Simple, cheap diorama base (hints, tips and tricks)

[CDW]

After speaking to one of our leaders, Ian (M) said it would be better to post this here as opposed to the "how to" forum as i'm eventually going to use it as another Korean diorama in the new year.

Soooo.

There's been quite a few people thinking about diorama bases for their models, a lot of them have said they wouldn't know how or where to start. A few have said that its expensive to get the stuff so I thought I would do a diorama base that incorporates rocks, trees, bushes gravel tracks and most of the little bits that make up a base ..... And do it all on a cheap budget just to show you don't have to go spending mega-bucks to build one.

This is by no means the definitive on diorama bases, and i'm not implying i'm a master at the things, but i have been asked a couple of times to do a step by step to show how i get my own look.

There's others on here that create brilliant dios and i hope they'll chip in with some interesting info along the way

The base:

An old photo frame 18x14 ins, glue the back on so you have a solid platform to go at.

some old polystyrene inserts from packaging is used as the base for the rocky outcrops, i glue them on with PVA

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Use a mini bunsen or ciggy lighter (on full bore) to melt the poly into a more rounded/erratic natural look

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Add some clay/Plasticine (or real stones) and texture it with anything to give a rough(ish) natural look

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Next i mixed up some cheapo poly filler and smeared it all over the floor, any left over i filled in some cracks in the rocks and added blobs of filler here and there which will look like extra boulders and/or smoothed off stone.

I dragged my fingers through the poly filler to simulate the divots in the mud/sand/gravel that would be made bu vehicles driving through.

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when dry i painted the rocks a mid grey and just highlighted some edges with a brown - you'll be surprised how much this will add to the natural look when the black wash is thrown over.

The roadway has been painted brown and the areas where there's going to be grass/greenery has had a green painted on, this gives a background to the substrate/scatter/grass that will be added giving that bit of "depth"

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Next up ... adding the ground work... thanks for watching

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[tommy1drop]

Excellent, looking forward to following this, can never get enough info and tips.

Tom

 

[geegad]

i thought the first few you was going to turn it into a side of a church or building..like the rocky out crop idea very nice

 

[Polux]

Brillant Colin!!

I'll be watching this one with interest mate :rolleyes:

Polux

 

[eddiesolo]

I love doing dios, and have made some nice playboards for Warhammer, these have been expensive in some materials and not in others, as you say, sand, polyfilla, herbs and spices for foliage and debris, papermaché, old bits of model kits, you name it anything will do. I used to buy the large sheets of 3mm MDF board from B&Q for a tenner, loads of boards can be made out one sheet.

Save everything and use everything. Great showcase of what can be made with just a few items and on a cheap budget, nice work Colin.

Just to add this could be a nice challenge. Build a basic dio board from what you have or have found/picked up without buying anything else in especially for the board.

Si

 

[Richi72]

Hey Colin I am all over this one.

cant wait for the next lesson.

Cheers Richi

 

[Gern]

Now I see what you mean about melting your poly to make rock shapes. When I tried I used some tiny little pieces and it went all 'orrible. Have to have a go with some bigger pieces 'cos that looks really effective.

Gern

 

[monica]

nice work ,always interested in how , and what other people use in there diorama bases,

will be keeping an eye for more post, i would like to see you do the trees and shrubs in this one,

moni

 

[spanner570]

Colin, to use that awful Colonial expression....'You have all the bases covered'

A good, informative thread.

Thanks for taking the time to post it.....

Ron

 

[CDW]

Thanks very much for the support and comments people.

Si ... Railway and warhammer and D&D bases ..... Made a few over the years.

Dave ... Glad the piccies made it clearer about attacking it with a flame.

Monica .. There'll be bushes and trees added in part three and I'll attempt to explain how and what was used to achieve them.

Ron ... Please chirp in if you have an alternate or better method for owt OK mate.

 

[Bunkerbarge]

I've done a few over the years and found that picture frames were a great place to start. The thing I have always come back to though with a base or a diorama is regularly to keep it simple. Even a thick coat of PVA glue with sand poured onto it looks very effective when set and the excess poured off. A couple of stones from the garden gives a bit of volume and you can quite often get away with nothing more than that as a base. If you want to develop it into a diorama you have a useful foundation to build on or you can just leave it as a base.

Great tutorial though and always good to see other techniques and ideas.

 

[eddiesolo]

I always remember being told that the main thing with a dio or a stand alone piece on a board is planning, just a few items can set the object off, too many can spoil it and detract from what you really want to show. However, as you learn and get more comfortable in doing boards then you can add all kinds of things, loads in fact but you will learn how to place them so that they 'add' to the piece.

Si

 

[CDW]

Even a thick coat of PVA glue with sand poured onto it looks very effective when set and the excess poured off.

That's what's drying at the mo pictures tomorrow.

Great tutorial though and always good to see other techniques and ideas.

Thank you Richard.

 

[eddiesolo]

↑

Even a thick coat of PVA glue with sand poured onto it looks very effective when set and the excess poured off.

That's what's drying at the mo pictures tomorrow.

Me too lol, doing the Triceratops base. Just added some glue and fine grit mix, it be drying as we speak...well type.

Si

 

[CDW]

I use reptile vivarium sand Si, it has several different sizes of granule in it, the larger granules being lighter coloured than the rest, and looks like a pummelled gravel road in 1/35,

Plus, I should add, as most of my dios are based in Korea ...its the right colour too ....more by luck than judgement though

 

[eddiesolo]

I use reptile vivarium sand Si, it has several different sizes of granule in it, the larger granules being lighter coloured than the rest, and looks like a pummelled gravel road in 1/35,

Nice info thanks for that. Me being on a budget I use anything I have laying around lol. But, maybe...just maybe I may see if I can get a bag of the stuff. I thank you sir for being informative and of course, as always, very helpful...*that sounds sooooooooooooo smarmy and brown-nosey*

Si

 

[CDW]

The groundwork

Used reptile sand for the gravel tracks, Stuck with PVA wood glue, as i said above there's a few different grades of granule in it so gives a nice natural look i think. Its quite expensive for what it is but will last absolutely ages, if you know anyone with a lizard .. they may have some spare.

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Added the grass, this time im using static grass, again stuck with PVA, it's not expensive and gives a nice look, you can buy all sorts of gizmos for laying this down including an electric sieve that's 'supposed' to 'charge' the grass and get it to stick up, i found a tea strainer (metal or plastic) will do the job and it sticks up anyway (if you want to statically 'charge' the grass then hold a nylon comb to the sieve after you've combed your hair or rubbed it on the carpet ... it'll do the job and not cost you a tenner or so)

I mixed a very thin black wash .. again just as good as the propriety brands that are basically the same thing with a nifty label on them ... and splashed it all over the rocks, letting some dribble down and tint the grass on the edges.. this gives a bit of 'shadow' to the scene.

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a quick scatter of green 'moss'.... this is a railway type i found for 50p but you can make your own by getting cork placemats and sanding them with course paper to get a rough powder. this can be dyed with anything you wish, acrylic paint, fabric dye, green food colouring (even boil some water and get a green biro refill, cut it up and drop the bits ... and the cork granules.. into it, leave over night, then filter your nice green granules out with a fine sieve or a coffee filter)

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Next up ... making the foliage.

thanks for watching

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[Gern]

All good, useful stuff Col! Just one question. What did you use to fix the static grass?

Gern

 

[CDW]

What did you use to fix the static grass

Sorry Dave, missed that off.....all the above is stuck with PVA. (I've edited the thread as well)

 

[Bunkerbarge]

That grass looks superb, I've never even heard of static grass before! Shows how out of touch I am nowadays.

Looks fantastic though and I really like the vegetation around the edges of the rocks, very realistic.