If you want to read up on how I made the set, you could check out my blogs about this, starting with part 1 blog/58085 .
I made a spin-around video that also shows below pictures in a slideshow, you can check out the insert below for that. If you would just like to see pictures with commentary, keep on scrolling!
First up, is showing off the finished set:
Overall I think it looks cute, even though some parts did not turn out the way I wanted it. Some of the wood parts were already damaged in box, which shows in these close-ups with chipped paint and some parts being reconnected by glue.
I like how full and decorated it looks! The bar area is my favorite part.
You would almost think those windows are real in some of the shots!
Lights on! Makes it look a lot more 'real' in my opinion.
Ack! I tried my best to remove any leftover glue strings, but the zoom of my camera is better than the zoom of my eyes!
The yellow light makes the diorama look very cozy.
And now it was time to insert some mini figures! I grabbed a couple from my collection that I think were a good size fit.
Starting with this Niitengo item/78172 from Sakamoto Mio.
With some forced perspective tricks in photography, you can make it look like she is standing in front of a way bigger building!
Hideyoshi's Nendoroid Petit item/72662 is waiting for some service at the bar here!! Why is nobody taking his order?
Meanwhile Niitengo China Dress Hideyoshi item/40506 is scrambling to clean the tables.
Looks like Petit Hideyoshi got tired of waiting and is leaving the store...
You can make up a lot of fun scenarios and stories with this diorama piece!
I also wanted to try the scale fit with some other figures from my collection, mainly trading figures. This specific Tanya is a manga bonus figure made by Kadokawa item/680052 and a more common trading figure size. As you can see, she is too big for this set. Once figures are taller than the entrance door, the size looks off.
Just placing one Nendoroid in here makes it feel very full and also like my Ink item/901 is a giant!
However, with some forced perspective tricks, you can make it a cute backdrop for figure photoshoots.
This might be my favorite picture I made in the diorama! Ink is ready to order!
And this is my 2nd favorite picture-set. Nendoroid Petits and Niitengo are a really nice size fit!
If you want to make really cozy looking pictures, you should try to eliminate all the light around you and only light up the built-in lamps.
I now realized I forgot to mention this earlier, but a flaw from this set are the scale differences. As you can see with the Nendoroid Petit Hideyoshi, he is too small to reach the top of the counter, however, when you compare him to the size of the door, he actually is in scale with that. The longer you look at this flaw in the diorama, the more things you see off in scale: Assuming the coffee cans and bags are supposed to be the same scale, the coffee bags are huge! And the seat for the piano? No person can sit on that height and still properly play those keys! Also, the bar stools are made for way bigger sized characters than the white chairs!
Some people will see remarks like this as nitpicks, while it might drive others mad if they want a diorama to be in a proper scale alltogether.
This one might be my favorite of the 'nighttime' pictures.
I had originally planned to put this diorama inside one of my Detolfs and display some mini figures in it. However, while photographing I noticed I also just like the piece by itself and it can look very full if you have multiple mini-figures in there, taking away from all the small props.
For now I put the diorama on top of the fridge, next to the marble run my husband made from the same manufacturer. Every now and then when I remember, I turn on the lights of the diorama and throw a couple of marbles in the marble run.
I am considering to possibly buy some cheap mini maid figures like item/57477 or item/36265 to display in it. At least I am glad I did not splurge on the Nendoroid More: Dress Up Maid set entry/302194 as I was very tempted for that while building this set. However, I could have at best only fit 1 huge and out of scale Nendo maid in there if I had gotten any!
Anyway, I will now mourn the earlier mini maid figures I sold, which were item/20004 , item/78636 and multiple figures from the Maid Cafe Collection entry/10677 . Which would all have been adorable in here. But hey, I can't complain with just dropping Hideyoshi's in the diorama as well! He's one of my favorite characters. And I don't want to feel like forcing myself to buy new figures to only put in here. It would be a dream if they ever made a "Nendoroid Petit More: Maid", as then I would have a lot of heads to swap for maids in this cafe!
OK, that is enough rambling about matching figures and things I should or shouldn't have bought! For now I'll display the set 'empty' unless inspiration strikes!
Some remarks for anyone interested in this set:
- Do your research well before buying it don't be like me, as there are many brand-less and cheaper variants of this set out there.
- As the instruction manual can be quite unclear at times and also is at times not in proper English, you might need to find help online or from crafty friends to fully understand how everything is supposed to work.
- The material quality in this set varies heavily, which means some parts of this DIY kit set you up for failure or only makes you able to get amateur quality results at best. This is most visible in parts that were made with wire, such as the chairs and bar stools. If you want to make a super professional looking version of this set, you'll either need to invest in different materials for some parts, or in the example of the chairs: Just buy some dollhouse chairs online to use instead.
- The finished diorama is quite big and not easy to store or move after completing it.
- Full Nendoroids will not fit in here, but you can make some forced perspective pictures using it as backdrop.
- The best fitting figures for this set are Nendoroid Petits, Niitengo and small figures from similar lines. I did notice that with how busy this diorama is, that it does not feel like it 'needs' mini figures inside to make it feel alive.
- The set is not in any official scale, and some parts are off scale with eachother. If this is something you care about, it's better to skip this set as the scale differences might drive you mad!
Thank you for reading this blog
I hope you enjoyed this blog, you could also check my other blogs from this set!
Part 5: blog/58092
Part 4: blog/58091
Part 3: blog/58090
Part 2: blog/58088
Part 1: blog/58085
And if you like my articles and would like to receive e-mail updates when I have a new one, you can subscribe to my blog on MFC! --> profile/Maakie/... or follow any of my socials, check them out on linktr.ee/craft... .
See you at my next blog!
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