it. It’s not as squeaky clean as the Death Star, but it’s still a working vessel costing billions of dollars. Just everyday wear and tear is the goal here.
The foamcore board that will be used for the floor is first painted black. A flat acrylic or spray paint will work just fine. The mesh overlay is actually a plastic sheet using for knitting. Any Walmart or craft store will carry it, and you can get a three-pack for just a couple of dollars. I’m choosing to paint that with a more aluminum color because I want to apply more of a grimy wash of blacks and browns and have it actually show up in the photo.
The Alien blood burn-through is created by a soldering iron on low heat. Add just a touch of dry-brushing and you’ll be all set.
Accessorizing the walls is definitely the highlight of the build; it’s where you can really let your imagination run wild. I tried to keep it as low cost as possible, so I scavenged up as much as I could in my garage, office, couch cushions, etc. The rest came from Walmart and I didn’t spend more than $2 on any one item.
Like the walls, I wanted the “equipment” to be clean, so I omitted the dirty wash.
Drinking straws make excellent piping for foamcore dios because they are incredibly lightweight.
Once everything has been painted, it’s time to plan your layout. The Weyland and hazard labels were printed out on regular paper and brought the dio some much-needed color. A little color contrast was needed as both the Xeno and spaceship are so dark and drab. A hot glue gun was used to adhere the accessory pieces, and some double-sided tape should be used on the labels if you plan on removing them in order to make it less “Alien” specific.
If you’ve never used a hot glue gun, be warned that it dries extremely fast. It’s best to mark where you want to glue to avoid having to reset it — which will also require you to scrape dried glue off your project.
I began my final construction by hot-gluing the door to the floor. Once set, I finished by gluing the sides together.
You may not notice it at first, but scrutinize the corners and make sure that there are absolutely no gaps in the walls. While barely noticeable to my eye, the below gap would be a nightmare in the final photo because light would definitely find its way through, ruining the dark mood you’ve created. A quick and easy fix is to simply cover the back seams with electrical tape. We don’t need to worry about the gaps where the floor meets the wall as they will be covered by the painted pipes.
And there you have it! The total time was roughly 5 hours (not counting planning and material gathering) with a project cost of around $12.
Photo bonus tips!
To add different highlights to your photos, try placing some translucent colored plastic sheets over your light source. They come in a variety of colors and can really add an interesting element to your final shot.
Blue
Yellow
Red
Thanks for reading!
