I have selected this for my diorama. Now here is the catch, how do I make this in 1/35 scale? I am leaning twords balsa wood, and some kind of sheet plastic. Let me know what you would do.



~Chip

Better Yet, How would I go about making the one(s) below. Whould those be made out of balsa wood to?





Thanks!

~Chip

Chip,

I'm no big fan of Balsa, but if you want to have a go at this with Balsa wood, just start to make drawings and start building after that ....... see where it goes from there.

In stead of balsa, I always use Ebachi wood. This is the wood shipbuilders use to make the deck of their ships. It is a bit harder than Balsa, but it is as easy to saw, cut etc.

I think only practice can give you the answer to your question.

when you decide to use Balsa... better buy special Balsa Glue. Simple white glue doesn't do the trick that easily.

You are aware that the first tower would be about 55cm in heigth in 1/35 scale?

The risk is that a building that tall would dominate and take over the scene youre planning.

However, I would build the main structure using cardboard and white glue. Perhaps foambord could be used. And then cut out windows, doors etc. Structual detail is added next.

Interesting building,

You can make it by a combiantion of balsa wood, cardboard and cork, please see this link:

http://community.webshots.com/user/blockhaus101

the building of "ambush" is of similar style.
The halftimbered section is made in balsa wood filled with cork, roof tiles is mae in tin carboard (from a corn flakes box) and stone are bits of cork sanded and glued.

cheers

1) that's one very tall building. But it looks so beautiful you make my fingers itch.

2) I'd do the roof in cardboard. Cereal box stuff. There's also commercial rooftile stamped cardboard, but I'd sugest you make your own. The vertical tower part I'd make from plaster cast brick segments. I carved one set from a slab of dried plaster and make casts from them. I'd make the bottom part from plaster too, even the wooden planks. The support beams could be balsa. All details could be made from plaster, balsa or styrene.

3) Gosh, this is really a lovely building to scrachbuild. Sigh...

Would anyone be interested in joining in a campaign (after the summer holidays!) to scrachbuild the top picture tower ? It would be fun to do that with a couple of guys/gals together and report on progress/problem solving.

HELLO ? Anybody out there reading this ??? :-)

After summer I would be a little interested. During the fall is when I build most of my armor. Yeah what the hell, why not.

~Chip

Here are a few points.
Eagles got a great pointer with doing it first with paper - its easy quick and give you fast feedback on fit size etc.
In the US usually next to the balsa wood is BASS wood. Its tighter grained and is a bit nicer to work with - its a bit more expensive but its worth it. Nicer cuts, takes pait color, stains, plaster better and less warping.
One other thing you could do is a skeleton in bass wood. Layer it with a very thin coat of spackle and then using a dental tool or etching tool you could etch in bricks.
The first picture will be tough not to scratch build etched rock for the first floor. Check the feature - digital diamonds for that technique.
As mentioned be careful of size. You could use a Shep Pane technique of shrinking each story just a bit to reduce the overall size. VIsiually it will still hold persepective.
You can use paper from grocery bags and cut out roof shinlges. Measure out a whole roofs worth cut them out with scissors and glue them on individually with white glue. This is nice because you can custom make interesting shaped shingles. I made dog eared shingles for my Cold Stare diorama for the Window On War campaign.

Using balsa wood, I would certainly recommend the second tower. I scratchbuilt a very similar bell tower with great results using balsa and thin plaster-coated plywood. If I had a digital camera I could show you, but if I had a digital camera I could've entered it in the stupid contest!


#:-)