I'm in the process of building my first diorama and I'm experimenting with bases.

I had a problem maybe someone can help me with. I used Celluclay on a pine base and while it looks OK, the water in the celluclay warped the wood. Can anyone give me some ideas here. Do I use better wood? Is there a better ground base than Celluclay? Modeler's clay?

Also, I see some nice looking signs that people put on their dioramas-- kinda black printed numbers w/ white lettering. Can anyone point me in the right direction for labels and such or give me do-myself ideas.

Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure if this would solve the problem but have you considered waterproofing the wood with something like a Deck Water Sealer...

(p.s. I do know if you use this stuff you have to use several coats.... did a pine deck once and it never warped)..

One thing that helps for future projects is to completely seal the wood on all surfaces, including the bottom.
Forget about scoring or drilling holes to help anchor the celluclay. but drive small tacks or brads into the wood does help.

Cheap pine bases have a tendency to warp a lot. The more expensive hardwood bases are a better bet, and much more stable on the warpage issues. Also the thinner the base the more it has a tendency to warp.

As for other products, just about any that contain water will affect cheap pine bases.

When doing these (yes I sometimes do use them myself, I totally seal the after staining with polyurethane, several coats, and use Durham's Water Putty "Rock Hard" After it dries it will come off the Urethane sealant, usually very nicely, and can easily be glued back in place with simple carpenters glue, epoxy, or even CA. If worked over Styrofoam formers, it sticks without a problem, as long as the Styrofoam is well anchored.

What's been said about sealing the wood. But, despite what Dave said, do drill holes; it gives the celluclay more to hold on to. Also, add some white glue and earth toned acrylic paint to the celluclay mix and as little water as possible to get a slurry. Throw in some railroad ballast, too, for texture The white glue helps it adhere, the paint pre-tints the mixture and the minimal water reduces warpage and decreases drying time. Also, make sure your layers of celluclay are pretty thin. If you have to build up areas, do this with styrofoam sheets or blocks. This will also reduce the amount of celluclay in direct contact with the wood.

Wow, really great responses. Don't know why I didn't think of sealing the wood first. Duh! I do it to my deck every year--reluctantly. As for the drilling holes, that's a thought, though I've already done small takcs and that's worked great. Acyrlic and railroad ballast great ideas.

Anyway tried an alternative to Celluclay? Modeler's clay or some other type?

This is one question i would like to ask the house builders here in NZ. We had a case recently where the house roof for several people were rotting / leaking because they didnt seal it.

This is why some people resort to using picture frames for a base. The glass will never warp and the surrounding wood is already sealed. The only disadvantage of using a frame is that you can secure your kits onto the base using a screw.

When using a picture frame a good idea could be to swop the glass for plexiglass as you may drill and sand it. Also it takes glue a bit better.

I usually build up the ground roughly wiht styrofoam glued with white glue. Then I cover it with plaster coated band aid to smoothen it. Then you can add the celluclay. It also result in that you only need thin layers of celluclay. The base wound be affected thus less water, it dries faster and the shrinkage is kept to a minium.

I allways use MDF for my bases as it doesn´t warp and is nice to work with.

Drilling holes into a pine board after sealing it defeats the entire purpose of sealing the wood, Hence the use of tacks or brads for the celluclay to anchor itself to. The water is going to seep into the wood grains through the holes deeper.

That's one of the reasons I gave up using pine bases years ago. Far too prone to warping. For the few dollars more you can get a quality hardwood base, or for a cheaper alternative a wood picture frame, with a foam-board or plywood insert replacing the glass. If I use a cheap pine base, I use anything other than a water saturated paper product.

Hello Tylusfaust:

You asked a good question in your second "response"
and I was hoping one of the crew would reply, but since
they didn't I guess I'll chime in and give that point a try.

The question you asked was: (not verbatim) Is there
any other ground cover product out there besides
Celuclay? The answer: YES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :-) :-)
There are all kinds of products and in my view most of
these do work better than Celuclay. I used Celuclay for
years but then moved on to Durham's Water Putty. It
is good for covering over foam blocks etc. but it has no
texture of it's own, and drys very smooth if you don't add
sand, kitty litter, grit from the street gutter, etc. However,
it cracks and breaks up easily.

For about a year I used a product of Woodland Scenics
called Sub Terranian Foam Putty. And it is great, and
can even be used for snow on the ground, but not so
good for the fluffy snow particles in trees, etc. It can be
painted and sanded and carved, somewhat. Kinda
spongy when dry. Like Durham's, it has no texture in
the foam putty but you can use a tool to rough up the
surface while it is drying.

But I saved the best, IMHO, for last. Aves Studios in
River Falls, WI makes all kinds of products for artists
and modelers, railroaders. I started with their apoxy
putty "Apoxie Sculpt" about 6 yrs. ago and feel it is the
best. Great shelf life. Went to their web site and read about the
product I now use to cover the bases. It is called
Clayshay. It is a very high quality light tan papier maché in
powder form, you mix with water. Starts getting hard in an
hour. I've made walls and columns with this stuff too.
Very light weight but very strong. You can carve it, drill holes in it.
And the best part is: it does NOT shrink. In any way. Period If I'm lying,
I'm die-in'. Here is the info on Aves Studios:

www.avesstudio.com PH: orders only: 1-800-261-2837
PH: 715-386-9097 It is a family owned
business. One of the two sisters, Amber or Erin will
answer the phone. And they know all about all the
products they sell. And no, I do not work for them.

Once again, great choices. Alot to consider. Rick, I'll definitely be checking out that company since it has such a ringing endorsement. I was using celluclay for small bases like vignette and no problem. But when I tried making a tank base it really warped the wood. I'll be trying some suggested options. Thanks again for all the help.

I use wall tile adhesive for my ground work. It sticks to any base (including glass in picture frames) without drilling holes or using tacks, and sculpts really well.

Cheers
Henk

Thanks Henk, I'll have to try that....
Just happen to know a tile guy to hot wire some from.