After seeing Keith Magee´s feature on prepping plaster diorama kits and then the finished product, I decided I had to have a church ruin. So I decided to build one from scratch. I built an earlier dio from used polystrene before (styrene city) and learned alot, but had so much more to learn.
I promised Jim I´d do an article for this so here are some of the first photos of this ruin made entirely from cardboard and polystyrene trays.
More updates to follow ...............
/Frank

Can't wait for the article

I loved your styrene city, I wonderd how you did it, hope to learn soon

Best part of the whole project, apart from being totally original from available kits, is the cost. So far it cost about 2 sticks of hot glue. Max 50 cents!!!
Im going to detail on both sides, so theres a lot of work still to be done!
All the best
Frank

Excellent work there Frank, Excellent!

Good looking work there. Are you gonna add any weathering?

Well done... what did you use to make the arched window frame - heated styrene - or did you cut the shape? Look forward to seeing this as it progresses. i too have become almost hooked on scratch-building all of my buildings now... I have created molds for brick veneer, wood siding, shingles, you name it. And you are HALF right about the best part - yes it is very cheap - but the other half is, it is a lot more fun that "pre-fabricated" kits. I find that I can build nice walls and facings, and then cast THOSE to use in future projects too... it just goes on and on!

I have done some more work on my . styrene church ruin.
Pretty much all the cutting and gluing is done now. I made a mixture of white glue and a little quick-drying harwall and used an old brush and stippled it all over and pushed this mixture into joints to help hide them. No point taking a photo of this part as its white also and invisable. Maybe I should have added a little clour as it would have been easier for me also to see what I had done. AAhh another trick learnt for the next time.
Next is spraying. More photos after the week end hopefully.
You can check out my prevous effort at this as well.




Everything is cut out with a sharp blade and glued using a medium hot-glue gun. I dont have the patience with white glue for this part. Hot glue cools almost immediately and you can go onto the next step.


I couldnt agree more. I really enjoyed making this and it really makes you feel you have created something. And cheap? So far a cheap picture frame and some hot-glue. Well under $5.
I´ll add more pics and info as I go further. All the best

Ive spent the last hour trying to find out how to do this and then register, so hopefully it works. All comments and crtic welcome. Frank

Some updated picture with a little paint added and ready for some woodwork/door/roof. Also the Dio idea. I want maybe two american soldiers realxing /having a conversation between tank and jeep. Any ideas? Not limited to anything yet, so the more ideas the better!
Im thinking of having these ruins as all closed up and the americans settling outside safe away from the immediate battle. But inside I am going to use the basics of Fallen comrade set by dragon as the germans are alredy there. Titlt could be something like "safe on holy ground" as both sides feel they have just found some sanctuary

http://groups.msn.com/armorama/plasticbattle.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1213
http://groups.msn.com/armorama/plasticbattle.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1216
http://groups.msn.com/armorama/plasticbattle.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1218

All the timber work addes using different sizes of balsa wood. The flooring is 1mm thick sheet balsa with the floorboards drawn/marked on. Also some timber pattern scribed on. these will become more evident after painting.
Next a lot of painting. Then roof tiles and maybe some scratch built furniture.

That is impressive!!

Like those doors Basswood or Balsa

Great great work !
Your article is going to be one of the highlights of this site !
If you could write a small article (digital diamond like) about the doors, it would be great also ! My guess is that they are made out of several sheets of balsa glued together...

Also, I'm very interested in scratchbuilding furniture. So I can't wait for your input !

i like u'r work....
im new here...u'r work inspires me a lot!
right now, i am planning to build a diorama with some buildings using u'r method. while at the same time trying the plaster molding.

-Harimau Malaya-

I hope to write an article on this when finished, but at the moment I cant seem to get much done on this. This is the third time I have fooled around with this method and hopefully it will turn out OK. But thanks to everybody who took the time to comment. Cheers!

All I have to say is WOW!
Beautiful work, very, very impressive. Did you ever think about making a master of this and then casting it in resin? Could market them to other Armorama members. I know I'd buy one.

The thing is .......... the main body of this is made from polystyrene used meat trays. Not the best medium in the world to very much with. Eventhough its quite big it weighs nearly nothing unlike the equivelent made from cast plaster.
Another thing is ... I dont have the first idea on how to make moulds or interested in that side of it either. If you look for the church ruins feature that Keith Magee has here, thats where I got the idea from
There will be an article on this, well using these trays as a medium for building.(some day).
But I want to finish this first and then write the complete item.
Thanks for the kind words and Im flattered that you would like it that much.

Excellent work !
What are those cheap "trays" you refer to ? That seems to be good quality styrene. How thick is that ?
Jan