Creating "stones" and walls with Styrodur

Since there was some interest in my diorama creations, I will shed some light on the way I'm working. There are many different ways to do it, I tried some and found MY personal solution that works best for me. A friend of mine thinks the best way is to use styrodur and a soldering iron to make walls or flooring - I tried that but couldn't come close to his works or at least anything I really liked.

I also experimented with plaster and tile glue - some of this was a success but it was hard to work with and the results are also very heavy! I still like this technique for flooring - might do another post on that in the future.

So after all this time and trial and error I got my hands on a proxxon thermocut. This helped me for my final quest:
Cutting the styrodur in small pieces of various sizes and going from there for the most realistic approach (imo).


STEP 1: Cutting your Styrodur plates into tiles of various sizes. I use Styrodur of 2, 2.5, and 3cm thickness. Depending on project.





STEP 2: Use Aluminium foil to make structures on the surface. (Some also put all the bricks in a big box with stones and shake it) Or you can use stones etc. to work on the surface. I also use an exacto knife to make some more holes or scratches.



STEP 3: Paint them (you can also skip that step here and do the paint job later, I do both ways)
Depending on the color you want, go by darkest to lightest color. My basic color here was grey.

And then add lighter grey tones. Finish it off with a very bright grey and drybrushing it. You can also go the extra step 100% white color drybrush.




(left is basic grey, middle is 20%grey/80%white, right is 100% white drybrushed)


That is the basic work. It ain't that hard.  


For building your wall, you have two options: a free standing wall or a glued-on wall.

OPTION 1: Building a free standing wall.
The good thing about this one is, that you can easily use both sides and save some material. Just be careful it doesn't turn out too crooked (but there are tools for everyhting)   
My Wall for the pig scene and the gangster diorama are made out of this single diorama wall piece, painted dark and red on each side accordingly.







Painted and weathered front side:






And the backside:








OPTION 2: Glue it onto another styrodur board:





(sneak peek time)





To glue styrodur, the best option is wood glue.

I hope this helps and have fun trying it out!

Excellent work and really good explanations. That takes more patience than I have that’s for sure, but I love seeing this stuff. Really cool.

Stryker2011 wrote:Excellent work and really good explanations. That takes more patience than I have that’s for sure, but I love seeing this stuff. Really cool.

If you're less patient, you can take a piece of styrodur and carve(/press) the mortar joints. Then you can paint/weather the wall. This is a technique that's used in modelrailroading, but it gives a more 'clean' wall (with less(/no) differences in height of the stones).

Valiarde, thank you for sharing your technique and both progress and finished shots of your stunning creation. I can't get enough of your stonework. I suspected you did it the long, hard way, and you have confirmed this. But the results are just beautiful and hyper-realistic. Any advice on the "moss" application, etc? I have seen this also done in D&D and Warcraft (or whatever it was) diorama building, and imagine it might be a similar process.

Is Styrodur foam core or a type of Styrofoam? The tool you mention you use makes me think the latter, as I have seen foam core cut with X-acto knives. But so much of the other technique was the same or similar (aluminum foil ball for roughening up, etc).

And yes, I'm sure we'd all love to see the corresponding tutorial on your amazing floors.

You built a great wall -- and nobody builds walls better than you. Pink Floyd even wrote a song about it.

The texture in color and form makes it so great to photograph it in different lights, beautiful beautiful wall.

GubernatorFan wrote:
... amazing floors.

That would be a great company name.

GubernatorFan wrote: Any advice on the "moss" application, etc? I have seen this also done in D&D and Warcraft (or whatever it was) diorama building, and imagine it might be a similar process.

I guess that's Fine Turf from Woodland Scenics, or a similar product.
https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/FineTurf

If Valiarde used something else, this is an alternative

TravelGuide wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote: Any advice on the "moss" application, etc? I have seen this also done in D&D and Warcraft (or whatever it was) diorama building, and imagine it might be a similar process.

I guess that's Fine Turf from Woodland Scenics, or a similar product.
https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/FineTurf

If Valiarde used something else, this is an alternative

Thanks, I suspect he was using something of this type.

GubernatorFan wrote:

TravelGuide wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote: Any advice on the "moss" application, etc? I have seen this also done in D&D and Warcraft (or whatever it was) diorama building, and imagine it might be a similar process.

I guess that's Fine Turf from Woodland Scenics, or a similar product.
https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/FineTurf

If Valiarde used something else, this is an alternative

Thanks, I suspect he was using something of this type.

Looking at it again, it might be grassfibres, like these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Noch-Fibres-Assortment-Landscape-Modelling/dp/B00BFBWOUC

Your local* modelling shop should have an array of various products for landscaping.

* or not so local, depending on how close it is.

Stryker2011 wrote:Excellent work and really good explanations. That takes more patience than I have that’s for sure, but I love seeing this stuff. Really cool.

Thank you, the explanations could be a bit more extensive i guess, but I'm not the best when it comes to documentating my work. Often I'm lucky if I made some snapshots. It takes some patience for sure, but it is also a work that can be calming. Sitting on the couch watching a movie while embossing the styrofoam parts is not too bad lol

TravelGuide wrote:
If you're less patient, you can take a piece of styrodur and carve(/press) the mortar joints. Then you can paint/weather the wall. This is a technique that's used in modelrailroading, but it gives a more 'clean' wall (with less(/no) differences in height of the stones).

Yeah that is what I mentioned in the beginning, I tried all the different things and a friend of mine is only using the carving method on styrofoam. It is a good option and faster. I just like my LEGO approach more, have more fun with it. And it helps if you enjoy what you are doing  

GubernatorFan wrote:Valiarde, thank you for sharing your technique and both progress and finished shots of your stunning creation. I can't get enough of your stonework. I suspected you did it the long, hard way, and you have confirmed this. But the results are just beautiful and hyper-realistic. Any advice on the "moss" application, etc? I have seen this also done in D&D and Warcraft (or whatever it was) diorama building, and imagine it might be a similar process.

Is Styrodur foam core or a type of Styrofoam? The tool you mention you use makes me think the latter, as I have seen foam core cut with X-acto knives. But so much of the other technique was the same or similar (aluminum foil ball for roughening up, etc).

And yes, I'm sure we'd all love to see the corresponding tutorial on your amazing floors.

Happy to share my stuff for anyone interested in diorama work.
Yeah it took some time of trial and error to find the way. Also the painting part takes some practice. I painted quiet a lot of single bricks in different methods and still am only certain in my greyish work but some other coloring schemes will be a new thing for me to test and master. But that is the fun part.

As for the weathering: The grass is indeed the same one as TravelGuide mentioned in his last link: NOCH static grass, shortest version. But I think grass from any company will do the same here.
I also use some brown and green pigment powder for dirt splashes etc. like here for the well. Also used longer static grass or decoration sands. Most of these stuff can be applied by thinning wood glue with water and using a brush.




Styrodur is a brand name from BASF for their type of styrofoam (XPS). There are different companies producing different kind of styrofoam - there are differences in density and surface structure. I saw a video on youtube where they compared the Styrodur to another brand (which was pink not green) and the styrodur worked better for modelling work purposes (probably because of higher density of the material).  I don't know what is available in the US...

Ovy wrote:You built a great wall -- and nobody builds walls better than you. Pink Floyd even wrote a song about it.

The texture in color and form makes it so great to photograph it in different lights, beautiful beautiful wall.

GubernatorFan wrote:
... amazing floors.

That would be a great company name.

Good points with the structure in different lights: The lighting is also important for most impressive look. I photographed my stonework in a good light from the side or above so that you could see the structure in its best possible way. If I would lit it badly or just boringly from the front side it would still look good but not as rough or cool as it does in my threads  

Thank you for the glimpse behind the scenes. I have spent considerable time looking at your scenes and trying to figure out some of your techniques. It is generous of you to share your methods.

Yeah, wow, this is very dedicated technique. I honestly thought you had created the stonework using some kind of resin mold, had no idea it was foam!

Thank you for the extra information, Valiarde. Just curious, is the "grass" actual grass or? I once had a very annoying reaction to decorative moss (although generally speaking I don't have allergies). Your stone work is just so beautiful. Between this and the tutorials I've seen on YouTube (for much much smaller scale stuff), I'd love to try. Looks like Styrodur itself is not available in the US, but I have seen some discussion regarding materials that may have similar properties. Can one cut it with an X-acto knife instead of that special (heated?) tool?

davidd wrote:Thank you for the glimpse behind the scenes. I have spent considerable time looking at your scenes and trying to figure out some of your techniques. It is generous of you to share your methods.

Thank you davidd for taking some time for a closer look at my work.    
And of course I'm sharing my methods here - while I spent much time watching youtube channels and trying things out myself, I can reduce the amount of research time for you guys  

skywalkersaga wrote:Yeah, wow, this is very dedicated technique. I honestly thought you had created the stonework using some kind of resin mold, had no idea it was foam!

Yeah that XPS foam is just so good for everything in the modelling scene.  

GubernatorFan wrote:Thank you for the extra information, Valiarde. Just curious, is the "grass" actual grass or? I once had a very annoying reaction to decorative moss (although generally speaking I don't have allergies). Your stone work is just so beautiful. Between this and the tutorials I've seen on YouTube (for much much smaller scale stuff), I'd love to try. Looks like Styrodur itself is not available in the US, but I have seen some discussion regarding materials that may have similar properties. Can one cut it with an X-acto knife instead of that special (heated?) tool?

I found the video where Gerard Boom, the master of the hotwire tool, meets blackmagiccrafts a well known tabletop diorama creator and comparing the styrofoam they are using:

The green one (styrodur) wins, but I'm sure there are different brands out there of the same quality. I'm not sure if the difference is meaningful for our 1/6 projects even. Simple bricks should work with any XPS foam i guess.

As for the static grass, no it isn't real grass but some kind of plastic fibre - that way it can be electrostatically charged and "stands up" if you use a grasmaster to add grass to your floor. (No you don't need a grasmaster for the super short ones here)

You can cut it with an X-acto, the hotwire tool is just the convenient version - just two things to note: It takes a bit more planning for drawing lines to cut along with the x-acto. And the other problem: The cuts are never really 90° straight down. On the other hand, the stone are uneven anyway, so it should still work for stuff like this.

Valiarde wrote:I found the video where Gerard Boom, the master of the hotwire tool, meets blackmagiccrafts a well known tabletop diorama creator and comparing the styrofoam they are using. The green one (styrodur) wins, but I'm sure there are different brands out there of the same quality. I'm not sure if the difference is meaningful for our 1/6 projects even. Simple bricks should work with any XPS foam i guess.

As for the static grass, no it isn't real grass but some kind of plastic fibre - that way it can be electrostatically charged and "stands up" if you use a grasmaster to add grass to your floor. (No you don't need a grasmaster for the super short ones here)

You can cut it with an X-acto, the hotwire tool is just the convenient version - just two things to note: It takes a bit more planning for drawing lines to cut along with the x-acto. And the other problem: The cuts are never really 90° straight down. On the other hand, the stone are uneven anyway, so it should still work for stuff like this.

Thank you for the response and added info. This is actually one of the videos that I had watched recently, didn't realize (or remember) that the European material in it was in fact your Styrodur, but it makes good sense. At the time, the biggest advantage of Styrodur seemed to be that one could roll a patterned rollers over it and get stonework or brickwork (for example) -- but then I came to realize that none of these rollers (produced by Gerard Boom, and maybe others) have patterns suitable for our scale (and making one would not be that simple). That realization was actually one of the incentives to inquire into what method you use for your beautiful creations, and why I suspected you did it the long way. But it works amazingly.

Great ideas and I like the techniques. My only problem is having to pay for the materials so I like looking for alternatives that I can scrounge for free. The only materials that I (reluctantly) pay for is glue and paint. The last stone blocks I made were from compressed newspaper pulp - the texture is part of the material.

If you want to cut styrofoam, don't bother with a blade. Hot wire cutters are very cheap.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/194240982186

This is simply amazing! Your attention to detail is incredible! Now I am completely rethinking how I want to do my first dio because of this inspiration!

Valiarde wrote:Since there was some interest in my diorama creations, I will shed some light on the way I'm working. There are many different ways to do it, I tried some and found MY personal solution that works best for me. A friend of mine thinks the best way is to use styrodur and a soldering iron to make walls or flooring - I tried that but couldn't come close to his works or at least anything I really liked.

I also experimented with plaster and tile glue - some of this was a success but it was hard to work with and the results are also very heavy! I still like this technique for flooring - might do another post on that in the future.

So after all this time and trial and error I got my hands on a proxxon thermocut. This helped me for my final quest:
Cutting the styrodur in small pieces of various sizes and going from there for the most realistic approach (imo).


STEP 1: Cutting your Styrodur plates into tiles of various sizes. I use Styrodur of 2, 2.5, and 3cm thickness. Depending on project.





STEP 2: Use Aluminium foil to make structures on the surface. (Some also put all the bricks in a big box with stones and shake it) Or you can use stones etc. to work on the surface. I also use an exacto knife to make some more holes or scratches.



STEP 3: Paint them (you can also skip that step here and do the paint job later, I do both ways)
Depending on the color you want, go by darkest to lightest color. My basic color here was grey.

And then add lighter grey tones. Finish it off with a very bright grey and drybrushing it. You can also go the extra step 100% white color drybrush.




(left is basic grey, middle is 20%grey/80%white, right is 100% white drybrushed)


That is the basic work. It ain't that hard.  


For building your wall, you have two options: a free standing wall or a glued-on wall.

OPTION 1: Building a free standing wall.
The good thing about this one is, that you can easily use both sides and save some material. Just be careful it doesn't turn out too crooked (but there are tools for everyhting)   
My Wall for the pig scene and the gangster diorama are made out of this single diorama wall piece, painted dark and red on each side accordingly.







Painted and weathered front side:






And the backside:








OPTION 2: Glue it onto another styrodur board:





(sneak peek time)





To glue styrodur, the best option is wood glue.

I hope this helps and have fun trying it out!

This is a great tutorial!

I've been trying to do something similar recently. I cut my blocks then sanded them smooth at the edges, I felt at first like they would be more stone castle like. I cut them 3×1.5..Then I laid them all out on the painted back sheet of foam, and felt they looked more cartoony. I then did a bunch 2.5×1.5 and left the edges sharp after painting a sheet of foam on both sides.

Seeing this confirms to me that the straighter bricks will look better than the curved.

May I ask how you made the corner pieces on that picture of the outside gate?

Sarahdactyl wrote:
This is a great tutorial!

I've been trying to do something similar recently. I cut my blocks then sanded them smooth at the edges, I felt at first like they would be more stone castle like. I cut them 3×1.5..Then I laid them all out on the painted back sheet of foam, and felt they looked more cartoony. I then did a bunch 2.5×1.5 and left the edges sharp after painting a sheet of foam on both sides.

Seeing this confirms to me that the straighter bricks will look better than the curved.

May I ask how you made the corner pieces on that picture of the outside gate?

Thanks Sarah! There re several ways to do bricks and edges. One has to find the way that suits best, for one self and for the project.


As for your question: they are just L-shaped bricks - you can also cut them out from normal thick boards of styrofoam. Make a big brick and cut it with a hot wire (or knife) until it has a L-shape and glue it around the corner.