i would like to try my first dio. In the past i have used verliden bases for my dio's. I would like to make my own and start out simple. I have tried plaster in the past to simulate the ground and hade no luck. If the plaster didn't crack after drying it would at completion of painting .Iam asking for suggestions and advice

One thing you will want to do is build up the ground as much as possible with old packing styrofoam and use a thin layer of plaster. This will reduce the change of cracking.
Secondly if you add some white glue into the plaster mix it will help keep it from cracking.
You could also look to user Celluclay for ground work, another alternative is a latex based wall spakle you can get at your DIY store for $2.

Ola Cach

First of all welcome to the site. I`m sure you will have a good time here.

What scott mentioned is absolutely true. Try to built up any leveling of your dio as much as possible with Styrofoam. this will not only save you a serious amount of plaster of Paris but will also make the dio as light as possible.
When it goes about covering that I`m a big fan of the Wallspackle Scott mentioned. It`s cheap and for the amount of money paid you get a serious tube full. Enough for several dio`s.
When you want to make a good dio base I suggest this site: www.docdio.com here are some good explanations about making several dio bases. Look them up in the features pages of the site they are really good
Further I can recommend the site of an Armorama member named John Neill he made some stunning Dio`ds and I`m sure that when you have some questions about how he made somethign he will help you without a problem.
If you are building an Urban setting I can recommend you Keith Magee`s (KFMagee on this site) Building a Dio from Scratch Here he explains a nice and very cheap method of making an Urban scene.
And I give you an Article I wrote for Armorama about the Winter Dio Campaign Diorama/Vignette that I made called: DISTRACTION "greta`s revenge" Here is a step by step of how I built the whole Dio up there might be some usefull ideas in it.

I hope you like the links I posted and that you will learn from them. and I hope I helped you with it and that most of your wuestions will be answered. If you still have questions don`t be afraid and simply post them on Armorama I`m sure you will get answer

I have found that if you hammer some nails in each corner and some in the middle of your dio base, it will help the plaster hold to it and not crack, this works with wood bases, plastic bases, foam bases, anything nails will go into, cheers!

if you follow the instructions from Doc Dio and add your skills and fantasy , is all you need !!!!