tarmac/concrete base for diorama

[cabrochu]

Hello,

I'm starting work on a diorama depicting part of Aloe Field, a flight training center used by the USAAF during the Second World War. My grandfather was a flight instructor there at the time.

There's a photo of him flying a P-47D Thunderbolt at Aloe. I was able to make a model of that aircraft with custom decals, though I'll need to re-do it; I have a new airbrush, and I made the fuselage and tail numbers too big. I also plan to add one or to Texan trainers, a Jeep, and some other equipment.

Does anyone know if there's a diorama base available that replicates the tarmac or concrete they'd have used at the time? I can't seem to find one at the scale I'm using (1/48).

thanks in advance -

 

[Edbert]

The picture didn't come through.

There are commercial products for several surfaces, Marsten-Matting, carrier deck, etc.

If you want concrete then plain old poster board or sandpaper works well, I've seen amazing results from it with a little TLC. Expansion joints can be cut-in or drawn-on, could even cut it into squares to make slabs with actual gaps, then you just paint some markings (white and yellow) on top to really make it pop.

 

[the Baron]

You can use cardboard, too, the kind used as the backing for writing tablets. If you're familiar with Shep Paine and his dioramas, he used cardboard for the concrete ramps on airfields on his B-17 and B-24J dioramas, for example.

Here's the B-17 diorama: http://sheperdpaine.atspace.com/b17g.htm

And here is the B-24J diorama: http://sheperdpaine.atspace.com/b24j.htm

In the text, Shep described using poster or illustration board for the concrete.

Hope that helps!

Best regards,
Brad