hi, i have just finished builing a tiger I that i have been working on and quite fancy building a diorama for the first time. i have just bought a ruined building made of plaster and was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on what colours to paint the bricks and cement in between the bricks. also would you recommend using an airbrush, hand brush or both?
i was going to make a base from plaster of paris, is there any way of making a cobbled street or do you guys buy them. sorry for all the questions but when it comes to dioramas this is all new to me.
many thanks

alan

Well, I'm a newbie too, but I might be able to help.

You could airbrush the dominant brick color, then hand paint a few of the other bricks lighter and darker shades of the base color. Hand paint the mortar betwen them though. I couldn't tell you what color wash to use.

Verlinden makes cobblestones that you could use, but that can get expensive, especially in a large dio. An alternate method is described in the May (I think) issue of Finescale Modeler, in an article called "Dioramas for the frugal modeler". It involves taking a sheet of drywall the size of your cobblestone street, wetting it to help remove the paper, then scribing the lines with a scribing tool. After that is dry, color and wash them, and, if you want, make vehicle damage by pressing a piece of wire mesh (1/4 in or so) on the slightly wet cobbles.

Hope this helps, and again, get the magazine if you want more detailed instructions.

Happy modeling!

Hi Alan,
I am also kinda sorta new to Dioramas. But, I do alot of model train stuff, with the bricks airbrush a nice light grey, then go in with different colors on the bricks. I use plaster of paris on all my work, great stuff. You could for the cobbled street, get some woodland scenic marble looking rocks. and then go over them with plaster of paris and once the plaster starts to dry just a bit, go over it with a wet towel and or rag to wipe of the top survice. On your ruin make sure you defiantly get some weathering on there, its war time. I would suggest using chalks or pigments. Pigments are crushed, chalks are not. Your likings, I sure do need to get another dio on here to show some of you guys. The first one I posted on here was my first go but not a good one, im making a D-day night landing one. But the best of luck to you Alan.
David

As to purchasing cobblestone, check out www.kancali.com/militarymodelinghome.html

Sorry, not sure how to link to it. There was a thread on the second page of this forum called "How do I paint this?" that should help you.

Ola guys

Well I have been building diorama's for quite some time now... Don't know if that qualifies me as somebody who knows what he does... You can be a veteran after the war but you could have spend it being a lousy soldier.

What I would advice you depends a bit on your budget or what you already have at home or not. When I started out I pretty much did everything with brush... Not always good but eventually I managed to get some good results out of it. Then I stepped over to the Airbrush. And with that the level grew a bit further. What I learned through the years is that the secret to convinding stonework does not lie in the color you paint it in... it is in the variety of colors you choose.

As you see it is not just a color like brick red or sand colored bricks... Some bricks, Are nearly pink, others seem to be more blue, others appear to be sand colored etc. The variation is what makes it convincing. Decide what color you want your brick wall to have and then grab some additional colors and when you have painted the wall in it's basecolor and it is cured then get the brush and make several bricks different colors. Just use thinned paint.

I don't know how big your base is going to be.,.. My advice if you are starting with diorama's is to make it as big as needed to tell your story... Every piece of dead space needs to be filled.

It should not be too hard to make a mold for casting plaster and make a slab that is the size of your diorama underground... If you are daring enough you can even make a sidewalk area in it. Cast it and scribe tiles, stones, cobbles in it yourself with an old nail. (you could use a new nail too) It is really easy to do and afterwarths it is more rewarding for your self... Then paint it and use the same variation technique as was explained at the brick wall

Hope this helps you a bit further

Hi alan
Im afraid I cant help with teh building, but if you want to make your own cobblestones you can use lentils stuck down and painted, just keep them away from mice, I didn't and the b s ate them all! HTH Good luck with your dio. Nick

Here's an excellent article on making a plaster base. Just adjust the measurements to suit the size base you need:
Basemaking for Beginners: Urban Road

For your brick walls, (you can also use the above for making those molds) I suggest following Roberts suggestions. Taking a few photos of old brick walls and using these as a guide to the various colors. A few filters will pull all the colors together as a final step, before adding any weathering. For the mortar, between the bricks I would suggest using an off white or extremely light gray, not straight white, applied as a wash, and removed from the brick surfaces before totally dry. Remember most aged bricks naturally show a whitish patina over time, this is a natural process of the Lyme leaching out to the surface. recent bullet holes, and deep chips will show the more virgin brick color.

hi, thanks for all the advice it has helped alot. i will get started and let you know how i get on. thanks again

Hi Alan. I wrote an artickle for the site some time ago, about casting a 3D building from dry-wall powder and making cobblestones from cork ... there a short explanation on how I painted it also. Its for a 1/16 figure, but the principle is the same ... just scaled down.
Click HERE
Hopefully this gives you some further ideas or explains some things. Feel free if you have any questions!!

for brick walls i paint the building in a base color of tamiya buff lightened with a touch of light grey or white. then i drybrush the brickwork in varying brown shades, then i wash the building with a light filter of raw umber oils.these washes need to be very thin and built up gradually till you r satisfied with the result ( these's washes are in reality only just thinner tinted with enough paint pigment to color the thinner) hope this helps.
i find doing buildings for dio's to be the most fun especially when it comes to detail work so experiment and have fun.

andy

When i do a bricked area I always airbrush the Mortar color first. then I drybrush the bricks. (when you are working with an area that has recessed spaces in it always paint the harder to get to area first) And dont forget to paint it a lighter shade than you want to end up with because you will need to do and oil wash when done.

As far as the base...........stick with what is cheap and easy. You can always find Styrofoam.......and it should be free. Celluclay takes too long to dry and will warp and shrink over time. Styrofoam, for me, is the only way to go. I have made alot of bases and have won several awards over the years.

Regarding the cobblestones........use Chick Peas. Glue them down with white glue. then fill in around them with whatever material you wish. Make the trough for the road first (I use a HotWire from the local Railroad shop). Then cover the area with the wt glue and then simply pour the peas into this area and let them settle evenly. Cheers! ROBERT