Diorama

[GaryG64]

Well, here goes my first attempt with a diorama.

I've seen that the air-dry clay base has started to crack but that's OK they can be covered up with turf, shrubs, or a blob of clay, so no big deal to me. I could not find sculptamold at Hobby Lobby so I am trying the clay. I'll be checking Michael's Sunday.

The trees I'm making are twigs and I'm using lichens for the foliage. I've only made 4 of the 13.
All of this is harder than I thought. But a learning experience. And figuring out what works best.

 

[Phil57]

Trees are looking great. Keep up the great work.

Phil

 

[GaryG64]

Trees are looking great. Keep up the great work.

Phil

Thanks, brother!

 

[GaryG64]

Es no bueno!
The clay cracked all over. I figur I could try making it work as an old creekbed. I drew on one of the pics with grass growing through the cracks. I painted it all black for the basecoat and shadows then top it off with earthtones. Then add brown and green turf.
so my question is should I continue with this project as is and incorporate the numerous cracks, or add more clay on the cracks to cover them up, or rip it all out and start over with sculptamold?

 

[Phil57]

If you are planning a dry creek bed look you are going to have to do a lot of work on the banks so to speak so that it does look like a dry creek bed. If it were me I would just cover the cracks with say plaster of paris and see what happens. I use plaster on all my bases and have never had an issue with cracks. Sorry mate, I am not much help but I wouldn't scrap it.

 

[Pantherman]

Es no bueno!
The clay cracked all over. I figur I could try making it work as an old creekbed. I drew on one of the pics with grass growing through the cracks. I painted it all black for the basecoat and shadows then top it off with earthtones. Then add brown and green turf.
so my question is should I continue with this project as is and incorporate the numerous cracks, or add more clay on the cracks to cover them up, or rip it all out and start over with sculptamold?

You could use a flexible wall grout or even some decorating caulk, comes in a tube, we use it to fill walls that have cracked.
Pantherman

 

[Andy Smith]

I actually like where you're going with the grass growing through.I agree about the bank though,I think personally,you should fill those cracks,it just doesn't look quite right being the same as the Creek bed
Got good potential this has... Certainly don't bin it.

 

[GaryG64]

Thank you for the great feed back and awesomeadvice.
I had a feeling it would crack but not to the extent of this! lol
I'll fill in the cracks.

 

[Pantherman]

Thank you for the great feed back and awesomeadvice.
I had a feeling it would crack but not to the extent of this! lol
I'll fill in the cracks.

Always keep going to the bitter end, never good to bin the builds no matter how wrong it goes. More satisfying sometimes as you know the extra effort taken to finish it.
Pantherman

 

[GaryG64]

Always keep going to the bitter end, never good to bin the builds no matter how wrong it goes. More satisfying sometimes as you know the extra effort taken to finish it.
Pantherman

True. Thank you.

 

[airdave]

I had some experience years ago with air dry clay (sculpting masks over foam mannequin heads.

(I have a lot less experience with current diorama modeling techniques and materials, so I admit my limits in that regard)

air dry clay shrinks dramatically.
it also does not adhere to styrofoam.
styrofoam further aggravates by giving off a lot of heat between the clay and foam,
basically lifting the clay from the surface as it tries to shrink and dry.

I like the cracks. Very realistic in my opinion.
Unfortunately I would be more concerned with entire sections lifting/falling off off the styrofoam.
I'm not sure how you can securely anchor it at this point.

How long as it been curing? it may continue to shrink.

 

[GaryG64]

I had some experience years ago with air dry clay (sculpting masks over foam mannequin heads.

(I have a lot less experience with current diorama modeling techniques and materials, so I admit my limits in that regard)

air dry clay shrinks dramatically.
it also does not adhere to styrofoam.
styrofoam further aggravates by giving off a lot of heat between the clay and foam,
basically lifting the clay from the surface as it tries to shrink and dry.

I like the cracks. Very realistic in my opinion.
Unfortunately I would be more concerned with entire sections lifting/falling off off the styrofoam.
I'm not sure how you can securely anchor it at this point.

How long as it been curing? it may continue to shrink.

I agree that it may continue to shrink as that was the first 24 hours.
I tried to prep the base with a water/glue mixture (aprox 70% glue - 30% water) before applying the clay. But as you mentioned sections could still lift off the base. Maybe if I sanded the Styrofoam a little to give to some "tooth" before any application might have helped a little?
As this was my very first attempt I'd say it was a good learning piece.
My next attempt, after this one, I will order Sculptamold.

 

[T55MBT]

How did you glue the lichen to the twigs

 

[GaryG64]

How did you glue the lichen to the twigs

I used Elmer's glue along the branch & placing some glue on the tip of the branch. Then by pushing the top of the lichen down a little on the branch tip, kind of like a skewer, and the trailing portion of the lichen on top of the glue-covered branch.

 

[blakeh1]

Nice idea to have the grass coming through the cracks

 

[GaryG64]

Tiger Diorama "Redux"

The air dry clay proved to be unreliable as it only continued to crack more and more. I ordered some Sculptamold (very lumpy stuff) and decided to redo the base. After watching Andy's Hobbies on YouTube I learned I can sand out the lumps. This diorama has been a challenge and a learning process.
What, if any, color should the base be painted, black, brown, or plaid.

Another learning topic is the trees. I've never made trees before but, I just looked at what I thought could work and went with it. I also bought HO scale trees they're not too bad looking. To add detail to the HO trees I'll need to doctor them up a bit and highlight the trunks and branches.
However, I will most likely paint the foliage on my trees and the store-bought trees to give them some depth.

This is where I am so far...

 

[Phil57]

Now we are cooking.....looking good my friend. Some will disagree with me but I always paint my bases (not the trees) black before I start. I then just layer lighter earth tones over the top. I also have used HO scale trees with some doctoring and they look pretty good to me. Besides, purchasing a Verlinden tree or two just makes the whole thing too expensive and I have yet to learn how to make a tree from wire and clay.

Phil

 

[GaryG64]

Now we are cooking.....looking good my friend. Some will disagree with me but I always paint my bases (not the trees) black before I start. I then just layer lighter earth tones over the top. I also have used HO scale trees with some doctoring and they look pretty good to me. Besides, purchasing a Verlinden tree or two just makes the whole thing too expensive and I have yet to learn how to make a tree from wire and clay.

Phil

Thanks Phil,

Yes some trees can get quite expensive and I'm planning for about 14 trees. However, I'm leaving a few bare as dead trees. I've seen a few videos for making pine trees that I'll give a try for later builds.



The Tiger just fits the road now. Sculptamold is very poofy.

 

[blakeh1]

One technique I have seen model railroaders use is to twist wire the dip the branches in flocking

They actually look pretty good and you also can have a variety of shapes compared to pre-made ones

 

[GaryG64]

One technique I have seen model railroaders use is to twist wire the dip the branches in flocking

They actually look pretty good and you also can have a variety of shapes compared to pre-made ones

I'm laughing right now because I tried to make a wire tree. But, it ended up looking like Pick from the J.K. Rowling series Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them.

But yes if done right they are very cool.