Hello,

My entry for the Ardennes Offensive dio involves an urban street scene. The dio will feature a cobblestone street. I am about to make the base.

I searched in the "Features" section in making cobblestones and one striked me apparently. The article said that lentils can be used as cobblestones. I find this quite easy to do.

But will I be accurate if I use lentils for cobblestones in the St. Vith/Bastogne area? I am not sure if the cobblestones in that town is circular since the lentils are circular.

Or should I do the article in the feature which suggests scribing through water putty? The cobblestones, using this technique, will be rectangular in its pattern.

Advice please? Thank you.

Angela

P.S. For the German speaking folks here. How do you say "Going to the Front Lines - Belgium 1944" in German? This will be my title for the other diorama...which is almost finished.

My German is very rusty but I think it would be:
Gegen nach hauptkampflinie -

or this:
Gehen zu den vorderen Linien - Belgien 1944"

Thank you very much peacekeeper and slug.

But how about my cobblestone question?

Angela

Hi Angela,

How about: "Punta ako sa harap ng linya - Belgiyum 1944" :-) ...OK ba...at least kakaiba ang title...

Es tut meir leid, Ich spreche kien Deutsch....

Cheers

Ikaw talaga, warthog. :-) :-) :-)

OT:
For the benefit of everybody, warthog was translating the English title into Tagalog, the Philippine National language. It strikes me funny.

Angela

Hi Angela,
In this area is most common cobblestones are square. "lentils" cobblestone are more ussual at Eastern Europe: Polans, Russia...

Hope that this helps
Carlos.

From my reference material I would go with square or rectangular. With a dio I have been working on I poured about a 3/16th of an inch of a plaster base and scribed it all, it took a lot of time (as it was huge) but well worth the effort.

Hello Angela,

The corrcet way to spell your Dio in german
would be

"Auf zur Front - Belgien 1944" in a more propaganda like way.
If you want in more neutral you would say
"Marsch zur Front - Belgien 1944 "

Cheers

Angela, can't help you for the German translation, but for the cobblestones I have a suggestion. It involves a little work, but the results are worth it. Using some modeling clay roll it out where it is as flat and even as you can get it. Build a wall around the perimeter of it to act as a dam of sorts. Using the end of some square or retangular plastic stock, or even wood for that matter, begin pressing your cobblestone pattern into the clay. Once you have this complete, brush a light coat of cooking oil over it. This serves as the mold release for your pattern. Now, mix up a little plaster of paris or simular product and pour into the mold. Place the entire thing into the freezer. This allows the clay to become more rigid and ease in the plaster removal later. It doesn't have to stay in there long, maybe half an hour is all. Remove from the freezer and remove the clay. I have used this several times in the past and it works great. Doesnt take a whole lot of time, and it easier than scribing plaster (IMHO) HTH. "Q"

I too use technique described by Red4 except that I do not user cooking oil as a release agent and I do not stick my mold into the freezer. The type of modeling clay I use is called Plastalina. I really like it because it is easy to soften up (stick it into some warm water for a few minutes) so rolling it out is not a problem. Then if you leave it alone for a few minutes it again starts to harden so removing the casting from the mold is a breeze.

As for the cobble stamper, I use several. They are all rectangular but shapes and sizes vary. That way all my cobble stones don't look the same.

Howdy Angela,

Both of the above suggestions are stellar. My only additional input would be (if you can't find the 'Plastalina') to use a nifty product called 'Makin's Clay'. This is a no-bake polymer clay that is absolutely excellent to work with.
The other suggestion is to use spray 'Pam' for your mould release agent. It works dandy as well, and is MUCH less messy.

Tread.

Oh, and pay attention to Marty's point about making at least a couple of slightly different cobble 'tools'. No cobble was a twin of another...

hth

EDIT: Oops...forgot to mention, you can pick up Makin's Clay at your local Michael's craft store.

Any of you use the cork method? It takes much longer than the aforementioned clay mold. However, I think the impact is better. You can cover it with a thin mixture of Durham's Water Putty.

Hi Angela,
YOu could also try scribbing your cobbles. I just lay down some plaster, draw out the pattern I want then scribe it in with an awl. Super easy.
Cheers,
Bryan

What was your medium in the scribing method? I would think some mediums might chip too much when you try to scribe.

I use Hydrocal white. Its a dental casting plaster. You can buy 50 pound bags of it for around 20 bucks. All Plaster will chip a bit but this adds to the look. You Dont want a perfect stones. I have never seen a cobble stone road with perfect stones. The beauty about this method is that you can go back over the stones with a damp cloth and "wear" down the stones. HTH
Bryan

Thank you very much for the advise, guys.

That mold-thingy is a very interesting technique. As with the scribing technique.

I'm trying to stay away from plaster of paris, however. I can' t seem to get it to the right mixture to pour or to make it catalyze longer. It seems to harden in seconds.

I was planning to put an even layer of spackle on the base. When it is at a leathery consistency, I'll scribe the pattern. I got this idea from a feature in this site.

Will spackle substitute for plaster of paris? Or should I use another product?

Angela

Angela,
Plaster of Paris dries via a chemical reaction. That is why it hardens so fast. I have found tha tthe casting plasters are harder and take a bit longer to harden. Also You want to scribe your stones in after it has dired. If you do it when the plaster is still wet or damp you will not get the sharp demarkation lines your after. You should be able to start scribing within a half hour of pouring its hard enough to scribe and still soft enough that its not rock hard. HTH
cheers,
Bryan

Angela,
The ABSOLUTE easiest way to do this is to use the plastic sheets by Plastruct. These are available in most hobby shops. The come is a variety of scales and configuations and look great. I have used them in several dio's and they look good without all the hassle.

Jesse

Angela,

More water you add to your plaster the longer it will take for it to cure.

Problem is, modeling materials are hard to come by in my country. I'm trying to work out substitutes.

I'm definitely sure that I can't get those plastruct ones except through the internet. Darn.

Casting plater? Where can I buy that? Is that the same as dental plaster?

Angela

Angela,

What do you plan to build, a cobblestone road or brick road? If you plan to build the latter then, this is how I would do it considering the availability of materials...

1) Styrofoam (commercially available)
2) Wall putty -- I normally use Bostik (acrylic)
3) Scribing tool
4) Old brush

Steps:

1) Apply the wall putty on to the styrofoam
2) spread it evenly with the old brush and some water (very minimal)
3) You have two options on when to scribe the bricks
a) When the putty is almost dry/cured
b) totally dry/cured -- I prefer this method

This method is how I made the stone wall in my one and only diorama (still available in my gallery). In my opinion, the wall putty is harder than plaster of paris (same volume). I just used the most available material here in RP.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

I experienced using wall putty (water putty/spackle in other countries) for my winter dio.

The putty cracks as it dries and shrinks. This is not a problem when the dio represents a natural setting, i.e., the spackle is covered with ground material.

Won't this be a problem in an urban setting considering that the putty will not be covered with anything? How do I keep it from cracking?

Angela

Angela,
I would be happy to pick up a sheet or two of the Plastruct and sent them to you. Send me a PM and we can work out the cost/details.

Jesse

If you want pre made cobblestone streets Custom Dioramics makes several 8.5"X 11" sheets that are only about 15 bucks. They are made out of resin and look really, really good. You can even get one with trolley tracks running through it . I have several and they are great value for your money and you can buy them off of ebay as well. HTH
Cheers<
Bryan