Foam board, magnets, spackling and random bits [Finished at last... at least the wall and floor part] 02/15/2020]

Nice to see you making more of these diorama elements. Depending on the desired size, you might be able to use straws and small diameter tubes for the pipes, too.

You have a talent for it! Man, I love foam board!
This reminds me of how cool a little “this and that” can make a diorama look.

GubernatorFan wrote:Nice to see you making more of these diorama elements. Depending on the desired size, you might be able to use straws and small diameter tubes for the pipes, too.

I'm currently thinking on using the cardboard from paper rolls and the like, it is quite thin and flimsy but I think I can strengthen them up with some cardstock and glue. Though I might try using some old pvc pipe I have laying around to see how it looks.

Pontiacivan wrote:You have a talent for it! Man, I love foam board!
This reminds me of how cool a little “this and that” can make a diorama look.

Thanks! Using bits of this and that is what I'm doing,mostly lots of old foam that I have saved for future projects like this and cereal boxes for any other thinner details or covering seams and the like.

It is time for another little update!

Gubernatorfan last time gave me an idea to use straws or tubes of a small diameter, while I had some small pvc pipe laying around I didn't feel like working with it so I started looking for what I could use, originally I was going to cut styrofoam circles and then cover them with some paper or something but that would have taken a LONG time to do, not to mention getting them as round as possible without a hot wire. I needed something that I could cut easily, wouldn't create a huge mess and that it where hard enough to properly work with it... pvc pipe wasn't on there, and styrofoam circles? no way... then as if by a miracle I found it.... cardboard rolls inside of aluminum foil, for whatever reason I had saved two and where laying along side some of my random bits of styrofoam, I also have some slightly larger diameter ones that I plan on using later on (perhaps not even on this specific build).

Picture time.





As always it's a simple process, cut or just leave it as is, give it a layer of pva and water mixed with black paint (to see where it's missing some) let dry and then paint up, once that's dry start to weather it up, a bit of rust and some dry brushing and a couple of brown and black washes to sink into those harder to reach areas. There's only the awnings I want to make to give that desert sort of look and start the floor which right now it's just a blank piece of foam, hopefully those two will be the next updates and then I'll move to another backdrop unless I continue making stuff for this one.

The pipes look very good. Well done! Another thing you could do is use those rolls with tape or drawer liner to cover them, and make columns or thick pipes, etc (I've used some of this for smaller scale figures, but have yet to try it in 1/6 scale).

Excellent use of the cardboard tubes. They turned out pretty cool.

GubernatorFan wrote:The pipes look very good. Well done! Another thing you could do is use those rolls with tape or drawer liner to cover them, and make columns or thick pipes, etc (I've used some of this for smaller scale figures, but have yet to try it in 1/6 scale).

Thanks, I'll keep that idea in mind since I want to do a more urban back drop so I'll definetely need the surfaces to be smooth, I'll see where I can find drawer liners, if I can't find them I'll either use some cardstock or tape for them.

Stryker2011 wrote:Excellent use of the cardboard tubes. They turned out pretty cool.

Thanks!

Very creative solutions!

Another little update

I feel its been a long time since I last did anything with this, truth be told I kept delaying working on the floor (still do) mostly due to how difficult I find it to do natural terrain... Nevertheless I've tackled it to the best of my abilities and trying to come up with natural looking shapes to break the monotonousness of an all flat sandy board.

Things I'm considering:
1) Adding some sort of tiles to sell the idea this specific road/alley has been around for a while.

2) magnetic hooks so different things can properly stand on the base, stuff like flag poles, posts or any other sort of thing.



So far I've done a few undulations on the surface to remove the flatness, I've sealed the mounds and borders and gave it a paint over with a sandy color. Most likely later tonight I'll look into how to move forward.

I'm liking the look of that so far! 

You probably already stated this somewhere earlier, but what kind of material is that? I mean, what you used for the 'sand', prior to painting it?

Looks good so far.

I look forward to seeing what comes out of this; promising beginning.

skywalkersaga wrote:I'm liking the look of that so far! 

You probably already stated this somewhere earlier, but what kind of material is that? I mean, what you used for the 'sand', prior to painting it?

I'm glad, I haven't applied the sand yet, what you are seeing is the foam covered in pva and then painted over with a "tan" (cheapo paint) so that when I apply the sand it doesn't look too dark or I hope it doesn't look to dark, well see today when I apply the sand and some other weathering on it.

Stryker2011 wrote:Looks good so far.

Thanks!

GubernatorFan wrote:I look forward to seeing what comes out of this; promising beginning.

Thanks, I hope to finish it this week though who knows what might happen!

Theboo-bomb wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:I'm liking the look of that so far! 

You probably already stated this somewhere earlier, but what kind of material is that? I mean, what you used for the 'sand', prior to painting it?

I'm glad, I haven't applied the sand yet, what you are seeing is the foam covered in pva and then painted over with a "tan" (cheapo paint) so that when I apply the sand it doesn't look too dark or I hope it doesn't look to dark, well see today when I apply the sand and some other weathering on it.

Ah, gotcha, thanks for explaining!

Once more a little update before I finally wrap this up. This project has been quite fun, a lot of stuff learned, mistakes and what not, the wall is near completing and while I still haven't done any of the other stuff I wanted to make like awnings, flags, tiles, chairs and market stalls I'm going to consider it done. Does this mean I wont post any of those things when I make them? I dunno, I probably will post them, it's actually fun to post stuff that's still a WIP but for now once I finish the floor I'll consider it done (for now!)


Here's how it looked today after yesterday's big mistake, I tried to put some tiles down but I didn't like how it looked so I ripped them up and thus damaged the foam, I had to go in with a bit of spackling and cover up some of the ripped up areas, still there are magnets on the base which I'll use or at least I hope I will.



Today it was sand day, I'm using the type of sand you will see at the floral area at a walmart, while I had some real sand (left over from some light construction work) it was too coarse and the grains looked too big plus I wasn't feeling like adding whatever the green algae like stuff that was growing inside the sack to this piece that is going to be inside my home.



There's a few layers of PVA and sand, I'm sure most of the sand ended up on the floor rather than on the piece, it was very windy today.


After the final layer of sand was done I went over it with some watered down PVA to hold everything together. In all likely hood tomorrow I'll be matching up the color of the sand to that of the wall plus weathering it.


Looking back on what I could have done:
-Rocks, it's a desert but there are still rocks and other debris in them.
-A better way of matching the walls to the base, I feel like I rushed this a bit and that if I had thought it out much better I could have ended up hiding the columns behind the sand.
-Interactivity, as a terrain piece the stuff one can place on it is open to literally hundreds of things, though I still can't help but feel like it is overall devoid of any actual things that are fun, I dunno maybe it needed a little hole for a sand bunny or something.

I'll most likely go back on this piece at some point (maybe even tonight!🤪) and add something to the base, we shall see, on the meanwhile that's all for this little update.

It turned out well! I'm looking forward to seeing the things you do with it.

It is certainly an interesting ground piece for your diorama, and as such it will come in useful whether or not you could improve it further.

skywalkersaga wrote:It turned out well! I'm looking forward to seeing the things you do with it.

Thanks, I too want to see what things I can do with it, in terms of adding stuff to it that is.

GubernatorFan wrote:It is certainly an interesting ground piece for your diorama, and as such it will come in useful whether or not you could improve it further.

Thanks, I'll keep in mind some of my improvements for any new natural terrain piece, for now I'm thinking on doing something more urban, perhaps "old town" themed.

Wooo! Hello.


This I did yesterday, I had to go and buy some more cheapo paints, first I applied a wash with the help of a spray bottle and some watered down paint, once it dried I started to dry brush some other paints like "tan" orange, brown, a bit of white here and there, I wanted it to match as much as I could, I might give it a few more washes later today.


A shot of some of the things I made, I hope to make even more!

I think it came together very nicely.

It looks great! Sort of brings to mind the outside of Jabba's palace .... but then maybe I have a one-track mind. 

Looks good. All the work — and re-work — paid off. Well done.

GubernatorFan wrote:I think it came together very nicely.

Thanks Gubernator.

skywalkersaga wrote:It looks great! Sort of brings to mind the outside of Jabba's palace .... but then maybe I have a one-track mind. 

Thanks and I'm super glad that it makes you think of the outside of Jabba's palace, I made it based around Tatooine so I'm glad that it reminds you of Jabba's.

Stryker2011 wrote:Looks good. All the work — and re-work — paid off. Well done.

Thanks you.