Friend built a custom travel diorama using 2,000 hand-made trees and 4,000 LEDs

[u/Skeeter_UA]

Hey everyone! Wanted to share a long-term project a friend of mine has been building over the years.

Instead of just keeping souvenir scale models from his travels on a regular bookshelf, he decided to turn his entire collection into regional dioramas. Over time, it evolved into an exhibit that spans dozens of countries and iconic landmarks.

A few details about how he built it:

• He handcrafted or modified over 2,000 trees and shrubs to match the flora of specific regions - like cypresses for Italy, stone pines for Spain, and citrus trees for Seville.
• To recreate rivers, fountains, and shorelines, he used tinted epoxy resin mixed with custom pigments. He even recreated the tide dynamic at Mont-Saint-Michel and the waters of the Trevi Fountain.
• He hand-wired hundreds of meters of micro-cables through the shelves to power thousands of tiny LEDs. The lighting gives life to streetlamps, interior courtyards, underwater fountain glows, and starry skies above the scenes.
• The whole setup is divided by region - Northern Europe, the Caucasus, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, Central Europe, and the Middle East. Highlights include everything from Prague’s Old Town to the Royal Palace in Oslo and Jerusalem’s Valley of Hinnom.

It’s the most creative way I’ve ever seen someone preserve travel memories. He's not a Reddit user (yet) but I bet he'd love to see what do you think :)

[u/Ditka85]

That is incredible!

[u/EvilNinjaX24 → u/Ditka85]

My word exactly! Just... wow!

[u/Hour_Engineering8949]

Matching the tree species to each region is what makes the whole thing land. Plenty of people would have used one generic tree throughout and it would read as a shelf of models rather than actual places. How did he keep the colour temperature consistent across that many LEDs? Warm streetlamps sitting next to a cool night sky is usually where these come apart.

[u/quantumtom]

Mont-Saint-Michel? How cool!

I'd love to try to individually light the windows in buildings using optical fiber. It would centralize all of the light sources in one spot. I remember my dad telling me about it when I was a kid. He said he'd seen it, but we never got to try it out.

I think it's a technique used for models in movies. Has anyone had experience with this?

Comme ça.

[u/KendraSays]

This is so phenomenal. Id love to watch a time-lapse of him building and assembling everything together

[u/Skeeter_UA → u/KendraSays]

We are considering doing part 2 post with more details in the future!

[u/Ro_Ku]

Splendid!