Hi All,
New to here and to diorama modelling and need yere help. I have the building of the vechiles, painting and weathering sorted, well to a standard Im happy with anyway.

I currently embarked on a dio (my second, my first was sh*te) of some German soldiers walking past a farm house with a 88" hidden inside but the ground work is really catching me, I have a book that explains it but it doesn't give the kinda materials used for exmaple, he says he used putty for the ground work which is fine but what kind of putty do/will I use?

I want to creat two paths running through grass with maybe some cobble effect on the paths, am I hoping for too much on my first attempt?

Also were I live there is litttle of dio modeling going on so nearly all the products ye guys list isn't avaiable so you'll have to be primative with what ye suggest.

Any other idea's for ground work, I tried interior plaster but I didnt like the results. I hope Im not asking to much from ye in my first real post.

Thanks in advance,
Ian

Try what we call spackle in the US for groundwork. Apply it in a thin layer and allow it to dry. Then another if you need it.

If you can find Celluclay - paper mache kind of stuff. This works also.
I know there are some others from Ireland that may be able to offer other alternatives.

Don't forget once the base material is down you can add PVA glue and sand to add texture or mix sand in the original material or even use (clean) kitty litter. Then you'll paint that and even add grass above that. So depending the diorama the groundwork material may take less of an important role.

Ian:

Well, hello again. I suggest you keep checking these
pages here on the diorama section as often
as possible. The dio builders here are real pros.
Just last week we had a wonderful thread about
making a cobblestone street/path with great step
by step well lighted photos and text below each
photo that explained just how the modeler did each
step. He explained it so clearly and it seemed so
simple, . . . I think even this old Kogger from Kansas
could do it. He used lentil beans and fine saw dust,
(later sprayinga mix of Elmer's Glue, or white glue
it is called here or PVA glue, and water over the
cobblestones street and when that all dried
it held everything together quite well.) and
another thread maker, said he used split peas instead
of lentil beans.

So just keep reading the threads and you'll get well
educated, big time on the big A, re ground cover and
grasses/weeds/foliage, etc.

Hi mate.Here is a good article by Keith Forsyth,with tips on how to make a cobblestone path and general dio references.
https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/690
Another method that i have just used for making a footpath(bricked) section was from Balsa wood.I carefully sliced thin strips of balsa wood to get the shape of bricks,glued them to the base and then added fine sand to the gaps.It is a work in progress mind you,my second dio attempt.



Best of luck,Shay

A warm welcome Ian. Its sad but nice in a way to know that where I come from we are not the only ones having problems getting access to good ready made diorama material.

As the guys mentioned, there is a fair bit of info in the Features section on groundwork. Scott has an excellent article that details everything from ground zero for an urban dio. Might be able to pick up some relevant tips there even if your's in the country.

From your description a possible alternative for your country road would be to use real soil. Its cheap, has color built in and easy to work with. Get the soil color you like, give it a coarse sieve at least to remove the pebbles to large for 1/35 and dry the soil. There's 2 ways to go on that, here we have waaay too much sun but its great for drying soil. The other way is to stick in the microwave. Either way I would suggest you lay it over a sheet or tray and spread it out as thin as possible. Drying is to rid of insect, worms and such.

Make your groundwork with either celluclay or regular plaster (used for patching minor cracks and lining walls). Spray on a PVA (Elmers) glue mixed with water at about 50:50. Place a thin layer of soil. Spray more glue mix and add on more as you desire. For hills, slopes and bumps best to build up the topography with styrofoam to get the basic shape. Plaster and add soil as above.

I've found its best to start with simple Dios and vignettes to build up experience and then graduating to buildings and vegetation later. Just a thought though.