Building a Diorama.

[deakon]

Righto.. here ive used Balsa wood to hide the orrible bits...ill stain them the same colour as the wood on the dio..depending on the finish i might add a veneer? but you get the idea!

ive carried the balsa all along the length of the baseboard..to create a dam for the river..as its balsa i can trim it easily to the height of the water..to keep it nice and tidy...this is what i use to replicate water...its a two part casting resin.. i buy it at the local art store....

and here are a few pics with the figures im going to use...the commander figure on top of the emplacement has been given a different arm to bring the binoculars up to his eyes..

 

[rjwood_uk]

ahh so it is the resin technique!! ha i knew it!! lol

i will be using this for my Musashi..hopefully. But the amount i need will cost £30-£50!

do you swirl it around whilst its setting to get a look of movement?

the balsa does just the right trick there Deakon.

 

[deakon]

No i dont swirl it around..i paint mud. and lay the vegetation in the direction of the flow.. in this case front to back...and build the coulour between layers of resin..to give the perception of depth..

 

[wonwinglo]

The balsa wood has done the trick nicely Deakon,it is years since I used that clear casting resin,used to encapsulate coins and things like that.

 

[rjwood_uk]

it can be used for many many things. usually my mum would complain if she knew i was spending £50 on something for my modeling.

but when i told here that we can use the left overs to make those little "jelly" candles and they can be what ever colour you want....she started asking when i was getting it lol.

 

[new to trains]

check out a great ebay shop/ seller, he stocks resins, i have used his store on numerous occaisions- he is currently doing 2kg of clear casting resin for £39-99

ebay item no 8275228132-

 

[rjwood_uk]

and you can get 2.7Kg (2.5 leters) for £35.55 here:

http://www.candlemakers.co.uk/misc/resin.html

 

[deakon]

thanks for the tips guys.. but i buy mine by the half kilo..£6:99..from an ebay store.

 

[wonwinglo]

This has been added to the Modellers Resource Directory Richard in order to make it easy to find in the future.

and you can get 2.7Kg (2.5 leters) for £35.55 here:http://www.candlemakers.co.uk/misc/resin.html

 

[rjwood_uk]

thanks barry, i did put it in the MRD thread a while back. wasnt sure if it got put up though.

Deakon...

wow thats cheap. mind telling us the ebay store name? whats the p&p like as it must be heavy. Is it 6.99 for both parts?

 

[deakon]

its called TAMBOR... search mold making....

 

[deakon]

Its been nearly a week since my last update..Ive been painting figures.and accessories..so here we go

i mixed 200 ml of casting resin ..and poured this into the riverbed..moving the base around to get it into the corners...once it had settled i placed the Tiger into it..and put it aside to let it set...

next i painted some disturbed mud effect onto the first layer with some thinned earth coloured enamel..

so another 200ml of resin was mixed..and poured onto the first layer..some scale oak leaves were scattered into this. and pushed around with a dental probe, so they were not all stuck together..

finally after this layer had set.. i added the rest of the leaves. and mixed another 100 ml of resin for the final pour..

sorry about the quality of the pics..here you can just about make out the leaves spaced throughout the resin..it dosent show up too well in the pics but the resin is a subtle green. with the painted mud showing through the layers nicely giving a good sense of depth..

in this next pic you can see some of the accessories ill use..the stove is from a figure kit..as is the radio..the table is scratchbuilt..

and here they are in place on the dio..

here is another pic with some more accessories in place the ammo boxes are from a resin kit..the bottles and the stool are historex spares..the maps and newspaper came with the same figure kit that the stove came with..

finally here are the figures im using..im in the middle of painting the flak crew..should be finished in a couple of days..the single figure is a pegaso kit. of an luftwaffe officer..

 

[Bunkerbarge]

Nice job on the figures. I also like the way you layer some detail into the water, such as the leaves and the mud paint to give it the sense of depth.

Very simple yet very effective. Superb job.

 

[Nigel.D]

Superb Job Marty!!! I love the way it all came together and am really impresed with the growth on the concrete (one tiny suggestion though) how about a few mugs and plates as that would give it a real occupied look

 

[deakon]

Hahahaha you wont believe this but...mugs and plates were being painted as i posted my last update...great minds and all that....ive just got to mount the figs and itll be finished apart from dressing up the baseboard.. ill post the penultimate pics later tonight.....

 

[deakon]

right then..the figures are finished and in place..so..without further ado an all that..Enjoy.. its been fun...

well thats it....a little touching up here and there...some final weathering [pastels] and make the baseboard presentable ..and you have one busy little diorama..now that wasnt too hard was it.. if i can do it anyone can..

im going to call this one "come and get it"......I quite like it even if i do say so myself........Marty........

 

[Johnny]

This was jawdropping stuff!!! I'm amazed!

My oh My you got skills!!

 

[Nigel.D]

cool Marty !!!!!!!!

 

[wonwinglo]

Marty,you have seen us proud here,the results are excellent,this is some diorama.

 

[Bunkerbarge]

Superb job Marty. A quiet, natural moment in time captured as effectively as a snapshot but with the added dimension of being able to see it from all sides.

I really like the arrangement and I very much like the unusual base shape to give the view a completely differrent look.