I will play follow the leader too, be great to learn!!

Mike

SWEET! I'm suscribing right away,

Thanks

Philippe.

Hobby Lobby was out of boards today but the other crappy crafts store had some and even two big one on sale! Now I just needs to get some celluclay and some sealer and I' m off to the races. cheers for this thread

Thanks everyone. Dry brushing and beginning of the vegetation this weekend. Hoops on the TV in the basement and diorama building. What could possibly be any better?

You sir will have an amazing weekend.

Hmmm, maybe Kate Beckinsale bringing you your Favorite cold beverage? and often!

Gary

I'm with Gary on this one!

Phil

Well played Gary.

Dry brushing is essentially exactly what it says it is, dry brushing. The whole point is to highlight the high points on your ground work in much the same fashion that the wash darkened the recesses.
When dry brushing you need wide flat brushes. I have several I have been using for a long time. Soft bristles are great pretty much any wide flat brush will do:



Next I am using the same paint tray I used for the base coat and the wash. I am also using the same "Fawn" color paint I used for the base coat and some cheap white craft paint.



Put about equal portions of both colors in two wells on your paint pan:




Take your wide flat brush and put some of your "Fawn" colored paint or whatever color you used for your base coat and add some of the white on top of it.



Blend and pull the two colors together. Like this:



Now you want to wipe almost all of the paint off the brush on a rag, towel or the back of your hand. Using a rag here because I got tired of explaining the dunklegelb paint on the back of my hand at work:



Next you want to kiss the high spots on the base with your dry brush that has almost no paint on it at all. Use really light strokes and just touch the tops of the details. I did not take any in progress photos of the actual dry brushing technique and those would be really handy. I will get some posted. In any case it should look some like this when you are done:

And like this:



You want to be really careful when you are dry brushing anything from ground work to a Jeep to a figure. It is awful easy to go too far and make your ground work look like it just snowed or your Jeep look like it just ran through a flour factory. Less is more when it comes to dry brushing. When you are doing washes you can always add some more to deepen the recesses. When you are are dry brushing it is awful hard to fix mistakes.

Plant teaser:



Thanks for following along everyone. And for everyone that thinks it cannot be this easy, it really is. Trust me...
Questions or concerns please ask. That is what this forum is all about.

I am loving this!

Do me one favor though, take that chain and tie it up to the side of the tank or remove it altogether. The crew wouldn't let it hang like that as it could foul the track. A nit pick I know, but one based on experience.

G

Question: One week from today, there's an AFV show in Chicopee MA. I thought it was in two weeks. I've got only one week to finish up a panzer IV and get a diorama base started and finished. Is it possible to do all that in a week AND make it look good?

-Conor

Hi Shaun,

This is awsome! you make it look so easy and it is. Thanks for showing us the way.

Gary

Conor, Probably not. We are only now getting to the fun part. This isn't about contests, this about having fun, right?
@ Wayne: Noted. Fixed. Thanks.

@ Gary: Don't tell anyone... It is pretty easy.

Tell what? My lips are sealed!

Gary

Shaun;
quick question, how many layers of clear coat do you usually put on your boards? Just want to make sure that I am sealing them sufficiently. Cheers.

Damon, most of the time just one heavy rattle can coat all the way around. I usually drive a wood screw into the middle of the bottom of base so I have something to hang onto. Then just spray away.
Good Q,
Thanks for asking.
Shaun

Since it has been in the mid 80s in Central Indiana this week when it should be in the mid 40s I thought I would take a minute to talk about diorama material gathering.

Moss:
This stuff grows all around my house:



I use an awful lot of it. It is free. I just lift it off the rocks and store it in a "cool dry place" until I need it. The amazing thing is it actually stays that color.

This kind grows in the nooks and crannies were I work. Looks like some spring flowers:



Pull it up and store it for a while and it makes great ground cover from everything from the central Pacific to Normandy..



Next update Saturday at the latest.

Cheers,
Shaun

portuguêsinglêsespanhol

this is your first diorama?
You have a very good technique. I like to see work on step by step. We can learn more and share / learn different techniques.

This technique of moss I also do. I harvest these trees and moss around old buildings / abandoned then put them directly into a box with a lid so that no any external light. Ready!
After a while all of them are dehydrated and green as if they had been collected today.

congratulations!

good luck!

Hi Shaun,

Shaun, Im on an extremly tight budget and this info your bringing is brilliant. Im loving this! i feel like i might be able to pull off a good dio without haveing to shell out alot of cash. the celluclay was cheap and i got plent of cat litter. Cant wait for the next installment man. Thanks!

Gary

Hi Shaun,
Gotta say...for your first dio, it came out AMAZING! Love that you are recounting all your mistakes and going through each step, like a good book. Following this as I am going to start up working on my first dio again tonight! Very excited. Will you be going over how you did your figures, too?
Thanks for sharing.
Brandi

This is awesome. Ive just got into modeling after a 35 year hiatus. My how things have changed. On my first build now since then and cannot wait to get to the diorama. Won a 2nd place ribbon in 5th grade at state fair for my last diorama. Your step by step will get me back on track. Greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the replies. No, this isn't my first diorama. Far from it. It is a SBS for everyone who wants to try give dioramas a try.

Let's add some green stuff to the ground work. I am starting out with chuck of dried moss I picked from my front yard last summer. You can buy dried moss at florist shops too.



I am using the the same paint pan I have been using. This time I am putting some PVA glue in the well so I can thin it with water.



Thin your white glue with water and load up a cheap brush.



Add a good sized spot of the thinned glue where you want your foliage.



and stick it on there.



As you go you should pick off some little chunks of the dried moss and fill in gaps. Try to make everything look as random as possible. Look at some woods by your house. Nothing is in a straight line...



Left front corner done.



Used the exact same technique on the right rear corner of the base.



All mossy looking base...



I actually added some more clumps of moss on various places after I put the camera away.

Next up turf and a spring sapling. Stay tuned glamorous guys and groovy gals...