Gents,

Denis - who is taking care of the incredible diorama posted for years on the "Photos de TP" French forum - has accepted my proposal to decline the topic in "DHS Diecast Forum".
As he is not fluent in English, he asked me to manage all pictures transfer and associated translations. That means that, any question you may have, will have to be translated by me to him if I'm not able to answer myself: so please, keep questions to a minimum!

As a starter, a "picture" of the 5 French modellers who were involved in the diorama from day one in 2012 (this has slightly changed in the recent past):



From left to right:
- Pulko: he takes care of all background pictures and managed the coloring of the open pit quarry face,
- Olive: he is the team weathering specialist,
- Florian: the "boss" with the knowledge of the mining industry, he is involved in the mine design and all scenes details and chronology,
- Denis: he liaises with all other members of the team and manages pictures,
- Michel: he creates all items which can't be found in a 1/50 scale on the market, among which are numerous amazing models.

Please don't try to see in this diorama any real open-cast mine in Lorraine (East of France): it does not simply exist! A real model in a 1/50 scale would have required much more space and was impossible to make. Moreover, digging and transport equipment used around show a large diversity... as they were, either readily available or simply created for the dio.
The only aim of the LorraMine open-cast diorama is to show mining equipment in action!

To be continued.
Guy

Another picture of the recovery:



A tanker-converted dumper watering a dirt track to minimize dust:



Site cleaning operation on-going:



Regards.
Guy

Guy,

I have followed the thread on another forum about the mine. It is just plain mind blowing. The one question I have always had is how big is the diorama or dioramas.

Mark

Mark,

I have no idea about the size but I know that they made several dios, of quarry faces, dirt roads, maintenance workshop and equipment outdoor assembly site. I'll ask about sizing and details.

Bug,

I agree with you: I'm reluctant as well to weather my models! I know that all models are theirs and that they commonly agreed to have Olive weathering them (that was his main task within the team until he left for personal reasons recently) to add some realism to the various dios.

Regards.
Guy

A routine working day in the open-cast mine:







Regards.
Guy

I've just got a response from Denis on your questions:
- each dio is about 38 square metres large and approx. 2 metres high.
- In addition to dios already listed in my former response, I should add a crushing material zone - never shown in detail to-date - and a mining office/headquarters office.

I hope it helps.
Guy

That is just ridiculously wonderful. That would take me a lifetime and still look like child's play. Thanks for sharing. CAW

Gents,

Many thanks for your positive comments.





Regards.
Guy

Regards.
Guy

He is the one!