Hello all! I am soon going to undergo my first diorama with a HO 229 and i want to know, what would i need to make my diorama like This
one, but with a HO 229 instead. Like what would be good for materials and some tips. Its 1/72nd BTW.

No help at all?

What are you asking for, a list of supplies?

Wooden base, brick form or sheet to make runway, static grass, lichen for trees or trees fro Model RR supplier, aircraft, figures, etc., etc., etc....

Kind of a vague question.

First Andrew,
Welcome to the site.
You are going to need a hardwood plaque that you can get at pretty much any craft store. You need to seal the heck out out it with some polyurethane.
Then, and this is a really brief how to, you need to layout where you want your aircraft, runway and figures. Once you have the planning done there are a myriad of things you can use for the groundwork and runway. I use Celluclay almost exclusively for ground work and have never done a runway so you we have to wait for a response from someone that has. As far as the the grass (turf) goes, check the railroading section of your LHS for static grass.

Hope this helps.

If you have any more questions, post away...
And again, this was really brief...
Again,
Welcome to Armorama.

Shaun.

Ok thanks, also what would be some good brands out there?

You will find that many of the members work during the day and most posts don't appear until evening.

Second you need to be much more specific like... what kind of grass... or hw do you make the runway. Just asking for list of everything isn't going to get you a lot of specific answers

Well, im thinking sort of a battared cemet runway. It will have a taxiway coming into from the side. Next to the runway will be various Shrubbery amd trees with some stumps (summer this will be in). Rocks and medium length grass. Probably a tractor and maybe some crewmen (if i can get any prepainted, i cannot paint figures worth a damn) and the typical oil stains, ect. on the runway. As i said, very simialar to the picture i provided.

Welcome to our world.
Before i start anything i like to draw it out and then see what i need. it usually makes it a lot easier once i get started. I use poster board as it is cheap and plentiful.

Hi Andrew!

Maybe you know it, but your picture is coming from the Fliegerhorst website There are more pictures there. They produced the Backsteinplatte on the pics! Too bad it's 1/48 scale! But I think you can find this kind of things for railroad dioramas in HO scale (1/87)! Maybe it's worse a try...

Jean-Luc

Here's the pic...



Here are my suggestions...

The runway looks like brick or cobblestone paving... Kancali have recently expanded their range to include 1/48 and 1/72 as well.

Here are the Cobblestone and Street section respectively...






For the grass I would try Heki... click here for JackHammer81's review.

Any wood pieces I would do in think balsa and weather accordingly...

Hope thanks enough to get you started...

Rudi

BTW... welcome to the Big-A

I would go easy on the trees.. unless you depict a corner of the airfield away from the runway, I don't think you'll see many trees on an airfield...

Cheers
Henk

Same thing with rocks. Doesn't do a plane good to go off the runway and smack a landing gear strut on a rock. Grass is kept pretty short as well, since you want to discourage wild life from setting up housekeeping and wandering in the way of a plane on final approach or while taking off.

For grasses, you can use relatively inexpenssive and easy to find Woodland Scenics fine turf.

Thanks alot all! Im hoping to get to the hobby shop this Thursday. I only got 30 bucks but that should at least get me the base and some other stuff, right? But then in the next to weeks i should be getting some more

For the base, check out a Michaels or AC Moore. They have decoupage style plaques with routed edges that give a much more finished look. They're pretty cheap, too. A tin or bottle of stain and you have a great display. The stain will be enough for many plaques, as well.

I have been reading alot that picture frames makes great display bases for beginners.

Yes, but...you have to close off he bottom somehow and then fill in a rather large amount of space with something. This is best of you plan on things like foxholes, but for a relatively flat surface, a plaque would likely serve you better, and might even be cheaper.

O, ok. and what would make a good terrain molder?

If you get commercial tarmac, that will do it for the paved surfaces. Otherwise, you could paint and seal some fine sandpaper cut into squares for cement ot finer sandpaper for blacktop.

For grassy surfaces, I use Celluclay (a commercial papier mache) mixed with white glue, brown acrylic paint and water mixed to a thick oatmeal consistency. Drill a number of holes into the plaque where you'll be applying this mixture. Press down a thin layer, no more than a quarter inch and smooth it out. When it's dry, might take a day or so withthe humidity we're dealing with right now, lay a thin layer of white glue, diluted with maybe 25% water and sprinkle you grass over it. Allow this to dry. I then seal my grass with aerosol hairspray.

If you're using sandpaper, smooth down the runway sections as flat as possible while the celluclay is still moist. If you're using a commercial product, let that be the guid for the depth of the celluclay and have the mixture at the same level if just slightly above (no more than couple milimeters) the surface,

You probably won't need to, but if you were adding uneven terrain, you'd want to preform this with styrofoam which would then be coated with Celluclay.

Thanks alot. I noticed you live in Mass to. Ever been to place in Boston Called Hobby Bunker? great place.

Our figures guys do a pilgrimage there at least once a year in the winter. I've only been once, but he vends at our contest.

Yep, better than this place in Dover i gotta go to they sometimes got what i need but when i go thursday for materials on the diorama i doubt they will have everything, they do have a few rare kits though. Whenever i visit my dad in Boston we make a run to hobby bunker and i always blow a hole in my pocket and stock up. last time i ordered a 5 foot long B-29A >.

just get a base, cover it with ground cover, then add bricks, soldiers, and plane.