Hey,

Started on one of the buildings for my Berlin Campy diorama.

Pouring slabs of Hydrocal (basically just plaster of Paris) and making the buildings, sidewalks, etc. that way.

Some pics:
First slab still in the brownie pan:


Slab after I popped it out of the pan. Squaring up the edges on the disk sander. (Yeah I did this at work but you could do it at home with a sanding block. The disc is quick though.)




Here is the slab cut to shape for one corner ruin. Windows, ect. layed out on one section. One 8x12 slab gave me enough wall to do one corner. Also started drilling the holes in the windows so I can get jigsaw blade in there and cut them out.




What they will (sorta) look like together. The unmarked side won't be as long on the dio due to the orientation.



More to come as work and football allow this weekend...

Shaun

Cool update - ya know I just thought of a great mold material for this. You mentioned brownie pan.
They now make flexible cookware in create shapes, square, rectangle, thin, deep etc.
These things would be great for this same thing. Demolding would be a breeze.

Cool! keep posting, I´m interested in how are you going to do the sidewalks

Good Job, contrats

Very nice, similar to how I've constructed some buildings.




Scott is right on. Bought some for mum as an Xmas gift, I dare not use the mother's bake ware for diorama materials though, but if you did want to buy some we bought ours at JC Pennys in the "kitchenware" section. they Have many different shapes as scott mentioned

I saw the flexible stuff too. The problem you might run into is keeping the bottom dead flat. I don't know how the sit. If they don't sit really flat your slabs are going to be warped. My brownie pan wasn't level on a couple of pours and the slabs had a taper to them...

Shaun

Nice start. Just curious on your process. How do you de-mold the wall once you pur it and it hardens. Also what do you use to square everything off and make your other cuts. You mentioned a jigsaw?

Cheers,
Ryan

Ryan,
I just turned the brownie pan upside down and tapped on it. The slab fell right out. I used a Starrett square to square everything up on the disk sander.

Square, steel rule and dividers:



Windows done in the first wall. I drilled holes in all four corners to for the saw blade and cut them out. I used the saw blade in the X-Acto handle that is in the picture. Then I filed the windows square with a mill file. Took about half an hour a window and was messy, messy, messy... (For some reason the long side of the wall doesn't look straight. It is, trust me.)





Other side of the corner ruin, with the windows layed out. Ready to drill and cut out the windows. I will be adding cork for the details.



More to come...

Shaun

What is result the football game ?

Shaun: I'm getting the "dreaded red Xs" in your first post.

Murat: The first game doesn't start for a few hours yet.
Saturday:
Washington Redskins at Seattle Seahawks, 3 p.m. CST
New England Patriots at Denver Broncos, 7 p.m. CST
Sunday:
Pittsburgh Steelers at Indianapolis Colts, noon CST (this is the game Shaun really cares about)
Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears, 3:30 p.m. CST ( GO CATS! I hate da Bears)

Bears are gonna kick carolina's butt

Cork trim added:



A picture for scale:



I have since spackled oved the cork, added wood window trim and shot on a base coat of paint.

More later...

Shaun

//Sorry about the Broncos

Good work Shaun, I would suggest you that make some moulds to horizontal cork trim. I not Know if I explain good take this image as reference


hope that this helps

Nice dimensions. It fits very well.
I agree with BH a few details across the horizontal piece would add a lot.

Shaun, excellent work so far, I agree with Carlos and Scott that you shuold add some trim acros the building though. This is interesting looking forward to seeing it progress! Cheers Kevin

Thanks for the feedabck guys. I want this to look like a run of the mill light industrial building. No elaborate trim. Just finished up carving brick into the stucco and framing all the windows.

More pics in a day or two...

Shaun

Thanks again for following this picture laden thread...

The more pics, the nicer to follow

Good work! Shows how you can achieve great results with simple materials.

its looking really good at the moment, cant wait to see the finished product!

More progress,
Most of the window framing in place and the support for the floor is in place. Also carved bricks into both the inside and outside faces.
Picture of the inside face:


Pretty blurry picture of the outside.


It all has a slate gray base coat on it now...

Shaun

Shaun it is looking damn good. How did you get the spackle over the cork to look so smooth. Mine always has a rough texture. I like the detail you have added to the windows and the carved bricks. It is looking nice, keep pressing on and keep posting photos....

Cheers,
Salvo

Thats a nice update - the outside looks very nice.
I would break more of the top window frames. It looks very uniform.

Nice job overall

Hi Shaun

I have a question regarding the general shape of the ruin.

The destroyed edges look really clean and straight, nothing I would expect on a bombed out house. Do you have something in mind with this? Maybe an aircraft sticking out or something?

just curios as I plan to do the one or other dio in the future ...

best wishes

Steffen

Great work Shaun, thanks for all the progress pics, it really points out how easy it really is to do something like this. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is not confident enough to try something like this but having seen you step by step build this will probably change quite a few peoples minds.

Great Work

Great work Shaun, thanks for all the progress pics, it really points out how easy it really is to do something like this. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is not confident enough to try something like this but having seen you step by step build this will probably change quite a few peoples minds.

Great Work

Great work Shaun, thanks for all the progress pics, it really points out how easy it really is to do something like this. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is not confident enough to try something like this but having seen you step by step build this will probably change quite a few peoples minds.

Great Work

Scott,
I haven't got to the "smashing" phase yet. I usually save that for last.

Here are some pics of the latest progress. New picture of the outside. Just the base coat of paint is on. The wood over the first floor windows is just tacked on so I could see if I would like it or not. Haven't decided yet.



Floor joist on the inside prior to putting down the floor...



Floor down. I haven't damaged the center sections of the floor yet. No paint, either.



More as I get it done.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

Shaun

EDIT:

Steffan, The building is going on the corner of a diorama at an angle. It is pretty hard to explain. I will post a picture.