'Close Contact' - WIP

[tiking]

Hello everyone. Here I go again . It's been a while and a new year. Thought you might like to see what I have been up to during the last week. I wanted to put something together from scratch. to show a WIP so you can see how I do/did things. . I will try my best . I may not explain in every single detail as to what I did or used, as takes time, and time is what I do not have at the moment. My family demands my attention almost all the time. And I mean, my kids. So building has gone very slow for me as I am usually fast builder.

I am planning to take this dio to IPMS Open 08 in April in Sweden, so I am in a little bit of a hurry . So hope you can keep up with in the meantime. This time it is a 1/35 diorama which I am going to call; 'Close Contact' . Focus is going to be on figures and a pickup truck on the street in Iraq. As you may see, I have already started and well underway but there is much left to do. So join more for those who are interested in military subject matters .

I decided to use pink form for the entire building facade . This is my first time working with form materials to build up a scene and I must say that I am pretty impressed with myself. I think it looks good but you can decide for yourselves.

I used a xto knife and a ruler and made careful incisions into the foam to give an effect of the real thing. I used the same method to make the bricks which I am quite satisfied with the results.

Pictures say a thousand words. You be the judge :

The pictures are as it is. So forgive me for the quality:

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Here I have painted the pink form with a concrete color that I had mixed at a department store. I must say that the colors did much to the outlook of the facade. It made the foam look like concrete. After the concrete paint was dried I went over the form with a black wash which amazingly brought out the details and made the concrete even more believable.

 

[papa 695]

This is looking very good so far Charles

 

[tommy1drop]

Hi Charles excellent work, really impressed with the way you can work the foam, looks really impressive, looking forward to seeing more of this build

 

[Ziper_it]

Excellent start.

Interesting technique, the wall looks very realistic.

 

[tiking]

Thanks for looking guys. Francesco, it is an interesting technique which seems to be easy to master. I've done a little more work. More wash and painting done on the walls. Added the tarmac roads, represented by using fine sand grain sand paper. Made holes for the drainage covers and Manholes. These are from Miniart. I then proceeded to paint the holes using a black color to give it depth. Then it was just a matter of fitting the covers over the holes. Making the holes were easy as the base is white form. Made cracks and small potholes which were easy. The cheap one. Added graffiti on the wall. Then I added real dust, real dirt, and earth pigments( from MIG) and mixed everything to blend it all in. on the roads.

 

[tiking]

More pics Added a door at the side of the facade and painted it yellow. also added a park bench and posters. :

 

[Kressy_13]

This is some really great work mate. No figures yet and it already tells a story. The road looks excellent with the man hole cover and the grate. Can't wait to see more.

 

[monica]

looks really impressive, well done . one thing i would realy like to know is how did you do the brick work ? plz tell me

there is a quicker way than how im doing it , 2 days to make a few walls,will tag along on this one a well

cheers

 

[Polux]

This is looking very good!

Good luck!!!

Polux

 

[Richi72]

She is a beauty really like this allot.

Cheers Richi

 

[tiking]

Thanks guys. Monica, see this link. It's the simpliest form of how to make it. There are others, especially on youtube but it is so simple, you won't want to do it any other way. http://www.freerails.com/view_topic.php?id=3750&forum_id=9&page=2

 

[tiking]

Sorry guys. I had messed up the order of the photos. Oh well. These groups of pics I should have posted before the ones above.

 

[monica]

thank you so much for the link and help, must be quicker than cutting out tinny bricks and gueing them down,

and i think from memory thats the way Richi dose it as well useing a template ,just thinking if you could use

some type of paint on thinners that would etch into the styrene or depron

but besides that great work on the road , very nice work

 

[tiking]

You are welcome. May I ask the purpose of etching into the styrene? Do not quite understand.

 

[tiking]

These are what I used to make the roll doors. These are styrene pieces I had on hands. Simple and effective. The idea here is the overall look. That's what I am trying to achieve here.

 

[tiking]

Added a lamp above the yellow door way. Just something I put together using pieces of styrene. Added a poster board or advertising sign brace at the corner of the facade using styrene pieces. done more weathering on the streets and sidewalks. Added rubbish( small pieces of paper spread out. You can see that I had already started on the pickup. The pickup is from MENG. I love this company and their models. Their latest one is crisp laser cut pieces.Again, sorry for the quality of the pics. I am using my phone, which has a broken glass and a smudged lens. It cannot be cleaned. So I am waiting to get a new phone instead. The placing of things are still experimental. I have added and taken away certain accessories. So we will see how the end results will look like.

 

[flyjoe180]

Amazing work Charles. So much detail, right down to the damp going into the drain and around the manhole cover. Super work so far, looking forward to more of this amazing build soon.

 

[AlasdairGF]

Mind blowing stuff.

Where do you get the pink foam from that you've used? Google has failed me (again - twice in one night!), so thought I'd just come out & ask!

 

[Richi72]

wow well done so far, love the details on the ground and the walls. very realistic.

Cheers Richi

 

[tiking]

Mind blowing stuff.Where do you get the pink foam from that you've used? Google has failed me (again - twice in one night!), so thought I'd just come out & ask!

I got the pink form from a table gamers store. The were already cut to size. But you can get them at any hardware store that sells insulation matetial. Thats what they are used for in buildings. There is a blue form which is pretty much the same but a little denser but they are harder to come by. I can only get the pink ones here in sweden, as far as I know.