As a continuation of my previous post, here's the work I've done on the diorama. This is my first time building one, and I never really took any "frustration" photos, but there were a few moments.
I made several dozen rocks out of the various Woodland Scenics molds. I placed some of the molds diagonally to create new rocks and re-use the molds...so in actuality, many of these rocks are from the same 3 molds (one was a multi-rock mold):
The big rock was a single mold, and I added brass rods to it to help secure it. I also cut out a piece of wood to act as a base. I wasn't too sure of the foam board would hold the rock upright without it falling. Luckily, the wood base worked well, and while heavy...works like a charm.
At this point, I started gluing on DAS air-dry clay along with the rocks I picked out earlier. I worked in small sections and blended the edges of each clay section with water. I bought a few carving tools to help remove any fingerprint impressions before leaving it to dry.
I then added some dirt and rocks. And I added basswood sides. I've heard some people use styrene, but I couldn't figure out how to glue the styrene sheets on to the foam board and wood. Advice?
I also primed it with Vallejo's Dunkelgelb primer. It looks weird, but the contrast was so intense, that it was easy for me to spot mistakes in the clay.
After I fixed any mistakes, I primed it black.
At this point, I've airbrushed the dio in several shades, building layers of desert colors. I also placed the walker on it to see how it looks. I have yet to add any pigments or weathering to the dio...but I intend to. Ignore the Jagdtiger, she crept in while I wasn't looking.
Again, any tips on dioramas would be appreciated. I think I did pretty well, but there's probably dozens of tips and tricks modellers have learned over the years of doing dioramas that I haven't stumbled on yet.
Thanks to everyone for following and commenting. Merry Xmas/holidays/annual Die Hard-watching day.