A while back I started doing Shannara customs, which of course I shared with my good friend Cap, he being as great a fan of the books as I am. Being the kind and generous friend he is he wanted to do a diorama for me to go with them; I didn't ask for much, maybe a woodland or castle scene, sized to fit in a display box I'd picked up just for this purpose. I should have realized what I asked for was going to be a lot less than what I would get.

I've seen Cap's work in dios by General Hawk and several others and it has always, always impressed me the level of skill and detail he puts into them, but NOTHING, I mean NOTHING, could prepare me for seeing these up close and personal. The man spares nothing--the detail isn't just in the parts he uses but in the little touches he adds, like weathering and fraying to make objects look antique! Butterflies on plants, leaves on trees, realistic grass...I could go on for hours. What matters most is that he literally brought to life various parts of the scenery from the book, evoking vivid memories in me and inspiring me at the same time. Cap is a true artist and a gentleman in every sense of the word, and frankly I feel deserves far more respect for his work than he gets.

My only regret is my camera couldn't take better pictures of these--the pictures I did take simply can't do them justice.

Just one quick note: a couple of these were damaged in transit, so if you notice what look to be spots of glue, this is NOT Cap's doing; it's mine. Cap's work is meticulous; he leaves nothing that stands out to detract from the look he's created. So any foul-ups you see are my doing, and not his.

Without further ado:

The Gardens of Life & The Ellcrys (with Amberle Elessidil and Wil Ohmsford)




The Inn At Shady Vale (home to Shea, Flick and Wil Ohmsford and the start of it all)



The Pykon (an ancient Elven fortress where the brave Elf Crispin lost his life battling the Reaper)




The Sword Chamber at Paranor & The Sword of Shannara:



One of the many studies at the Druid's Keep (Paranor):

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Holy crap that's awesome! I love them all, but the study dio is just friggin' incredible!

Thanks Rob, for reminding us why Cap is the Lord of the Dios!

Cap, you continue to rock, my friend

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Those are awesome, but the Druid's Keep is flat out wicked. There is so much detail in that one my eyes just kept bouncing all over the place. I don't know what to say other than "WOW!"

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ahhh-freakin-mazing!!!. Thanks for sharing. I would love to make them to detail like that but I just don't have the patients for that kinda thing.

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My only regret is that I don't have enough space (or display cases to keep them dust-free) to display all of these at once. The plan right now is to get a second display case and display two at a time, while rotating among them on a periodic basis. I'm also going to be using them as backgrounds for every Shannara or fantasy-based custom I do.

I never thought, when I came to this board four years ago, I would end up with something so awesome from someone so great.

(Yes, I am a happy camper today. Can ya tell?)

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Wow! When i saw the garden I was impressed, the outsides of the buildings as well.

Then I saw the study

The only paysets that even come anywhere near close to the quality of these are the MacFarlane ones. Cap's dios are the best I have ever seen. They are production quality. If they were sold in the shops, they would sell by the caseload. They are what playsets should look like.

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While all of the dios are great, the one that stands out most to me is the study. Very cool little accessories and set pieces all over the place really make it pop. I would actually love to know where he got some of those pieces from myself as they could very easily be repurposed for my own projects.

Sweet dios, consider yourself very lucky to have them.

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(in his best Papa Smurf)

Amazing... simply amazing!

You can see a preview of another of his amazing dios in my profile pic!

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Seriously when you see pics of Caps stuff it pales in comparison to what the reality holds. Genius is too mild a word to hold for this man.

I commishioned some stuff from Cap years ago and to this day they are some of my most prized possessions. The level of detail in something so simple is astonding.

Seriously impressive. You're a lucky man, Doc.

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Nope. The pleasure was all mine.

You see, every single one of those sets was fashioned with nothing more than the leftovers of other pieces I had done for everyone else. Even so much as a 1" square of a Celtic piece cut off of a Barbie box doesn't get thrown away in this household, it became the book on the desk. I can usually find a use for just about all my "fall off", as it is known. When I made the grounds of SnakeEye's cabin which I gave to Jedsoon for other kindnesses, I used a great grass product from Germany. Much, much larger and better than Dept.56 grass. But there was only a tiny bit left, and the hobby store, as all the hobby stores south of Tampa, had to close because of unrealistc real estate rents in Florida. It was nothing to use it for Rob's visions.

The minor accessories of the study were actually made for the miniature market, which I found a bit too big. So they were actually slated for my AOME fantasy customs, But when there was a closeout at Do or Dice, I got the coins, reliquary boxes, pots, vases, tomes, etc, at a steal. Other scrolls were scratch, such as the parchment. Just roll up a small amount, burn the ends, and glue into place.
feather pens in inkpots were feathers cut off of a MageKnight winged figure. It is really all just a matter of looking at things one already owns, even things put away and forgotten, and looking at it again in a different way.

Nearly all the period embellishments were from things most people throw away.
Our home/apartment (at least for the time being) has many medieval accents. I managed to get great tapestry throws and bedsheets for just under $5, and the illustration product photos on the package were too good to throw away, They became the Celtic accents. The painting in the study is a fantasy trading card with a scrapbook closeout miniframe.

The real issue is that Rob, as well as many others here give of themselves freely without sometimes me even knowing it, and they really helped me to flesh out custom ideas that would have just never been realized otherwise. JFAK enabled me to make better than I hoped for in my customs, and he didn't even have to, he just did and well, his work speaks volumes. Rob and VL supplied extraneous accessories that ended up as things that do not exist in the actual toy realm. Zedhatch, well, a wealth of help. Beav, Spin and Chief too. If it weren't for Camper himself, none of what I have done would even have been seen. The list is expansive, and humbling.
My wife and I are at the poverty level, so I can't possibly repay such kindnesses in a monetary way. So what I lack in funds of any way, shape, or form, I will try my very best to make up for in enthusiasm.

To borrow an edict from The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, "Accepting the gift honors the giver." I try to live this, and when the acts are reciprocated in my humble fashion, and accepted, they may be pleased, or even elated, but it is I who am honored.

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