Fly Tying Supplies: your local fly fishing shop (or do a search for “fly tying supplies”) has a wealth of useful items for the model builder: fine wire in various tiny diameters, tinsels that could be used for cable, threads, etc. There are also ultra-fine cutting scissors and other useful tools.
To ensure the right scale of “plant” material: Keep a Xerox copy of the scale size figure you usually use in your wallet in case you run across a detail item, such as plant material and twigs. It takes the guesswork out of choosing the right size for your scale.
1/35 scale corrugated roof material: Turn the “insulator “ from a cup of coffee to the rippled side and you have 1/35 scale corrugated roofing material! Just paint with acrylics to weathering effect desired. (Tip: give the pieces a light coat of artist’s gesso prior to painting to keep the thin cardboard from sucking up too much paint.)
Which segues nicely to:
One item I have never seen mentioned when making dioramas and vignettes is artist’s gesso. This white liquid can be applied to almost anything prior to painting with oils or acrylics. It also adds a “moisture barrier” when applied to thin paper or cardboard. Use it to coat stream and riverbeds prior to painting to seal them up.
Realistic cattails (bulrushes): (This idea isn’t totally mine—I’ve seen two versions of it, and adapted certain aspects for my own version.) For those swampy-pond-river scenes, take some **** size styrene rods for 1/35 scale or cut them to your scale using a scale ruler as a guide. Mature cattails are between 6’ – 8’ tall, so size them appropriately. Place the cut rods in an assembly line across the edge of your double-sided tape holder. Paint the “stalk” a medium green acrylic paint & let dry. Then take a toothpick dipped in burnt sienna and run up the tip of the stalk to simulate the brown part of the cattail. Put on enough to simulate the real thing. After dry, “plant” the stalks among some clumps of scenic grass.
Holding figures during assembly & painting: buy some pins (sewing store) with beaded heads on them. Attach to the feet of your figures with ca glue. Cut a bit off the pin and leave about ½”. Then you can stick them in chunks of balsa about 1” x 2”. This allows you to pick the figures up, rotate them, etc. as needed for painting. After completed, the pins can be snapped off the feet; remove glue blobs gingerly by trimming with a knife or sand them.
Realistic ponds for the epoxy and resin challenged: while building the base, make a shallow depression where the pond will go. After coating the area with artist's gesso, paint the pond with artist’s acrylics (make the center black, leave a little gap and paint a sap green, leave another small ring and paint a lighter green. Then take a clean brush and blend the colors from the middle out. Start by blending the black into the sap green, switch to a clean brush and blend the sap green into the lighter green. Once dry, brush on a coat or two of clear gloss acrylic medium. You can model the surface somewhat as it dries to simulate wind-rippled water. A simplified version with only one base color will work for puddles of standing water.
--daredevil
