Hi All

ive been away for awhile ( due to family commitments) but am happy to say that I'm re'entering into the great old hobby of model making. I've an idea for an urban battle scene (ww2 france/germany) and would love some advice on the best materials to use for creating ruined walls/roads/rubble and things like sandags etc. Ive used milliput extensively before but wondered if there was anything better available in the uk.

Thanks everyone, any help is much appreciated.
Alpha

Hi there. Instead of milliput and every epoxy putty that is expensive and smells bad you can use DAS modelling clay . For ruins and rubble and particled stuff on the street i use artists plaster i make a plastic glass of mixture , leave it to dry and then with a hammer i break the blob down to what ever size of pieces i like. Also with plaster and my own wooden molds i make walls of buildings and the ruins of them , and after you can scribe on some bricks or other texture . For the main ground work i use white builders putty and plaster to make the formation and after is good dry i begin to build and add. Hope that helped a lil

wrote an article on walland rubble a month back... Basic construction of a wall - "Hunter or Hunted"check it out and see it it helps!



Contact me if you need any help or clarification.

Good Luck

John

Curiously enough, on the subject of rubble, one could start with the hammer method, it works o.k.. However, the other day I found amongst the stuff for flower arranging, small packs of rubble/small stones. Take a look in a craft shop that sells these kind of things or even that place which advertises on TV, Hobbyland or Craftworld or something similar. I am sure you will find all sorts of useful bits and pieces there, for walls, use mounting board (feather-board or something similar) as the basis, it comes in several different thicknesses... Jim

John,

That's an awesome dio... I love the glass and the figure.... do you have more, and better pics of that ? Maybe I could do a On-Display feature on that dio ?

If you do the plaster/hammer method, I'd advise to mix the plaster with pigments, just to safe time painting.

thanx all

i think theres a place not far from me where i can get things like DAS clay & plaster. I'll have a crack at making some moulds for plaster walls etc and see how i go.

will try to get some piccies on as soon as i can.

Alpha

Good luck buddy!!! try to make small amounts at start see how it goes how fast dries and in generall how comfort you re with it and then you can get it bigger. i ve also used powdered concrete colours in plaster and you have a wall already basically coloures and then you do what else you want. 1000000s of techniques and materials...the magic of modelling lies ahead ...

Thanks Danny,

Check out my website Pain of Glass, I have a few more there, if they are not “HI RES” enough let me know and I will see what I have on my computer. That particular diorama left for its new home few days back. Thanks again for the compliments, they are truly appreciated.

John
www.johnneill.net

Take a look in the Digital Diamonds articles... there are articles with graphic instructions on making destroyed flooring, walls, bricks, etc.... the articles are found in the FEATURES section located on the left...

Another thing you might want to try that makes a good rubble filler is kitty litter. (preferably from the bag not the cat box) It comes in various sizes all with irregular edges, glues well with white glue and is paintable.

thanks all for the advice, im getting ready to start my next diorama shortly, ill be finished with my current arnhem dio in the next day or so. Lots of handy tips to choose from, and lots ill probably use during the process of making my next diorama.

thankyou every1 for your help

alpha