This is truely amazing and inspiring! i wish i had the patients and ability to build something this realistic.

Great job!

Thank you all for your comments,especially you Claude, you gave me the idea to use my slate making technic for the slate roof tiles...

I do have a question for you Claude. I have come to the point of the road construction, and I'm not sure which style would be the right one for the Osweiler area.
Here's my little drawing of my thoughts...hope you can see it!

Any help would be appreciated.

Worked on the steps this past weekend...




Thanks All
Kirk

Kirk,

This is very goosd progress.
Your slates will be very good, but obviously the work to do them really to much if needed for a larger surface.
But i will remember it if i need to cover a small barn or so.

Regarding your plan( guys, Kirk is asking me specially because i live in the area, not becauce he does not want your answer)

Choose the solution in the middle of the picture (cobbles at 90 degrees of the water gutter.)
Make the space between the gutter and the house very small, even make none at all or just enough for the stairs of the house.
Osweiler was very rural, is still rural today.
(Eventually it did not had any cobblestone street at all, but for the interest of the dio, i would make them)
Make the cobble very accidented , rough (don't forget to smooth the sides of every brick.
You can easily achive a rough cobble street if you glue it on non hardening plasticine, applied with irregularities. Follow the irregularities with the cork bricks.You can even push them down individually later.
With the plasticine you can raise the middle of the street also.

And have fun!

Claude

Hi All, Small update...
I finished up the cabinet...


And front steps are done...


Ok, I have this thing for Ivy. I don't know why, but I love the look of Ivy going up the side of a building. Sooo, guess what?
I found this type of moss some years ago, in my younger days, when I use to go backpacking up in upper New York state. Well over the years it has faded in color, so I tried soaking it in an acrylic colored solution...

It darkened a little, but not to my liking, however it did soften it up alot, so I spread it out on some wax paper...

Let it dry and then airbrushed it a little darker...

I applied it to the side of the building with a diluted white glue solution...


A little ground work...


That's it for now!
Keep on modeling!
Kirk

Farrrrr out!
Thats bloody incredible Kirk, your a talented bloke!

I just took the crash course in following this build and just wanted to give my word on how amazing this build has been! Great work on it all! Amazing scratch work. Keep it up and look forward to the final product!

~Mike

Good work on the ivy, very original style!


Cheers
Calude

Thank You, Dave & Mike, And as always Thank You Claude.
Claude thank you for your input on the street, but I got to thinking on what you said...


Do you think a gravel street like the one in this picture might be more appropriate... [picture from "Band of Brothers"]
A small update.
Did a picture for the wall by scanning some old family pictures. Did a couple different sizes for future use...


Curtains for the first floor window...
Make a little chest, but didn't get too fancy with it because it will be under rubble
Added the table and chairs, so this is what it looks like so far...
And finally I did a little work on the attic flooring...

That's it for now
Kirk

Looks great Kirk, Respect.

What manufacturer makes this porcellane?

Regarding the road, you can make the gravel road without problem, is less work too :-)

Claude

Kirk: This is simply a work of art! Down to the smallest detail, everything looks absolutely perfect. If I had half your skill, I would be a much better modeller!

zaltar

Hi All,
Thank you Zaltar, for your comments.
To answer your question Claude,I made the Porcellane plates and bowls myself.
I made myself a mold from a thick piece of plexiglass I had laying around. Used two different size rotor tool bits to make the impression. As you can see in the picture, it took me a couple of tries. And through trial and error I found out I needed to put a small hole through the bottom[#3] to help get the dried pieces out Anyway, I used a two part epoxy putty for the material. Greased up the impressions with a little petroleum jelly. Finding the center, pressed a small bit of the epoxy into the impression with the end of a small razer knife handle. And there you have it...

OK, here a little progress I made this week.
Made a small end table...
Started the sidewalk...
Using "Sculptamold" mixed with a little white glue. Found out I should do only a small section at a time because it was drying on me to fast
Used a watered down brush to blend the edges...
Soften up the edges of the cork to have it look like natural stone. I've come to really appreciate the long, hard,tedious work that Claude has put into his cobble stone streets.

That's it for now!
Kirk

Thanks for the porcellan tutorial, good work also on the table.

You should use sanding paper to smooth the cork pieces!

Cheers
Claude

Hi All, I've been super busy at my job, and haven't had alot of time to work on my dio. However I did get to work on it alittle over this past weekend.
I worked on making up all the different types of debris I'd be needing.
Starting with the floor damage,I made a tracing of the area that was destroyed so I would have a guide for the amount of area needed...



Made a thin sheet of plaster to glue the wallpaper to for wall debris...

Desided to make some more stone debris with cork this time...

No, this is not my morning bowl of cereal Put all the pieces of cork in a bowl with plaster. Give them all a good coating...

Laid them all out on wax paper to dry, than painted...

Debris...

First floor...






I'm calling the first floor, 98% done, and moving on to the second floor bathroom next.

That's it for now
Kirk

Good job!


Cheers
Claude

Excellent detail. I'm learning a lot here, thanks. Keep up the good work.

Looks very convincing! Still waiting for the bathtub on the Shermie...

Cheers!
Stefan

Looks really good keep up the good work




Matt

Thank You Everyone, Sorry Stefan, no bathtub on the Sherman, only the sink and toilet.

I just spent an hour slowly going through this thread. WOW. I think I will be coming back to this one a lot for tips. You do awesome work.

Yo Kirk,

Thanks for the sbs on all the subjects of your diorama. Very natural debris you are showing here. hoping to see end result of this one!

Greetz Nico

Wow, I love the attention to detail coupled with the resourcefulness and creativity that is used to achieve this. The results are well worth the effort you've put in!
Keep going...keep going

Hi Kirk

It will be impressive I think .Wait for updates

Thank You All for your comments. It does my heart good to know your liking it!
Small update again...
I made my own water pipes. In this case I used a .030 styrene rod [0.75mm]. I CAREFULLY held it over my hot hobby knife...

Rolling it between my fingers until it starts to become bendable...

Cutting small strips of tissue paper, I super glue the strip to the rod...

I than wrap the strip around the rod with a little more super glue to keep it in place...

And there you have an elbow...

Finished work...


I also put on my Ivy along the side of the building. I airbrushed it a little lighter and browner for a winterly look...

Finished look...


Hope the pictures are clear enough.

That's it for now
Kirk

I do not know how I missed this but fantastic work here.

Will keep an eye on it now.

The little add-ons of doing things is great.

Keep it up.