I was looking for material to build the diorama on. I was thinking about plywood but I was worried about warpage, so while poking around Home Depot I found 12"x12" floor tiles, about 3/16" thick of some plasticy material, about $0.50 each. Seems like they will work. What else is out there I might want to consider?

AaronW:
I used this plywood that is made from chips of wood glued and pressed togeather so it won't warp.I found a scrap piece at my local lumber yard. It comes in different thicknesses.

You can go to Michael's or any other arts & craft outlet and get decoupage pplaques. They have a nicely finished edge. Buy some Minwax stain and stain it before you start assembly to the base and mask off the stained part when laying down groundwork. If you are laying down any ground work, drill some holes inthe plaaque to increase the bite of the material.
Also, watch for wooden picture frames at flea markets and yard sales.

Plywood (1/4 in) works for me as it's dimensionally stable, even when wet. I cut it into 8x10 or 5x7 blocks which I mount in inexpensive frames purchased from Wal*Mart.

My concern on using a tile is that the 'ground' will not stick very well. You won't end up with a warped base, you may get a separation.
It depends on what the scene will be and the texture of the tile. Textured tiles and extra glue in the ground work may help out.

The previous posts have great ideas for bases. I've used plywood, Michaels plaque, and hard wood sections. I stain and seal the wooden bases before anything. Then I try to keep the ground material as dry as possible.

Yes... I've got enough 1/2" and 3/4" thick scrap oak, pine and poplar to last me three lifetimes, and it was FREE. I cut to size here at home (still have all my fingers too!), sand, put a routered edge on with my dremel tool, sand, stain it then seal it with roughly three coats of polyurethane sanding in between coats.

Sometimes it can be time consuming but it is all part of the (my) 'process' and I'll usually make up a couple of whatever size at the same time for 'down the road'. Good to do a little woodworking once in awhile too.

I did some consulting work for a motorhome manufacturer (Winnebago), and they have their own cabinet shop. After my little plant tour - I asked the guy what they did with all the "scrap" oak, walnut, ash, cherry, etc....Turns out they turn it all into sawdust for disposal. I got a dumpster load for free, and can go back anytime and get more.... a lifetime supply.... Pretty cool.. The neat thing is that most of it is already edge routed (for drawer fronts, cabinet panels, etc.) and I don't have to do that at home. All I do is sand and stain. Most of the pieces were rejects because of knots in the wood or rough grain, but I cover all but the edges anyway, so I'm good to go.

Jeff

I figured I would make a frame to go around the finished diorama, my main concern was the wood warping from the plaster cloth I was going to try. Sounds like that is not as much of an issue as I thought. BTW how does the plaster cloth compare with other products out there. I hope better than the real water I bought at the same time, my local shop is split between models and trains so all the diorama materials are for model railroaders (woodland scenery?).

It has been my (sad) experience that no matter what wood you use you ought to seal it like Kevin said. The pine plaques from the local craft store have always warped for me if I didn't seal them something, lacquer, polyurethane, etc. Maybe it is because I use Celluclay, which is pretty wet. The OSB board that Whiterook mentioned probably won't warp but why take the chance?

Just my .02

Shaun

i use 1/2 inch plywood and watever length and width u needed

I've just started my very first diorma and for a base I have used a picture frame purchased from (hangs head in shame) Poundland. For those of you not in the UK these are shops where everything in them is £1. The frame I got is 6"*6" but they had some way bigger. Ive used surplus tile grout as my base material and this has adhered to the glass of the picture frame no problem thus far.

I used,

Wood (Plywood) stained with a nice wood stain

Left over shelves from a shelving unit (Those worked really good).

Those are what I have used in the past!

~Chip :-)

I also use cheap decoupage plaques from arts and crafts. The really cheap ones need a lot of finishing on the edges. Instead I just spray the entire board with a product by Excel called 'Speckle Stone'. It comes in a variety of stone colors, in a spray can. Its also available by other brands. When dry, it really dresses up a cheap piece of wood. Apart from sealing the surface of the wood, it also provides a rough, textured surface for the ground cover to adhere to. I've also found inexpensive wooden and particle board trophy plaques at a manufacteror where they assemble the trophies. They almost always have a box full of scrapped or unusable (for their purposes) wooden plaques to give away or sell really cheap. These plaques are usually already finished, stained, and polished.

Ditto on most of the ideas, but also remember to try new ideas... I used a Teak Salad bowl I found at the Thrift story for $1-2. Flips it over, sanded it smooth, a little polyurethane and INSTANT base for my Cover-up project.





Just a thought...

John
www.johnneill.com